It was my birthday at the weekend and we decided to have a day out to nearby Birmingham and our original hometown. The plan was to visit the Sunday art/flea market at the Custard Factory but little did we know the Sunday Flea isn't on at the moment, boo, so that was a bit of a bummer. But we still had a nice trip out all the same, mooched about, ate LOTS of vegan sushi and met up with my brother who gave me a copy of his album and told me about his recent trip to Texas. Here are a few pics of the day:

Dave the Chimp has just launched his new website: www.davethechimp.co.uk

Be sure to take a look and check out his extensive and impressive portfolio section that includes his street, studio and video work. Nice.

I wrote about Designarium in Modart Issue 12, and after what seems like a bit of a hiatus I'm quite excited to report they are back with a banger: this limited edition board by Dave Kinsey. It's an edition of 1000 boards and each are signed and numbered. I have to get my mits on one of these beauties. Designarium is legendary skater, Natas Kaupas's baby. The idea is they sponsor artists instead of skaters and release limited edition boards by each sponsored artists. Click more info to see the limited Kinsey T-shirt out now too...

This has been reported on a few websites already: There's a bit of a hoo-ha brewing in the art world over an alleged 'cease and desist' order coming from Shepard Fairey to an artist called Baxter Orr. Orr has parodied two of Shepard Fairey's images: the famous Obey Giant image - see below - and a recent Obama poster, and has apparently been threatened with legal action. Click more info for er, more info.

[image of Orr/Fairey artwork taken from www.animalnewyork.com]

As reported on www.animalnewyork.com Shepard Fairey has released a statement confirming he sent the cease and desist order to Baxtor Orr. Apparently it was 'personal'.

To read his full statement click HERE. There's also some interesting comments from folk beneath it.

I ordered myself one of these beauties last week and it came today: a signed and numbered print (edition of 100) by Mel Kadel, from this gallery in California. I love Mel Kadel's work and her originals can carry a two thousand dollar price tag, so I was super chuffed to find out about these affordable prints.

Kev Grey emailed me the other week with info about his new exhibition Everlasting Arms at Here Gallery in Bristol, UK. The opening night is on Thursday 1st May (6-9pm) and the show is on until Friday 30th of May. All those who can get to Bristol should definitely check it out. For more of Kev's top notch work see the Modart Gallery or his website and blog.

It was Chris's birthday yesterday, so I whipped up a vegan triple chocolate muffin cake for the occasion. It was pretty deelish, although quite dense as it was muffin recipe based. As I haven't made a food related post for a while, click more info for the recipe.

Grand Theft Auto IV is out today and my brother's band Deluka is one of the 150 bands on the soundtrack. Their track 'Sleep is Impossible' is on the 'Radio Broker' radio station featured in the game and Juliette Lewis is the DJ. Exciting! Well done to them.