A few photos from Beijing's 798 art district, which is a neighbourhood filled with galleries, artist studios, cafes, art shops and street sculptures. Despite spending all day there, i'm sure there is plenty we missed.
With a bit of cash and dedication, this is what Digbeth could/ should be.
Also filled me with burning a desire for a white wash studio apartment/loft complete with plants.
My camera popped out of hibernation this week for a quick trip to an aircraft hangar in Coventry, where Rosie Kay was filming her dance piece '5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline'. It all looks like it's going to be pretty great, there's lots of photos in Meshed Media's Flickr.
Last night I went to an experimental drawing class at mac. I went armed with my pencils and sketchbook, not really sure what to expect, but to my delight ended up with a pallet containing brown furniture polish, coffee, vegetable oil, black ink and mud. Everyone was also given a big piece of paper and a photocopied image of a landscape - i picked a nice mountainy one - and for two hours had a go at creating a piece using experimental materials.
This was my result - in true me fashion, my final larger attempt only got as far as the mountains after taking too long on the tester, so I decided to bring it home and try it myself with various materials in my cupboards. Need to find something which I'll be able to use to do the water a bit better - clearly coffee wasn't my thing.
- oh that also just gave me a thought about substituting water colours for tea. Fab :) Now, what can I char in substitute for charcoal...
... I'm getting real lazy with my titles lately. I have no excuse. Just pure unoriginality and lazyness.
Last weekend the girls came to visit, half because we wanted a night at Snobs, and half because it tied in nicely with Alex's birthday. So I made some more cakes :) Ditched the swirly icing in favour of these multicoloured cupcake-kebabs. Icing was yum, cakes a little dry, I have yet to reach perfection...
It was Adams birthday yesterday, so I made him these yummmmy brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, from a recipe posted by Dujour. Of course, I had in mind that mine would also look beautiful and perfect, and then got to icing and found that I have still not mastered the art of cupcake decorating. After my first few attempts looked like a tiny dog had actually trotted along and done his business on top of my little brownies, I did get a tad better. Ah well, I guesssss I'd better make more for practice :)
We also took a trip to Oxford, which obviously made me very jealous of everyone living there, and made me wish I'd tried harder (much harder) in school, so that I could be one of those casually smart and brainy students swanning around all those lovely buildings. Hmph.
We also stopped by Bicester outlet village, and I got some nice spotty wellies from Cath Kidston, adding to my seemingly growing collection of bottle green clothing. (This purchase was very justified due to last winter's weather and my lack of waterproof, grippy footwear. I have yet to think of valid justifications for my other purchases, other then I never have to reach far to tell the time, thanks to my new 'time piece' necklace.)
The last few of China photos for now. The last of my film at least, (there's a few more on Flickr) still plenty of un-posted, un-edited other photos (mainly from 798 Project, which which is a great place as shall be seen in due course). These are from inside the Forbidden City, which is just pretty huge.
And of course, I do like lamp posts. And Beijing-ers do love their bikes.
Despite the swarm of tourists that congregate at Badaling to see The Great Wall of China, the view is pretty amazing. When we were warned about climbing the wall in such heat, I had no idea we actually had to CLIMB. Vertical slopes in flip flops meant I made it the closest high point, took a moment or so to poke my head out and catch some cool air, before retreating.
A misty day at the Summer Palace. It rained all morning. Then it stopped and we took a peddle boat out on the lake. It was rather surreal, a mix between peaceful and eerie, I half expected a huge dragon boat full of warriors to emerge from the mist.
Yes still a major lack of posts, but we've been busy making our own internet-less fun over bank holiday. Sherree and I made this choccie cake with our new heart tin, which we bought on our shopping spree to spruce up the flat. Also purchased a nice welcoming door mat (everyone has them, I felt left out) and some fake flowers from the cash and carry at the bottom the road.
It almost makes up for how upset I was at missing the farmers market, which has amaaazing cakes.
Also popped down to Ikon Eastside, which I've been walking past everyday but never had the chance to go in. The video installation on at the moment was a lovely break from the busy bank holiday crowds. Lazing about on bean bags gazing at Sergio Vega's paradise is a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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Just so you don't have to listen on their website and have them sneakily post to your facebook at the same time. Listening to this, plus all my old music which I've finally loaded on the mac, also reminds me that I haven't been festival-ing this year. Which is slightly sad. But a break from Leeds was needed, and as of yesterday I have a burning desire to do a different one next year, perhaps even abroad. Yes, I'm pretty crazy like that. Anyway, I have a year to plan.
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