Artetak popped up in my Facebook feed thanks to its crazy algorithm today with this naughty adult phone line Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life.
Kate Logan’s online store is packed with original designs of similar irreverent themes, with cute characters with devilish twists.
There are pins, patches, tees, homewares, and Kate’s artwork available to buy directly from her store.
I was starting into the BBC documentary where Chris Packam talks about his Aspergers, but had to pause and hit Google when I spotted this glorious Wire Fox terrier print on his wall.
The artist is Magda Archer, and perusing their other prints at Jealous Gallery only confirmed that they are right up my street.
Enjoy.
I shared with you my favourite house in Portstewart last week, so how about my favourite house in Bangor, where I actually live.
Its this pink beauty which resides in the wonderfully named 'Beverley Hills', in the Ballyholme area. Built in the 1930s it nestles amongst a neighbourhood of otherwise regular family homes, and backs onto a golf course.
I know what you're thinking- the cladding. I know. Cladding the exterior of a house in fancy stonework was a trend in the 1970s and you would wonder who in their right mind would have altered such an already high concept design building like this, let alone all over cladding, then painting it pink.
The photo below showing the house in its original form is so much better, the corner windows to the left side are totally lost under the heavy brickwork.
The current owner was not responsible for the cladding, or the pink, and they also say the original interiors have been stripped and changed too. So no retro futuristic interiors to observe, sadly.
David Wilson architects did some remodelling work recently extending the kitchen and living area on the ground floor. They appear to have done a good job, in keeping with the traditional design of the building.
Bangor has some beautiful Art Deco public buildings, one of which Neal McCullough from Hand Drawn Creative has featured in a clean crisp illustration, which you can buy on his Etsy Store.
The Bank of Ireland building is another example, right at the midpoint of Main Street. The building to the right which you can't see in the photograph has quite a few modernist qualities. I have an old Ulster Architrcture book somewhere that features it, I must dig it out to share with you on another blog post.
There's another section of Bangor, what I call the new-build sprawl of the East which is like a maze to me, but which has a pocket of home designs I've always loved.
Along the ring road and into never ending suburbia there are a couple of streets of these happy little chalets. They look like designs of the 60s or 70s, family homes with asymmetrical rooves, cute archways and novelty balconies.
There are several designs dotted along the Pinehill / Silverbirch area.
Incidentally Neal has a print that looks a little bit like these homes- Hand Drawn Creative Hollywood Bungalow A3 for £20. Apart from his Fisher Price retro toy illustrations, I think this is my favourite of Neal's work.
The last home of my favourites in Bangor list, is one I've been telling my parents I wanted to live in since I was a little girl, when we moved to the same road when I was aged two.
"The Sugar Cube", as its lovingly named by the family who live there, is a flat roofed design house on the same road as my parents' home. I always told my parents I would love there so I wasn't too far away from them when I moved out as an adult. Ironically I actually live almost this close now, although it's round the back of the Springhill Road, rather than down and opposite from my parents' house.
So have I got all th unusual homes in Bangor? Or do you know of any that I might like to nosy at too? Hit me up on Twitter- @rudedoodle
I may feature Holywood next- it would require a lot of time on Google Streeview going up and down the split-level, modernist heaven that is Marino!
One last bonus architectural oddity- the Ballyholme windmill, which peeks out from in between the streets of homes.
I would LOVE to live somewhere like that.
Holywood's maypole
Another instalment of charity shop visits, this time Holywood. They have about six or seven shops, and some vintage antique shops too.
Its a nice little afternoon out too, with lots of quaint coffee shops, specialty delis, and independent boutiques.
Vintage My Little Ponies. I also spotted a Rugrats doll- the ginger one? I want to say Chuckie?
Lovely Irish linen
Royal wedding stuff is uber kitsch collectible. Charles & Diana trays, plates, moneyboxes, etc.
More original packaging. Check out the top left suggestion of how to use your push-light. Fancy dinner time.
The following items, apart from the last, are all from an antique shop beside the maypole. They are priced up accordingly, so you will pay more than a charity shop price if you want to go buy anything I show.
I love the bird cage. It's a really big home interior trend to have bronze metal accessories, so this would be a show stopping centre piece of a room. There's even a bird in the cage.
The pair of dogs is a classic kitsch decoration and they come in all colours. It's a 60s/70s 'every home has them' furnishing, like paintings of gypsy kids by Dallas Simpson, or three flying ducks on the wall.
And there's me!
Lastly, I like to finish with the weirdest thing I spot, like last week's Mona Lisa, so here she is!
I have a couple of original Louis Shabner prints, and I leapt on this one I spotted in an East Belfast charity shop today for only £3. I've never seen this print online before, and a Google Image Search doesn't bring any pics of her up. So I don't know her name, as it's not printed on a label on the back, as usual with the original 70s' frames.
Anyone seen this print before, or know the title of the print?
I've noticed my blog posts being more sparse this year, and definitely more product orientated, so I've decided to start throwing in the sort of blog post I started The World of Kitsch with. Proper kitsch products, collated by me, on my own without partnership with a brand. Perhaps it'll kick start my love of blogging again, as it's started to feel like a chore, especially as my health is poor right now and I'm tired as it is.
So, I'll start with the most well know kitsch artist, Tretchikoff. He of Green Lady fame, his print was sold widely through the western world in the sixties and seventies. Bizarrely I don't own a Tretchikoff myself. I have works of Louis Shabner and J H Lynch, but I've never found a real life Tretchikoff in a charity shop, and can't spare the £100 or so I would need to call one my own from eBay.
Maybe I should go the whole hog like Red or Read's Wayne Hemmingway and just have a Tretchikoff wall!
Here is the late Amy Winehouse showing her love of the artist.
And the beautiful Lauren Laveren had the chance to be painted in Tretchikoff style. Very jealous.
For now I will have to stick to little soft furnishing touches of Tretch' round the house.
Or maybe I can be the Green Lady this Halloween?
Until I can afford my own picture mural wall anyway.
As heard on BBC Radio 6's Lauren Laverne Show.
Winner of Highly Commended Blog in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards 2010
Hop on over to Cosmopolitan to read my guest blogs on all sorts of vintage bits & pieces.
