Who the hell is Penelope Fitzgerald?!

I had a great time last week on a low-budget holiday down south. Our first stop was Plymouth where I saw my friend Seaman Specialist Hawkins' passing out parade at H.M.S Raleigh naval base. It was a really special day and also really cool to have a look around the base to see all the things he did during the months he spent there doing some pretty intensive training, as well as being surrounded by loads of sailors which was a bit surreal!

We had a lovely evening stroll through the Hoe and the Barbican and indulged in a veeery nice Plymouth gin cocktail to kick off the holiday before travelling to our camp site near St Austell the next day.

I haven't been to Cornwall since I was little and it was nice to be somewhere so nice and back to basics with my phone switched off and no computer, although I admit it wasn't a highlight trekking across a field in the middle of the night in hiking boots and pjamas to go to the loo! We visited Falmouth, St Austell, Bodmin and some other little towns and did loads of stuff including dancing with a life-size Paddington bear (don't ask) and seeing some crazy animals like owls and badgers.

Although I left my research diary at home, I still brought my notebook and did some writing and it was really inspiring to just be somewhere else and be somewhere that was so slow-paced.

We also went to the Eden Project which was fantastic and luckily we had nice weather! The biomes themselves were a really amazing sight and unless you've been there in person, you can't really tell how absolutely massive they are and how much they impose on the countryside around it aesthetically.

I love taking photographs of flowers, especially ones which have really intense colours as I'm really interested in using really bright saturated colours in my work. And of course being at the Eden Project, there was a mélange of every type of flower imaginable!

I had a great surprise when I came back and found out that I've been selected to take part in Interrogation: West Bromwich in September which is run by Longhouse and the artist Anna Francis, which I'm really excited about : ) I took part in Interrogation: Walsall last year (and really didn't think I'd be selected this year, mostly for this reason) and did a collaborative project with my friend and fellow artist Rachel Marsden and it was such an amazing experience so I'm really looking forward to taking part in Interrogation: West Bromwich, in a new location and with the opportunity to meet new people (and also to wear a moustache again).

I've had various meetings in Birmingham since I've been back and noticed that some massive murals of birds had been painted on the side of the Birmingham Central Library when I was passing through. As the new

(and slightly controversial) library is being built to replace the current library in 2013, I guess the council decided to experiment a bit with the building which I think is ace!!

Lastly, I have to finish by asking the question: who the hell is Penelope Fitzgerald?! As you know I really love The New Art Gallery Walsall and went to visit their new exhibition programme (which is fab btw) when I came across this lovely and charming comment in the visitor book ...

Although I laughed, I must admit, I was actually quite shocked as well for someone to have such an extreme reaction to an art gallery. I don't think I'd like to bump into Penny when she's had a bad day!