A Tropical Rainforest

On my travels around London this week I came across this rather splendid window near South Kensington Tube station.

The tropical, mythical, semi-jurassic scene, called 'Rainforest', is the creation of the wonderful illustrator Jake Blanchard for Estate Agents Douglas and Gordon and their Harrington Road Street Gallery.

Blanchard's graphic forest is a fantastic array of mint, lime, grass, maroon, purple and turquoise plants and leaves. And I love the odd mix of creatures hiding amongst the foliage, a bear, brightly feathered birds, a goat and a diplodocus! Brilliant!

Images: Rainforest by Jake Blanchard at the Harrington Road Street Gallery, photo's by me

images ©Ellie Osborne

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Star Sign

This caught my eye outside the StolenSpace Art Gallery off Brick Lane. I like the inclusion of a traffic light - shame it wasn't a working one.

Also saw some beautifully fascinating and strangely haunting paintings/illustrations...

Junkanenko (above) http://www.junkaneko.jp/index.html

And Bene (below)

Also - met Bouncy Bob the puppy, he was bouncy

painting windows

Fascinated by these window illustrations by Andy Council.

Love how he uses everyday objects to create monsters and dinosaurs - reminds me of a big art attack.

Also I really like the way that light through the glass and windows will project shadows and the illustration into the room - a really nice a idea for a kid's bedroom. And could create some fantastic guerilla ads too.

Quite inspired to try it myself - hope the parents won't mind.

Mapping the Future

I have recently discovered the worldly wonders of The Future Mapping Company, 'creating cartograhpy for the 21st century'

They show political and physical information (plate tectonics etc) and use a cylindrical equal area projection. This means they depict the world as a true representation, showing the exact proportional shapes and sizes of countries, something a lot of maps don't do.

Their maps are strikingly beautiful, in the most vibrant and complementary colour schemes.

I think I'm starting my Christmas list several months early this year.

www.futuremaps.co.uk/

Museumed to the max

Before Christmas I went ice skating outside of the Natural History Museum. We went in the evening and the trees and buildings looked very fairy tale like.

I didn't get a chance to look round the museums then but a couple of days ago I managed to go with Sarah and Phil. We did a bit of a triple take, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the V & A.

First we scienced about, learning about planes and space, and found many a wonderful gadget. Obviously we had to go the kids fun hands on bit upstairs too-it is obligatory.

Then we rediscovered dinosaurs, plants and creepy crawlies. experienced earthquakes (although I've had first hand experience of that last year) and looked at some rather dark and mysterious fish.

This fossil is fantasmical, I really want to paint it.

The architecture of the building is awe inspiring too, so much detail, little parts keep popping up on your way round.

Finally I dragged the other 2 to look at some Japanese Ukiyo - e art prints, which I've wanted to see for ages. It shows Hokusai's infamous Great Wave from his 36 views of Mount Fuji, and plenty of other gorgeously intricate works.

I had the bestest day

All images in this post © Ellie Osborne 2008

change of plan

We attempted the Angel's Vintage sale in early December

and decided a trip to Camden and the Tate Modern would be preferable to a 5 hour queue...

So we got our rumage and root around in the vintage stalls and took in some modern culture too.

The Turbine Hall is showing Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's TH.2058 exhibition.

It wasn't my favourite exhibition that has been put on,

it doesn't seem as striking as some and I couldn't see the link between all the elements.

But I did manage a couple of sneaky successful photos;

the vivid blue and yellow bunk beds and the giant skeleton.

Every time I visit I discover new pieces I hadn't noticed before or new additions

This time I really liked the work in the Material Gestures: Contemporary painting exhibition; in particular

Toby Ziegler's The Hedonistic Imperative

and

Ellen Gallagher's Bird in Hand

All images in this post © Ellie Osborne 2008

Ooooo first post, don't really know where to start...

This was my 18th birthday present from mum and dad.

It is a print by Aubrey Beardsley.

It is beautiful.

http://www.victorarwas.com/

I discovered this little art dealers/gallery in London during my aimless wanderings when I spotted an Alphons Mucha print in the window. I spent hours rifling through hundreds of prints and pictures before I found this one.