Close to my phone…

Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you're feeling bad, just look at the cats, you'll feel better, because they know that everything is, just as it is.” – Charles Bukowski, On Cats.

cat phone wallpaper by david mackintosh

That’s why he’s on my phone.

Armin Greder's latest picture book…

Armin Greder’s confronting new picture book Voi (published by Orrechio Acerbo) arrived in the country. Safe and sound. It was thoughtfully accompanied by an English translation, though the illustrations are loud and clear.

A tree is a tree is a tree…

A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.“— Carl Sagan

illustration by david mackintosh

Drawing on newsprint.

Grey with chance of rainbows…

A fine book launch for Laura Dockerill and Lauren Child’s picture book GREY at Battersea Bookshop. A good time was had by all, with impressive words from the authors and even a book reading by the writer.

Why don't you go outside?…

Working on the computer constantly reminds me of the importance of working in a real space, with real spacial awareness and real scale. Inhabiting the world of the application one is using can be the kiss of death. How satisfying it is to see the work on the table in front of you, with the edges of the paper in reach and the imperfection of the surfaces in full view.

A constant reminder.