Following the Yellow Shelled Road...

So I am back and blogging again… where was I…well partly work, partly travel brought me to the shores of Spain and a little around Europe. I began my mini adventure in Santiago de Compostela and undertook 110km of the pilgrimage walk, I was a puppy snapping at the heels of walkers with more than 400k under their belts. I hadn’t researched this walk at all, I knew I wanted to do it but research would have taken the adventure out of my adventure, Indiana Jones surely never researched. So I set off for the city of Lugo with no clue of how to find my way back…

They appeared like a beacon on a misty Spanish morning, a yellow signal amongst the grey. I thought it was a once off but these yellow shells just kept going and without question I followed them across the north of Spain. Sometimes the shells turned to spray painted yellow arrows and at the beginning I wasn’t sure if I could trust the impostor's, were they leading me down a path the shells wouldn’t follow, after a while I was won over and I eagle eyed the stone walls and back roads for my little yellow friends. I was hooked, needed my mileage fix and found myself in a panic if one didn’t appear but like rain on an Irish day they didn’t let me down and lead me the whole way to Santiago where I sat with other weary pilgrims on the Cathedral steps and rubbed my weary feet happy.

My designer head sat on my shoulders quiet a bit as I walked the route, what a brilliant signage system I thought. I haven’t ever seen anything so effective. Each pilgrim I met swore by and at the signs depending on their humor. The symbol (as you can see above) is simple, it comes from a mythical tale relating to the arrival of St Jame’ bones on a ship to Spain. The story tells how a bridegroom was riding to his wedding on a horse as the ship pulled in. Spooked, the horse jumped with rider on board into the sea and was thought by all to be lost. Miraculously (with a little help from St James) both emerged from the sea unharmed and covered in scallop shells, famous in that part of Galicia. The bridegroom rode off into the sunset forgetting his fiance, must have been second thoughts! The shell also works two fold, the grooves on its surface represent the many routes of the pilgrimage which all meet in Santiago. The yellow colour is very effective for view finding and it means the shells and arrows are easy to spot.

Have a look at some of the images above and see what you think yourself…

Waterstones New Branding...

What is it they say, when it’s not broken don’t fix it!

I couldn’t believe when I saw this on Creative Review today (by the way I have a few posts last couple of days, you would think I wasn’t busy, funny thing is I am busier than I’ve been in a while, think it’s procrastination!) anyway back to Waterstones.

I don’t get it, their new branding is a modern version of the old and doesn’t fit their business at all. What happened to the old book shop aesthetic which the serif type fitted perfectly. The new “contemporary” style just doesn’t suit the business. I like to think of a book shop as a placed filled with dusty (I know they are not but it’s my imagination) books, wooden lob-sided shelves piled on top of lob-sided shelves and lots of hidden hollows where I can sit undisturbed and mull over a book, a book full of Times New Roman. This new look just doesn’t fit the dreamish qualities a book shop holds for a lover of books!

Anyway have a look above and decide for yourself, maybe I’m stuck in the bookshops of old!

Jeremy Geddes...

Really like this artists work. When I first saw it I couldn’t believe that these works were paintings but they are. He has an unbelievable drawing talent combined with a brilliant imagination, a lot of his stuff looks like surreal photographs.

Have a look at his website for more of his work.

The Beautiful Brandon Boyd...

Just found this artists today and I love his work. His name in Brandon Boyd, I never heard of him before but after a little googling I found out he is the member of a band (pretty big one I think) in the States called Incubus (excuse me if I'm a bit slow on that, I'm trying hard to increase my musical knowledge, struggling through Tom Waits at the moment).

Anyway, I love his style really nice sketches, love the detail in his work, also he seems like a real relaxed character from his bio.

You can check him out here

Nestor in The Bernard Shaw...

Hi All, a good friend of mine (although Denise if you are reading this you know you're not really a good friend of mine but I have to say it for the purposes of this post, it'd look bad otherwise, you think?), anyway so yes, a good friend of mine Denise Nestor has been given her own solo exhibition in the Bernard Shaw in Dublin, it's opening tomorrow night and running for a month. Her stuff is brilliant, I have a piece and hope that in maybe 5/6 years it'll be worth millions and I can travel the world on an elephant all because of the girl in the rabbit ears.

So if anyone is around or will be around during the month of May, call by, I mean it when I say her stuff is brilliant, you can see for yourselves above, it's worth a look. She's going to be the next big thing, an Irish Warhol (she's even dying her hair platnium blonde and fashioning an American accent, she's not strange just a little unhinged, she's from Mayo!)

Charles Avery and the Brothers Grimm...

I've been reading Grimms Fairytales lately, I really don't agree that kids should be mollycoddled (not sure if it's a real word but you know what I mean), I think stories that are purely sweet and nice and full of fluff and puppy dogs tails (although that is a little gruesome) are under estimating children. I really believe they see things differently than us and everything has a little magic to it for them, I think for a story to have dimension for kids it needs a little darkness, and so to bring this full circle, that is why I went back to Grimms Tales, to see where our original Fairytales started.

So, today when I accidently found The Islanders An Introduction by Charles Avery it reminded me straight away of Grimms. I love his almost human worlds, full of unusual characters, the weird and the wonderful. I've uploaded some images above, see what I mean!

Bendy Necks and Pillow Fighting Knights...

Saw these two pieces of work over the last few days. Both oils on canvas I think.

I love the humour and thinking behind Gideon's work, the two pillow fighting knights. I wonder if they ever won the hand of a fair maiden. I mean a muscular man with a horse and a lance is a much more enticing than two sissy's armed with pillows but then again there is a lot to be said for the "peace not war" attitude, even at the round table.

Titus work is one of those pieces you could get lost in. I'd love to put it on my wall and stare for a while (at it, not into space) the more I look at it the more I discover. It's a bit like a maze, I love when I have to wrap my head around something, although it can be pretty painful, even with a bendy neck!