Hola amigos.
 
We are going to be printing a variety of well known landmarks from around the world onto canvas. So, we're talking the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, The Statue of Liberty. Also city skylines and culturally iconic places such as Manchu Picchu. Do you ever wonder about how these things were built? How they got there? Then there's the famous Hollywood sign...has anyone ever tried to nick one of the letters? Is there a security man patrolling the place? Or have they just stuck an electric fence up?
 
It's not just about famous landmarks though. All a landmark really is, is a symbol that holds meaning for you. So, for me - my favourite bench is a landmark (yes, I realise that sounds hobo, and I did once fall asleep on it). Also, whenever I've been away from home (Redcar) for a while and I'm heading back, the sight of the ICI chimneys and British Steel in the distance always makes me happy. I know I'm home when I see them. Not sure how the Teesside skyline would work above the mantelpiece like, but in the right lighting  - it's quite beautiful.   

Last summer, a lady came in with a picture of a hill overlooking the sea and a small island with the sun setting in the background. To me, it was just a nice picture. However, the lady went on to explain that her family had been visiting a cottage there for twenty odd years. Now that they were all grown up and living in different parts of the world, each summer (and sometimes the occasional winter too) they would all come together and meet in this little spot. Sadly, the ladies mother passed away last spring and they scattered her ashes on the small Island near the cottage. This picture clearly meant a lot to her - It represented family, love, memories. She had several more canvases made up for the rest of her family too.
 
So, a landmark can be very personal as well as cultural.
 
I'm doing the Yorkshire 3 peaks next weekend and Ian said I should take a picture when I get to the top of each mountain - near the white monument thingys - and then put each picture onto a small canvas to show my decline over the course of twenty five miles, three mountains and twelve hours. It might be completely vain to have a whole collection of pictures dedicated to myself, but sack it! I'm not gonna be in my prime for ever so may as well revel in it for as long as possible :)

[wahey...check my artwork!]

I'm trying to think about what the people in my life would chose as their landmarks - my mam would probably chose a place called the sheep wash out in the moors (it's actually supposed to be nice by the way, not like grimy sheep getting scrubbed by farmers), she used to go for picnics there when she was little and still sometimes gets nostalgic about it. One of my mates has a secret special place too. She calls it 'viewpoint' and it's somewhere up in New Marske Woods (no, she isn't a dogger!) I bet she'd like that on a canvas actually (note to self there).
 
Anyway, you get my point...everyone has a special place/landmark. What's yours?
 
By the way, you might be drawn to a place where you haven't even been yet, and this might sound mental - but it's scientifically proven that if you visualise something often enough, you will eventually attract that experience into your life (try it). So, a good reason to get down to the shop and get your dream place onto canvas! Just click HERE to get the ball rolling.
 
Right, well I'm off now. Have a good weekend :)
 
Kerry x

Yes, it's all excellent while it's happening, but if your hangover is stretching into a third day  you are either old or you severely overdid it (both for me. Not only did I make an absolute moron of myself, but can remember all of about twelve hours from the whole festive period). I'm not writing this to make us all feel worse though, I am in fact going to try to make it all better. 

Okay...Here are ten reasons to feel great - no matter what happened over the last seven days 
(exceptions to be made if you lost any limbs - it's highly unlikely that a list of feel good factors will perk you up / you became bankrupt / or any other seriously shocking things. The following list may be of no help at all, apart from number 2 and the quote on number 10)

1. God. I've just realised I have ten positive statements to come up with and have gone blank. 

2. Okay...Here is one. At Redcar Urban Arts, we are doing a Buy One Get One Free offer on 10 x 10 canvases. This means, that for just twenty five pounds (the reason I typed out the whole number in text, is because for some stinking reason the pound sign doesn't work on this keyboard) you can get TWO canvases!! The only catch is, the offer stops at 30 people! To make this easier for you, you can tag an image from your facebook account to ours and we'll get it printed up for you within a couple of days. I'm sure you all have some cracking photos from over Christmas?! It's a good deal so grab it quick.

[That was supposed to be my grand finale of this post, but I got writers block. I really do want to share some feel good things too though...]

3. If the world is really going to end in 2012 - what's the point in worrying about anything AT ALL? Hell, let's all go mental! Who cares if you want to do your shopping naked or eat rice crispies all day? Tell people what you truly think about them and sing out loud to Jimmy Nails Crocodile Shoes. [If the world doesn't end, you may always be known as that freak that went mental back in 2012 - and you may have no friends left...but at least you were being true to yourself].

4. We have the new year to look forward to. I love a new year me. You can have a fresh start, set new goals and hibernate until spring time. Spring time is great. 

5. Now is a good time to think about where you might go on holiday. Even if you're short on cash there are some good alternatives such as camping, hitch-hiking around Europe, being a stowaway on a royal mail train or you could just become enlightened and travel far and wide in spiritual realms. The world's your oyster. (I actually don't get that? what does an oyster have to do with it? And why would you want to be trapped in a shell anyway? Answers most welcome).

6. All them smellies you got for Christmas? Pour the lot of them in the bath and get off your head. (Right, I'm clearly clutching at straws here. I think I need ten minutes and then I'll come back to it).

7. January. Do one crazy thing in the month of January. Why? Because it's dull and it'll inject a bit of je ne sais quoi back into your life. Me and my brother are thinking of re-creating a scene from Monty Pythons Holy Grail: you know the horse and the coconut thing? We might do that through the town one day. I'll let you know if we come up with something better. 

8. Look back over the past year and think about all the cool things that have happened. Yeah, I'm sure we all cringe at a few unsavoury situations we've been in, but what's wrong with giving yourself a pat on the back for all the things that DID go well? If nothing else, a few lessons have been learned, you're older and wiser and you can do everything better this time around. 

9. Festivals! Yep, we have summer to look forward to all over again. I have a confession. I ran out of 'feel-good' things and googled 'what to look forward to in 2012' and festivals was one of them. I wonder if they'll be doing Redcar Rocks again this year? It would be brilliant if they brought that tomato throwing one they have in Spain to Redcar High Street!

10. You're going to see some cool changes to Redcar Urban Arts in the new year, but more on that later! (this wasn't a cop out, there really is going to be some good things happening) but just to leave you with one final thought of goodness for the day: "Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."- Elbert Hubbard 

Happy New Year to you all and I hope that 2012 is a good one for you. Oh, one more thing, if you don't want to tag your picture to our page, you can email it to  urbanarts@virginmedia.com 


Kerry x

Okay, so today's blog post is about dogs and is inspired by my bosses dog, Boo (named after Boudicca, who was the Queen of the Iceni people of Eastern England in Roman times and was of a strong and noble character). She is a bluey-grey coloured staffy and is about two years old.

Some cool things to note about Boo:

If you put a keyboard under her paws when she gets excited she could easily play a tune. She can jump as high as a salmon out of water but you wouldn't believe this unless you saw it with your own eyes, she just springs into the air...at least five times higher than her own height! Crazy. Change isn't Boo's favourite thing, even a seemingly small change such as the sandwich board being moved to a different spot. How do we know she doesn't like this? Well, she won't go near it and hardly leaves her bed. She's not overly fond of loud noises (is this a dog thing in general though?) and another thing, you can actually see the emotions in her face. She frowns and smiles. My own family dog, Dennis (a Yorkshire Terrier) can laugh and if you ever catch him 'at it' with one of his teddies, he looks mortified! Perhaps it's not that much of a mad thing that dogs have expressions though? Maybe it's just me who thinks it's amazing. While I'm on the whole dog/human thing - did you know that over the years, dogs have evolved to look more human? By this I mean that the iris has gradually shrunk so that more white is on show, thus making a more human looking eyeball. It's true.

Back to Boo though. One day, a while back, I'd bought myself a colourful new scarf to celebrate being alive. When I walked into work wearing it, all cheery and at one with the world, Boo came bounding over...jumped up and grabbed the end of the scarf then started yanking at it, clearly having a great time...whilst I was choking. Ironic eh?

Anyway. I love Boo. She gives proper hugs and snuggles right into your neck...excellent on a baltic winters day! I look forward to coming into the shop to see her. We have loads of dog loving customers and a canny few of them get canvas prints of their pets too. Sadly, more often than not it is when they have passed away :-/ Maybe we could start a new trend of getting your dog on canvas before they cop it? ha. Just saying.

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about dogs in general:

1. The first dogs were self-domesticated wolves which, at least 12,000 years ago, became attracted to the first sites of permanent human habitation.

2. The Basenji is the world’s only barkless dog.

3. The smallest dog on record was a matchbox-size Yorkshire Terrier. It was 2.5" tall at the shoulder, 3.5" from nose tip to tail, and weighed only 4 ounces.

4. There are an estimated 400 million dogs in the world.

5. It is much easier for dogs to learn spoken commands if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.

6. Zorba, an English mastiff, is the biggest dog ever recorded. He weighed 343 pounds and measured 8' 3" from his nose to his tail.

7. Different smells in the a dog’s urine can tell other dogs whether the dog leaving the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry.

8. Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.

9. 70% of people sign their pet's name on greeting and holiday cards.

10.  An elderly woman was saved by her 12-pound Yorkshire Terrier who fought off an 80-pound Akita and survived with only 9 stitches.

I'll leave the facts at ten, but let's take a moment to reflect on how cool dogs are [1 minute reflection]. Another thing though, although I do like dogs, I would still have a panic attack if I saw a big strange dog running towards me on a field/beach and I was on my own. So have a care for the sensitive souls out there while you're walking and if your dog has an attitude, keep it on a lead won't ya? Oh, cat's are cool too by the way!

Kerry x

Don't know what's going on here, but we are full of good cheer! Not only do we have the competition (see the last blog post) but we are giving away TWO HUNDRED 'Buy One Get One Free" vouchers on any size canvas. All you have to do is message us via facebook asking for one (I did say to the boss we should ask people to write why they think they should get one or maybe write in with an inspirational poem, but nope...you just have to say 'give me a voucher'. Pftt. There's just no effort going into things these days :p).

So, yeah, just message us, we'll send you a voucher with a unique code to the specified email address. It's one voucher per person and once the 200 are gone, they're gone...so don't delay people! You could save yourself a good few quid on Christmas presents here!

Good tidings,
Kerry