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Much of a muchness
Things that make you go 'hmm'…
The PAA (Paper Addicts Anonymous)
Posted by on October 26, 2007
OK, I confess, my name is Diane Aldred and I am a paper addict…
I am back from two days in London with Ludwig. I had thought I was being very clever and had packed everything I needed for the trip into one rucksack, but putting the contents of my handbag, a change of clothes, toiletries (and make up) and my laptop – and of course my book for the train journey (A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – excellent but VERY heavy book) all into one bag meant it weighed a ton and I really struggled with it. L kept asking to carry it for me but I figured it was my bag so I ought to carry it. I think one shoulder is now lower than the other.
We traipsed all over London, visiting Falkiners, Cornelissens and finally Paperchase (which was a revelation – I didn’t realise the top floor sold such a range of fine art paper as opposed to the wrapping paper downstairs) so that I was good and weighed down with paper, books and stationery.
In the evening we went to see ‘Once’ a beautiful little Irish film which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. I heard about it when I was in LA as it is hugely popular over there but has only just been released in the UK. It’s a modern day musical – I bought the soundtrack from iTunes – I love the song ‘Falling Slowly’ – it’s gorgeous and I highly recommend the film and the soundtrack, if you like romantic, singer-songwriter-ery musical type movies.
The next day we went to Hamilton’s gallery to see an exhibition of Helmut Newton prints. I was not impressed, they were badly printed, emotionally cold and altogether highly overrated. Not my ‘tasse de thé’ at all. We then went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Pop Art portraits exhibition which was much better. The highlight for me were the ‘Marilyn’ prints and a gorgeously simple self portrait by Andy Warhol. Other artists I particularly like were also in this small but colourful exhibition- Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney. I think it’s on until January 2008 so worth a visit if you get a chance.
So now I am back, with all my senses refreshed, replenished, reinvigorated and revived, restocked with yummy paper and ready to roll. Back to the books
Much of a muchness 
That Warhol portrait is cool. Pittsbrugh is only a stone’s throw from where I live (if you can throw a stone 200 miles, that is). Warhol lived in Pittsburgh and there is a Warhol museum in Pittsburgh. I need to go there.
It sounds like you had a great time. You can tell by the smile on your face in the picture. :)
Oh you should go. His work is amazing. There was a big retrospective at the Tate in London a couple of years ago and it just blew me away. His work is so familiar but I hadn’t realised how much better it looks in the flesh so to speak, it’s stunning.
I did have a great time. I am still grinning….
you look like a kid in a lolly shop Diane :)
what a range of paper !!!!!…it must be so hard to choose……
I love that sp by Warhol……… simplicity perfecto !!!!!
will bookmark the film and the soundtrack … sounds good…
That photo only shows part of what they sell – it’s heaven!
The Warhol sp is even better in the flesh (as it were) – the grey bits are actually silver. I love it.
The film is simple and low budget but it is charming and not the usual ‘boy meets girl’ story either. I was listening to the soundtrack again yesterday, there are some gorgeous songs on there. Well worth seeing…
Hi Diane,
Are there any online fine paper stores you or any of the readers can recommend? I’m having a hard time finding anything. And where I live surprisingly does not have anything either.
Hi there!
I have used Paper Source, Paper Mojo and Falkiners, who all have web sites and will mail order. The first two are in the US and the last one is in the UK (I don’t know where you are!) You can get their URL’s in the ‘Book Links’ page above.
These are my favourites, they do a great range of papers from all round the world including beautiful Japanese decorative papers.
Hope this helps. If anyone else wants to chip in with recommendations, feel free!
Justin – I just found your web site. It is very nice indeed and I like the design – don’t know what the old one was like but I definitely like the new one! (www.pushapixel.com)
I see you are based in Miami, I checked Paper Source – their shops are fabulous but they don’t have any in Florida, but if you get a chance to go into any of their stores, they have a much bigger range than they have on their web site – even though the online range is huge!
Paper Mojo don’t have stores but their range of paper on their web site is HUGE!
Great! Thanks a lot Diane:)