{diy: custom sketch pad}

What do you buy for the artist in your life? You know, the person who always gives you personalised paintings, artwork they've slaved over. For my granddad's 90th birthday, I found him a nice big sketchpad, but was rather unimpressed by the grizzly brown banana on the cover. Really, who gets inspired by rotting fruit? 

To make it a little more special, I gave it a little make-over, adding a custom cover. While I ripped the original cover off in a fit of anti-banana rage, I'd advise you to peel it off carefully. But then again, a good angry rip does feel rather good.

Print out a photo, for your new cover, onto photo paper (the heavier-weight works well to protect the pad). I used a photo of Tilly trying to steal Mossa's walking stick and chew on it -- at the time it provided a good laugh for both of them.

At this point, I found that the photo paper and the sketch pad were, unfortunately, different sizes -- the photo was a few millimetres wider, but also more than a centimetre shorter. The extra width was easy to remove, by trimming the photo with a paper cutter...

...but adding length proved a bit more difficult. Eventually, I used a fat bit of white packing tape -- lining up the bottoms of the photograph and the pad, and using the tape to fill the gap. Yes, this cuts about a centimetre off each page of the pad, but it seemed to stick it all together quite well. 

Tip: I found that using a generous bit of tape (i.e. extra on both sides), and letting the top of the pad hang off the table while you're taping helps it all to look a bit neater.

Trim the packing tape, and bend it over the top off the pad, and around the back (covering any scruffy marks left from where you ripped off the previous cover).

Hopefully, Mossa will remember his afternoons with Tilly whenever he does a little sketching.

In case his memory does fail, we penned a quick note in the front cover, just reminding Mossa who the pad was from (and how old he is). Add a pack of his favourite drawing pencils, and it's ready to be wrapped. Quick. Simple. And, hopefully, a good way to ensure you keep getting those lovely framed sketches as pressies. Everybody wins.

Do you have any quick presents to whip up for friends and family?  Please share -- I've got a little collection going here. With Christmas approaching, we're all looking for inspiration!

{the art of the acrostic}

Perhaps you didn't have your magnifying glass handy the other day, and wondered what you were supposed to be looking at in this picture from Mad og Bolig magazine.

Well, here's a shot from inside ARoS museum in Aarhus, where we happened to spot the original of one of the framed prints. (Note to ARoS museum police: I'm very sorry, but I didn't spot your white-on-glass 'no camera' signs until too late. If it makes you feel better, we got a parking ticket while inside the museum. Possibly at the very second I took this photo)

Oiseau, by Poul Pedersen, as you can see, is an acrostic. As far as I can tell, it reads: Where, Here, Paris, Stranger, France, Poul. And then downwards, the letters spell Bird. Perhaps not my choice of words, but I love the restrained use of red letters, and the way the words are arranged. With a set of alphabet stencils and a few tubes of acrylic, this would be quite simple to recreate -- either with your own acrostic poetry (ooh la la), or with a meaningful word, place or name in the centre.

After much searching, it seems that Poul Pedersen has kept himself rather quiet. A Danish artist, his paintings all seem to be collected around the Aarhus area, and very few are visible online. How lucky that we did venture into this corner of the Contemporary Art floor of ARoS (most of the art on which inspired rude comments like "I could do that with my eyes closed" and "Tilly made something just like that yesterday with squashed blackberries).

(source)

I did find another of his works, La Toile, that I also love. Unfortunately, my French isn't quite up to deciphering it all: You, Beneath the stars, The stars, Beneath the _______, The _______, Beneath You, The ______. I know, it's turning into a language test over here, but any help on what a toit is would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully it's not too rude to say in the comments.

I've been sketching away already, trying out different words for my own version, ready to paint once we're home again. Any ideas? Do you have any words on your walls?