"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

Plato 

Oh Comely

Oh Comely is a magazine about people and their quirks and their creativity, rather than money and what it can buy. Personally when i found it it made my heart sing with joy that there was actually something like it!

It is Beautiful and inspiring, it makes me feel impelled to make and do creative things more, to talk about it and to appreciate other like minded people more that i do.

I advise anyone who wants to feel good when they open a magazine to get this one, it is packed full of wholesome goodness for our inner selves.

http://www.ohcomely.co.uk/about.php

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.”

Galileo Galilei quote

The Medium is the Massage

The medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore

I read this book for the first time on the weekend, i could not sleep at all on Saturday night so i picked up the first book from my book shelf that i had not yet read and it was "The Medium is the Massage" probably not the best book to read if you are finding it hard to sleep but never the less a brilliant read.It demonstrates how modern media is extensions of our human senses; they ground us in physicality, but expand our ability to perceive our world to an extent that would be impossible without the media. These extensions of perception contribute to McLuhan’s theory of the Global Village, which would bring humanity full circle to an industrial analogue of tribal mentality.  

Personal i found some of the content hard to digest maybe as it was late in a Saturday night that i read the book but maybe because it really made me think about so many things. It is thought provoking on so many different levels. 

"Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique rations of sense perceptions. the extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act the way we perceive the world. 

when these change men change "

For me i would go back and read this book again parts of it for me seamed more important than others but i believe this might be because of where my head is at in terms of what i am doing or involved in at the time.

Defiantly a book to have on a shelf and go back to from time to time, what is spoke about in the book relates to so many different things and on so many levels, epic thought provoking and essential to a creative who wants to understand how we learn fit in and understand the world.

Taken from Amazon 

"Well known for coining the term 'Global Village', Marshall McLuhan's thinking was, and still is, revolutionary. His theories, many of which are illustrated in this astonishing 'inventory of effects', force us to question how modes of communication have shaped society. This is an astonishing work by a truly astonishing man. The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever. This is one of four books in that series."

The Wilderness Downtown 

This is an amazing, an AMAZING Video from Arcade Fire its An interactive film by Chris Milk 

Featuring “We Used To Wait”

http://www.arcadefire.com/wutw/

I used to write

I used to write letters

I used to sign my name

I used to sleep at night

Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain

But by the time we met

The times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter

I never took my true heart

I never wrote it down

So when the lights cut out

I was left standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast

Hope that something pure can last

It seems strange

How we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still 

Is how something so small can keep you alive

We used to wait

We used to waste hours just walkin around

We used to wait

All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

Ooooo we used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Ooooo we used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Ooooo we used to wait

Still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write a letter to my true love

I'm gonna sign my name

Like a patient on a table

I Wanna walk again

Gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast

Hope that something pure can last

Ooooo we used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Ooooo we used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Ooooo we used to wait

Still moving through the pain

We used to wait for it

Now we're screaming

Sing the chorus again

I used to wait for it

Hear my voice screaming

Sing the chorus again

Wait for i

this is my film that i created with my address !

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/#42+moorland+view+newton+abbot+devon+tq12+4ep

this was the first postcard that i did for the video . . . .

this was the second post card that i did for the video . . . . .

Create your own video here !!!!!!!

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

What's your ID ?

I had a quick flick through this months ID magazine, i used to love this magazine I don't know what happened i just stopped buying it  and i don't know why? i still have all the back issues that i bought. Having a flick through reminded me of how i used to be inspired by the topics and photography printed in the magazine .

This months ID magazine is 30 years old!!!

taken from the website:-
http://www.i-donline.com/i-spy/30th-birthday-issue


"Over 300 issues and for 30 years, this August marks the anniversary celebration of i-D. Welcome to the funhouse where through Pre-Fall, Fall and Winter issues, the past, present and future stars stand under the umbrella of THEN, NOW and NEXT!"

'with more names than you can shake a bag of monkeys at, we have brains, beauty and the downright gorgeous, back-to-back-to-back in our non-stop birthday festivities. From rapstars to trapstars, supers to trannies, we conducted a 3 week celebratory photoshoot at Somerset House collaborating with Nick Knight to document the turn of the decade. From cover to cover, the portraits will run throughout the THEN Pre-Fall issue. Almost 200 people took part in the breathtaking project, including The XX, Phoebe Philo, Sir Paul Smith, Florence Welch, Vivienne Westwood, Lara Stone, Pink and Gareth Pugh. Shot entirely in black and white this will be a collectors issue of the future and an important marker in time – made even more spectacular with our three amazing cover stars; Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Lady Gaga."

“30 years – whoosh, more than an instant in i-D’s lifeline - it’s a generation. Three decades to be celebrated and contained in this special issue. The whole issue was created by Nick Knight 200 portraits that SHOWstudio made at the close of 2009 in Somerset House - once the home of British passports, now the central location for British Fashion Week. Nick’s celebration of identity was also a commemorative project inspired by the 5th birthday issue of i-D, where 100 portraits were featured in The Grown Up Issue. 25 years on, the gallery selection grew to 200. Happy birthday!” Terry Jones, Editor-in-Chief, i-D

Robots (not) In Disguise  

It was my little sisters 16th birthday not so long ago, and i decided to get creative with her gifts, she has a robot obsession at the moment so i decided to go on that with creating something.

I first went around Falmouth town looking for something robot inspired so i popped in to the "here and now" gallery shop to see what they had to offer then wondered around to other smaller shops to find anything robot! 

So i found her this beautiful collectors robot that she can wind up and it walks and moves, and it comes in it very own retro box i think it is wicked for her. . .

 the front .. . 

I then thought it might be a good idea to play with the robot idea and work on designing a t-shirt for her i know hoe she love all things a bit different and she loves fashion so maybe i could come u wit a t-shirt design that she would approve of . . .. . . this is what the out come was !

the back . 

I then worked on just a plain design for a red t-shirt this  is what i came up with . . . 

 

ZINE @ The Custard Factory 

Just a reminder about the amazing Zine festival that is taking place at the Custard Factory in Birmingham . . . . .  Opens tomorrow!

i have two postcards there at the postcard exhibition so if you have chance go along and take a look.

Urban Outfitters / Framers @ Custard Factory

5-7 Corporation Street, B2 4LP / Custard Factory, Digbeth

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Take a look at the website for more details 

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

or find us on facebook 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104056762967490&ref=ts

also check out the venue hosting the event;- "The Custard Factory"

in Birmingham 

http://www.custardfactory.co.uk/

Birmingham Zine Festival 

Here is the designs for my entries to the Birmingham zine festival, i decided to work with my wrong had illustrations, i did a few designs before hand and then picked my favourites for the postcards, what do you think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .?

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

I spent my last change on a strip of photos !

I was Stumbling the other day on stumbledupon, i try not to do it that often as it is so addictive, i don't normally post much that i find but this i just have to.


It is a website with an application to take traditional (well as much as they can be done digitally) photo booth photos, that makes the sounds and the flash and well i thought it was just wonderful had so much fun for all of half an hour until i realised that i was by myself and that it would be much more fun with others to do.


I sent it to my younger sisters to play with and take photos together, think they found it funny, it was good for them as all three of them are on summer holidays so time spent doing that was time not nagging my mum ;-)


so if you have a spear five minuets and you want to do something a bit fun cheek it out!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1TbgtG/laphotocabine.com/

Birmingham Zine Festival

Not long ago i found this mail art exhibition that asks for people from all over to take part and create a postcard to display at the exhibition which is part of a festival "The Birmingham Zine Festival".
I should have posted this sooner but have not had much time to blog. . . .  but that will change!!

"The Birmingham Zine Festival will feature a wide range of self-published books, comics and magazines. We'll also be showcasing a selection of artwork from artists connected to the alternative press. If you’d like any additional information about our events, get in contact!"

You are invited to take part in our exhibition of postcards, where each postcard will be a unique work of art. At the end of the exhibition, all of the postcards will be randomly ‘swapped’ and you’ll receive someone else’s original artwork in the mail – yours to keep!

To take part in the exhibition, send us a message with your name and address. When you receive your postcard, just follow these simple instructions:

• Create your own unique artwork on the blank side of the postcard. There’s no theme so feel free to submit whatever you like.
• Write a message on the reverse, leaving the address space blank (we’ll fill that in later!)
• Mail the postcard back to us in the envelope provided, along with your name, address and website details.

That’s it – we’ll do the rest! All of the postcards will be exhibited at The Framers Gallery in Birmingham as part of the Birmingham Zine Festival.

So today i am taking some time to come up with some ideas i want to send on my postcard for the exhibition so stay tuned for the finished piece which will need to be done soon to send off in time :-)



Exciting!!!!!

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and stones
may break my bones
But words can
never hurt me.

Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars Burning above; If you're in love,
Show me! Tell me no dreams
Filled with desire. If you're on fire,
Show me!

--Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady

A Beautiful Day at St Ives 

It was recently my birthday and i was taken to St Ives in cornwall for the day, i have lived in cornwall now for three years but it was my first time visiting.

I loved every minuet of it, we walked through the town, and went to the TATE gallery, took photos and had some beautiful food and wine in a wonderful seafood restaurant.

The cornish postcard stand "love it"

Seagulls! i find them so fascinating and funny birds but i really don't like it when i am trying to eat a cornish pasty and they sit and watch you, this one was posing.

The weather was really extreme it was real cornish weather turning from beautiful blue sky and fluffy clods to stormy and raining. but i love that. 

When the weather was good-IT was GOOD! look how beautiful the sea is looks tropical makes me want to jump in.

The TATE exhibition was brilliant, we went to see the "Lilt Van Der Stokker" "No Big Deal Thing" A bold, colourful works that are represented in a disarmingly unashamed and exuberant way, with ideas of beauty, love, relationships, family and the everyday. Playing on stereotypical femininity, she challenges and engages with legacies of feminism exploring ideas often thought of as forbidden in contemporary art.

Her demure medium: coloured-pencil drawings on A4 paper which she scales up and paints directly onto the walls of the gallery.

She challenges the idea the "grand" and the "serious" and in the process asks the question "just what is a fitting subject for a work of art"

http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/exhibitions/vanderstokker/default.shtm

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

here are some examples of her work taken from the "Galerie Vangelder" website 

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

Sisters & PhotoShoots

when I was back home I did some photo shoots with my sisters it was so much fun and got lots of amazing photos of my beautiful sisters here are some of the finished and edited photos from what i call the 

"DaisyBlue series" 

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

"How to be and Explorer of the World"

I had a train journey to go on so i stopped off at the hear and now gallery were i bought this book. I read it all and started a sketch book as i was so inspired by the prompts the book has. This book is just so refreshing i feel it just the best way to remind us how to reconnect with the world and be inspired and creative. I advise anyone to own it.

"Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in surprisingly similar ways - by observing, collecting, documenting, analysing and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists. Smith sets the reader the mission of documenting and observing the world around them as if they've never seen it before - taking notes and collecting things they find on their travels. With a series of interactive prompts and a beautiful hand-illustrated two-colour package, readers will love exploring this gorgeous book."