Memories of the City of Light

A few days in Paris...what would you do?

We saw many of the famous sights such as the Musée du Louvre (above), 

l'arc de Triomphe (below) at the top of the Champs-Elysées...   

We walked and walked and I took loads of pictures...

thankfully my patient boyfriend didn't seem to mind!

Paris is such a photogenic city and the beautiful light coming through the clouds 

on most days we were there gave some of my photographs quite a magical quality.

We were lucky enough to be able to watch the Tour Eiffel do its twinkly 

sparkling at night from our hotel window too!

As my boyfriend had never been to Paris before, we opted to ascend 

the Eiffel Tower at night, which was pretty cool.

It's a great way to see the lights of the city.

We also managed to enjoy some of the café culture 

that France is so well known for...

I also enjoyed seeing some of the pretty Parisian architecture.

I noticed rather a lot of prehistoric creatures about the place 

(no complaints here though!)...

...Jurassic Paris!

So long, oh City of Light...I am certain we shall meet again!

P.S. If you click on any of the pictures, you can view the photographs at a larger size in a slideshow!

Dreaming of Paris

I am off to Paris on Tuesday! I can't quite put into words how happy and excited this makes me. It's truly one of my favourite cities to visit, for so many reasons.

I will be glad of a little change of scenery, time away from work and some precious quality time with my other half - it will be the first time I've actually been there with a romantic partner, and he has never visited the city before so I'm looking forward to showing him the sights.

If you've never been, I heartily recommend it - it's a place I would describe as having an almost magical quality about it. I recently watched the Tour de France's final foray up the Champs-Élysées... enough to send me off into a little daydream! As a child I visited the famous avenue and will always remember it because the trees which line the street were beautifully lit for Christmas.

It helps that I speak fairly good French, I suppose - well... at least I do when I'm not rusty! I am tempted to watch Amelie again (one of my favourite films of all time so I hardly need an excuse to watch it) to get my "French brain" in gear.

I have a sketchbook and some photographs from previous trips (including the ones featured in this blog post - they are from 2001 and shot on 35mm film so I had to *scan* my prints!) that I really love and treasure, so here's hoping I come back with a few new memories to cherish.

I'm only going for a handful of days but you can be sure I'll be aiming to make the most of it! Things I am looking forward to include: visiting a proper boulangerie, eating fresh crepes and lovely croque madame/monsieur(s), buying macarons, browsing the Parisian markets, checking out foodie treats "dans le supermarche," going for a wander along the river Seine and seeing the Tour d'Eiffel sparkling at night. I also dearly love the Musee d'Orsay and will be thrilled if I manage to return to the Orangerie to immerse myself in Monet.

I also hope to visit a couple of crafty/woolly shops while I'm there - 

so if you have any good recommendations for me, 

I'd love to hear them!

A sprinkling of inspiration

Hello! Hope you're all having a nice weekend. I thought I would break my post-Knitting & Crochet blog week blogging hiatus by sharing a couple of things which have been inspiring me recently.

I'm a big fan of recycling and upcycling. I also like kitties and good design... so I had to try hard not to "squeee" when I saw this!

Image via Atomic Attic

Atomic Attic creates these wonderful pet beds made from recycled iMacs - so they're nice & colourful and the light shines through them too. Doesn't that cat look really rather content in it?

Birds + lego + art = awesomeness. If you don't believe me, for proof, see below:

Image via Laughing Squid

- thanks to the North East Craft Mafia for highlighting those! There's a whole series of British birds built by Lego enthusiast DeTomaso Pantera, including a woodpecker, blue tit, kingfisher, goldfinch and even a puffin.

My Sketchbook Project - Part 1

Good news - I did indeed manage to finish my sketchbook on time for the Sketchbook Project (but only just!). Now that it's done & dusted - and has safely arrived at its new home in the Brooklyn Art Library (yay!) - I thought I'd show you a little bit more of it.

I really enjoyed working on this project because I treated it as a kind of fun exploration of pattern and texture via drawing, painting and collage. It so was nice to do something that was about inspiration and an exploration of creativity (and not about making a product for sale, for a little change).

If you haven't come across the Sketchbook Project, it's an annual art project open to everyone worldwide which encourages people to get creative with a standard sketchbook.

The brief is really up to you (there are suggested themes, and my chosen one was "It's winter where you are" but I used it fairly loosely and really as more of a starting point!) and the final submissions go on tour, eventually being housed at the Brooklyn Art Library in New York.

For more information, and to see the dates of the 2012 Sketchbook Project world tour, visit the website.

New year, new ideas

Hello! I hope you've all had a great start to the new year. At the moment, I am having a phase of definite renewal and getting back into making things after a bit of a break.

I've been busily working on trying to finish my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project - really hoping I'll complete it in time! Enjoying it thus far though, it's so refreshing to get back to drawing and painting, something I love but don't make the time for very often any more.

Today involved playing around with this damask pattern motif and gold ink. Fun! I've also been sprucing things up a little online - hope you like the new blog banner and buttons on the sidebar.

I realise Valentine's day is just around the corner (already?!), so if you're looking for some inspiration, check out this post from last year: DIY Valentine!

Why Handmade?

Why do people buy handmade? There are so many reasons, really.

Why I buy Handmade: because it has so much more meaning than buying something mass-produced and because as a designer/maker myself, I value the skills, time, work, thought and energy which has gone into making something by hand.


Image via DaWanda
I love the uniqueness of something which has been crafted with care by someone creative. The fact that every object (and for that matter, maker or designer) has a rich story behind it, something that gives pieces 'life,' as it were. I enjoy finding out what inspired the person who made a particular handmade piece.


Something else I delight in is going to local markets and independent shops to see beautiful things made by passionate people living in my own city (or further afield!) and forging a connection with them, their creative process and their creations.

This post was sparked off by the UK Handmade "Buy Handmade" Campaign in support of Designer Makers. I'd love to know: what are your reasons for buying handmade?

Documenting Knitted Graffiti

Yep, you read that right. Knitted graffiti, also known as yarn-bombing is (hopefully) getting its very own documentary! I wanted to share this because I think it's about time this most colourful and tactile form of urban art got a little bit of recognition :)


Find out more about the Yarn Graffiti Documentary project here.

Make Some Noise...

...for the Beastie Boys! :D


I'm excited to say that a piece of Textile Art I created some time ago has recently been featured on the Indie Fixx blog - a guest post by the lovely Michelle of Craftsville (and several other crafty ventures!) on UK stitchery! Read the article here.


The work was inspired by the Beastie Boys album artwork for "To the 5 Boroughs" - if you're not familliar with it, it features a line drawing of the New York city skyline - an illustration by Matteo Pericoli.



Have a lovely weekend, dear readers! I'm going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Living in Dreamland

Day Six: Something to aspire to.

I have seen many knitted things, but one which really stopped me in my tracks was this knitted *ballgown*. The pattern is called Arwen and is quite simply, utterly divine.



I really don't think I will ever find the time (and patience) to make this Thing of Wonder...I can but dream! *sigh*

Winter Contemporary Textiles Exhibition

Hi there, I thought I'd share some exciting news with all you lovely readers!

My work has been selected to be included in the Winter Contemporary Textiles Exhibition at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, Surrey - a gallery specialising in Contemporary Fine Art & Craft.


The exhibition will run from Friday 19th November 2010 (Private View) until Saturday 22nd January 2011.

Magpie Markets!

This autumn/winter sees a return of the always fabulous Magpie Market, on the second Sunday of each month from now until Christmas. Oh, and did I mention you can pick up WildCat Designs/WildKittens creations (and other goodies) there? ;)

(please click image for larger version of flyer)

Free goody bags for the first 50 early birds through the doors on the day. Come see all the awesome things: illustration, art, design, craft, jewellery and vintage. (Perfect for getting gifts sorted.)

The first is this Sunday, 10th October from 12 noon til 5pm at The Lot in Edinburgh's Grassmarket - hope see you there!

A Kindle of Cats

I do love the English language for the amusement that the collective nouns for animals provides. An army of ants, a congress of baboons, a charm of hummingbirds, a mischief of mice, a parcel of hogs and an ascension of larks. How delightful!

What prompted me to ponder these was a review I recently came across of an exhibition of work at Haunch of Venison (London) by the lighting designer Stuart Haygarth entitled "Found" in Grafik magazine.

Image via Grafik

I like the way the ornaments wouldn't be significant on their own, but because they have been collected, ordered and arranged in a particular way, they become an object of interest. Also makes for a very unusual and interesting lamp!

Image via artnet

Travelling

Well, well. It's been a busy few weeks since my last post.

I had a nice time at the Etsy retreat in August, which was held at Queen Margaret's School, in Escrick near York. It was essentially a weekend of crafting of all kinds! Plus lots of chatting and there was a good amount of cake (mostly made by the lovely Marmalady) consumed. Definitely no bad thing, and it's always nice to meet other folks who 'get' etsy and who are creative too - equally good to be able to put faces to names, as it were.



How pretty is this ^ school?! It was our home for a couple of nights, as we stayed in one of the boarding houses there and crafted our little hearts out in the art block during the day. Uninterrupted. Bliss.

I travelled even further away from home for a few days in London last month. I always get so excited about going there, and as ever, I had a list of things I wanted to do which was much longer than I could possibly have managed!

It ended up being a very arty weekend, as I visited the Tate Modern and also saw my good friend Beatie Fox's MFA Degree show at Wimbledon College of Art. She's a talented artist, do check out her website and sketchbook-style blog.

My visit to the Tate was quite fruitful too, though I was a little disappointed to discover that the Mark Rothko room wasn't around. I did, however see a few thought-provoking works, including Robert Therrien's 'Red Room' - a little room filled, or rather, crammed, entirely with all things red (crayons, red converse, baskets, blankets, painted wooden furniture...) - and also 'No Title (Table and Four Chairs)' which was an interesting exploration of scale. It's a sculptural work which consists of a giant-size table and chair set, which you can walk through and around. I had the feeling of being very small whilst exploring it!