Vacanza

I can hardly contain my holiday excitement. Tomorrow I'm going to Italy and will be staying in a remote area of Tuscany which is insanely beautiful. Also I'll be going back to my favourite restaurant (probably in the world). It's a small family-run pizzeria which does the BEST PIZZA EVER as well as some lovely pasta and salads. The village is on the top of a hill and the view from the restaurant's outside seating area is amazing.

I've been packing today. I have to fit most of my stuff into my hand luggage as I'm sharing the main luggage with four other people (stupid easyJet baggage charges). I'm taking some skirts and tops that can be mixed and matched, plus a few summer dresses that fold up pretty small. Add a couple of vintage scarves and some red lipstick and a capsule wardrobe doesn't seem so bad after all. Sometimes I enjoy having the choice taken away to some extent - I won't have to think too long about what to wear.

As I'm such a big fan of pointless lists and misguided creativity, I decided to make a list of the most important things to remember, which I can use for future holidays too (see below). I made one of these back when I lived in Leeds and I remember my housemates thinking it was a bit mental. It was fun though, so what the hell. I realised I forgot to write 'bikini' on there, along with a few other things (which I've already packed so it's okay!) I'm not a big swimmer anyway but there's a small pool so I might have a bit of a paddle and do some miniature lengths.

Picture features model wearing dress by Giorgio Armani, bag by Jimmy Choo and shoes by Sergio Rossi.

I'm going to be without internet access for the whole time which I'm really looking forward to as I've been online too much lately and it's a distraction from a lot of the things I want to get done. My phone won't work either - I might be able to receive the odd text when I leave the village but other than that I'm going to be pretty cut off.

Back in early July. Ciao!

Father's Day

My dad never, ever goes on the internet. He refers to it jokingly as 'that there internet thing' and enlists my tech-savvy mum to send emails on his behalf from their joint email account. If he ever has to type anything (usually when searching for obscure records on Amazon that are generally unavailable) he does so with one finger, painstakingly spelling out the widely unknown artist's name, leading me to shout "Stop! I'll help you!" So I think I'll be okay to preview his Father's Day card on here, seeing as there's no chance of him seeing it until it arrives in the post.

He's not an everyday kind of dad, so I don't tend to make him everyday kinds of cards. This one is particularly high in irrelevance factor, but I think he'll like it all the same. It's my interpretation of a photo I took inside the Matsu Temple in Jhunan, Taiwan. It's pretty stylised and not exactly accurate but that's generally the case with all of my art... I used Pilot Hi-Tec C pens, watercolours and a Copic Sketch marker. After I took this picture I laminated the card so it's more likely to stand the test of time (when I say laminated, I mean I stuck some sticky backed plastic on it by hand, carefully so as not to leave any creases...)

Dad has always tried to persuade me to do more drawings of the small and detailed variety, as he thinks they're my strong point (I agree - could never get into doing big abstract paintings). He also wants me to draw more buildings and cityscapes, which I do love doing. I'm going to Italy next week so will try and draw some of the buildings there, in tiny Hi-Tec C style.

Ice Cream

Imagine your surprise when you buy an ice cream - something fancy like a knickerbocker glory - only to find there's a lady in it.