A rather amazing portrait...

{A portrait of me by the amazingly talented and lovely Caitlin from Hue and Hum} 

Last month, my blog friend Caitlin (who I first blogged about here featuring her amazing art) from Hue and Hum posted about accepting portrait orders and I jumped at the chance to have one of me with one of my cameras...

And here is the result. I just adore it. I love the yellow camera, all the stripes, the cute shoes and my usual outfit of a cardigan and jeans, woohoo!!

See more of Caitlin's portraits here, she is one seriously talented lady!!!


p.s. you might notice the original portrait that Caitlin has that I have an earring, I edited it out as I don't have my ears pierced... sorry Caitlin :)

How to Outsmart Tea Pirates!

If you've been following my blog for a while then you'll know that over the past three years I have made some amazing blog friends and one of the most talented (and nicest) people that I've had the privilege to get to know is Megan from Studio MME.

Over the last three years Megan has worked incredibly hard on her work and her blog to get to the stage where she is now - writing a book. And I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Read on for more details from Megan herself. 
Rhianne x
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


When I was little, I was too cool for real friends and not cool enough for imaginary ones.
 If books had counted as friends though, I would have been the most popular girl at school.  I’m embarrassed to say that I used to spend weekends organizing my bookcase.
Yep, I was that nerdy.

My favorite books included: Sabriel by Garth Nix, The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey, Imogene’s Antlers by David Small, and The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

All those years of book friending and bookcase organizing must have rubbed off on me because I’ve just written my very own book!

 

How to Outsmart Tea Pirates (and other useful sailing tips) 
contains a collection of my quirky pen and ink illustrations and my quirkier short stories.  It’s the book I wish had been on my bookshelf when I was little, but better late than never!

My fellow English majors always thought I was the weird one to write about such things as wallpaper that eats end tables, pirates with sugar tongs for hands, and the Barracollossus (the fish that eats bad boys and girls – tricycles and all).  But I love stuff like that and I know you do too!  I believe that this book can rekindle your wonder and spark your imagination.  It will have you laughing every story and wondering what would happen if the tales were real.  Would you set sail with the tea pirates and subject prisoners to high tea with pinkies up before they walk the plank?  Or would you sit in on the Court of the Gulls and help settle food disputes?  If you’re young at heart or if you’d like to add another special book to your shelf, I know you’ll enjoy my very first book!



 If you’d like to see a sneak peek chapter or hear an audio recording of a story,
you can find them HERE!

I’m having a very special pre-order until June 20th.  I love when an author signs a book so I’m signing every pre-order copy.  Plus, to make the book even more special, I’m including one extra, handwritten sailing tip!  (Just in case you’re at sea with the book.)

I’d love to know what your favorite childhood books were!

Megan

Film burn...

Unexpected abstract art from my little Diana Mini :)

Let's kick the August Break off with something exciting...

Crossprocessed film! I've always wanted to try it - but I was honestly a bit scared, it seemed so advanced for me but then I used some Lomography slide film in my borrowed LC-A in Manchester and I was sold - the colours, the contrasts, the extremes... I love it!


{note- I have no idea who they are, I just thought it looked good}



I'm in love with the colours and I couldn't be more happier with these photos taken at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last month. I've also really enjoyed taking my holga out more this year too. We've missed each other.


Location: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England
Camera: Holga 135bc
Film: Lomography XPro Chrome
(E-6 slide film developed with C-41 chemicals)

Oh my...

Somedays, I really struggle to think of something to blog - something that I actually want to share... My mood has always dictated how I work (which kind of sucks sometimes when I need to produce something amazing but I really don't feel like it...) but luckily (for us all) I feel like my mood is starting to improve...

and then, sometimes, I just stumble onto something amazing that has to be shared.

Pay what you want prints from Hue and Hum

(Found on one of my fave blogs Love and Photographs)

the lover-tine
mixed media on panel board

the friend-tine
mixed media on panel board

lady hue
mixed media

Aren't they beautiful? The last one is my favourite... and you can pay what you want. Amazing!!

You can see more prints and details about how to get them here!

{all prints are by Caitlin Connolly from Hue and Hum who also has her own lovely blog here}

From Notebookdoodles to Me

Check out the rest of the From Me to You 100 Doodles set here!

Birthday card (Helen)

After looking at some illustration blogs I decided that it was time for me to start drawing again. I haven't drawn for fun in what feels like 4 years (uni wasn't for fun...) but what to draw? I settled on drawing a birthday card for one of my friends Helen. She loves elephants and when we were living in London I took her to see Hanson at the Koko... so I thought I would combine the two!

After scanning the drawing I thinned out the top black line (I got a bit too enthusiastic) and added the text - my handwriting is awful, so I thought a nice font would look better. I then experimented with adding some grey to give it a bit more depth

And this one I did for me - mainly because I wanted to colour something in, hehe.

Boyfriend wasn't too keen on this one (maybe because of the pink?) but I love it!

Oh my...

Yellow? Check...Shoes? Check...

Gorgeous coats? Check...

Birds? Check!

How unbelievably lovely are these illustrations?

They almost make me wish I did illustration instead of design...

I should really start drawing and painting again, I know I would love it...

For more see Kate Wilson's portfolio, Etsy and blog, its worth a look.

{Via fffound}

Oh my... a lovely find.

I found a lovely find today - the portfolio of an illustrator Chuck Groenick!
Here are a few of my faves!

I love finding lovely things randomly... its another thing that makes me happy.

Man on Wire

I love that feeling of sitting down to watch a film with no expectations. I especially love that feeling when the film turns out to be incredibly moving, funny and completely awe inspiring.

Man on Fire is the academy award winning documentary about Phillipe Petit, a french tight-rope walker, unicyclist, magician and pantomime artist who in 1974 stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's Twin Towers without a net.

The whole idea of illegally tight rope walking a 43m gap at 1,368 ft is unbelieavable, yet watching the film you are totally enthralled by Petit's enthusaism, personality and ambition. He is an incredible performer and it is not just the walk that makes the film so compelling but also his storytelling and the supporting stories from his friends, especially Annie Allix and Jean-Louis Blondeau.

The fact that he is so genuine and has no reason to perform such an act other than the fact that we wants to drives the story along and when the task is completed and Annie Allix is crying at the memory of something so beautiful, you feel like you have been part of something incredibly special, not just because of the story, but because of the people.

Wells - Saltmarsh Coast Gallery

Whilst we were at Wells my boyfriend dragged me into the Saltmarsh Coast Gallery to buy some prints. His parents and his Grandmother already owned prints of the beach huts and he really wanted some too.

The gallery hosts photos by Gareth Hacon and Jon Gibbs which are mounted and framed within the shop. I'll admit, it took us a while to settle on two that we liked... however we now have two more prints (to go with our London ones) that are absolutely beautiful.

All I need now is that gallery wall to put them on...

Finally... Ingleton Waterfalls (Part 1)

Finally I have the pictures from last weekend... we went to Ingleton Waterfalls in North Yorshire. It's a 4 mile hike which goes up along one river, across the hills, then down another river. Needless to day we were all very sleepy by the time we had finished... it was amazing though and worth the sore legs! Harry slept for two days straight afterwards, hehe...

Part 1 is the pictures of the arty things we saw along the way - the first time I noticed the coins in in the dead tree I got very excited - how much money do you think is in them? Harry also got excited as he could see over it... He's so cute!

Oh my...

A series of rare film posters went under the hammer at Christie's in London last month.

I love vintage posters - I'm totally in love with the Sabrina poster and the fact its not in English just makes it more appealing! All I would have needed was £12,000 and these could have been mine! I wish...

Oh my...

This is amazing - I found it through A Room Somewhere and it might be my favourite blog I've stumbled upon yet! Its such a wonderful idea!

Here are a few of my faves! There's also a book out - I think I would love a print of one though for our house :)

oh my...

These are amazing! I'm completely in awe!

Click here to see more...