Farewell to the Julia – Cork's lost passenger ferry

Running along the docks this morning I was caught up in the City Marathon to my own bemusement, and glanced across at the empty stretch of water where Julia used to sit. She had been a friendly presence in the port of Cork for the last couple of years. High and unmissable, you would catch glimpses of her from various parts of town. Initially she was busy between here and France and back again. But economics intervened and she was left redundant to sit indefinitely in the port until the sad day she turned round and left altogether: April 28th, 2012. Apparently she's servicing the Dutch oil rigs off the North Sea now.

Below is a riston print I did in the printmakers' on Wandesford Quay in 2010, and the next is sunset over the port and train station taken from my house only days before the departure. You can see the empty Elysium building just to her left, monument to the heydaze of the Celtic tiger, and the old R&H Hall building a little left of that again.

A City in Macro – Petra Stone

These were are all taken a few years ago by Petra Stone on her analogue camera – around Cork city.

More here

Tripping in Surreality – 'Art Lit Feed' on tumblr

Bouncing round the Indie Art Lit Feed and grazing on hippy tripped out universes. And then the whole tumblr rabbit-hole for that matter. These images are from there but originally: 

Chrissy Angliker (via booooooom)

Pierre Botardo (via 2headedsnake)

James Dawe (via 2headedsnake)

Unknown (via whitemoonstone)

Ms. Neaux Neaux (via feru-leru)

Follow it here @ArtLitFeed

Tibet in France – Lerab Ling

My summer volunteer experience is in full swing; busy like normal life, but with a massive temple in the back yard and staying in a tent. Not yet enlightened, but maybe another 3 aeons might do the trick. All the same, have been looking and seeing and working on my mindfulness. Here are a few snaps of where I am for you to imagine...

Full photo story here
Location: Lerab Ling

Johnathan Harris – Personal Geography

Lovely idea and beautifully executed...

Halloween – New England

Spider webs

Sedate selection

Back garden extravagnaza, Salem

Actual original "witches" house in Salem town. 

 Cosmetic's Store adds glitz

For sure

Same Room – Oh So Different Room

New York Times Interactive piece here. Fascinating how people live so differently with the same starting point. Photography by Corine Vermeulen. 
Via G.

USA - Ways of Getting Around

Hang on: did you see Rodin's Thinker tucked away behind the jews? What's he doing??

New England Houses

It's been pretty quiet on this blog lately. No doubt about it. I've been Stateside catching up with family. So in that spirit of homes from home, here are a few little New England houses.

Matthias Heiderich – Colour Berlin

Behance
via grainedit
matthias-heiderich.de

A Daily Practice

Google: 'a drawing a day' and you'll come to the site of Lauren Nassef. Beautiful drawings, the kind that people look at and decide they want to be able to draw too. Like watching Whitney back in the day and deciding you'll be a singer. That kind of amazingness of technique and pizz-azz.

So what else comes up online under daily sketching? Well, not as as many swirly notes (but let me know what you find). The exhaustive A Drawing a Day has been going like clockwork since 2004 and is mind boggling for its tenacity. A professional illustrator's blog, with countless faces drawn on the subway, is impressive for its doggedness. Photographer Thomas Hawk is aiming to take a million photos. The image below is from his $2 Portraits project.

Where does daily discipline end and OCD begin?

A Ransacked Country House - Co. Tipperary

A distant relative had lived here for 86 years before reluctantly giving into the nursing home. Sure enough the property has been continuously raided by burglars (my parents use a different word). It's so sad to see a grand house crumble; a life plundered. Check out David Creedon's shots of similar houses around Ireland.