Rosalie Gascoigne

Rosalie Gascoigne is an inspiration to me. She was a late bloomer, having her first serious exhibition of a very successful artistic career at the age of 57. She was born in New Zealand but emigrated to Australia at 26 years of age. I was fortunate enough for a period to live with some of her work in our family home as I grew up. Her well-known work made from weathered materials around her - road signs, drink crates, household detritus etc particularly touched me and still does.

http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/15/Rosalie_Gascoigne/

Automatic Drawing

Now it's time to share my own treasure, a lot more of it... I love to draw things with my non-dominant left hand, or my eyes closed, when I need to listen to my own heart and quieten my mind... I did this one a while ago in my left hand, listening to Portishead... and it still feels relevant everyday.

David Shrigley

I discovered the fabulously sick world of Glaswegian David Shrigley by chance when I lived in Paris 10 years ago. I was passing by a gallery in the Marais and was drawn in by a strange illustration in the window (don't remember which one now!), but I still have the invitation card of that exhibition on my wall today. I was going through a hard time back then and found myself drawn out of that and into the world of Shrigley, giggling gleefully at what I should not perhaps have found funny. What a relief to have a laugh and be jolted out of my blues, but then taken perilously close to his... Ahhh, Shrigley. His work simply has to be seen and enjoyed - it's available in many forms as you will see on his website.

Cutcakes

What to do when you really need a haircut but your budget says you should decide to grow your hair??? I found this gorgeous British girl Becky here in Berlin who cuts your hair for a very reasonable 15 Euros for the first cut, and makes you cake too! She even accommodated my food sensitivities, the sweetheart. Check out her blog Cutcakes and give her a call. My cake was delicious... and the cut is great, phew I have my neck back!

Social Designer

I just entered the latest competition (Freedom) on Social Designer. It's a website that "curates and creates smart products that tune into the greater good. You can join the cause by submitting designs for our competitions, weighing in with your opinion, purchasing goods or just simply talking about them. After all, every good idea (and every good cause) starts with a conversation – the more, the merrier." Social Designer is brought to you by the New York office of Felissimo, a global company that strives to promote social responsibility through good design.

They conduct competitions to design t-shirts and tote bags to support worthy causes. Go on, have a go and enter one!! And if you could imagine my design above on a t-shirt then please vote for my design... thank you!!

Kurt Schranzer

The other day I received an email from Kurt Schranzer, a dear artist friend back in Queensland Australia whose work is exquisite - both his sexy, homoerotic drawings and his current project The Great Walls , involving artisanal techniques of marquetry passed down by the men in his family. His work is held in collections worldwide and has been exhibited widely internationally.

Kurt is one of the subjects of my ongoing series of tattoo portraits and our shoot together several years ago reigns as one of the most entertaining by far!

Shusta, Berlin

You would be forgiven for thinking I had disappeared lately from lack of blogging... Truth is, life has been juicy and exciting and now that the sun is out, the urge to be outside when possible takes over! This means that my list of things to blog about has been steadily growing by the minute and so I will put a few out there on this first day of June!

Recently I discovered a funky new shoe store in Mitte Berlin called Shusta, where they have yummy coloured desert boots - honestly still one of my favourites from childhood, fair-trade Brazilian sandals, and young labels making shoes and accessories, all impeccably chosen. The store is located at Rosentaler Straße 72, near the well-known internet café Sankt Oberholz on the corner of Torstraße.