Sometimes Things Don't Turn Out Like You Planned, But They're Not So Bad.

half dead

was listening to this song by this band & this drawing happened.

some tiny wild things to hide in your plants. hoping to have new things (& old favourites) in my ceramics shop soon. in the meantime, you'll find some small pots (on sale!) & a palm dish, if you like that sort of thing.

re-carve

if at first you don't succeed, carve another stamp.

yurt

when my boyfriend & i got our car last year, i figured we'd probably head out on lots of little trips, go camping & spend a little more time in the great outdoors. i'm not sure how i confused 'getting a car' with 'magically having more free time' because, of course, that's not quite how it's panned out.

however, we made good use of our automobile at the weekend & headed out to stay in a yurt at loch tay, a sweet present from my mum & dad for my birthday earlier in the year. this was one of the things on my 25 things to do when i'm 25 list, & it's so nice to finally tick it off (especially since it rolled over from 24 things to do when i'm 24). the yurt was lovely; full of killim rugs & pillows & - most importantly - a wood-burning stove (we'd timed our visit to miss the high-season & catch the last of summer whilst not being too warm for a fire). the first night we chatted by candle & fire light, fuelled by a couple of bottles of red wine, before falling asleep to the sound of rain bouncing off the canvas. the next morning we sat on the yurt's small deck in the sun, watching the fog over the loch & feeling grateful that we had no hangovers (a miracle!). the day was spent feeding ducks & a short car trip to nearby village, killin, before another night in our cosy little hut, quietly enjoying some downtime & keeping the stove going.

the next morning it was time to return home & to work. just a short little escape, but a nice reminder to take time out every so often. hopefully we'll go camping on the west coast soon.

studio

bones

we took a short trip to paris in october & while we were there we visited les galerie de paléontologie. this place was amazing, & certainly one of my favourite museums i've ever visited. the first floor (the best) was just row after row & case after case of animal skeletons, with some organs & oddities in jars thrown in for good measure. it was so good, & it was a rad way to spend hallowe'en.

i've come away from some cultural experiences like this feeling a bit disappointed of late. whilst i think museums ought to do what they can to grab the interest of young minds, it drives me nuts when wonderful buildings full of extraordinary things turn into one big interactive & somewhat patronising exhibit for children. that doesn't mean i'm not a sucker for a well designed & relevant learning game every so often, but this place was stripped back to its bare bones (PUN!) yet there was a ten minute queue to get in, & it was full of families (i think i saw one other couple there without kids). i would have queued for longer & it'd have been worth the wait. i hate to sound complainy, especially when pulling in audiences on a crappy budget is already a challenge that cultural organisations face, but that's how i feel.

anyway, in short, if you ever visit paris you've got to go to this place. also, i was originally blogging so i could tell you about the new postcard set (i'll post about it another time, but it's for sale here) i illustrated that was inspired by the museum, but then i got distracted.

as i mentioned earlier in the year, i'd been going to a ceramics class & i LOVE it. i just finished a second block, & can't wait to start a new one in a couple of weeks. ceramics can be a precarious process - will it look like i thought it would? will the glaze run? will it explode in the kiln? i've been pretty lucky so far. grateful for things going according to plan.

remember that lil project i mentioned? well, here it is;, a project in which i illustrate my instagram feed, then post the drawings on instagram.