'Papped'

Whilst gadding about in Barcelona this last week, my friend Fran and I got photographed for Italian Vogue's website. How nice! 

We had a fantastic time floating around the various music stages at Primavera Sound, drinking large amounts of sangria and generally forgetting the real world. I saw old friends and made plenty of new ones, and i've come home feeling re-inspired and ready to do 

something useful. 

Letterpress: An Instructional Video

I've lined up some posts for while i'm away, starting with this one, which just makes me want to play with inks and make a big mess.

Time For Travel

Things have been lovely and busy over the last week, parties to attend, work to do etc etc. I have felt a bit guilty about the lack of regular blogging, but to be honest, it's been a nice little break. Tonight/early tomorrow morning i will be heading to the airpot with my bags (that are yet to be packed) and flying off to Barcelona. Only it won't quite be Barcelona, it'll be Gerona airport and then a bus to Barca. Ah the joys of budget air travel. I'll be meeting a fairly Scottish lot when i get there and staying in an appartment in the city. We're going to Primavera festival, which i'm so excited about (have a look at the extensive line up).

I love Barcelona so much, it's probably my favourite European city. Last time i went was in the summer of 2009, and even though it rained a lot of the holiday, i had the best time. Because most of the music will be on at night, it means we'll have a lot of free time in the day to explore the city. I'm really hoping to go back to the great food market on La Rambla, and maybe go round some galleries too. Below are some snaps from 2009...

view from the cable cars

inside the food market

wonderful pastries

Very excited to go back and find new places! Just need to pack...

School's Out

Everything's done. By half nine on Thursday morning last week, i had handed in all my work to be marked. It was an odd day, i didn't feel ecstatic, or ready to go wild celebrating. In all honesty i felt pretty damn shattered, and at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. For the last five weeks i've had a nice routine of work, with an early to bed/early to rise mentality. Since Thursday i haven't really known what to do with myself. For the last few days i haven't been able to sleep easily and i already feel quite loose-endish. I think it's time i set myself a few little projects to keep me occupied. I'd also forgotten that i'm going away to Barcelona on the 24th for Prima Vera Festival, it's really crept up on me, but now i'm getting pretty excited. Roll on summer, and some nice weather please?

Bird By Bird

drawn by my Mum here

There is a book by Anne Lamott called 'Bird By Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life'. On the back of the book she explains the reasoning behind the title, she writes...


"Thirty years ago, my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilised by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's sholder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

That is exactly how i've dealt the last few weeks. My deadline is tomorrow, and i'll be handing in my portfolio, a 15,000 word journal and six accompanying sketchbooks. The only way i've been able to get through it all, (and feel quite satisfied with what i'm handing it) is to think back to to Anne's story and take it 'bird by bird'. Despite this, i feel completely drained of all energy, and anything intelligent to say, so I think a few days off might be in order.

Abandoned Monuments

Don't have much time to stop and write anything too insightful currently, I have two days before my 2nd year deadline. Here are some monuments i've been meaning to post about for about a week and haven't got round to it. The structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their "patriotic education." After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned. Photographer Kempenaers raises the question: can these former monuments continue to exist as pure sculptures?

What do you think? I kind of think they're beautiful in a weird way. 

Wasabi Dessert Room

As a bit of a treat to round off the week, the Man Candy and I went for dinner in China Town. The place was called Wasabi, and it was a sushi-off-the-belt sort of affair with added bowls of soupy goodness. After we'd finished we went upstairs to the 'dessert room' and got very excited at the menu. This is what we had...

green tea cheese cake

blueberry snow ice

almond and black sesame snow ice

It was like being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Everything looked amazing, then when you tasted it, your mouth didn't know what to expect.  Everything we tried was a complete surprise, and the textures were all so different to what we were used to. Definitely worth another visit soon. 

A Birthday Book

My best friend Rachel wanted to make something special for her Dad's birthday (last Friday) and so she decided to write a collection of short stories about all the weird and wonderful (and hilarious) things her family have done over the years. They are not a normal family by any means, so stories had titles that involved cooking iguanas, blowing family members up and flying planes. Rach asked me if i could help her turn her word document stories into something that looked a little easier on the eyes, and this was the outcome...

Pina

Seeing this little gem later on today, unfortunately it won't be being shown in 3D, but hopefully it'll be worth the visit.