One of the colourful boats on a canal on the island of Murano.
fun
Light-sabre dummies
These were some other dummies in the swimming apparel department in Galeries Lafayette in Paris, a whole row of them, bearing light-sabres.
Plastic dummies in Galeries Lafayette
Galeries Lafayette in Paris has more dummies than you can poke a stick at. I liked these ones, made out of something like polypropylene sheeting snapped together. Maybe you could make interesting puppets with this construction?
Green walls
The lovely plant wall outside Musee du quai Branly in Paris. Wouldn’t you like growing and green walls at your place? At least some of the plants were growing in little pockets of kapok or something similar attached to the wall:
Tales from Fat Tulip’s Garden
Before Tony Robinson played Baldrick in Blackadder and hosted Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History, he did a great little kid’s story show called Fat Tulip’s Garden. Imagine my delight to find a few of the episodes on TouTube. It’s interesting to see it described as a cult classic – I thought it was just me!
Matchstick puppets!
Lea Redmond’s Leafcutter Designs conceptual art projects, which tend to the miniature and whimsical, include matchbox theatre kits with teeny tiny matchstick puppets!
No one as Irish as Barack Obama
Back
I’m back from a wonderful, happy 10-week adventure overseas. After 10 days at home I’m still finding it hard to settle down. We were in mostly in Europe, but also Novia Scotia, and lastly a few days in the US visiting my good friend Amy, whom I met online over 12 years ago now!
Place Igor Stravinski
Here are some photos of the playful fountains just to the south of the Centre Pompidou, in Place Igor Stravinski. Most of them move, for instance the big lips make a slow mechanical nod, and others turn while spouting water. They were created by Niki de St-Phalle and Jean Tinguely. The graffiti snake was high up on one of the walls surrounding the square; I like that it reflects the snake in the fountain.
When I was there, aside from the coffee drinkers, lots of people were sketching, a bunch of boys were playing football, and some other kids were playing an elastics game.
