34 - Mixing it up

This past week was the Mr's 33rd birthday and to mark the occasion I thought I'd do something I don't do very often - paint. I decided to paint his birthday card.

I very rarely put paintbrush to paper these days but actually found the whole thing very relaxing and dare I say, enlightening. Blending and mixing, watching colours meld and change and join together to become something new and different. Such a subtle art and mix of patience and experimentation and perseverance to create something beautiful. I began to see the beauty in those moments of muddyness that come right before the clarity and perfect blend you've been looking for.

read more

33 - GREAT GATSBY

I'm so looking forward to seeing "The Great Gatsby" and so over excited by the very Baz Luhrmann-ness of the whole thing that I designed a set (or two) of stationery in honour (and bought a new typeface - any excuse).

I took the general look of the era and aimed for a modern treatment. I was thinking more J-Z than J-Gatsby or at least that level of celebrity, wealth and fame. I had found a typeface that I had fallen in love with too and a Great Gatsby styled invite seemed the perfect excuse to buy it. The font is called Port and it just seems to exude the art deco feel in a very modern way with geometric curves, hairlines and an almost navajo (think Coachella coolness) feel to parts of it. I'm itching to work with this in a live project now so if any of you are looking for a Great Gatsby inspired wedding stationery set (or any stationery set for that matter) then I'm your girl.

Fallen for the Great Gatsby style too? Follow my Pinterest board here, I'll continue adding more to it as time goes by. Its a look and feel I think has a lot of mileage and can be quite beautiful and pretty in an un-assuming way as well as being all-out blow your mind glamour.

read more

32 - Party House

Today I am featuring a house designed specifically with parties and live music recording in mind. As far as houses on the market go, there aren't many cooler than this.

Since I got married in 2006 I have always had it in my mind that I'd like to own a wedding venue. Something a little, different. When we were venue hunting we were plagued by places that just weren't us (call us fussy but neither of us could envision ourselves getting married somewhere that it looked like several people had already been sick on the carpet - just don't get the fascination with over fussy carpets) and really just wanted somewhere that felt quite homely and un-pretentious. I'm chucking to myself now I read what I've just written as I think about where we actually got married - not pretentious but not un-assuming either, I'll post on this another time.

I digress. This house was designed by Peter Womersley in the 50's as a wedding gift to his brother (does anyone actually have relatives that generous these days?) and I just can't help have a nagging feeling thinking should I? Should I attempt to buy this beautiful place and host fabulous parties and gatherings and during the days open up to architecture students and design appreciators? Should I buy a home that would be begging for me to splash out on stacks of mid-century furniture? Should I begin to build a legacy that my children would one day be proud to take over? Could I be faithful to every detail of this time-capsule of a building?

I have dreams of a Smog Shoppe style space with living walls all around, or a renovated barn in the middle of nowhere with lights strung from the roof and and enchanting feel about it, I long to turn an industrial unit in a city centre into a hidden oasis that is part garden centre, part inner-city farm, part venue. Maybe this house is a beautiful idea, but not quite The Dream. Lately I've been trying to live by a rule that if something isn't high on my agenda or dreamy (to me) then I leave it to someone else who will appreciate it - whatever it is - and do it justice. The house is share-worthy though, and if any of you happen upon buying it, I'd like to come and visit some day. Click here to be taken to the sale site The Modern House (where I have taken the images from) or for more information on the building. The Modern House also promote some seriously cool holiday rentals, I'm eying up the one in Hunstanton, Norfolk and wondering if I dare risk the children there! 

read more

31 - Narrative

I've known since the days of sitting on river banks colouring in with my Nan whilst my Dad and Granddad were fishing that I wanted to do something creative with my life. I've been a graphic designer for a decade now (wowzers) and that feeling has never gone away.

Lately I've been thinking about the products I create (and am beginning to curate) and really honing in on what I already know and the process behind the knowledge and actions that get it all done. I want to transfer that greatness in to some other areas that I'm interested in and at the same time give an even stronger footing to whats already there.

I have realised that beyond design and creating, all of my true loves have a narrative quality to them. Magazines with photographic spreads that tell a story from start to finish in eight photographs. Books that weave a character and their tales in to my mind and heart from a first person point of view. Movies and TV that draw me in to their own colourful reality via a story-teller character. I'm even talking way back to Never Ending Story as one of my earliest film loves, I wanted to fly that luck dragon so so badly! I'm not a writer or an illustrator but I crave the feeling of telling it all larger than life in a way that is memorable, nostalgic, meaningful and has staying power.

Right now my hero is Ed Bloom in the movie Big Fish. The man who tells every story in his life in such a fantastical way that each moment is embellished and elevated to the stuff of legend. I truly believe that we all have the power to harness our stories and experiences and root them in nostalgia and a touch of magic to make our lives immortal.

All images taken from the film "Big Fish" - Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc - 2003

-

read more