Gee How Quaint

Print Pattern book by Bowie Style

Whilst chowing down on my lunch, I was flipping through a magazine and saw that Bowie Style has created a very luscious little book.  I may not put up a very good fight to keep from purchasing it.

Anyway, the name triggered a distant little memory that once upon a time, quite a number of months ago, she blogged about Gee How Quaint.  Bowie Style Blog features some incredibly bad photos (taken by me) of my Sally Travel Set and Tracie Travel Set.  Oh, if only she had found me after I bought the magic box and lamp for taking good product photos.  Ah well.  I am still excited about the fact that someone who blogged about my products has now brought out a book.  Go get yours at this tiny hut.

We Feel Fine

Last week I was the happy recipient of my free copy of We Feel Fine, a project, a website, a book of the exploration of Human Emotion.  The reason I received the book was down to being asked to participate, filling in paperwork, then being rejected.  I feel sad.  Not really.  

So, just a very very brief explanation of their software and what it did.  These two clever dudes created software to trawl blogs, searching out 'i feel' statements then linking the statement to the image found in the same entry.  They would then create a montage, which is a fancy name for a photograph with the 'i feel' statement written on top of it.

This was the image that was considered for the We Feel Fine website and book.  Unfortunately, it did not make the final cut.  I think some of that has to do with the statement that was used in the 'i feel' wording found on the blog.  'I feel I must update my blog more often' does not really fit the image.

So what should I have said instead?  I feel inspired by love.  I feel joy in my heart when I look at this photograph of Hadleigh and Rachel.  I feel that she is lucky to have him (I mean who wouldn't?!  How attentive is this man that holds back wind blown hair for the sake of a photograph?!)

To view the project online go to We Feel Fine and click on the interactive button at the bottom of the page.

Dedication

 

This represents years of dedication and hard work.  An intelligent mind and determined perseverance.  I met Shanthi about 4 or 5 years ago.  Here's the tenuous link:  She is the wife of the husband my husband roomed with whilst at Imperial College.  When I last spoke to her, about 2 years ago, she was talking about the phase of book writing when you get to name your masterpiece.  Her dilemma then was how to grab people as they walk by the many shelves of many books at the bookshop.  How do you stand out?  What words will capture a person's attention enough to cause them to reach up, grasp the book in their hungry little hand, and proceed to leaf through its pages?

 

I think the cover image and the title are enough to snag anyone looking for something intelligent, entertaining, and wonderfully written to read.  I am reserving my copy at Amazon.   

Filling your head with stuff that is good

Without a doubt, the best book I have read this year has been E.M. Forster's 'Room with a View.'  It was such a delightful read and I discovered a gem of a quote within its pages.

"Life is easy to chronicle but bewildering to practise."

Can I get an "AMEN!" from the audience?!

I also try to dip into the non-fiction section to try to even out my escapist tendencies and to give me focus when it comes to the business.  I don't generally pick up business books, but maybe things more akin to easy-to-read management books.  Here are my two edifying reads from the summer:

 

Sway :  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior.  Apparently, this is the book management has been reading whilst on holiday.  I didn't know that at the time I purchased it at the Denver airport.  It is interesting and keeps your attention but is slightly convoluted with its examples.  For instance, it goes a little like this...Here is example A.  Now, I can't fully explain A until I tell you a little bit about B.  To prove my point about A and B, I now need to throw in examples C thru F.  So because of all these, we can now understand the full meaning of A which is blah, blah, blah.  Next chapter.  The book brings up very interesting points about making crap decisions and why we do it, so yes, I do recommend it.

It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be is a book I bought whilst visiting the Tate Modern in Liverpool.  Arden was suggested to me by a friend so I thought I might as well pick up this little book.  I can only take in one or two pages at a time.  Although each page has one very simple statement, they are rather large statements that you need to pause and think about and wonder 'So, what does this mean to me?'  This book is good to have on the side and is good to visit to refocus your thinking.  

Do you have any suggestions for m? 

Cassandra, are you famous?

 

Last week, during National Book Week, I had the opportunity to visit a couple local schools as their guest Illustrator.  What a fancy title: Illustrator.  I don't consider myself an illustrator.  I consider myself an artist who has illustrated a book.  Anyway, I didn't want to ruin the illusion for the kids, so, for the week, yes, I was an Illustrator.

I was asked all sorts of interesting questions and also received some amusing answers to the questions I posed to the children.  When asked 'How many hours do you think it took for me to illustrate this page?', many of the children responded in minutes!  I wish!  Two minutes for all that work. 

'Cassandra, are you famous?' was another good question.  How can an illustrator be famous?  I suppose if they have several books under their belt, than possibly they would be a bit well-known.  I was honest and confessed that I was not well-known.  Even with that admission, at the end of one session, I was asked for my autograph by a few of the kids.  It was all very sweet and nice to feel incredibly important, even if it was only for one day.

*Planes, trains and the London Eye can be purchased at the London Eye gift shop in London or by clicking on this link.

Craft Inc.

This is the latest business book I have added to my growing collection.  Although I think that I am passed a few of the start up points offered in this book, I always feel that I can learn something new by looking back at the basics.  I have not read one that he been specifically directed at starting a crafty business, so I anticipate many good ideas from this little gem.

If you want to learn more about this beautifully designed book (which, to be honest, was most likely the driving force behind my purchase) then please click on me!

Over 400 books sold!

During the Christmas holiday, I met up with the author of the children's book I illustrated Planes, Trains and the London Eye.  I had not really been tracking book sales and thought that we had not even come close to breaking even on our investment.  But surprise, surprise!  I have found that we have sold over 400 books!  Our biggest point of sales for far is the London Eye Gift Shop (in store, not online).  What great news!  Sales have been ticking over and I anticipate that they will continue to do so. 

My friends and family keep asking me when I will be illustrating a new book.  Eep.  How to find the time?!  Between teaching, Gee How Quaint and the other stuff of life, how could I squeeze this in?  I am sure I could find the time should another opportunity arise.

I think I've found my new hero (or heroine, rather)

Whilst reading The Times during the weekend, I saw that if I bought my paper at Starbucks on Monday, I could become the very happy and contented recipient of a free book by India Knight. I have an exquisitely written article by India Knight which extolls the virtues of obsessing about shoes.  Said article was written well over a year ago.  If your looking for it in internet land, you may find it under the title 'Shoes, the female guilt trip.'  Or if your old school, perhaps on microfich, or is that only found in American schools?  I don't know, and won't claim to be an authority on this kind of thing.

I have digressed.  If you were unlucky and did not nab your copy of 'On Shopping (Which Gladdens the Heart) then pop over to www.timesonline.co.uk/books and for goodness sake, get yourself a book.  Indian Knight's writing style is so very honest and entertaining.  Again, I'm not a book critic, but I know what I like and I think this is worth popping into your bag for a quick read.  It's good entertainment for waiting in queues or sitting on buses or in trains.

I have also done a quick little search about India Knight and have learned a few interesting things about her.  One interesting point is that she has a special needs child.  As I work with special needs children (I'm an art teacher.  I LOVE this job) it just endeared her a little more to me. A real woman in a real world doing amazing things. 

Planes, Trains and I at the London Eye

Today I received a wonderful email from the author of the children's book I illustrated.  It seems that our little endeavour will now be on sale at the London Eye gift shop.  How rad is this?!  A:  Super-rad.  I told Sherry (said author) that the next time I was in London, I would take photos of the book happily sitting on the shelf.  I am very pleased.  Yes, very pleased indeed. 

When I remember the hours in the evening (after a full day of work), weekend and any spare hour in-between, creating those vibrant illustrations, I am very thankful that they will soon be appreciated by more than just a few.  And yes, I am very thankful that my parents, siblings, aunties, and grands have been so kind to buy copy after copy to give to friends, to read to their little ones, or as my brother told me in our last phone conversation, to "put it in a frame."

Chocolat and Chocolate

When it's time to end the day, I like to snuggle against the pillows of my reading window and pour over the pages of a good book.  During the day, I read serious books on business and PR and art and design, but in the evening I allow myself special treats. 

At the moment, as you may have guessed, I am reading the follow up book to Chocolat. I haven't read the first book, but I tell you one thing, I do get a thrill or two seeing Johny Depp being handsome all over the place in the movie. 

One thing in particular that I love about my current read, is the fantastic descriptions of making chocolate.  My heart does grow faint at the thought of handmade chocolates, tempering the melty, drippy syrup and forming nice little bundles of chocolate happiness.  (Obviously, there is another story line running alongside the chocolatey one as well, but one can become obsessed over a treat, you know).

I have actually found a yummy internet page full of chocolates to buy.  I highly suggest a sneaky peak and permission to buy a gift for yourself, as I have just done exactly that.