Ohio is a piano

Ohio has 88 counties. A piano has 88 keys. Put the two together and you get some crazy sounding stuff.

You can never have enough crayons

These are some lovely looking Japanese crayons that are inspired by ice cream flavours. I haven't got the fainted idea where you can get them from here, but I want them nonetheless.

I wish I had thought of this (mark one)

So, I just started knitting. Well, rather trying to knit. It's not going quite as rapidly as anticipated (I blame it on knitting being unfriendly to left-handers) but I am getting there slowly but surely. I am determined to have knitted a jumper by Christmas as a hard earned gift to myself. Anyway, I digress. I found this company online 'Wool and the Gang' which is a real incentive to start making stuff. Basically you choose what exactly you want to knit from their collection online (whether it be a jumper/hat/bag, whatever), you choose the colour, and then they send you the wool, needles, pattern, sewing needle and a customisation kit. Clever indeed (oh and for those too lazy to bother knitting, but want to look like they aren't, there are finished products ready to buy). It is nice to see knitting not looking so naff. Not that that ever stopped me...

Wigglies

Gee WIlli's animated "wiggly" gifs are simple yet strangely mesmerising.

Things I would like inside and outside my house

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Richard Sanderson

I have officially become a fan of Richard Sanderson's work. He is a recent UWE graduate in illustration, and what I like so much about his work is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It all looks as though it has been drawn with real enthusiasm without worrying whether it is right / in style / serious enough (which are stupid things I seem to worry about far too much). Maybe he does worry about these things (maybe we all do...?) but that's not the impression his work gives off. I am now going to go draw some stuff and hopefully it will turn out half as good as this.

Keep it complicated

I haven't been brave enough to try designing my own typeface yet, but the work of Sveinn Davidsson is making me want to try! I don't know what it is with me and nautical things (worryingly I now have at least nine striped t-shirts in regular rotation in my wardrobe), but I love this Times New Rope typeface. I'm increasingly drawn to hand-drawn/illustrative typefaces recently as it seems almost impossible to improve on some of the great existing typefaces. Speaking of hand-drawn typography, I have just remembered another post I've been meaning to make!

Tactile type

I came across the work of Evelin Kasikov recently. She is Estonian and a Central St Martin's MA graduate who explores crafts within the realm if graphic design. I particularly like her handmade halftone screens. She manages to combine two very different styles without the work looking too 'crafty' or twee.

To infinity and beyond!

Although I must admit, I am dubious as to whether man really did walk on the moon in 1969 (I am partial to a good conspiracy theory), but I do have NASA to thank for these amazing images of space. They are almost to beautiful to be real.

Julie Mehretu

I came across Julie Mehretu's work a while ago whilst I was researching mapping techniques for my dissertation. She is an artist that uses large scale multi-layered paintings and drawings to create new narrative using abstracted images of cities, histories, wars and geographies. The architectural drawings that are layered into her work are really interesting - I would like to try to incorporate this into my own work.

Sorry!

Hello, I haven't updated my blog for a long time, I've been pretty busy with moving back to Sheffield and such, and it's quite easy to get out of the habit of posting regularly. But all that is about to change! I promise!