100.

autumn/winter/spring/summer

Accidental.

Salvaging Knowledge.

Some old encyclopedias were on the way out at school, old enough to be entertaining, not old enough that anyone had any respect. Even though we can get images of anything on google, a page from an actual book, on the original paper is worth so much more to include in your sketchbook than a printout. There was an awful lot of tearing. I saved the pages I thought were most interesting, some of the titles are just as good as the pictures. Darwin is my definitely my favourite, though Mr Iguanodon comes a close second. I still feel sad that we didn't scan them in to begin with. Tearing apart books is not an activity I participate in with great enthusiasm.
It's not often I'll post images which I haven't taken myself, but I've scanned these from pages long detached from their original books, and a lot of the relative copyrights appear in the images themselves. There seems to be a lot of debate about proper crediting of images on the internet at the moment. I do quite enjoy the back cover of this though.

Obsédé

I've been looking at saints and pilgrimage for my current art project, this is just a little bit of what I've been carrying to and from school every single day as a result.

My sketchbook has gone all collage-y, mainly out of impatience; frustration with drawing. The book of european saints (top left) was £2.50 from a wonderfully overstuffed bookshop in Altrincham. St Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of pencilmakers. Ss Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia are the patron saints of those who find difficulty in early rising. (Perfect.) The drawings are from some old photographs of my grandad, when he went on a motorcycle tour. There seems a great romance to the idea of a grand tour. Seeing the wonders of Europe one after the other.

'George takes a break.'

I'm a bit obsessed with Rimbaud after reading Patti Smith's book Just Kids. I'm a bit obsessed with with Patti Smith too. Searching out the perfect black poloneck. But Une Saison en Enfer really is quite powerful, and links back to the religious themes that seem to be permeating my life at the moment.

EDIT: My little book of saints didn't make clear that Vitus and Guido are actually the same saint. But then the internet might not be that reliable either.

Those beautiful beasts.

I went outside to take photos in the sunshine, but soon got distracted by  chasing the chickens. This is Alice. She's a buff orpington. Below is Georgie, who is a little bit shyer, and doesn't look too happy to be photographed. I love how much they look like dinosaurs.

It really was a bit chilly, despite the sun.

And as if there weren't already enough GIFs in this post, here is a little animation I made for my art coursework, projected into a Joseph Cornell style box. (It's Alice again, feathery ginger cloud.)

Mute it, there is only background noise.

All change.

I've got a couple of French essays due in tomorrow, so naturally it seemed a good time to redesign my blog. It   almost resembles a proper blog now. Doesn't mean I'm going to start taking proper photos anytime soon though.

Not enough time in Manchester.

 

That which used to be industrial, is almost nice.

Headway, ironically.

Rory took this here.

And we ate chips and drank lemonade and read Rimbaud here. (Or at least, I did.)

So perfect.

I'm always coming home.

Blue Skies.

But I know that it's hard.