Here's the dude that's burning black the last of our home's larch cladding. The final few bits are going up today (before 4pm when they all speed off to drink barrel loads of beer)... yay!

I don't get to read as much as I'd like so sometimes a graphic novel can be pretty handy (let's face it, they're not as demanding as their wordy counterparts). I love Brecht Evens' sumptuous and inky gorgeousness, but lately I've had a craving for content that only women's work will satisfy!

Roz Chast's "Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?" and Vanessa Davis' "Make Me a Woman" both had their moments, but "Probably Nothing" by Matilda Tristram is simply wonderful throughout. Now I'm a full-on fan, I'd recommend it to anyone… loudly!

Thanks to Bernard Lodge for forwarding comps to The Brighton Art Fair. I’ve never been before but I wouldn’t pass-up the chance to see more of his splendid work so I headed down with our truculent and restlessly wriggly toddler.

Last year we bought an abstract map print and we’ve got a keen eye to a couple of others, only right now we’re pouring resources into a build and heaping stuff into storage for six months!

Like his wife (the equally talented and prolific children’s illustrator, Maureen Roffey), Bernard is characteristically dismissive of his skills, but there’s still time for you to decide for yourself; the fair runs all day Sunday.

Please leave something for me!

Trade fairs tend to ape the structure of little towns in their layout and, to date, we've been quite lucky with our neighbours. Though last week we were especially fortunate to spend a few days in the good company of Ligne Claire illustrator and Kenny Everette lookalike, Robbie Porter.

We also saw some lovely new bits'n'bobs from our competitors: Wrap's stand looked even better than last year, while Francesca Iannaccone's open window illustration is just plain gorgeous. And who could blame us for picking up a couple of things at cost, like these stripy Moroccan bowls from Skoura.

Made pretty good use of a well-rainy bank holiday by heading off to Ivan Chermayeff: Cut and Paste at Bexhill's De La Warr Pavilion. Such a sunny, cheerful show. The kid's creative area didn't particularly interest the boy, though he did spend a while in front of the accompanying documentary… before demanding Octonauts on the iPlayer.

Image: Drinking Fountain, 1969. Via AIGA Design Archives

Saddened to read of the death of bass giant, Charlie Haden (1937–2014)... but, boy, what a legacy to leave behind! Could post a link to Alice Coltrane's mesmeric Isis and Osiris or his own Song for Che from Liberation Music Orchestra (pictured, Haden far right), but here's the seminal Lonely Woman with Ornette Colman.

Made it to the Dulwich Picture Gallery show of Hockney prints yesterday... the last day! Not quite as manic as it could've been, half the population were off somewhere watching football... I wish they'd disappear more often!

Hans Hollein (1934-2014)

Image: European Centre of Volcanism, 1994-2002, Auvergne, France

Alain Resnais (1922—2014), Hiroshima mon amour, 1959 [Photo: here]

• Yusef Lateef, 1920-2013

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Phew! We managed to mail all our A0 Xmas posters out to friends and associates in plenty time for last post, but, wait, what's this? A seriously beautiful poster from the kindly folk at Ryantown... now I have seasonal illustration anxiety! Still, it does look real pretty (even on the difficult walls of the roundhouse). Thanks guys.

Star Shape

Just how Christmassy does Marina Abramović's star-shaped house look with a light sprinkling of snow? I'm surprised it hasn't all melted with her super intense art energy.

• Junior Murvin (standing, right), 1946-2013

• Anthony Caro (1924-2013), Month of May, 1963

P+P II

Is it really 5 years since 'Press + Pull', the first show of power-pattern prints from Kate Gibb (work pictured) and James Brown? It seems like only yesterday. In another 5 years I guess 'Press + Pull II' will feel like only yesterday... but really it starts tomorrow.

Press + Pull II, The Stour Space, 7 Roach Rd, Tower Hamlets, E3 2PA

Whooo

This wonderful sculpture is part of a series in marble by thinky artist, Ryan Gander. Based largely on the sheet-covered dens his young daughter created indoors, this one's perfect for Halloween.

• Ryan Gander, Tell My Mother Not To Worry (ii), Marble, 2012

Detour

I didn't know too much about Gerbrand Bakker's The Detour before I trained my ready eyes on it. Somewhere Between Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and All Quiet on the Orient Express, this short novel's an inspired choice for the season; simple, sharp and cold as a dry-stone wall.

While the overall design is not entirely awful, both cover and body text are weirdly pixelated, indistinct as though corporeal presence is no longer publishing's utmost priority.

With a cover illustration by the great Leonard Baskin and type by Edward Gorey, here's my paperback copy of Emily Dickinson's poems and letters instead. Dickinson's life and work colour every page of The Detour; mostly grey with sickly blotches of mustard, sepia and lichen-green.

Life

If you're not running too late you can glimpse the curious new Design Museum taking shape behind the hoardings on route to Kensington Olympia... not that Olympia didn't have enough curios of its own at Top Drawer trade fair earlier this week. It's been predictably good to catch up with old friends (now stockists), Black Bough and some of our oldest friends (also now stockists), Present London.

It wasn't all familiar faces though, we spent a few days in the spirited company of Joy, Anna and Rose of London Pooch and Anna Wright, even getting to meet Polly, one half of pattern-mad design duo, Wrap. While I admit the current copy (No.8) is my first, at least I can check out those back issues while I wait for more!

Too preoccupied to scour the charity shops proper, we did find a copy of Charlotte Salomon's (1917—1943) extraordinary document Life? or Theatre? in Oxfam, W8. This untimely 836 page tome dates from the early 1940s and forms a dream-like diary, or early graphic novel, where each gouache panel becomes a fevered or fluid artwork in its own right.

Tessa Hadley is a clever girl for writing the first full novel I've read since motherhood came knocking (really hard on my front door).

After The Master Bedroom and The London Train, this is my third from her these past few years.

Don't ask me what any of them are about though, the artistry's in the telling, not the tale.

• Bernadette Lafont, 1938-2013