Flickr is a thriving hub of creativity and inspiration. With this new site I intend to explore flickr and have conversations with some of the brains behind the pictures.

The idea is to introduce a spirit of endlessnessism to the site and get each interviewee to interview their favourite contacts so a big tree of conversations opens up.

Drew Anderson is my first victim. Read the interview here: http://www.interviewr.net/

Last week I travelled to London to attend the London Book Fair with the main intention of seeing my friend Drew Anderson’s sketchbook that he’s been laboring over for almost a year. I’ve been watching Drew fill the book on the Buy My Sketchbook website where I’ve also been known to show a few pages off.

Moleskine’s celebrity endorsements are from the greats: Van Gogh, Chatwin, Hemingway, Matisse and Céline all apparently used the books at some time in their life. The attraction to the Moleskine is not that it is the new cool (though it very much is) but that it is well crafted and at the right alchemical proportions for people to catch their creative spirit within.

If you search the internet you will see thousands of artists catching their ideas and creations, scanning and photographing and sharing them with their clustered groups of other users for commentry, feedback, praise, promotion and a little friendly competition.

With their popular exhibit at the London Book Fair Moleskine quite accidently stumbled on a new way of opening up this new form to the masses, each book tethered by a thin wire of indestructible adamantium thread to a central spire and an etched chrome name tag adorned the books so the creator could be identified. Visitors had to wear white cloth gloves to handle the books otherwise a guard from the stand would hit you with 9000 volt a cattle prod.

I loitered around the exhibit for almost an hour pouring over the books and taking the odd photo of a favourite page. Like the effect of a street hawkers mate, what started as a quiet stall magnetised almost 15 people who all relished the awesome work on display.

In addition the the multitude of flickr groups and satellite websites I can see a new path to expose these wonderous books off in full-on human dpi to the world. Moleskine themselves are shining the light in the direction we need to take.

This week saw the beginning of something magical – the inaugural Bath Children’s Literature Festival was launched and I am here in Bath rubbing shoulders with some the most creative and influential people in the Children’s Literature…business – but wait, I can’t saddle this world with the words ‘industry’ or ‘business’ because it clearly is so much more than that…

You see although children’s books are a big money maker – this close community all feel passionate about reading and literacy and the sentiment is shared by everyone I have talked to from the managing director of Scholastic Children’s Books to writers and salesmen.

Author Melvin Burgess summed up the persistent and almost deranged single-minded approach to achieving a dream on Friday night in a debate with Allan Ahlberg, Jaqueline (Jackie) Wilson and Sam Leith when he let slip that it took him fifteen years to get his first book published! It is that very same zeal that has bought this awesome 10 days of festival greatness from an idea in to a reality.

To me that drive and self-belief is the one thing that makes the difference between settling for mediocrity and achieving your dreams. If these are the kind of people our children can aspire to be like I don’t think we have a problem.

My personal highlight so far has got to be giving Julia Donaldson’s (she of The Gruffalo fame) sister a ride on a trolley whilst singing the oft performed in my household “steering a great big trolley all round a great big shop” with Julia Donaldson grinning in the background!

There is loads going on this week at the festival in the beautiful city of Bath and you should be here too.

More information: www.bathkidslitfest.co.uk

This is my dog Judd.

My mum bought him for me when I was about 12 as I had been a bit unwell, she thought he would cheer me up. Judd is a pedigree toy poodle however he was so confident when my mum went to pick him up as a puppy he bolstered right on over to her whilst his brothers and sisters shied away from her. Judd grew so big that the vet was sure he was a small miniature poodle!

We named him Judd because my mums Jack Russell Terrier when she was a little girl was called Judy – as small kids we romanticized Judy as we had never met her – she had died when my mum was young without kids. We (me, my brother and sister) always said if we ever got a dog we’d call it Judy but Judd came along and was a boy. Breakfast Club (the film) had just come out also and my ‘rebellious’ brother reckoned we called him Judd after the actor Judd Nelson, so everyone was happy.

More of a family dog than my own. We all love him. After an acrimonious divorce of my parents Judd went to live with my Dad. My dad was a salesman and took Judd everywhere with him in the car and I got him at weekends, my mum saw him occasionally but I had to mediate those visits. Judd didn’t go to live with my mum as she bought a tiny flat that couldn’t house dogs.

So I was 19 when they got divorced. Ella was born when I was 24 and I lived with my wife and Ella in a nice flat in North East London. My dad called me up one day and said Judd was not too well, off his food and when he was taken for walks just lay down after a few hundred yards. Dad felt Judd was getting on and was considering getting him put down (I prefer to called it ‘killed’ – but thats the phrase you tell your kids isn’t it?) I said no way.

Of course we had to decide this big decision as a family. I was like Kofi Annan that week, I swear I could have got a job at the UN after the diplomacy that pulled off getting my Mum and Dad, my sister Georgina and me in the same room – our DNA creates a chemical reaction if we are all within a certain radius of each other – seriously, you could power the whole of London for 20 years if you could contain the energy.

We took Judd for a walk round the lake in Lloyd Park just down the road from my flat. Judd walked for a bit, wagging his tale running between us like a puppy each of us taking turns to walk with him but after a while he just laid down on the grass – I think we were about half way round the lake.

I scooped Judd up in to my arms and held him close, his little heart pounding against my chest. I carried him the rest of the way and talked to him. His eyes were squinting from the bright sunshine and for a few moments we were like a normal family out on a happy Sunday stroll in the Park.

We couldn’t decide what to do, Judd just seemed tired and weak but not in any sort of pain. There was no way I could accept that we would hand him over to a vet to kill.

I carried Judd to my Dads car parked a little way down the road from my flat. My sister opened the passenger door on the left side of the car near the pavement and I lifted him on to his blanket. My sister leaned in to the car to kiss him goodbye but he started to retch. I don’t want to recollect what happened in more detail but Judd died in my arms and we all got to say goodbye as a family.

The little blighter. Engineered the whole situation to get his pack together to go for a final walk and say goodbye.

Smart dogs poodles. I never cried so hard for so long in my whole life.

At a North East London health centre some devilishly good illustration is hanging on the walls. A great charity called The Nightingale Project unveiled Quentin Blakes latest work. The charities objective is to brighten the dreary and depressing world of hospitals, with Quentins help and some bloody great big printing machines they have acheived just that.

Huge blow-ups of scenes from Planet Zog adorn the walls and Monsieur Blake was there to present his wonderful works.

The alien world of ‘Planet Zog’ is intended to warm the reflection of the world of the institution to the child. The vivid colours combined with the subtle details and minimal pen-strokes evoked smiles from everyone who cast their eyes on Zog.

Nick Rhodes the director of the Nightingale Project kindly took me on a private tour of the illustrations. There are no plans to publish them so unless you are a patient or staff at the centre its unlikely that you will get an opportunity to see the rest – so thats why I took all of these photos!

All the pictures are all hung at adult eye-level. I am sure the staff will absorb the good vibes. They just need a few steps for kids to climb up in to Planet Zog too.

Its a brilliant idea, more art in hospitals but I was told that convincing health-care trusts to put a line in their budget for art when its continually being stripped back is an uphill battle. Arts Council England should be throwing money at this!

There’s a great article about some other work Quentin did for the Nightingale Project at the BBC’s website here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6216758.stm

My new friend, Drew Anderson (Millions of Hundred Dollar Ideas) is opening a gallery to sell 1 x 1 inch pieces of art in his hometown of Portland, Oregon (USA). He is pimping his sketchbook (at http://www.buymysketchbook.com/) to raise funds to fit out the gallery. Yesterday I decided to help him by working on my own sketch book and donating it for auction.

So this evening I found myself at the Institute, near Russell Square in London.

At the end of the engaging and educational lecture I humbly joined the que for autographs. I read Quentin Blake’s pictures as a child and read them now with my children – Roly Poly Birds, Vermicious Knids – the whole kit and caboodle. Quentin was wearing very cool white shoes, I was amazed how clean they were and complimented him on them. A real dude!

I didn’t have a book for him to sign (most people had a Roald Dahl one of some form or other) but asked for a doodle for my Moleskine – he was happy for me to offer it to Drew’s cause.

Here it is. Its a beautiful picture. One of a kind. And I am giving it away! There are 99 pages left in the book for me to fill and I have a ridiculously high standard to reach. Maybe I will just give it to Drew as it is…