Kim (in print)
visual arts & london stuff
Filed undertravels
Cool Yule Brighton
It's not difficult to tell why Brighton is home to much of the UK's creative talent... the old town centre is a sure fire antidote to the boredom of looking at the same ubiquitous chain stores and cafe's that line so many UK city high streets. I took a few snaps before the light ran out - see photos on Flickr
Advertising Fail - Say NO to Canary Islands
No matter what where you fall on climate change issues, it's an undeniable truth that polar bears are not surviving the loss of their sea ice habitat. A fact I'm reminded of each time I see this ill-conceived image - so far, one billboard plus these London Underground platform posters.
To the creative/s who came up with this marketing campaign - great job. These are the best global warming propaganda posters I've seen yet.
Oxford and Children's Stories
Oxford is a city rich in history, so it's unsurprising to see something new with each visit. I was at Oxford University Press - OUP (pictured) for a Write Away Reviewers' Event, (read author Anita Loughrey's account here) after which we were treated to a guided tour - Oxford and Children's Stories.
The guide I was with normally takes kids around so our tour revolved around scenes from the Harry Potter movies, and spotting the fact we weren't aged 10, she generously tailored the tour and slipped us snippets about about Oxford's literary alumni, from Amis to Waugh. We stopped at sites which provided inspiration for some of the best known children's literature, most famously, 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'. In her enthusiasm, our guide accidentally led smack into the centre of a location film set, and we were politely asked to move off the cobblestoned street... I think it's safe to say we will have been cut from 'Lewis' - an Inspector Morse TV spin-off!
It was clear that our knowlegeable guide was none too appreciative of the post 'Potter' entrance fee charged to enter Christ Church College. Instead, we wandered into the charming courtyard of Lincoln College and visited its medieval dining hall, which as our guide accurately pointed out, has bench seating, not the high-backed chairs you'll find in the the Great Hall at Christ Church.
Lack of true Hogwart style seating notwithstanding, I personally think the entrance fee to Christ Church College entirely worth it - I went some time ago out of my teenage acquired interest in 'Brideshead Revisited', as the desperately self-destructive Sebastian Flyte and his teddy bear, Aloysius resided there. Add 'Alice' history and magical scenes from Hogwart's into the mix and it's an interesting place, if not for the sheer grandeur of the architecture, stained glass, and grounds alone.
Check out loads of photos here on Flickr's Christ College, Oxford search, and visit Write Away for reviews, book guides and more.
Putting Barcelona on the Schmap!
One of my Barcelona photo's has just been Schmap'd - it shows one of the many lovely buildings in the Gothic Quarter. I was there volunteering at a summit, working on ways to build rabies awareness. Check out info on rabiesfree.org if you're in/traveling to a rabies endemic area or click to vaccinate a dog in the Philippines. 1 click = 1 dollar = 1 vaccine. Cheers.
Putting New Zealand on the Schmap
Today this wintery morning snap of New Regent Street, (Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand) got selected for local mapping by Schmap via my Flickr. I was here having breakfast with family, having just stepped off the plane (Aug 07) and it was one of those perfect Canterbury winter days - crispy cold with warm sunshine and clear blue skies. The sun came out for the whole ten days I stayed. When I got back to the London '07 late summer there was no sun to be seen.... (Disclaimer: Christchurch, NZ is not always sunny - but it was that year, and London, UK can get very warm and humid over summer. Just not that one!)
It's a 'No Work' Snow Day
No transport running today so this is a nearby London park & palace: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimprint/
sketchbook pretzel
It's cold here in London so I'm consoling myself with vast quantities of coffee and some lebkuchen I brought back from Munich. I drew a bit of the local food; here's some chocolate covered gingerbread, (lebkuchen mitt schokolade... I think) and a pretzel.
Fairy Tales and Nightmares
Over Christmas I spent a few days in Munich doing some visual research for my MA. I was lucky enough to get down to Schloss Neuschwanstein (Ludwig's fairy tale castle) and also went to the medieval town of Dachau. It was closed for holidays, but the Concentration Camp Memorial site remained open. It was cold and bleak. We were full of Christmas breakfast and dressed for the elements, yet it was still freezing.
Dachau was a labour camp for political prisoners in 1933. The blueprint for many other camps, everything happened here in some measure, most notably medical experiments carried out by the SS. That this place remained open for twelve whole years is horrifying. As the war started, and progressed, conditions deteriorated hugely.
We got the audio tour headsets, but really, there is too much to listen to and read to get through in a day. I flickr'd my photos, which show pretty much what you see around the outside, plus a few peices of artwork and interiors. (On flickr there are a lot of other people's photos loaded with Photoshop effects, and lots of the bunker and artefacts I didn't photograph.
A world apart stands Castle Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's 19th Century take on medieval times, which includes a faux grotto, complete with running water. No cameras allowed, except to take a few snaps of the view from the castle windows. The incredible fairy tale-like world King Ludwig - the Michael Jackson of his time - is rooted in mythology and fantasy - the castle which influenced Walt Disney's design for Fantasy Land.
Castles and Concentration camps... world's apart, yet maybe not so much in the context of fairy tales. Parallels between Hansel & Gretel and the 'Final Solution' exist, and the oral tradition of fairy tales originate from hard times.
My photos are up on flickr along with some shots of Christmas markets and a few sights around Bavaria and Munich itself.
Winter is Coming...
I spent the afternoon with my SCBWI crit group at our regular Charing X meeting place. It's really helpful to go through sketchbooks and ideas - in fact, belonging to a crit group is essential for my development as an illustrator as I value these guys' opinions.
After a quick shop in Chinatown for some pak choi and thrifty rice noodles, I headed home, a little dismayed it was getting dark around around 5:30pm when I took this photo... and we're still in daylight saving!
