Love and other Planets

Photos of Adem (UK), live at MITP, Valletta. 6-02
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Bag make over #2

Remember the monster bag which I created last year?

Well it's time for another bag make over and here it is. It's a nerdy looking tree this time, happily hosting two birds on its branches.

parrots and shapes

Some recent photos.. while being around and about. This parrot is special..

JENNY MENDES: Ceramic Sculptor

I've come across fantastic creations by Jenny Mendes. She has been a full time studio artist designing and selling her work since 1994. Have a look at the variety of works she has produced throughout these years, here. I'd like to share some of my favourites:

PIN BOARD: makeover

I needed a new pin board for my desk... Bought one, but thought it looked too boring.

So I decided to retouch it by using some craft supplies, and little tree sticks picked from our garden. I painted the sticks with spots to compliment the spots on the mushrooms, and to make the board look more colourful. The sticks were varnished and glued onto the board together with the green mushrooms.

MUSHABOOM: new painting

Acrylics, pens and indian ink; A4

Painting is ready! This is what Mushaboom means to me.
Inspired by the lovely Feist.

EDUARDO PAOLOZZI: artist

I'd like to share some works by Paolozzi, a Scottish Italian artist and sculptor. Paolozzi (1924-2005) investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization through imagination and fantasy. By the dramatic juxtaposition of ideas in his work, he let us see the confusion as well as the inspiration. He was the original Engineer Crafstman Artist of the 20th Century, pioneer of the Pop art movement. I first noticed his work at the Tottenham Court Road station Central line platform in London. The mosaic design was simply mind blowing.

Below is more work by him.

This book cover is simply beautiful..So clean.

And talking about inspiration, I loved the animated feature film, Yellow Submarine. It was out in 1968 and I think the designs of the animation are simply out of this world. I need to watch again!


Lastly, here's a peek of a painting I am working on at the moment..

Photoshoot: STALKO

New local band, called STALKO. Playing live with ADEM on 06.02

Some photos...

CARLO VAN DE ROER: photography

Pools.. an attraction to Carlo Van de Roer. See more beauty here

Photoshoot: Jasmine

Model: Jasmine
Make up: Marise Spiteri

2010

My first 2010 post! I introduce to you to... CHEF EUGÈNE :)
Hope your holidays were super!

when yellow and blue come together

...Green! One of my favourite colours.

Boathouses are buildings which i like to photograph. I like to observe how people live with several limitations, owning only a little room trying to fit in all the stuff which is usually found in a house. Luckily for me, these boathouses are green-themed. I gave them a second visit - they're lovely to explore. Some are decorated really pretty..look at this bird :) and the patterns below.

Giveaway winners!

The winners of the jellyfishmonster brooches are Steffi and Jasmine Spiteri! Congratulations :D
Please check your e-mail :)

Terry Greens and Stewart Shrumz finally have a home!

Thank you all for the great response. Other jellyfishmonster brooches are available at MANDALI, in Merchants Street Valletta.


I might have another giveaway in the coming months so watch this spot :)

I'm off to London for Christmas. I wish you all super happy holidays X

December GIVEAWAY - Jellyfishmonster Brooches

I think you would agree that December is the perfect time for presents, surprises...and giveaways!!

So here's one - and it's easy to participate. I am giving away two Jellyfishmonster brooches for free. One is Terry Greens and the other one is Stewart Shrumz.. (see pic below)


Just leave a comment below, telling me which is your favourite jellyfishmonster from these two. I will then gather all the participants and randomly pick two winners via random.org. Please make sure that you have an email address available so that I can contact you - otherwise just leave your e-mail address in your comment :)

Some mini rules and notes
- People from every country can particpate
- Only one comment per participant
- The winners will be announced this Thursday (17.12) at 18hrs G.M.T

The brooches are approximately 2" long (including legs) and 1.5" wide. They are made out of clay and have a pin at the back. They can be attached onto jackets, tops and bags.

Wishing you the best of luck...and all the best :)

go against the flow..

..Is the main concept behind the shop called Mandali.
I have recently taken pictures featuring many of their items - t-shirts, jewelry, bags. Pictures will be used for posters to promote these items.

The two shop owners with all the models:) *fun fun*

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On another note, I'm working jellyfishmonster brooches - I've got a bunch which are nearly done! Aaaand, I'll be having a little Christmas giveaway next week..so be on the look out ;)

polska

Here are some photos taken in Poland last week..

Get ready for a Christmas giveaway from me, in a week or two :)

november sketches

A couple of sketches from the sketch book, mainly sketched during my holiday in Poland. Photos in the next post! :)

And here's some food for thought.. which I think is so true...

"Some part of being creative is being child-like. Kids create all the time and without the anxiety that you get when you're older. They're not tortured. They make a drawing
and they love it. 'Look I made a drawing! Mom!' And as an adult it's harder to stay in that place"

Spike Jonze

Living north

A new painting...

A little chicken living north.

Done with acrylics, gouache paints, pens, markers and paper. [A4]

halloween!

A ghost brooch I did for Halloweeeen!

Happy Halloween ♥

Jellyfishmonster Mobile Charms

I've created some mobile charms today! They have names too. The red is Randy Redz, the yellow is called Dilbert Duke and Edna May is the purple one.

They can be purchased from here.

Project against stereotyping

Finally I can show you a project which I was working on during these past weeks. A couple of months ago the local organization Atelier culture.projects initiated a project dedicated to stereotyping, entitled: Memento: Little Moments of Awareness against Stereotypes.

A seminar about this issue was carried out and a few quotes were generated from the seminar. These quotes were based on the strong stereotypes which are present in fairy tales. During the seminar fairytales were analysed and stereotypes were detected and discussed in depth. Next step was to create little mementos which featured these quotes related to stereotyping. We finally produced keychains, mirrors, badges and magnets with little illustrations accompanied by a matching quote. Nicely packaged, they were hang in three different locations around Malta and people could pick one, and hopefully carry on the message against stereotyping and labeling.

Here are some of the designs I did for this project (each quote was translated in Maltese):

Mirror on the tree/ who is fair that I can see? (please turn over)
Mera mera mal-fergha mxejra / fejn hu l-gmiel biex jaraw ghajnejja? (aqleb ghan-naha l-ohra)

Society defines the witch
Is-socjeta taghti definizzjoni ghas-sahhara

In bed? Can't be granny!
Fis-sodda? zgur m'hijiex in-Nanna mela!

The clock struck 12 / Cinderella ran to her princess
Mad-daqq ta' nofs il-lejl / Cinderella griet lejn il-principessa taghha

The mementos at 1. Lower Barakka in Valletta, 2. Sliema and 3. University of Malta:

Close up the hanging mementos:

I really do hope that this project induced some change in the way we think!
You can read more about the project here!

IF: Flying

I decided to contribute to this week's IF topic flying. Here is it.

little green chirps

A new painting done with gouache paint, pens and paper.

Inspired by autumn and Joni Mitchell - especially this song.

brooches and multi purpose hangers

I have created two brooches :) One features a wooden yellow duck, which was originally a hairclip. The one below is a red button brooch - originally an earring.. yepp believe it or not!

Available here

Been thrifting again and got myself some useful items. See this clothes hanger?

Why use it for clothes when you can hang other stuff like notes, images, post cards or photographs? Here is my version.

There's a Radiohead ticket there, a Miffy postcard, a little original drawing by the talented Asja, a Gaudi postcard from Spain, a little note by my brother and other papers and items which have value for me.

I was struck by this box. The patterns simply blew me away. I liked the fact that the flowers are not positioned in the center, but slightly to the side.

And this cat too :)

Photography

Recently, Friends of the Earth Malta launched an international photographic exhibition and competition on the effects of climate change. The theme was: Climate Change: the change is already here.

A maximum of 20 photos were featured in the exhibition, amongst which one can find the following photograph taken by me - the photo was awarded second prize!


The exhibition is moving around 3 different locations around the Maltese Islands. Currently it can be viewed at The University of Malta. It will be moved to Birgu in two weeks time.

The exhibition is part of an awareness raising campaign which FoE Malta is participating in together with sixteen FoE groups across Europe.

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Something different from usual, is this photo I've taken a couple of weeks ago. It features the legendary long haired woman, portrayed in an early 20th century style.

The photo was exhibited at a Burlesque show which took place in Valletta last week.

And lastly.. some recent snapshots :) My favorite is this first one - the lady put on a sulky face as soon as she realized i was taking a photo of her (I was mostly struck by the colour scheme and the grungy white door anyway!)

Bubblegum Houses

Ok so i kept my promise and painted last week's sketch, aaaand here it is. it's been ages since i've painted something for myself and i'm happy with my productive day today - thanks to tea and autumn-y weather =}

And here are two sketches i drew 2 nights ago

I've been working on new pendants and magnets and a new stock is now available at Mandali. Next - will start working on a Christmas stock!

Here's a photo of me being silly :P


Lastly, some photos taken in my garden today, right after it rained...


Next post will feature some of my recent photography activity.

black and white

I will paint this last one on canvas.. soon!

cat village

This particular cat village always caught my attention. Everytime I pass by, I notice more tattered toys and the area just keeps getting bigger and even more eye catching. To me it looks like the toys form part of some child animation! I just love how ragged and vintage they look. I wanted to share some pictures here (taken with my new camera ^^).

three swamp swimmers

New painting!

A couple of weeks ago, I was using gouache painting for the first time and I did this quick illustration of 3 gray creatures having their first swim in a swamp. The third creature on the right is scared to death! poor thing :}

necklace hangers and pink bunnies

My necklace collection is getting bigger and bigger. Today, I decided to sort them out and hang them on two separate wooden hangers. I finished painting an elephant and star hanger an hour ago.


And this is a funny scene I saw last Friday :D I've been noticing ragged soft toys and dolls hanging around in places (even on trucks!).. hmm maybe i could get to shoot them and create a new series :}