matouenpeluche

Masked (penguin) Ball and other scenarios

So this is a drawing I did a few weeks ago: Masked (Penguin) Ball. I haven't really got much to say about this print as I think it speaks for itself.

However, I have been thinking about the sort of masked ball or fancy dress party I would like to go to and I have decided on these two themes:

1) A James Bond fancy dress party.

Can you imagine? Fine, fine John Barry/ Shirley Bassey e.t.c. music playing all night long and heaps of opportunities to be over the top silly. All. Night. Non. Stop! I suppose everyone would either come as Blofeld or James himself circa Sean Connery. I'd like to think someone would have the chutzpah to come as Jaws (Moonraker) or Christopher Walken (A View to a Kill). I wouldn't mind going as Solitaire in Live and Let Die (v.snazzy long haired Jane Seymour in '70s New Orleans/ New York Bond). I quite like Tiffany Case in Diamonds are Forever (favourite all time Bond film my friends - give it a watch - it is magic!). Then again, I think I'd like to come as Sean circa You Only Live Twice as in wet suit clad and arriving in a toy helicopter thingy. Or perhaps I'd come as Odd Job (Goldfinger baddy). Although, I wouldn't mind actually being Goldfinger, come to think of it, as I could go around all night saying "Goodbye Mr. Bond" in my best heavily accented German/ English. I'm just rambling now...pardon.

2) *Ahem* The other party I was thinking of would be a Beatles party and you'd have to dress as your favourite era of Beatle.

I think I'd come as John Lennon circa Hamburg with a quiff and a leather jacket and smoking a rolled up cigarette or perhaps a white suited Lennon with long hair and a middle part à la Abbey Road (favourite album after all). Then again, would it be permissible to come as George Martin? Hmmm...that's possibly a bit tricky...

 

My favourite Oscar looks

I guess any internet surfer worth their weight has already fully scrutinised the Oscar frocks. After all, it was a full day and a half ago that the net was saturated with all things Oscar! However, I'd like to add my two cents too! So, here are my favourite looks from the evening...

Much has been said about Angelina Jolie's Oscar frock....and that leg. Well, I'd like to think the woman has a sense of humour and that she's vamping it up as some sort of comment on previous press about her choice in red carpet looks or...something. Well, that's what I'd like to think anyway. But, really, at the end of the day, I think she looks pretty sensational in all that plush black velvet. Emma Stone, to my mind, looks super stylish and that colour is stunning on her.

Absolutely adore Gwyneth's cape - she is the red carpet super hero! Milla Jovovich is Hollywood personified!

I am a huge Rose Byrne fan. Not just because she's a local Sydney gal, but because she's incredibly pretty and a fab actor to boot! This liquid sequin black number is ravishing on her.

Happy Wednesday all! :0)

All images from here.

John Cheever: The Swimmer

First of all, apologies all round for the lack of posts of late. I have been in a bit of a blogging funk. However, I have now made a full recovery and am keen to recommence blogging activity!

So, this morning I was doing a bit of impromptu spring cleaning of a particular cupboard that I have been skillfully ignoring for maybe 4 years. It is full of novels, cartoon books and art books I haven't looked at forever. It was a revelation! I found so many gems and books dear to my heart that I got quite emotional and had to stop half way through and have a sit down. One of the best finds was a book of short stories by John Cheever. It is absolutely enormous at 892 pages and packed with 60 or so stories. If you have not read the works of John Cheever, you could do worse than spend a lazy weekend getting acquainted him.

  In this fine book is one of my favourite short stories ever which was made into an equally fine movie staring Burt Lancaster called The Swimmer. This is how the story begins:

 "It was one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying, 'I drank too much last night'. You might have heard it whispered by the parishioners leaving church, heard it from the lips of the priest himself, struggling with his cassock in the vestiarium, heard it from the golf links and the tennis courts, heard it from the wildlife preserve where the leader of the Audubon group was suffering from a terrible hangover."

It is a mystery story (sort of) set in an upper class suburb of New York. Neddy Merrill, the protagonist, appears one day in the yard of a neighbour's/ friend's place which has a large pool. The friends have not seen him in some time and they exchange friendly chat. Ned swims the length of the pool and realises that it would be possible to swim back to his home using the pools of his friends. We then follow him through the back yards and swimming pools of this wealthy neighbourhood. The interactions with his neighbours and Ned's own reflections reveal more and more of Ned's past until finally he reaches his home and all is revealed.  

Anyway, I know what I'll be doing this hot, humid, steamy weekend: taking it easy and reading my rediscovered John Cheever short stories!

Happy weekend all!

Images from here and here.

Interview with Nan Lawson

Nan Lawson is surely the queen of cute, quirky, nerdy art, yet she is so much more than that! Her whimsical prints seem to be very personal: they are full of purpose and thought and love. I think this is what makes them such a hit! People want in on the love! I have been an admirer of Nan Lawson's work for some time now, so over the holidays, I decided I'd ask her if she'd do an interview for my blog. Imagine my delight when she said she'd love to! Without further ado then, I present Nan Lawson...

Richie

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hello! My name is Shannon, but my nickname is Nan. I'm an illustrator living and working in Los Angeles. I live with my boyfriend and two cats in a cozy craftsman apartment that I like to decorate in my spare time.

When did you first decide to become an artist?
My first real decision to become an artist was when I was in college. I knew I wanted to create things. I studied film making there, which is a great way to learn how to write, act, and create visual art. My decision to become an illustrator came later when I was working a boring day job. I started my Etsy shop as a creative outlet and that's where my illustrating really took off.

What are a few of your favorite things?
I love to watch great movies and television shows. I am always inspired by the characters I see in them, and find myself drawing them more and more often. I also love great interior design. A clean and well decorated space is a beautiful thing to me.

Lizzie and Darcy

Who are your favourite artists at the moment?
I've always loved Ashley G's artwork, and I'm a big fan of Vera Brosgol and Emily Carroll. All three are great lady illustrators/cartoonists. I'm also pretty obsessed with anything by Jon Klassen.

What are your top five favourite movies at the moment?
The Royal Tenenbaums, In The Mood For Love, Moulin Rouge, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Harold and Maude


Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I hope to still be illustrating and making a living off of it. That's the most important thing to me. Maybe I'll have branched out to do more editorial work and licensing at that point. I'd love to be living in a modest home with my boyfriend (perhaps husband by then?) in Los Angeles.

The Photographer

Thank you so much Nan! For more Nan Lawson loveliness, you can visit her Etsy shop here--> Nan Lawson and her website here---> Nan Lawson Illustration.

Dainty Goth Goddess

I chanced upon a superb post by the folks at Cat Party the other day. It chronicled the many lovely looks worn by Winona Ryder on the red carpet in her hey day. *sigh* It made me feel a bit wistful for the late 80s and 90s and wish that we saw more of that type of gothic glamour today...

All photos from Life via Cat Party.

Fab Five Friday!

Sarah Cameron Leibovitz and Karen Finley both by Annie Leibovitz.

 

Hello! I hope everyone's week has been a happy one! I have my Friday links here for you to browse and two photos by American photographer Annie Leibovitz. I picked these up at an exhibition she had here in Sydney at the MCA not so long ago. The expression on that baby's face is priceless! I love the colours and composition of the nude too. It was a very good exhibition because I saw plenty of photos there that were pretty wonderful and a little different to the celebrity/ Vanity Fair type portraits I was so familiar with.

So, here are my Five Fab Friday links!

1) Absolutely stunning jewellery up for auction that was formerly owned by a well-known beauty.

2) The most innovative and remarkable bridge I've ever seen!

3) A summer holiday inspired post here.

4) A relaxing time-lapse video of the installation of an exhibition at the Guggenheim.

5) Student photographers show what they're made of.

I hope everyone has a happy and refreshing weekend!

Goodbye Ken Russell

I was saddened to hear that the grand old man of British cinema, Ken Russell, had passed away this week. I have seen most of his films and enjoyed them immensely. My favourites are the great composers series he did for the BBC such as Elgar, Strauss and Delius, "Lair of the White Worm" (absolutely hilarious!) and the documentary he made about his own life which stared his little son (so sweet!). Bits of The Who's "Tommy" were also pretty terrific but my all time, hands down favourite Ken Russell film is the musical "The Boy Friend". Have you seen it? It's set in the 1920s and tells the story of the stage production of a musical by an English theatre troupe. It is very, very funny, beautifully acted and exquisite to look at. Think Georges Barbier meets Busby Berkeley via swinging sixties London! Twiggy, its star, is ravishing as are the costumes and sets. There is a a very good review of it here.

I was lucky enough to actually see Ken Russell being interviewed on the stage at the State Theatre many moons ago as part of the Sydney Film Festival. It was an absolute honour to hear him speak and answer questions. He was totally naughty, disobedient and hilarious!

Goodbye to a great British artist.

Top image from here and the others from Le Cinema Dreams.

It Chooses You

Performing artist, writer and film director, Miranda July, she of the uber quirky indie flick "Me and You and Everyone We Know" has just this past week released a companion book to her new feature film "The Future". The book is called, and I'm guessing if you surf the net you probably already know, "It Chooses You". I actually just saw it in a bookshop here in Sydney this morning and I had a peek at a few pages and WHOA! I had to put it down quickly as I felt like I was being sucked into Miranda July's vortex which is not something I want to happen today as I have many things to do...

It is a collection of stories and interviews with strangers who were selling things that she met whilst driving around in LA. Here is a sample from "It Choose You":

“Weren’t leopards massive and deadly? These looked more like cute kittens. Then one of them suddenly jumped in the air to the height of my face. Two more began wrestling, slamming each other against the wall with violent cracks. They were small, but they no longer seemed cute; there was a strong man inside of each one. I tried to contemplate breeds and cross-breeds, but my knowledge was thin and I had to supplement it with what I knew about Spiderman and Frankenstein. And the Incredible Hulk.”

I thought that was very nice indeed! As for the cover, well anyone who devotes the whole cover of their book to a collage of pussy cats has my vote almost by default!

I hope everyone is having a fine, fine weekend!

Top photo from here and second from here.

Art Deco Afternoons and The Great Gatsby

Art Deco Afternoons

This is Doris and Rita spending an afternoon together reading in the library. Doris has just finished her book whilst Rita is still going on hers. Doris' book was F. Scott Fitzgerald's This side of Paradise while Rita is halfway through The Great Gatsby.

Speaking of The Great Gatsby, did you know that Baz "Moulin Rouge" Luhrmann's production of The Great Gatsby is being filmed in Sydney as we speak (*ahem* write)? It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in the lead roles of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan and Toby Maguire co-stars as Nick Carraway. Below are some shots of the cast and crew on location a couple of weeks ago. In the first photo Leo and Toby are in casual dress driving around in a red car while in the second photo you can see Toby Maguire and Leo in costume sitting in a spiffy looking yellow automobile.

I'm keeping my wits about me when I trot around town as think it's entirely possible I might bump into Leo himself one of these days!

Here are some more photos of the cast and crew on set.

I trust everyone's week is progressing in an orderly manner!

Both photos from here.  

 

Breakfast at Tiffany's companion

I was lucky enough to be given the Breakfast at Tiffany's Official 50th Anniversary Companion the other day. I haven't actually begun to properly explore this book, but I can see that there is a lot of detailed information about Truman Capote (the original writer of the short story that was turned into the film), the making of the film, scripts, behind the scenes tidbits and gossip. I'm looking forward to reading about everything there is to know about the film, but so far I've been happy just looking at the wonderful photos! Audrey really did have a certain je ne sais quoi, didn't she?

All phootos from here.