ART THINKING

Just a quick doodle of Sarah Browne's pyrite radio at IKON gallery in Birmingham. A gallery definitely worth a visit, where there are loads of really interesting exhibitions showing at the moment, and all for free. (N.B. check out Graeme Miller's Track, look properly amazing) Little books are my kind of addiction at the moment, which sounds ridiculous, I know! My favourite place to get them? Well, Muji of course! Think the cheap version of Paperchase. I keep them in all my bags, and theyre full to the brim of notes, drawings, poems and all sorts. It's like a way of keeping a diary, but less humiliating when you go back to read it at the end! They also make fab photos to frame (cheap 99p for 4 glass ikea frames are my faourite!) and pretty cute little presents if you make them specific. Great for developing your art too if that's the kind of think you're interested in.

1 and 2 are my favourites, both for under £1.

SUMMER PLAYLIST

1. Lykke Li - Little Bit
2. Mystery Jets - Flakes
3. Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans
4. Spector - Chevy Thunder
5. Laura Marling  - Ghosts
6. Lykke Li + Bon Iver - Dance Dance Dance
7. Mystery Jets - Flash a Hungry Smile
8. Marina & the Diamonds - Primadonna
9. Marina & the Diamonds - Starring Role

click here to view them all and listen!

JERWOOD DRAWING PRIZE

In my lunchbreak today, I headed into Coventry to look around the Jerwood Drawing Prize, which is being shown at the Lanchaster Gallery. It was really interesting to look around really, alot of it was contemporary beyond my understanding, but it was refreshing. A few of my favourite picks :

 In clockwise order from top left :
Bethan Lloyd Worthington
Amikam Toren
Liam Murray
Nicki Rolls



This exhibition is definitely worth having a look at if it's stopping at a gallery near you, check here to find out if it is!

CAMERAS

You might not realise it at first, but only one of these cameras is one of those expensive modern day ones.They've all been picked up by me over the past year, from people at school, charity and thrift stores and also my dad! I guess the point I'm trying to make, is that you don't need to spend hundreds of pounds on expensive things. Film cameras are the new 'cool' thing, but film at first can look expensive and time consuming. It's worth taking the time to work out how cameras really work before buying one, however cheap, because if you can't understand it, it just won't be any use to you at all! Places to get camera's are literally everywhere - in my local town we have a charity called Action 21 who have a shop which is full of them, and also at the dump, there's a Sue Ryder charity shop where there are a few. I've had stores reccomended to me in Brighton, and there has to be hundreds all over England, think thrift/charity stores! Filmwise, I buy and develop at Jessops - it costs about a fiver, they give you a new roll of film every time you develop there(don't count on that, maybe they just liked me that time, but it has happened a few times!), and fully refund you and give you new film if your photos don't develop! It's a really fun thing to try out, and you can do it on the cheap if you know the tricks, so try it yourself, and let me know how it goes! 

FLATPACK FILM FESTIVAL

This festival is really absolutely amazing.

If you’re in birmingham, or in the vicinity of birmingham between these dates, I really would try to go. There are tonnes of films, from animations to shorts to feature length films, literally something for everyone. Have a scan through their website for what takes your fancy, but the best thing about it is that the majority of them are completely and utterly free. I’ll definitely be going to quite a few, and I really hope you guys do too!

p.s. they’re showing Romeo + Juliet - the version with Leonardo Di Caprio!

what do you guys think about free festivals in britain? Do you think they're good?