Oct 102012
 

paperflowers Papel de Flores

No, these aren’t particularly Spanish. In fact, Spain nor Latin America has anything to do with any of these images. It was just a little flourish, a little fluffing up as paper flowers just doesn’t sound as exciting, does it? However, this wee blog post is merely a pictorial pleasure ride than anything of meaning or substance. I like paper flowers and soon shall be having a go. I’ve done origami flowers before as you can see in my portfolio, but I want to try something different. Fingers crossed, they’ll work out lovely.

With thanks to all the contributors on We Heart It

Aug 072012
 

AugustBreak 070812 Flowering Glory

A little Peony offering from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, London. A beautiful place to go and visit whatever the weather. There’s a cafe up there too so you can sit amongst the blooms whilst enjoying an edible treat.

Jun 062012
 

Jubilee A Very British Affair

So, Wednesday morning dawns and how confused do we all feel? Very. I spent all the weekend feeling most baffled as to which day it was. But it was of little matter as I was up in the land of the Lancastrians visiting family and enjoying some of their rural gems, a wide variety of which are on offer. We took a little from ‘there’ and a little from ‘here’, and mixed it all up to make for a fantastically good weekend. The weather did not deter us, we wrapped up warm and stoically carried on. We had our ‘Jubilee’ picnic in the grey chill of 8 degrees (at least it wasn’t raining) in the grounds of the National Trust’s Sizergh Castle, we had a Bank Holiday ice-cream whilst promenading along the seafront of Morecambe in the glorious sunshine, we took in flowers and architecture, cake and fellow holiday-makers. An absolute delight was seeing the ‘newly’ (four years ago) renovated Art-deco Midland Hotel by Urban Splash. Sympathetically done yet brought bang up to date by the use of contemporary bright colours and materials. We ate cake, drank tea, visited a DIY retailer, watched jousting, got lost in gardens and counted tadpoles, discussed sheep, laughed at the telly box, deconstructed the past as well the present. All-in-all making a jolly British bank holiday without a single flag being waved between us.

Images from top to bottom, left to right: Lancaster train station, flower stairs at Sizergh Castle, Iris in the Winter Gardens at Sizergh Castle, the front of the Midland Hotel at Morecambe, seating inside the cafe of the Midland Hotel at Morecambe, Jubilee picnic cake and cupcake, Eric Morecambe statue at Morecambe, monarchs in training taking a rest after jousting at Sizergh castle.

All images © Emily Blunden/ Atticus and Finch

May 232012
 

Lilac Lip Lickingly Lush Lilac

I’ve become a little transfixed with lilac since brain-storming a test shoot with photographer Iwan Essery. We’re doing a shoot playing with colour in time for a certain small event coming up in the next few weeks. I’m going to be trying girly on for fit. I’m thinking of ribbons, doilies, cake, sugar and all things sweet in dirty muted pastels. It’ll be fun and a nice change from my usual clean cut graphic approach. The pictures I will be sure to share with you in time. I thought that if I do a whole post dedicated to the colour that it might help free me of my obsession. It might. I’ve very much looking forward to this shoot and have been preparing for it during the last few weekends. Any of you following me on twitter may well be able to put together the clues of included products but it shouldn’t spoil it too much. It’ll be an exploration of colour and texture whilst trying to push the boundaries of expected and normal themes. A little turned-about and spruced-up patriotic games and celebrations. Of which I am keen. I’m almost tempted to dye my hair too…

Images taken with thanks, from We Heart It

Apr 302012
 

Camilla Meijer at Mydeco Walls Deserve To Be Bright And Cheery

As we see the end of yet another wet weekend, on the last day of the month and hopefully the end of April showers, I wanted to bring you something bright and cheery. I know I could do with it. And I have found just the thing. Camilla Meijer’s digitally printed floral wallpaper. Printed onto non-woven fleece paper, this wallpaper is similar to that old 70′s vinyl-esque paper. Which makes it not only easy to clean but also suitable for wet areas. These four designs are part of Meijer’s collection available on Mydeco and a very nice selection it is too. Crystal clear linear drawings of some of the most popular and well known English flowers combined with a bold and bright colour palette, this is the easiest way to inject some neon pop into your home. Probably best if you stick to just covering one feature wall, otherwise you might pass out from an over-indulgence of colour, though if that appeals, by all means reject my words of advice. Go sew the seeds of colour!

From top to bottom, left to right: Rose flower, in orange; The Summer Garden; Victoria, in blue; Poppy, in yellow, All W:46.5 x L:1000cm, £240, available from Mydeco.

Apr 112012
 

Dots and Circles Dots and Circles

Here is another of my recently deceased Pinterest boards. I’m still deliberating over it, would you believe? I like my growing collection of towards of ‘nice’ things and it makes it a very quick and easy reference board. But alas, I just cannot align that with the terms and conditions and the implications of these. So, I bring you ‘Dots and Circles’, the early beginnings of a cyclical mood board. You eager-eyed lot will no doubt spot the appearance of my favourite tumbler, Nezart Design, yet again. Big Fan. Lots of lovely imagery on there.

1.) paint tins, via: Nezart Design, source: For Art’s Sake, 2.) Car Atlas-Rainbow by David T Waller, 3.) back cover of Lombard Handicraft, 1970, source: Stopping Off Place, 4.) Time via stoppingoffplace.blogspot.com, source: Macdonald Educational (A Unit For Teachers), published for the Schools Council by MacDonald Educational Ltd., London, 1972-1973, 5.) Circles by James Neeley, Flickr, 6.) Artist Yayoi Kusama installation for Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, source: Thisiscollossal, 7.) Crystal Circle by ▵, Flickr, 8.) Circle Packing Artifacts, source: blpmt_van, Flickr, 9.) Splash by ▵, from Flickr, 10.) Origami flowers by artist James Roper, source: ModernNet, 11.) clusters or the corruption of chance (2008) cs144, Frank Huelsboemer, 12.) clusters or the corruption of chance (2008), cs139, Frank Huelsboemer,
13.) Car Atlas-Rainbow by David T Waller, Flickr

Mar 052012
 

whiter than white Whiter Than White

Due to my growing concern about copyright issues, I’m beginning to wonder how wise the current craze for Pinterest is. Seeing as I work in an industry that produces imagery but as a stylist, I receive no copyright for my work (granted it’s team work between stylist and photographer but without the stylist’s concept, realisation and creation, there would be no image) and often not even a credit, this is an issue close to my heart. Now this has been as real tussle of heart and mind, as Pinterest to me is absolute heaven. A visual pinboard-moodboard of beautiful things collected into one place all accessible at the touch of a few keys- oh yes please. But something leaves me a little uncomfortable about it too. Whilst it’s great to share lovely things, so few people source things properly and even scarcer are gaining permission for images, that it makes it rather arduous and nee on impossible to find the original source, if you find the image on a blog or tumbler. I think my head will win and I shall be transferring all the images over to my blog whilst doing my best to credit EVERYTHING to the best of my ability before closing my Pinterest account.

Here’s my ‘Whiter Than White’ board.

From left to right, top to bottom: 1.) Source: weissesrauschen, via Nezartdesign 2.) Source: Big Drip by Daniel Arsham at OHWOW, via: 1 pce 3.) Source: Wood Anemone by Karin A, via Flickr 4.) Source: Deep into the Cold Mountain by Antoaneta Yordanova & Dimiter Petrov, via Behance 5. Source: Serendipity (before the ran) by Karin A, via Flickr 6.) Source: Booooooom.com, via: Mabona Origami 7.) Source: Booooooom.com, via: Mabona Origami 8.) Source: Winter Diptych by Karin A, via Flickr

Feb 272012
 

Ceramic Art London The Potters Creativity

This weekend saw the Ceramic Art London 2012 exhibition at RCA and what a treat it was. A real mixed bag- row after row of pots, it wasn’t. Small, big, squat, skinny, round, short, flat, pale, bold, shy and multi-coloured, everything was covered. No fewer than 77 stands of contemporary ceramics, both artists from all over the Britain Isles, near and far, and international artists from Germany, Holland and Turkey, exhibited their work. There were old favourites such as Kate Schuricht, Tanya Gomez and Lara Scobie and new names (to me) Valéria Nascimento and Jin Eui Kim amongst others. I like ceramics a lot even though personally, I can’t abide the sensation of wet clay drying on my hands (it makes my skin hot and itchy). So, I’m happy to leave it to others, especially when they can produce beautiful pieces of work such as these. Here are some of my favourites.

1.) patchwork hare, 55 x 40 x 23cm, Susan O’Byrne, 2.) Untitled, 2011, 30.8 x 30.8 x 7.5cm, Jin Eui Kim, 3.) black to white Hibiscus installation, Valéria Nascimento, 4.) Origami ceramics, 2012, Namiko Murakoshi, 5.) untitled, Derek Wilson, 6.) Remnants 3, Lesley Risby, 7.) Cilinder, Willy Van Bussel, 8.) Elemental Series Ceramic Wall Panels, 10 pieces 25 x 25cm each, Clare Crouchman, 9.) Vary Flow porcelain, wall-mounted, Fenella Elms

If any of the items tickle your fancy, please contact the artist directly for prices.

Feb 242012
 

Abigail Borgs Notebooks Come To My Garden

This season saw the launch of Abigail Borg’s new range and a very welcome range it is. A natural tangent from fabric and wallpaper, notebooks are an easy accessory that everyone can indulge in without too much bravery or having to redecorate. If you’re too nervous to embrace big, bold hand-drawn florals in your home (shame on you) and you’ve already got more cushions than you can shake a stick at, then why not carry about your own little piece of floral fancy in hardback A5 form. What better way to celebrate the first signs of spring than with a nice cheery flowery notebook? A welcome burst of colour and I reckon they can only serve as further inspiration for all your already splendidly creative thoughts that, no doubt, you all have in abundance. The tricky thing is choosing one. I like all the designs and her colour palette so much that I think I’ll just have to have one of each. But which to start with…? All notebooks are hardback and A5, £16, available in Abigail’s on-line shop.

1.) Friti in plum, 2.) Hello Yarrow in teal, 3.) Mr Chrysanth,
4.) Lady Green, 5.) Laburnum in raspberry, 6.) Dahlia Fox in golden,
7.) Laburnum in teal, 8.) Polka Pollka, 9.) Friti in teal,
10.) Hello Yarrow in natu, 11.) Dahlia Fox in sky.

images with thanks to Abigail Borg.

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