David Laferriere, from Attleboro, Massachusetts, has been doodling on the plastic lunch bags with a Sharpie marker since 2008 - before taking a quick snap of his handiwork and posting it to his Flickr account. The graphic designer has now done more than a thousand drawings which range from dinosaurs and monsters to goldfish and ducks. ...read
Art big picture gallery
Remko Van Shaik chose the pavement outside a Buddhist temple in Thailand on which to showcase his stunning chalk work.
Art Headlines
'He'll go down in history as a great artist': George W. Bush's painting teacher talks about his prowess - and penchant for painting dogs
Former President George W. Bush spent four weeks in private lessons alongside his sister-in-law in a home in Boca Grande, Florida where they improved their technique and expanded their artistic horizons. He loved painting pictures of dogs, though she eventually broke him of his habit and helped him paint pictures of his Crawford, Texas ranch. ...read
World famous 'invisible' artist reveals how he melts into his surroundings in amazing time-lapse video
Liu Bolin, the Chinese artist who has become world famous for appearing invisible in his art, demonstrated at a conference how he melts into the scenery around him using a painstaking technique that can take up to four days. A time-lapse video of the demonstration shows how, with a cameraman, a painter, and other assistants, Bolin slowly dissolves into his background. ...read
MUST READS...Art stories from around the world
Photographer captures a decade-long adventure spent travelling across America on freight trains
The series of stunning images were captured by Mike Brodie, 27, who has compiled the pictures for a new book which shows the fascinating sub-culture still alive nearly 100 years after it came to prominence during the Great Depression.
San Francisco Bay Bridge is turned into magnificent art installation using thousands of LEDS controlled by a single laptop computer
New York artist Leo Villareal, 46, flipped the switch on 'The Bay Lights' with a click of his laptop computer to his latest and biggest illuminating backdrop that's said to have a life and personality of its own.
Stunning photos show cold weather enthusiasts creating patchwork quilt design in snow covered field
Incredible aerial photographs show the designs envisioned by landscape artist Sonja Hinrichsen - who mobilizes snow-oriented communities to create a patchwork quilt designs in the snow. In February, she organized a communal art project for the town of Saratoga, Wyoming to participate in creating one such masterpiece.
LATEST ALBUM RELEASES
Scroll through for the latest new album releases
The Messenger (Warner Bros.)
In The Smiths, his rampant guitars were the perfect foil to Morrissey’s lyrical flights of fancy. Now, 26 years on, Marr is stepping into the limelight with a solo album dominated by driving grooves and dreamy riffs. His singing lacks power, but his songs are sharp, the playing versatile. The soulful stomp of The Right Thing Right recalls fellow Mancunians Doves.
****
Sing To The Moon (RCA Victor)
Classically trained Midlands soul diva Laura Mvula avoids taking easy options on this striking debut. An acquired taste rather than a sure-fire pop success, her hooks are subtle, her songs intense and her piano work complex and jazzy. Her voice, though, is a thing of beauty. She also harnesses some intriguing influences, evoking the spirit of Nina Simone on Father, Father.
****
Bad Blood (Virgin)
South Londoners Bastille are going down a storm live, with frontman Dan Smith revelling in his Chris Martin-like ability to engage with an audience. Mixing moody electronics with anthemic choruses, this debut transfers their stage energy to the studio. It starts strongly and maintains momentum. They are set to conquer, too: new single Pompeii is battling Justin Bieber to top next week’s chart.
****
Live At The Royal Albert Hall (Virgin CD/DVD)
After triumphing at the Brits, this is Sande’s first live album. Intimate piano tunes are her forte, with the ballads Clown and River simultaneously sad and uplifting. Other highlights include a haunting take on the Cup Final hymn Abide With Me and a note-faithful cover of Nina Simone’s I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free. On the evidence of two new songs, Enough and Pluto, her success looks set to continue.
★★★★✩
All That Echoes (Reprise)
The crooner continues to rejuvenate the 'popera' genre by abandoning standards in favour of soft rock, gospel-tinged soul and Irish folk. His last album was produced by Rick Rubin. This one finds rocker Rob Cavallo in control, but don’t expect Green Day covers yet. Hollow Talk is an orchestral ballad, while Happy In My Heartache has a Laurel Canyon feel.
★★★★✩
Believe Acoustic (Island)
Teen hunk Justin Bieber courted a more adult audience with some aplomb on his last album, Believe, but this unplugged take on the same material fails to further boost his credibility. The Canadian is a tuneful, sensitive singer, but propulsive dance tracks like Boyfriend and All Around The World lose something here, with guitarist Dan Kanter’s strumming no substitute for booming beats. Of the three new numbers, soulful ballad I Would, enhanced by drums and strings, is the pick.
★★
Cigarettes & Truckstops (Last Gang)
She was raised in the Toronto suburbs, but singer-songwriter Lindi Ortega recently relocated to Nashville to find her musical mojo. On the evidence of this second album, the move has paid off: there is much more to her than red boots and matching lipstick. With the title track a forlorn road-song, her main calling card is the heartbreak ballad, and her sultry vocals are reminiscent of a young Nancy Sinatra. But she can rock out, too, with Don’t Wanna Hear It recalling The Black Keys.
★★★★
In Time (Decca)
A success in the Nineties on the back of feel-good hits like Dance The Night Away, Miami quintet The Mavericks are returning after a ten-year break. And, with opening track Back In Your Arms Again bolstered by bayou rhythms and Mexican horns, it initially feels great to have them back. Not all of the new songs, a trolley-dash between vintage American styles, are as strong, but bandleader Raul Malo’s voice, with its touches of Roy Orbison and Tom Jones, is a thing of wonder.
★★
The Day In Pictures
The best pictures from around the world today
FANCY THAT
Scroll through for the most amazing stories from around the globe
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TRANQUIL SPOT... EXCEPT THE CARS
A 134-year-old wooden toll bridge in Snowdonia has gone on sale for £350,000 -
GUIDE DOG FOR BLIND POOCH
Terrier is guide dog for blind labrador friend -
STEALTH PHOTO BOMBER
B-2 stealth jet is photographed coming in to land over beach -
PLAGUE OF A MILLION LOCUSTS
Huge swarm of insects crosses from Egypt to Israel -
PLEASE DON'T WATERSHIP DROWN!
Rabbit has water therapy to cure its arthritis -
REAL LIFE HOBBIT HOLES
Mexican caves that feel like something from Lord Of The Rings -
DOG BISCUITS? I PREFER PEBBLES
Family labrador has to have 79 stones removed from his stomach after eating them during walk on the beach -
MEET THE RAPUNZEL FAMILY
Mother has grown her hair to be over 6ft long and her three oldest daughters aren't far behind -
LONG-LOST CONTINENT UNDER MAURITIUS
The continental fragment known as Mauritia once linked Madagascar and India -
TRANQUIL SPOT... EXCEPT THE CARS
A 134-year-old wooden toll bridge in Snowdonia has gone on sale for £350,000 -
GUIDE DOG FOR BLIND POOCH
Terrier is guide dog for blind labrador friend
REVIEWS
IN BOOKS TODAY
- Too posh to flush: That's what servants are for - and for ironing shoe laces, cleaning loose change, setting out the pickle forks...: Servants: A Downstairs View Of Twentieth-Century Britain, by Lucy Lethbridge
- We will fight them on the cabbage patch: A Green And Pleasant Land: How England's Gardeners Fought The Second World War, by Ursula Buchan
- Why death could be the start of your new life: The Lazarus Effect, by Dr Sam Parnia with Josh Young
- For Daphne no man ever lived up to Daddy: Daphne Du Maurier And Her Sisters: The Hidden Lives Of Piffy, Bird and Bind, by Jane Dunn
THEATRE
- Making a bloody mess out of Shakespeare's Macbeth James McAvoy, like the rest of the show, is full-on from the start. Boy, it’s shouty.
- Edith Piaf? She's more like Sybil Fawlty No need to travel to Leicester to catch Frances Ruffelle’s performance as Edith Piaf.
- Trelawny Of The Wells takes its time to get to the finish line Teenage lovely Rose Trelawny (Amy Morgan) gives up her life as a London actress to become a fiancee
- Rebels don't offer anything radically new: If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep Tentative signs the old British Left may be re-awakening
- Playing Cards 1: Spades - Las Vegas is full of tarts and gamblers Come on down and play spot the cliche
- Equally Divided: An inheritance saga worth a fair share of praise Story of two adult sisters hearing the will of their eccentric mother