The perfect menu

For those who love food, reading menus and doing what they want. Click to read.

By me.

I hope I can produce work that has this effect one day, or maybe not. It's the worst feeling. I know a lot of designers who make me feel this way, and clearly enjoy it.

Frank Chimero has done some awesome posters, see here.

Keri Smith

I've finally discovered Keri Smith's blog, I'm probably the last to know as always! But it is fab! I'd seen her illustrations and books around so I was immediately hooked and love her list of 100 ideas which are great if you're stuck for inspiration. Full of prompts to help you 'destroy' the book, but me being me wouldn't want to as it looks so lovely! Kind of defeats the object, I know!



I really want this book for Christmas!

Judging books by their covers...

which I know I shouldn't do, and I don't always use this method for choosing my books but I do have a magpie eyes for all things printed. I like the smell as well, I know, wierd. And the more used the better sometimes, love second-hand books. So having shared with you what I'm reading I thought I would show you some of my favourite books, for their cover and stories.

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This is one of my all-time favourite books, soon to be a major motion picture (love that phrase, sounds so old school) with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I'm not sure how I feel about it being made into a film yet, we shall have to wait and see how good it is, but I always think the book wins. This is the greatest love story ever and you must read it!
I'm still waiting for her next book, she has a collection of illustrations but nothing else as far as I know. Will be sure to post when she does!!

My Family and Other Animals by Gerard Durrell



This book pierced my imagination so fiercely I can still remember the visions conjured through reading it as if they are my own memories. It is a children's book but it has something for everyone and is a real source of escapism. I think it's set in Corfu, and to this day I still want to go visit but am scared it will not be as precious as in my imagination!

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk



Chuck Palahniuk is probably best known for Fight Club and having a name that is impossible to spell (at least for me!). This book is disturbing at best. Claustrophobic and gripping and quite wierd. But I love the cover and it's a bit Donnie Darko-ish in that it makes you think, and you think you've understood then you forget and are confused all over again. Again, this probably just applies to me!

I also like this version of the cover (below)




To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee



Classic. Have yet to see the film, but again, I don't want to spoil the memories.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell



Hard to see in this pic exactly why I love this cover so much, as it uses a stunning turquoise blue metallic for the trees. The books theme is quite Bladerunner-esque. Not sure why I keep relating them to films or other books as they are all brilliant in their own right!

The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly



A grown-up fairytale, twisted and totally absorbing. Very dark! You have to see this hardback version in the flesh, as t'were to fully appreciate how magical it is. Gold metallic, as if its been carved.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith



Some people will probably think this criminal as I know it's a popular book, but I am YET to read this. I have tried but I think I wasn't 'in the right place' if you know what I mean. Not in the mood. Anyway, love the cover and I'm saving it for a rainy day!

What I'm currently reading...

The Ballad of Lee Cotton by Christopher Wilson.



Sadly, chosen purely on the cover! But it's always nice when the story matches up to the cover. This story is very Catcher in the Rye/Forrest Gump-esque. I like it, especially as it's written in a Southern American way and in my mind I have perfected the Southern drawl perfectly so it adds to the whole thing!

Available in all good bookstores!

I wish I could do that

Scott Wade creates amazing art out of dirty car windows! And he seems like a guy with a good sense of humour - check out his website to see more of his work, there's loads of it. A very talented man.

Text description from Scott's website.

Before:
TITLE: Poker Dogs: The Early Minutes
DESCRIPTION: This one begins a series, showing a drawing progressing from start to finish. Here's the 'raw canvas.'
PHOTO CREDITS: Scott Wade



After:
TITLE: Poker Dogs
DESCRIPTION: Here is the 'finished' piece. This is after working back into it twice. The first session took about 45 minutes, the second about 10 and the last about 5, so call it an hour in the making. See? I don't necessarily have too much time on my hands!
PHOTO CREDITS: Scott Wade
COPYRIGHT: ©2006 Scott Wade



And this one's really cool. Very pretty.

TITLE: Wildflowers
DESCRIPTION: I was asked to demonstrate Dirty Car Art at the Courtyard Gallery in Robin's hometown of Cuero, Texas. Meanwhile, a TV crew from South Korea was following me around making a short documentary. They followed me down to Cuero and we had a pretty full weekend. Cuero (and Dewitt County) is known for wildflowers, so I thought it would be great to try some in dust. Wish I had done fewer, bigger. The vehicle belongs to my mother-in-law. Guarantee that's the dirtiest It's ever been.
CREDITS: Scott Wade
COPYRIGHT: ©2007 Scott Wade



Reminds me of the Joy of Painting programme, loved that. It was never obvious what he was painting so when you could finally see it emerge it was like magic!

Pollocks to that

If you're sitting at your desk, frustrated or needing a pick-me-up, then click on to this site and go Pollock-crazy. It proves one thing for sure - it's not as easy as it looks! Quite addictive though!

Here's my laughable attempt!

My first stumble

As I said, I have no patience and can't wait five mins to tell someone something mildly exciting or interesting. Well, it might just feel like that to me but it may interest someone out there!

I like random things and so, as I've said LOVE the stumble website, see below.

My first stumble led me to a slightly disappointing website from a design point of view, but was full of quotes from Albert Einstein, which you gotta love.

These are some of my faves.

Stumblin'

Honestly I love the internet! I love how you can go from one website to another, finding all these amazing and interesting things one after the other. It has the same effect on me as when I find a great bargain in a shop, and I'm not one to keep it to myself. I love to let people know what's about, which is why I set up this blog. I'm probably way behind on these things but it amuses me and I feel like I've made an amazing discovery!

This leads me to recommend a new website, StumbleUpon which I have yet to try out fully, but in true Lilly-fashion I have to tell immediately! It's great for peeps like me who love explorin' and discoverin'.

And you can say whether you like a site or not, which helps them get it right next time you stumble. The more you use it the better it gets - which is what they say. We shall see!

Piece of cake!

I love jewellery and I love cake so I can't go wrong with these little treasures. I came across meow-box whilst perusing Brick Lane market. They'd make great christmas presents, not that I'm hinting or anything...anyone?!

Favourite Website of the Week

This is possibly one of the best websites - ever! Last.fm lets you add all the artists you like to your music library once you have set up an account with them and once you've done that you can listen to all your favourite songs - how fab is that!? AND it recommends music you might also like. All for free! Tis truely a great site! I've been listening all morning!

Here's Johnny!

This is a brilliant take on how the Shining (one of my favourite films) trailer could have been. Goes to show how editing can completely change the meaning of something. Very funny, and yet disturbing if you know how the film goes. Highly recommend you go see it!

First post!

So this is my first blog and I'm very new to all this so hopefully I will get better as I go along, I want to do a bit more with the design, seeing as I'm a graphic designer an' all I feel I should!

My flickr account is feeble at the moment as I am yet to upload all my pics, so I was chuffed when someone somehow found one of my pics (the bottom one) and asked to add it to their group. The group was called "Free Nature" which worried me at first but there are no naked pics, have no fear. So there you go, my first post.

I'll add some more as my page is so bare!!

Here's a link to my flickr page which is, as I said, very feeble at the moment! Hopefully more will be up this weekend!