Frida's Wardrobe

There is a new exhibition at the Frida Kahlo museum in Mexico City showcasing the contents of Frida's wardrobe; locked from her death in 1954 until being re-opened in 2002. Now, while I am very unlikely to be jumping on a plane and going to see it in person, these photos, and video, on the Univision News Tumblr are the next bext thing. I cannot tell you how much I am coveting these red boots:

All photos from Univision News Tumblr

Igloo of Coloured Ice

Read more about this lovely on the Global Edmonton website here

New Hairdo

Happy Birthday London Underground

The London Underground is 150 years old today. Hurrah! To commemorate, Royal Mail have brought out a set of beautiful stamps that makes my inner philatelist very happy:

All images from the Royal Mail website

I love, love, love the Miniature Sheet of classic advertising posters above; I might just have to be a bit sad and go get the Presentation Pack. The posters are always my favourite bit of a visit to the London Transport Museum; I could easily spend hours just looking through them all and not worry about all the other interesting exhibits in there.

As Hubbo works for TfL, we get free entry to the museum, which is a definite perk of the job. Every member of staff was also recently given a free copy of this book, which is HUGE, and a lovely commemorative pin to celebrate the anniversary, which I thought was reet nice of them.

There are some fabulous larger images of the stamps, plus two commemorative coins, here on Creative Review. Check 'em out.

WIP

Frida With Pigeons

This is (a rather bad low-light photo of) a brooch I made for Lovely Sam for Crimbo:

It's made from my fave brooch-making material, inkjet shrinky plastic, from here, a quick spray of varnish and a brooch pin. Et voila.

Having merrily been simply making characters up for, oh, forever, having to draw someone to look like a real person is really quite hard! I hope I've got the feel of Frida without necessarily needing to be too representational. My main inspiration was this photo by Juan Guzmán, which is just lovely:

And because my photo of the finished brooch was taken in appalling light, here's my original artwork:

Who's The Fairest One of All?

Fantastic Mr Fox, it seems.



This is our most recent bargainous second-hand find. This baby was a mere £1.99 in a local charidee shop. Hubbo surprised me with it one Saturday after I'd got back from work. Ennee good?

It's not in the most amazing condition, hence the bargain price, I suppose, but I'm happy with the little dude. I've had a lot of fun cleaning it up this week, particularly soaking the chain in Coke to remove the grime (works awesomely) and shining it up with Brasso. The wooden frame got a good going over just with warm water and vinegar - you'd be amazed at all the gunk that came off - and a bit of a feed with a rubbing of furniture wax. A quick polish of the glass, and it was up on the wall. I moved a few pictures round to make room for it, and it really is true that a change is as good as a rest. I do love bouncing light around with the odd mirror or two, it works just as well as a can of white paint.

It's quite inspired me to get on and change up a few more things around here. After having our 50s kitchen cabinet for only 16 months now, Hubbo and I finally got around to doing a bit of investigative paint stripping this afternoon. I had hoped we might be able to take it back to plain wood and paint parts of it up something like this, but I don't think the condition of the wood is going to be good enough to get away with it. So, back to Plan A, I think, which was to paint it all over in something near to its original colour, baby blue. Watch this space...

I Really Hope You've Been Watching CITV This Weekend

Even I, without a TV, have been catching up with CITV's Old Skool 30th Anniversary weekend on ITV Player with the likes of Count Duckula, Fraggle Rock and, best children's programme of all time, Knightmare. Get thee to a TV!

One of These Would be Fab Right Now, Ta

Books of 2012

80 of 'em. That's eight up on 2011, although I can't honestly say they're all brand new books I've never read/listened to before, as my Agatha Raisin marathon can attest.

The books I've been most excited about are those of Barbara Pym. I'd never heard of her before this summer and it was only by chance while working at not-my-usual-library that I happened to come across "Excellent Women" (which, several books into Pym's work, still remains my favourite). Love at first paragraph. Her writing reminds me of Stella Gibbons and Winifred Watson and Jane Austen. They're laugh-out-loud funny and bittersweet at the same time. I particularly love how characters from earlier novels crop up as an aside in later ones; everyone is connected to everyone else somehow. Fabulous stuff.

Speaking of laugh-out-loud funny, after loving Mr Fry and Mr Laurie for some time, I actually got around to reading some PG Wodehouse. GENIUS. One of PG's I read was "Something Fresh", the first novel in the Blandings series, which the BBC has just made a adaptation of, to be screened very shortly. CANNOT WAIT.

Yeah, Just Took Me Five Months to Sew on the Buttons. No Biggie.

This O W L S jumper took me just five evenings to knit back in July, but all the intervening months to sew the button eyes on. Ridic. In my defence, it did take quite a while to find buttons that were just the right size. And then, of course, they had to sit there waiting for me to actually sew them on. I can't get something new in and then USE IT STRAIGHT AWAY, can I now??!! And there are 42 of the blighters. Ahem. Anyhoo, it's all done now, and just before the turn of the new year, too. I've been wearing it with pride for the last three days.







All the details are here on Ravelry. The yarn is 100% acrylic, which isn't normally something I'd choose to knit a whole jumper with, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the yarn felt to knit with, plus the finished article is light enough that I can actually wear it indoors without sweltering away. And the fact it only cost a tenner to knit was very appealing. But, most exciting of all, people, I KNITTED CABLES. I. Knitted. Cables. I am excited about this, can you tell?

Now I just have my green jumper to sew up and that's two items off my WIP list. Huzzah!

2012 Week By Week

It's quite nice to look back and remember all those CIA illustrations I had on my desk last year. Some, due to deadlines, life, or just plain forgetfulness, for longer than others. Sport and the Olympics aren't really my bag, baby, so to see some of these representing some of the more, um, unusual sports was rather comforting. I'm sure I could get at least a Bronze in the Competitive Knitting heats.

End of Week 51

The biggest revelation of 2012 for me comes on its last day: there are only 51 weeks this year. According to this calendar, anyway. If you wanted to plan anything for today, the 31st, you're buggered as you have no place to jot it down. So, no social life for you. Sorry and all that, but there it is.

End of Week 50

Merry Christmas!

Too True

A fab post on how illustrators seem to be in four places at once by the lovely Sarah McIntyre on the David Fickling Books website.

Illustration by Sarah McIntyre

Crimbo Card 2012

Well, 20 days in to December, now everyone has (hopefully) received theirs, I suppose I ought to at least mention the 2012 Crimbo card!

I knew I was going to be busy throughout November, so I actually drew this baby up and had it at the printers before Halloween. I was going to do something with ice skating woodland creatures, but after scribbling a few ideas for that without anything really grabbing me, this postbox idea (as seen on my December header above) just jumped into my head and the rest....insert cliche here.

So, here we are:



And the inside:



No reindeer this year, I know, shocking!

If you pop back on Christmas Eve, there will be a little animated surprise.....

End of Week 49

The Last of the Moes

Better late than never, this was Hubbo's last Mo:



Creepy as bejiggery. I felt he could sidle up to me at any moment with a Lesley Phillips-esque "Hell-lo" and everything would go a bit Carry On.

Anyway, thankfully he is clean shaven again, and managed to raise 90 squids for Movember. Well donez that boy.

Kitteh

THE. BOOKS. ARE. DONE.

Can I haz life now?

End of Week 48

I really like this one.

End of Week 47

Spot the Illustrator

End of Week 46

End of Week 3

Hubbo's sister has promised him an extra fiver for his Movember total (currently at 90 squids! Woo!) for every different style he can adopt before the end of the month. So here we have the lip warmer at the end of week 3 and pre trim:



and post trim:



Apparently, it's going to go "all Errol Flynn" before Friday. Sigh.

I've Been Busy...

...finally updating my Folksy shop. Huzzah! I mean, I only made these things back in June, but there you are!

I've put some clasp purses and a couple of drawstring bags up there today; hopefully four more slightly larger drawstrings will be meeting them in the shop later this week when:

a) My camera batteries don't die on me mid-photo shoot
b) It stops raining long enough for some decent light
c) I'm not drawing knights/dragons/princesses etc
d) I'm not behind a desk in a library somewhere

I've been planning to put up some clasp purses for nearly three years now, so I think it's just about time I got them off the drawing board and out in to the real world! I've have already sold one this afternoon (the one with squirrels on, below), but as that was to Lovely Jutta, a friend IRL, I'm not sure that counts!

Please do take a look here. Ta v much.

Make Away

 Photo by Dan Thompson

Really, I should've blogged this weeks ago, but throughout November and up until this Sunday 25th, my Little Red Riding Hood themed prints have been for sale at Make Away, Brighton Square.

Now, Make Away is an awesome idea. Here's some blurb from their website:

Make-Away is a pop-up shop powered by Retail Ready People.
Delivered in partnership by vInspired and Retail Trust, Retail Ready People is a FREE 12-week skills development and volunteering programme which gives 16 – 25 year olds the chance to set up and run a high street shop in their local area. Retail Ready People provides training and support as well as practical skills and experience to help young people find out more about retail careers, progress and get promoted.

I just happened to see on Twitter that they were after people to sell their prints at the pop-up shop during November, emailed in, and was accepted. If you can get down there this weekend and lend some support to some fab young 'uns doing something really positive, and making use of an empty shop in our town centre, then please do go.

Here is a bit more info about Retail Ready people, Make Away and Empty Shops Network.

I Mean, I Get to Draw Stuff Like This....

....which has got to be fun in anyone's book, right?

Yep, Still Loving My Job

End of Week 45

Bit Late, But End of Week 44

Mo-age Update

End of week 2. Apparently, it's getting a trim to upper lip level very soon......

Mo in Progress

End of week 1, and there is definite Mo-age. Actually, I think Hubbo could grow a great big, bushy beard within a month if he fancied it. Obviously, he would have to forfeit all kisses ever, but, still, it could be done.

Man, I Love My Job

Sunset, Yesterday, The Beach, 4.24pm

We were hoping to see the Green Flash, but, alas, it was not to be.

End of Week 43

Cannot quite believe there are only nine weeks of this year left.

Happy Movember

After um-ing and ahh-ing for too many years, Hubbo is finally getting on down and taking part in Movember. This was him at the stroke of midnight, clean shaven and ready for a bit of mo-hatching. I'm hoping he'll go for something Dali-esque, although I have a horrible feeling it's going be something like this.

If you would like to sponsor Hubbo, or find out more about Movember and raising awareness of prostate cancer, go here. Cheers muchly!