Cute as a Button (Mushroom)

I just saw these painted foods by Nic Bennett on It's Nice That, they made me smile which is always nice!

My favourites are the kiwi and the red onion.

Corinne Day

I read last weekend that Corinne Day has passed away. I was aware of some of her work in the 90's with Kate Moss, and the subsequent backlash to do with the creation of the 'waif' and associations with drug use and eating disorders. I can understand why the media would like to perceive Day's work in this way, but I think she was more about portraying what women really looked like, not producing over-polished and over-edited images. I really like a lot of her photography, the images she creates are powerful and full of emotion, particularly her 'Diary' series from 2000.

Walls are Talking

One of the exhibitions we just managed to catch whilst in Manchester was 'Walls are Talking' at the Whitworth Art Gallery, it was meant to finish on the 30th August but luckily some of it was still open on the 31st when we went! It was an exhibition of wallpapers all relating to the themes of gender and sexuality, and I thought it was brilliant, particularly those that provoked thoughts about the female body and women's role within society. One of my favourites is shown above, it was designed by Peter Saville and Julie Verhoeven and from a distance first looks like an 18th century Toile de Jouy wallpaper design. On closer inspection it features scenes of bondage and women performing sexual acts, quite a contrast to some of the traditional Japanese scenes still remaining in the background.

Urbis

It was my 21st this week, hurrah! Me and my boyfriend took a couple of days out to go to Manchester, not the most exotic of locations I know, but neither of us have ever really explored the city. So that's why a few of my posts this week may relate to Manchester. While we were there we tried to get to as many of the galleries as we could, although there weren't actually that many exhibitions on and we noticed a distinct lack of photography for Ian.

Amongst our failed attempts was our trip to Urbis exhibition centre, which we'd heard a lot about as far as galleries in Manchester go. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed... and we were dismayed to see it's now becoming the National Football Museum. Gutted. However, it was a gorgeous day so we had a chill on the grass next to it, and I admired the Urbis building. None of my photographs did it any kind of justice, so the one above is pinched online from elliotmcintyre.com. In the daytime the tinted pale blue glass panels become a gorgeous pale blue colour, and because it was such a clear sunny day I think the building really looked its best.

Inception

I finally went to see Inception while I was in Manchester this week, I'd heard a lot about it so I had quite high hopes.

To be honest I wasn't bowled over, the dreams concept was amazing and it made me do a lot of thinking which I really like in a film, also some of the shots were stunning... but overall it just didn't quite do it for me. It could be that it was just a bit too much like an action film for my own taste.

It did however remind me of two of my favourite films; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Science of Sleep, they both have similar themes of sleep and dream intervention and I think I will have to give them both a watch again soon. I definitely enjoyed Inception, and I would recommend that everyone gives it a watch, but I don't think I will be viewing it again.

OMGposters.com

Another poster related post today, omgposter.com is a poster lovers blog, and was shown to me by a friend at work. The posters they blog about are really diverse and don't conform to a particular style, so I've found it's a really great source for inspiration and just to appreciate the awesomeness of some of the illustration and design.

The posters above were designed by Phantom City Creative for the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, they were featured on the blog a couple of weeks ago.

Mert & Marcus Vogue Shoot

I first saw this through Natasha Bailie, her website has an amazing collection of vintage clothing, many of which I am tempted to purchase! But it was when I was browsing her blog that I found a post about a vintage shoot for Vogue by Mert & Marcus, featuring Lara Stone and styled by Grace Coddington. Lara looks incredibly well turned out in the images, which have a retro all-american 50's vibe going on.