Ailyex vs. Dogboyo

Roux and Ligne Claire are up now, with Circe and Menthe following this evening for your purchasing pleasure. Happy Wednesday Campers! x

The best thing after a lethargic week of impoverished staying-in? One coastal roadtrip to a Brighton guitar shop with the Mister - and his insistence on leaving the house at 8am; Tommy in search of The Dream Guitar; Aaron - who mentioned (hair)’product’ to me at least four times; Khris‘must wriggle my arse despite 3 of us being wedged in to the back of Ian’s tiny car’Lilley and an unfounded hope of beer for breakfast.

I think this picture adequately illustrates how Tommy felt after purchasing this:

After a week of oddness - for me at least - ’twas wicked to just bum around at the beach. First Aaron helped Khris further his pursuit of the Zen Guitar State -

and some talk of Your Mum and what to wear when Thomas married his new guitar,

before Ten Ton Tabby regressed to hurling pebbles at a big orange stone target,

before deciding that a big orange moving target would be more fun!

Then the Great British Heavens opened and we went in search of Jack Daniels. Thankfully I ducked away from the camera when Ian decided to do some pub-stalking:

Despite a small incident surrounding the Upending Of Stash Jars Over Pebbles and Allusions To Poo-Sex, ’tis pretty neat when your boyfriend’s mates turn out to be your mates too. People rock. By the time we wedged ourselves back into the car - with Khris resuming the wriggling and Aaron taking up twice his normal space - and circled the A23 thrice over I was bloody knackered - totally cool.

Love this boy.

Today was sunny enough for me to have an actual shadow . . .

Menthe 15×20cm digital illustration - Rhodia Series

Circe 15×20cm digital illustration - Rhodia Series

Roux the Red and Weary 15×23cm digital illustration - Rhodia Series

Well looky here . . .

the little orange buggers are multiplying!

Being rather slow, I’ve just noticed that my ‘Rhodia, Ligne Claire and Thundering Typhoons!‘ post has been featured here on the Rhodia Drive blog written by Norman N. about Rhodia notebooks - how cool is that! It seems Norman is even pottier about orange French stationary than myself - I caught Khris looking at Han and I like utter loonies when we got a bit excited about squared paper at the weekend - completely sober, I should add. Whilst devoting an entire blog to a stationary brand might seem a little odd, I have to agree when he says:

“when the computer takes over more than my fair share of work, entertainment, and attention, I still go back to that blank piece of paper to fill up, to work on, or just to doodle away. It’s a guilty pleasure for which I seldom get tired of starting, and mostly look forward to finish.”

I’ve ended up musing on the act of putting pen to paper quite a bit recently, especially the cartridge pen variety. My auntie Pamela emigrated to Austria many years ago, bringing back many continental treats but my favourite Euro-gift will always be the red plastic and wood Lamy cartridge pen that took me all the way through senior school. It currently needs unblocking, but the act of drawing words with it is lovely. Anna Maria Horner posted about the act of writing and the joy of handwritten letters here, and I totally get what she means when she talks about the sheer value of receiving a handwritten epistle from a loved one. Plus I got a bit excited about Paper and Pencil, another great blog on the hunt for the perfect stationery. Which makes the creation of entire blog singing the praises of a notepad understandable really. Well, almost . . .

Welcome to Wednesday my dudes! Boy, has it been a strange week-beginning . . . there has been:

1. A weekend of varying intoxication, including communing with nature on Barn Hill - a place completely removed from the surrounding rabble, with at its centre the most serene lilly-padded pool, ringed with frosted-green grass and protective trees, all rendered purple and green-black by the moon. With the campfire going, I watched the patterns gather and the trees grow; giggled with Han until we fell off our log; let the boys wander and Alan discovered that he could talk using his guitar. Lovely. Even after getting the bus back with Alan serenading the poor commuters - but then, the Mr. and I did crash out rather than witness the happy trippers’ Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in the garden . . .

2. TVU finally revealed my results . . . yay for the 2:1!!! As my Dad told me - it’s the grade that says you did well, but spent plenty of time mucking about and abusing your student loan too!

3. Lovely prints finally going up in The Shop. With TVU Contemporaries over, I have four images from the Big series that I’ve shared before:

Nautical

Rebirth

Flight

Mind

They are all A2 poster prints on smooth stock in jewel-bright colour - they look a little dulled here due to compressing them for the web, but they are really vibrant in person. Nautical and Rebirth are currently in there, and I’ll be posting Flight and Mind shortly. Plus, my Rhodia set will be joining them shortly . . .

Happy Wednesday Dudes! x