Critters and Creatures

Don’t be sad. I like giants. Indeed, and I like Lauren Carney Art too. There is a black humour lurking amongst the sad-eyed, rosy-cheeked characters: from a tearful giant mourning his lack of friends, to the octopus engulfing the girl (or is she a mermaid?), to the tiger-girl inadvertently gashing her beloved. These characters are tangled in the undergrowth, or overwhelmed by critters and creatures, overtaking them or zooming about their heads.

The strange inhabitants of Lauren Carney’s world wander through a pastel-coloured panorama, the sweet colours belying their unfortunate circumstances. Go take a wander through her landscape.

Floating off on Summer Dreams

‘Lucy in the Sky’, Chesterfield, United Kingdom, by copefan; camera: Polaroid SLR680; film: Impossible Project PX600 BetaIsn’t this lomograph Lucy in the Sky just like a dreamscape? The colours are so soft and pretty I feel like I am floating off to sleep – to dream of castles in the sky. And the second image (below) instantly made me think of Monet’s haystack paintings, the scratchy hay warm with summer.

Both photographs are by Copefan and can be found on their page on the Lomography website.

Chesterfield, United Kingdom, by copefan; camera: Polaroid SLR680; film: Impossible Project PX600 Beta

A Fine Use of Paper

Just wow: ‘Icosahedron’ by Richard SweeneyRecently I needed to source paper for a book I am designing through K.W.Doggett Fine Paper. Their website is very cute with dogs wandering on and off the screen.

I remember seeing the calendar they produced last year, full of paper sculptures of dogs. I liked one particular pair so much that I took a snap of it. Apparently the company regularly commissions students to produce artwork for their annual calendar.

Here are some other inspiring paper sculptures. (Click images for artist links.)

Delicate as cobwebs: ‘Fern Space Blast’ by Chris NatropFashion dolls by Hazel BuchanA paper diorama: ‘In the Hedgerow’ by Helen Musselwhite

Dreaming of Travel

Cat in Blue Land, by Andrew Ferrier; camera: Canon EOS 40D; from FlickrI have been so busy in the last week or two, working on my first issue of Outline magazine, the publication for Illustrators Australia. It’s finally finished and will be published tomorrow, yay! I have also started a part-time job in graphic design, so that takes me away from my home office for three days of the week.

In the meantime, I am daydreaming of my coming overseas trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Just look at that picture of the blue city of Chefchaouen! The entire city really is that photogenic.

I love the light in the picture of Lisbon, the lavender sky, and all those orange tiled rooftops. As for the double exposure of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, that’s just dreaminess itself. It’s an original view of probably one of the most-photographed pieces of architecture in the world.  Lisbon, by @rmando; from Flickr

I am already thinking I will have to take several more camera cards with me than I did to Vietnam two years ago; after all I am going to not one, but three countries. I almost hyperventilate with excitement when I think of it. The big challenge will be to capture unique pictures … but I think I am up to it!

Click on images for links.

Double-exposure of Sagrada Familia, by Filippo Lorenzi; camera: Holga; from Flickr

Big-Eyed Monsters

One night walking home down Chapel St a couple of years ago, I took photos of the cutest, most monstrous ‘window art’ I ever did see.

The Chapel St Precinct runs for about 2km, and the shops run the gamut from high end designer boutiques to inexpensive chainstores. About a quarter of the way down from the top end there was a strange little empty shop that seemed to have once upon a time sold support hosiery for the disabled. I remember dusty legs encased in elasticised fabric displayed in the front window.

This was quite amusing, but it was the windows themselves that caught my attention: they were plastered over with these quaint drawings of toothy monsters, with pink paint dribbling down like gore. Their faces were dominated by ferocious eyes, wicked little grins and a multitude of patterns.

I say ‘were’, because sadly the legs are gone and the monsters have been scraped off. The store is now, I believe, a luxury leathergoods boutique.