Yesterday, Ryan and I, along with Ryan's Mum took a wee drive to Newtownards to visit the Battletown Gallery...
We especially wanted to see the paintings by Robert McLearnon, who is a family friend. I really enjoyed visiting the space which is a beautifully converted stone barn nestled in the fields, on a lovely farm, just outside the town.
I really love Roberts paintings and we hope to own a piece of his work one day! His use of colour is extraordinary and his pieces manage to have a very traditional old masters feel {like a snippet of sky from a Turner!} whilst remaining abstract, modern, fresh and captivating...It was really lovely to see the exhibition and chat to the lovely gallery owner. I look forward to going to lots of the openings from now on once I have moved over!
p.s. This wee painting by Andrew Coombes (of a red haired lady and her gentleman) which had just been brought out of storage for a wee airing was one of Ryan's favourites in the whole gallery! If I could have (and he hadn't), I would have definitely bought it for him as he just fell in love with it... ;) Only a shame I didn't get a good shot of it, but here's a wee idea of it anyway.
My newest, most absolutest, favouritist thing right now this minute (until later on when I change my mind again..!)...
Madonna (see what I did there?!) by Alexander Girard...his folk art dolls are pretty awesomely mental, too! :) Available at Heals, and, for even more interesting stuff (including some scrumptious fonts...Girard's "Slab" is pretty delicious) have a read here. Any font snobs, such as myself, will find themselves rather overwhelmed by the gorgeousness...I might even have to do a more detailed blog on this most wondrous emporium!
You may well remember Abi's post about the wonderful Kris (of Kris's Colour Stripes) and her fabulous handmade mushrooms (for sale to commission...we'll certainly be adding more to our collection!).
I particularly love the delicate handmade touches she has used to add warmth and charm to the bright colour pallet she's used- the adorable handmade wreaths and butterflies (pictured above) are my particular favourites!
Eagle-eyed readers amongst you might also notice the touch of abigail*ryan style in her kitchen when you click through... :)
This is worth reading just for the list of logos included...staggering!
Aside from the sheer breadth of research and the stunning attention to detail, the wit of the script, and undoubted quality of the animation itself, is mind-blowing.
However, in my opinion, the message of the film-makers is unclear...is this a horrific vision of the near-future, drowning in corporate blandness, or a slick, clean, aspirational nirvana, where money is god and branding the assurance of worth?
Have a watch and let me know what you think- i'd love to read some comments ;)
You'll probably be pretty surprised to read at the bottom of this post how it was written by ryan, and not abigail...it is about a makeup review website, after all..!
Well, give me a moment to explain...this is probably one of the funniest websites i've seen online- 2 very funny chicks (one in Scotland, the other in Belgium) mock each other, themselves, their obsession with "beauty" products, and the products themselves.
In an industry that normally seems to take itself so seriously, their irreverent approach is a breath of expensively scented air...(and one that'll probably make you laugh your bum off- now *that's* a cure for cellulite no one ever mentions!).
I think it's safe to say that here in the abigail*ryan household, we are crazy about bakeware, and baking. If we're honest, I think we just like cake...probably a little too much!
Whilst browsing the amazing selection of Bundt pans on the Nordicware website, we've ear-marked two more pans we would LOVE to add to our growing collection... we really liked the idea of the faux ice-cream cones which would be fantastic for a partaaay - and the bugs are really cute, too. I love the attention to detail in the pan, where it's shape is a leaf... very sweet indeed.
(On a side note: I am attempting to become more at one with creepy crawlies as I am flexing my green fingers and trying to suppress my black thumb in the garden - so I am outside more, sharing space with critters galore! I'm sure these cakes could help smooth the way, no?..)
As part of our mammoth clear-out and organise ahead of our move, we're creating a whole drawer/basket in our larder JUST for nestling baking tins...hopefully these will go up tomorrow...
Yesterday, Ryan and I, along with Ryan's Mum took a wee drive to Newtownards to visit the Battletown Gallery... 
