I got two lovely books out of the library recently about felting. I have had a little dabble at felting in the past but I’m not going to add it to my evergrowing list of hobbies just yet! However I love anything handmade and these books are so inspiring, I thought I should share the love!
Right up my street, cute, colourful and kitsch! Maybe one day…
I think this melon head had a point considering what we saw at the Art Car Boot Fair on Sunday! I suppose I half expected it to be a bit odd and I would consider myself open minded as far as art is concerned but quite frankly some of the artists just needed to grow up and learn to paint!
This lady who was doing her bit for a pet charity was giving away chocolate ganache dog poo on a stick as prizes. I guess she thought she was being controversial. C’mon the Boy thinks to keep saying “poo” is funny, but he’s six. After that it’s just a bit pathetic.
Some of the stands – I just didn’t have a clue what they were about and to be honest I couldn’t be bothered to find out. I think perhaps some of them were performance art.
This couple were gradually being dressed up using bits of scrap material. They seemed to be having a laugh, and we did too – weird. NB I didn’t notice at the time but this lady has the most contorted fingers I’ve ever seen!
The artist who seemed to be selling the most prints produced the art above although unfortunately I can’t remember her name. There was also a huge queue for Pure Evil original limited edition screen prints which were being producing in the back of a van for £20 a go.
I went to the fair with the expectation that Tracey Emin might be there. But there was just an “Emin International” stall selling prints of marks she had produced on a tablet. You could even buy a raffle ticket to win a scratchy piece of art which was either a lino print or a drawing, I’m not sure. People were buying tickets, no doubt because it might be valuable in the future, rather than because they thought it was actually any good.
I like the images of the Queen and Marilyn but I’m perfectly capable of making my own of photocopies of images freely available which is all these seemed to be.
On the left above a Vauxhall car with a design by Sir Peter Blake and on the right plasticine balls for sale. No comment 🙂
The car below and tent were produced by the Binnie Sisters and although I wouldn’t want a painting of Osama Bin Laden or Myra Hindley adorning my walls, at least the art was fairly interesting to look at. Inside the tent had the feeling of a shrine which I think was the idea.
We walked round the car boot twice which probably took an hour or so. I’m glad I went to see what it was all about, and we did have a laugh, but I don’t think I would bother again!
After that we explored Brick Lane which was bustling with people – there was loads going on, and indoor food markets selling just about every kind of food you could wish for, Chinese, Indian, Lithuanian, Vegetarian, Vegan and much more. There wasn’t much English food but why would you want it here?!
It goes without saying there were cake stalls – selling huge cakes!
Art/vandalism (depending on which way you look at it) in progress along a side road.
There were a couple of big indoor vintage markets along Brick Lane. As well as some selling clothes by up and coming designers.
Next to the Sunday Upmarket we also came across an end of year graduate show for one of the London universities. There was some excellent work here by Kwan Saisomboon
There were also some posed mannequins which looked spookily real.
The Sunday Up Market was interesting with handmade and crafty stalls as well as vintage. This led to another fab food market – you couldn’t possibly go hungry in Brick Lane!
Another great vintage market was Absolute Vintage. As I collect vintage souvenir travel scarves I loved the way they had hung them on the walls for decoration. No photos allowed – oops too late! I did however find a colourful Andalucia scarf as my own souvenir of the day out (I don’t think any for Brick Lane exist!).
Next we walked through Spitalfields market, packed full with eclectic stalls of handmade arts and crafts, jewellery, retro clothing etc. It wasn’t dissimilar to when I came here in February to Judy’s Affordable Vintage (see post in February)! There were also a lot of original art prints here, in the walkway leading up to the market and running parallel to it. Much better than we had seen earlier in the day!
We finished the day with a browse around Elemental who sell antiques and vintage furniture and whose motto is “found, restored and back again”.
ArtyCraftyAli 
