A Little Smile

Beautiful stop motion animation by Gitta de Ridder:

 And the message is simple - we all need a little smile sometimes. A smile can be infectious and really brighten up someone's day. I love the analogy of the darkness of the rain combining with the brightness of the sun to create a rainbow of colour. In life we need both these elements to live life to the fullest and show all the colours of our spectrum.

LOVE

This is simply so beautiful & uplifting I had to share.
An animated film produced and directed by Valentine Reinhardt for musician Sebastien Tellier, called 'Love' takes us on a journey through a colourful world in nature - flying on a bright green bird and catching the eye of a pretty purple mermaid. She emerges and crawls up the mountains for a dance, and all the animals in the jungle seem to have the look of love about the,. Our naked bearded character - (could he be John Lennon?!) plays guitar, as the sun goes down.

An uplifting and colourful piece that will brighten any day.




https://www.nowness.com/story/sebastien-tellier-love

New shoes?

If these huge pieces of shoe art couldn't make you buy a new pair of shoes I don't know what would. Dotted around the shopping district of Madrid, the sculptures are all decorated by individual artists.

3..2..1.nature!

Ex- radiologist Arie van’t Riet has created Ethereal photos by using a X-ray machine to expose natural objects, and the revert the black and white bromide film in photoshop. He composes familiar scenes from nature that result in dreamlike delicate images.

Love Your Mind

Happy World Mental Health Day people!

What does that really mean? The Mental Health Foundation & many leading charities focus on  awareness of mental illness - which is an important cause nonetheless, however I support a campaign run by Mindapples that encourages everyone to look after their minds, whether they have had experience of Mental illness or not. The campaign asks people to think of their individual 'Mindapples' - an activity/task unique to them that they can do to make them feel better. In the same way that we are taught to look after our bodies, Mindapples wants everyone to look after their minds on a daily basis, by thinking of the '5-a-day for their mind'. The campaign has a really nice approach, that is all inclusive - people from all ages and backgrounds need to take care of their minds, and be aware that we are all vulnerable to stress and anxiety, that can lead to further problems if we are not more aware of our mental wellbeing.
So this World Mental Health day, think of what you like, what makes you happy - be it going for a walk, hugging a friend, singing a song, baking a cake or having a beer - then go forth & enjoy! For it really pays to LOVE YOUR MIND.

Once Upon a Time..Part II

So turns out there are a whole collection of these little videos from Chanel - check the Youtube channel here.

For now, I've included the next chapter which also had me mesmerised..

Once upon a time..

A beautiful animation telling the story of Coco Chanel.

It's reigning cats and dogs

It seems just as in real life, and all over the net - it's the cats & dogs that entertain the general public the most. They are care-free, silly, awkward, unpredictable, quirky and never fail to make even the most avid animal hater smirk. You could say it's an easy laugh, guaranteed to touch the hearts of many out there, but let's face it - you have no worries of discrimination. That's not to say achieving clever, funny shots of animals is easy. The best are often by chance. So how, I ask did they manage to get a cat to be a dog in the latest O2 ad? It's absolute genius! Every move, camera angle, slight look - the references to dog are so well observed. Hope there's a 'making of' video - I bet it's hilarious. I reckon even the Cravendale cat's would give it the Thumbs up.