Inspring Finds: Joel Penkman
In the spirit of trying to blog more I thought I’d try to start a regular spot to talk about other things – not just my cakes, my travels and life. So, here goes ‘Inspiring Finds’ and the first person I wanted to mention was this great artist I stumbled across the other day, Joel Penkman. I’ve seen his work around before, but quick spy over on Oh Joy the other day jogged my memory and now I’m totally smitten and want everything. How fun are these paintings? They look so real, so vibrant and I love the fact that they celebrate some real British institutions like Fabs, stick o rock and jam tarts!
Joel Pankman is based in the UK (making it all the more exciting) and really captures our food favourites. These pictures really do take me back to my childhood birthday gatherings, with party ring biscuits and jam tarts that everyone used to scrape the jam out of and discard the pastry case! You can shop the prints on Etsy, they are so reasonably priced too. I just wish I had my own kitchen wall to hang them all on in a collage of frames!
As I write this I’m huddled in a blanket, with a hoody on, waiting for the heating to kick in – it’s late July, it should be warm! I’m also glued to the news following the latest news on Norway – my heart goes out to them at this terrible time (I’m still in sock).
Venice When it Sizzles!
Hello, again! My blogging is like busses, you wait ages for one, then 2 come along at once. I wanted to share a few more pictures of my travels and this time Venice. Whilst in Lake Garda we decided that since we were so close to Venice we’d take an unplanned trip on our way back to the airport. It was all very last minute, meaning I had no time to research anything, though it was totally worth it. Venice was, as they say, stunning and beautiful in so many ways.
Again, the weather was so super hot that it made normal tasks like getting around really hard, however I think we got to see a lot of the city in the short 24 hours that we were there for. The endless waterways, zero cars and stunning architecture really do have to be seen. I was always skeptical that Venice would be all hype, but it is very idillic and quite peaceful (despite stacks of tourists). The food was good, the cakes were yum and the gelato even better.
We stayed at an amazing hotel where the room was covered with massive Venetian mirrors, which does nothing for your self confidence, but looks so stunning! It was the Hotel Palazzina Grassi and well worth a stop if you visit Venice – amazing service and the best food! We took boats everywhere, I got bitten by 100 mosquitos and visited the Bienale (more to come on that). All in all, Venice gets the thumbs up from me and I do really want to go back, just maybe when it’s a little cooler.
In terms of general inspiration, I’ve been mostly reading Catlin Moran’s new book, listening to Melanie Laurent and eagerly waiting for Beginners to finally come out – can’t wait! What’s inspiring you lately, anyone else reading Catlin Moran, what do you think of it?
Garda >Venice >London >Palma
Hello! I think this time around I’m not going to even mention the fact that I haven’t blogged since May and that this is probably the longest I’ve ever going without updating the the blog. Why? Because it’s really boring hearing me make excuses. All I will say is that I’m looking at a few ways that I might be able to change littledollface.co.uk that would allow me to blog more regularly, without having to keep it just about my life.
So, I’ve been rather busy in my travels lately having spent the las 10 days hopping between Lake Garda, Venice, London and then on to Palma! Miles and I headed off to Lake Garda (photos above) for a good friends wedding stayed for 4-5 days and then drove to Venice and hung out there for 2 days (photos of that to come). Italy was beautifully stunning, however it was unusually hot – making everything a bit harder. In between fits of melting we managed to get out onto the lake on a speedboat, eat some good food and consume our body weight in Gelato!
We visited and stayed in a medieval town called Malcesine, right n the edge of Lake Garda. This was where our friends were getting married and boy did it have spectacular views (checkout my first shot above, taken from our hotel room balcony). I want to share with you the rest of the trip in pictures, but instead of making this one huge epic post, I’ll try to break it down into Italian instalments – Venice to follow!
Sorry no pictures of London or Palma, my 7 hourse back in London between holidays was spent slumped over my washing machine waiting for my clothes to wash and dry (sob). And Palma, well, this was my annual work holiday and it probably wouldn’t have been that safe to take a camera with me - vodka and electricals usually equals disaster! 