Travelling around the World through Music

I've been missing travelling and experiencing new places, culture, food, people, customs, languages et al. So have recently come across Putumayo's World Music Radio Hour which showcases music from their many albums around the world into themes around events, such as the recent episode on Martin Luther King Day or a playlist around food for Thanksgiving or geographical regions. 

Here's a few of my favourite episodes I've listened to so far:-

Mountain Music

Acoustic Arabia

Celtic Music Around the World 

Reggae Around the World

All the music is featured on their many CD compilations such as Cuba! Cuba!, Arabic Groove, French Cafe, Celtic Women... I remember seeing them in shops before because of their distinctive, beautiful & memorable illustration covers by Nicola Heindl

I'm finding them to be really relaxing & great to cook to! Find the Putumayo Music Radio Hour here 

or different playlists on Spotify searching for 'Putumayo Presents'

Volcano Patches - Popocatépetl

I've always found volcanoes fascinating, ever since I visited Taal Volcano in the Philippines on a school trip 25 years ago. It's like you can see the origins of our planet & the new creation of earth at the same time. I followed Taal's eruption in January 2020 closely and it sparked my dormant interest.

So I've decided to do a design project of volcano patches. Here's the first, one of my favourites- 'Popocatepetl' in Mexico, located just south of Mexico City, Mexico at 5,426 m, its name means 'Smoking Mountain' in Aztec. It is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico & is the second-highest in North America. In 1994 it became active again after nearly 50 years of being dormant, and is now regularly active with steam plumes and erratic eruptions.

'El Popo' has been very active lately & there's some great webcams to watch on Volcano Discovery, they also have a great Volcanoes & Earthquakes app which keeps you updated on recent quakes & the status of volcanoes around the world. 

I've put my Popocatépetl design in my Redbubble Shop so you can find it on stickers, t-shirts, bags etc... eventually I plan to make some felt, embroidered patches & pennant flags of them too. 

I'd love to know what are your favourite volcanoes? 

2019 Roundup: Art Exhibitions

When you're living life you don't quite realise all that you are doing or achieving as it's just rolling along as everyday life. So the end of the year is always a good time to reflect and look back on the last 12 months. Here's the first roundup of 2019, a look at all the exhibitions I saw in 2019:-

Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory at Tate Modern

Diane Arbus: In the Beginning at Hayward Gallery

Van Gogh & Britain at Tate Britain 

Phyllida Barlow at Royal Academy

Sheffield is my nearest City so I always pop into the Graves Gallery & Millennium Gallery, here's what I saw there this year: 

Da Vinci: A Life in Drawing at Millennium Gallery

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Sea, Rock, Earth and Ice at Graves Gallery

It Moves Forward: The Work of Richard Hamilton at Graves Gallery

This Life is So Everyday: The Home in British Art 1950-1980 at Graves Gallery

John Ruskin: Art & Wonder at Millennium Gallery

The Time is Now at Milllenium Gallery

The Dog: A Celebration at Chatsworth

I also go to Manchester quite a lot so here's what I saw at the Manchester Art Gallery this year (from top anticlockwise):

Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing

Nordic Craft & Design

Martin Parr: Return to Manchester

Halima Cassell: Eclectica Global Inspirations

Louise Giovanelli

Rembrandt's Light at Dulwich Picture Gallery 

I also managed a trip to London in November & managed to see the Rembrandt's Light exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Luckily I saw it just a few days before they had an attempted robbery and subsequent closure of the gallery for 2 weeks. I also always see one of my favourite Rembrandt portraits 'Jacob de Gheyn III' which they have in their permanent collection when I'm there, but I couldn't find it & found out it's currently on loan to Museum de Lakenhal in the Netherlands for their exhibition 'Young Rembrandt: Rising Star' (curiously this painting has been stolen 4 times making it one of the most stolen paintings in the world!)

I feel like I haven't seen as much as I'd like to this year, so hopefully next year I can make the effort and go to see more special exhibitions as well as some new places I've never been to. Thanks 2019, roll on 2020!

Rosetta Philae for C.A.N NeckTie

 


I designed this Rosetta-Philae Patch for the Space Horizons Creative Action Network project a few years ago & they've just picked it to be on this really cool Outer Space Necktie now available in their shop! Proceeds support Space Horizons, an innovative non profit that promotes interest in STEM education for minority and female students in underserved communities. 

Here's what i wrote about the my patch & the Rosetta-Philae mission:-
I've always been fascinated by the wonder of space, the universe holds so much wonder and mystery. When ESA's Rosetta-Philae Mission landed onto a comet, relaying the first images from a comets surface, after having left Earth 10 years earlier, it was such an awe inspiring moment. So much hard work, time and huge possibilities of failure, brought about never before seen images and data; although Philae bounced on landing and didn't quite land in the right spot so it couldn't recharge it's batteries and keep its link with Earth for longer, that's alright as sometimes (a lot of the time) things don't work out as you planned and that just makes you learn from it that bit more and be inspired to keep trying and pushing forever onward. This mission will forever be etched in my memory and keep on inspiring me and I hope my patch opens up this mission to others and inspires them. 

Literary Linocut Project

   

 

I've started a new weekly project for 2018 called #literarylinocut where each week I'll make a small, quick linocut detailing anything literary from current reads to author portraits, made up book covers, book stacks and quotes. Here's the first 5 weeks worth featuring my current read 'The Black Cloud' by Fred Hoyle, the great, late Ursula le Guin, recent read 'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins, a favourite author in Patricia Highsmith & a great read remembered in 'The River Ki' by Sawako Ariyoshi.

To keep up to date with the project, follow me over on my Instagram where I'll upload a new linocut every Wednesday!