Posted in Art & Design, History, Uncategorized, tagged design, History on May 2, 2013 | 6 Comments »
Carthaginian war elephant by Zig Zlick on deviantART…
I first thought of putting together this image collection about war elephants months ago, when listening to In Our Time with Melvin Bragg, in which he and guests were talking about Hannibal of Carthage and his invasion of Italy, 218-203 BC.
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, is (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, History, Traditions & Superstitions, Uncategorized, tagged architecture, design, History, traditions on April 14, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Face above the door, a Cardiff side street…
This magnificent face is above all the front doors of a row of old semi-detached houses in a small Cardiff side street that I often walk along.
He intrigues me so much that (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Uncategorized, tagged colours, design on December 18, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The beautiful rainbow-orange tiled wall of the ladies’ loos in the Kuku Club…
I don’t get out much, but the other night I went to someone’s retirement party at the Kuku Club in the Park Plaza Hotel in Cardiff.
It was a pleasant evening, but my abiding memory is of the ladies’ loos! The walls and (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Uncategorized, tagged art, design, winter on December 7, 2012 | 12 Comments »
The Wall – concept art for George R R Martin’s The Game of Thrones…
It’s that time of year when the first snows fall in the United Kingdom, especially in the Highlands of Scotland or the high Pennines of northern England. And I listen out for those portentous words, “the snow gates are closed”…
In reality, the news refers to something like (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Gardening, Photography, Uncategorized, tagged design, Gardening, photography on November 29, 2012 | 8 Comments »
The view from my window – with Photoshop stained glass filter…
This post is just a bit of playing around with Photoshop, really. I’ve had Photoshop CS3 for years but still love messing about with the “filters” options. They are such an easy way of creating a special effect with no artistic talent whatsoever!
As the basis for these experiments I used this image of (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Uncategorized, tagged architecture, dorset on September 11, 2012 | 4 Comments »
You get up close and personal with buildings on an open-top bus…
On a day trip to Bournemouth a few weeks ago, we decided to take a tour on the red Citysightseeing open-top bus. We usually do this when visiting a new place, to get ourselves orientated, but on this occasion we had already been to Bournemouth several times in the past.
The tour gave us a new perspective and I was able to snap what I think are some great (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Birds, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged birds, design on June 24, 2012 | 10 Comments »
This beautiful swan and its reflection is available as a fine art print from Fotoviva – click on the image…
I think it’s time we looked at another iconic bird, this time the swan. You may already have seen my earlier posts on the design appeal of penguins and peacocks and owls.
What makes a swan? It’s big, usually (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Uncategorized, Words, tagged art, Cardiff, design, Sci-fi, Words on June 12, 2012 | 18 Comments »
Cardiff Central railway station mosaics, in Welsh and English
On most days I pass these two small green and gold mosaics on a concrete wall alongside Cardiff Central Railway Station. I feel sure that most people don’t notice them, as they are in such a grotty, neglected corner. But they catch my eye.
The railway station is (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, History, Uncategorized, tagged Cardiff, History on May 7, 2012 | 7 Comments »
The Olympic rings being raised on Sunday, April 22, 2012…
On the way back from Cardiff’s RHS Garden Show in the rain on April 22, I was surprised to see the Olympic rings being raised in front of City Hall. I guess it’s because Cardiff is the venue for some of the London 2012 football events.
As I had my camera with me, I snapped the rings, along with some general views of a few of the wonderful Edwardian buildings of Cathays Park.
Corinthian capitals…
And with the Olympics in mind, I got to thinking how Greek, how (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Birds, Horses, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged art, birds, design, fonts, horses, Nostalgia, Words on January 4, 2012 | 4 Comments »
It’s that time to draw a line under 2011 and announce my top posts for the past year (figures kindly crunched for me by WordPress) – and three out of five were posts I had published in 2010…
I seem to have the BBC’s Frozen Planet to thank for my top two posts this last year, as again penguins seem to have been the big attraction for search engines.
Penguin of Arabia by Ursula Vernon
From paperback books to chocolate biscuits and much more besides, penguins are iconic birds. Here are some others I have chosen in 2011:
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2. English words from Celtic roots…
English words from Celtic roots were top post in 2010...
This year’s runner-up was last year’s winner – and again it’s all because I used a picture of penguins. The word penguin comes from either the Welsh or Breton
Pen-Gwyn (meaning “head-white”).
I have also posted several other items on the origins of the English language:
The ungothroughsomeness of stuff…
English words from Scandinavian roots
English words from Indian roots
English words from Spanish roots…
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White tiger at Singapore Zoo by David George
3. The sadness of white tigers
This one was new for 2011 and is a memory of the white tigers of Bristol Zoo and some information on other threatened big cats of the world.
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4. Carousel horses – an illusion of freedom
Horse head from the Riverfront Carousel in Salem, Oregon, by Crossmark
This was a wonderful excuse to collect together some beautiful images of carousel horses, unicorns and even zebras and this post was fourth in my top five for the second year in a row.
Another collection of art went with my post
Fairytale bedding: the Princess and the Pea…
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Some 1970s 'sci-fi' fonts from the 1970s
Design and nostalgia combined to make this a popular post. The same elements appeared in
Every poster tells a story
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