ShoutAboutArt.

Colour wheels, sketchbooks and exhibitions.

2011-10-05T20:54:00.000+01:00

Wish I had an A3 scanner sometimes. Would make life so much easier! Haha, but when was life ever easy? Here's some of my work from my Art sketchbook:

All the stuff above it is just my room's collage of things I need to remember or photos of people or some of my artwork.

I went to Aberystwyth Arts Centre again today and they had an exhibition on called 'Light, Passion and Darkness'. It mainly centred around Eastern culture. Here are some of the photos I took:

Here are some of the photos taken by Sutapa Biswas (I think).

Above is a photo of carbon drawings done by William Titley.

I will have to try and remember to scan my sketchbook tomorrow for you all to see!

- x x -

Decisions, decisions!

2011-09-21T15:44:00.002+01:00

I've been trying to sort out University choices lately and to be honest...it's fried my brain! I didn't realise how much effort it took. To take my mind of of it all I have just been looking at other beautiful blogs that always inspire me.

I don't have my cameras on me at the moment so I've just taken a couple of photos for you of some of the things I have been doing since starting back at Sixth Form:

The top photo is the front cover of my notebook, the background was from a TOAST magazine I got through the post and the little black and white postcard was something I picked up in an Art Gallery. The second photo shows a set called 'Oregan Zoo' by a photographer I am researching called Carli Davidson. And the last photo is of one of my pages where I was deciding what theme to do, which ended up being animals! I found this horse when on a coastal path near me. It's a shame that I don't have a better quality printer for my work. I'm using the one in Boots and it really isn't that great. My school bought a new, expensive printer but won't let us use it! (Apparently it is too good for experiments and is only to be used for final prints.)

I don't normally listen to the radio but yesterday I was in the Sixth Form common room doing some work and I heard Fearne Cotton's Record of the Week. Give it a listen. It is truly wonderful!

-x x-

Wasp and flowers.

2011-07-12T17:53:00.009+01:00

I bought this book for research and inspiration called 'Wild Flowers'. I have decided to deface the book and turn it into a collage book.

Here's my first page:

I cut up the sketch I did of the wasp and flowers. Had to make one of the flowers shorter to fit it in the book! The background on the right-hand page is one of my 'abstract' black and white photos. To add texture I scratched out some of the darker areas. I cut a square in the photo so you could still see the title. I developed some film once and it didn't turn out so I used that as a second layer and put white gesso on top and scratched the words ' grow to be beautiful '. At the top of the left-hand page I wrote ' Where's your sense of adventure? '
Front cover, I haven't done anything to it. Not to sure if I will.

Right-hand page.

Left-hand page.This is just a close-up of the word I scratched into the negative! Been in the darkroom all day today just experimenting. I'll show you the photos some other day. x x

Control.

2011-07-09T10:58:00.012+01:00

We are starting next years work for Art now. This time round we get to choose our own brief. I have chosen 'Control'. Here are a few sketches based on the brief that I have drawn in the last few weeks:Front cover of my sketchbook. Underneath layer is plain A4 paper where i have written the word control over and over. The layer on top is a see through plastic wallet that Ihave done the same thing to. By moving them slightly apart you get this haphazard look. Around the edge is black eletrical tape. This is a similar concept to the front cover; two layers made up of plain A4 and a plastic wallet. Yes, the hand DOES have six fingers. I didn't realise 'til after...so we will just pretend it was down on purpose! Sketched out using charcoal then I used a permanent black marker on the plastic wallet to make the word control and some of the details of the hand stand out.

Same concept again here. Used charcoal and graphite 6B pencil to draw this one. Positioning was important here and shapes of the hands. I think this is my favourite. Not too difficult to draw either. The weird pattern behind the words was created entirely accidentally. I closed my book when the words weren't dry and it ended up looking like that!

Hope you like my 'control' skethes. Here is one more sketch that is slightly more colourful and summery:

Sketched with pencil, used watercolour to create the block colours then used contrasting coloured pens to draw in the details and outlines.
x x

Song of the week: Loose Lips - Kimya Dawson

Absence.

2011-06-03T12:37:00.005+01:00

Apparently absence makes the heart grow fonder. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been lurking around. Maybe not as busily as I could have been but I bring some new photos for you:

This is a view from my favourite spot to sit alone and sort my thoughts out.

Hm, not too keen on sunsets.. too cliche. But oh well, I liked this one.

Doesn't look much like Wales, I like looking at things and imagining I'm somewhere else sometimes.

My favourite out of them all. I tend to find that I'm not very self-motivated when it comes to taking photos. But when things get too much I pick up my camera and and go anywhere, just for the whole process of taking photos. I honestly don't think I'm better than anyone else, I just enjoy what I do. x x

Memories.

2011-04-05T13:23:00.002+01:00

This is my photo inspired by a brilliant photographer called Parker Fitzgerald. Based on the memories we all have. Whether good or bad. x x

France photos.

2011-03-14T22:26:00.008Z

Here are some of the photos I took on my holiday to France. I would tell you more but I'm tired and it's late.. So here you go!

Huge apologies.

2011-02-28T18:20:00.006Z

I am SO sorry for not posting recently. a) I have been very busy and b) I haven't been able to access the internet for over two weeks!

First things first...photos of the Art 'Exhibition' (wasn't anything like an exhibition..too controlled)

Ach, awful quality photo from what I can see but...you get the general gist of things. It's a shame you can't see the real thing because the 'coastal and country' sketchbook, you could've looked through and felt the texture of the leaves in the corner and the pink shell was actually 3D! It was fun though.

Here are a few photos of the work around me:

Hope you are having a great week! x

P.S You will be hearing a lot about France soon!

Final Piece Number One.

2011-02-06T14:35:00.003Z

I finally got round to taking photos of one of my final pieces. I used my phone so the quality might not be that great. I haven't given it a title, I probably should do but I haven't been able to think of one. Any suggestions?

I used ordinary white wall paint to cover the piece of wood then used acrylics for the rest of it.

The photo in the middle, recognise it? Although I've been told that I might have to cover it with another photo if I want to use it for Photography.

If you cant read the writing then just comment and I can edit the post and tell you what it says. I wrote it all listening to a variety of music so it might seem a bit random.

Song of the week: Common People- Pulp.

Coastal paths.

2011-01-30T15:49:00.006Z

I've had this 300-70mm lens for my Nikon camera since I first had the camera but I've never used it. So today I went out for a walk along one of the coastal paths and I managed to get some more interesting photos than if I had just used my usual lens.

Here are a couple of the photos:

I finished two of my final pieces for art last week. I promise to take photos soon! All of my Photography work is due in on Wednesday so fingers crossed that I get it all finished. Hope you are all having a good weekend.
x x

I went to the beach...

2011-01-24T17:02:00.002Z

...and this is what I saw.

I went to Tresaith beach and took a few photos. This one is my favourite out of all of them. I love being outdoors. Makes me feel so happy.

Hope you had a good weekend.

x x

Update!

2011-01-18T16:12:00.006Z

Here are a few photos of some of that artwork I've been doing recently. Some if it isn't relevant to my course but I do the sketches when I have free lessons.

Just a doodle I did when talking to my art teacher about behind in that lesson. I wonder why? I procrastinate far too much.

This one is my favourite. Didn't intend for it to be like this but guess those thoughts that buried deepest come out when you let your mind free. Used charcoal and ink.

This is more related to my project at the moment. Used charcoal, ink and chalk. Hope you all had a good day!

x x

A Thank You and an Apology.

2011-01-14T22:02:00.002Z

It's been a few days since I last posted. I'll explain why in a moment but first...

I'd like to say a huge thank you to a few people who have given me awards or told other bloggers to check out ShoutAboutArt:

PurpleMist
I don't normally have favourite colours but since reading your blog...purple is growing on me! And your 'About Me' made me laugh because I sure was still reading. I read on your blog that you are writing a novel...I'm interested. But I'm sure you'll let us know when you have finished (:

DeadEyes
I swear you steal my thoughts. Y'know just like the thoughts I don't tend to speak out about, so I relate to a lot of what you talk about. I love how you write and how often you write!

Mia
Can I steal your cat, please? I loved the photos from the zoo! Especially the penguins. You deserve all the stylish awards you've been given so far (:

And now, for the apology. I won't be posting AS often but I will try. All my art coursework is due in for February 18th. I have to exhibit it all on that day. And now I look at my work and I realise if I don't buck up I'm not going to get my predicted grade.

I will see y'all soon, hopefully. Adios amigos.
x x

I wish I could fly.

2011-01-09T13:29:00.000Z

Here's my most recent page from a sketchbook that wasn't being used so I decided it needed some colour.The photo is from some magazine my Textiles teacher always encourages me to look through because they aren't of any use to her now. So I spend hours tearing out all the photos I love. The background on the left page was created by sticking down pieces of masking tape then painting over it and ripping it off. Although, I tried to do that on the other page except it tore it up because it isn't backed onto cardboard.

A little sketch, if I showed you the original it doesn't look much like it but I'm happy enough. I used a black handwriting berol pen for this.

Hope you all are having a good weekend! Been up to anything fun?

x x

Oh-so forgetful.

2011-01-04T16:21:00.000Z

Okay, so last year when I was finishing my work (too close to the deadline) I completely forgot to take photos of my pages. I managed to take a few (blogged here) and when I finally get the journal back...I still don't take the photos!

Today as I was looking back through my posts I finally remembered. So here are a few of my pages from my GCSE artwork. The theme was 'precious'. It was interesting to see what people came with working under this title. Although majority opted to work under the theme 'African art'.

I tried to experiment with titles and typography throughout this journal. I used charcoal to draw the old couple. Normally I draw/sketch my paintings by copying photos but this sketch was through imagination/memory.

I copied a picture of a town clock and used dark brown ink and bamboo ink pen to create it. It had the caption "What's the time Mr.Wolf?"

This page was inspired by the pop art era and mainly the artist Roy Lichtenstein and this painting of his.

Okay, with this page I ripped out two pages of an old book and tried to make a few sentences out of different paragraphs. I came up with "She/ was/ a prudent woman./ His eyes fixed upon/ her/ charming face./ Their eyes met./ But/ the expiration of his leave drew near./ He left me." I liked how it changed from third person to first in the end.

This might just be one of my all time favourite pages. Experimented with typography again. The photo is simply from a magazine and I tried creating a surreal effect with gesso.

I found this sentence on the internet somewhere, I bookmarked the site but can't remember. If I find it again then I'll link it for you. I have quite often been described as a contrarian...always choosing to do the opposite of a norm. So you might be able to see how this reflects my personality. Plus I love the idea of an adventure.

This page is based on how I see other people sometimes. I have had so many conversations about how people cover their true feelings because they are scared to show what they are really feeling. But this was putting a little spin on that and saying "what if...that isn't the case. but she simply poses out of habit?"

This page just reflected how I felt at the time I made the page. Based on the topic of feeling confined this page really could have been dark. But using pale colours and butterflies kept any darkness at bay.

Hope y'all had a good day and sorry for such a long post! x x

Pure Blue Green.

2011-01-04T13:42:00.000Z

Here are some photos of the artwork in Kirsty Almeida's album:
(album front cover)

I love how random yet carefully put together they look. And so full of colour!

Kirsty Almeida is a new addition to my iPod. All thanks to my mum introducing me to her. She told me about her ages ago but I never really bothered listening to any of her music. Then at Christmas I saw Almeida's album, Pure Blue Green, lying around and instantly I was fascinated. Her atwork is incredible! So talented.

Check her out!

x x

Hidden identities.

2010-12-30T19:19:00.000Z

Some pages I worked on today. Inspiration came from masquerades and how we in our everyday life try to hide emotions. Here are the photos:

I originally just wrote the words "Life is just one big masquerade" but then decided it looked better if I'd sew it on.

I've been thinking... The same thing happens with my Photography. I lose muse. So if I create these art journal pages then maybe I should do a shoot based on the pages. Just a thought!

Hope you had a good day

x x

The start of an art journal.

2010-12-30T14:37:00.000Z

So, for a long while now I've been wanting to start an art journal. I asked for a few Art journalling books for Christmas as inspiration.

I flick through them whenever I'm feeling creative. The work in them are just incredible. Not only do I turn to books for inspiration but I look at people with blogs. A long time ago I came across Natalie Malik. I love how she uses fashion catalogues (TOAST) to create her pages and because of her I now use gesso.

Here's my first page. Not great but at least it's a start.

Who/what do you look for when you need inspiration?

x x

Creativity flowing onto canvases.

2010-12-29T14:24:00.000Z

I love a blank canvas. It represents, to me, oppurtunity. Before now I have always been rather nervous to paint onto a canvas. Probably beacuse 1) I hate using acrylic 2) a blank page can be quite intimidating and 3) I hate making mistakes. But after reading a few books and talking to various people they have all told me that mistakes aren't always a bad thing. That you can learn from them and create better things.

So here are some photos of two paintings I have done in the last few weeks. Sorry if that quality of the photo isn't that great, I used my phone.

Tell me what you think!

x x

Missing advent swaps.

2010-12-27T22:59:00.000Z

I can't believe how unreliable the post office can be! Me and my advent swap partner, Kia, both sent our parcels off to never receive them. Every day in the start of this month I would hope that my parcel would arrive but it never did. So here are some photos of my long lost parcel to Kia. She liked fashion so I covered the box in black&white Vogue photos. I wrapped each parcel in different colour tissues with yarn and attatched brown tags.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

x x

Fairy Light Love.

2010-12-06T21:39:00.000Z

I'd love my room to be surrounded with fairy lights. They always make a good prop in a photo too:
photos: http://www.weheartit.com/

x x

Richard Avedon.

2010-12-05T15:36:00.000Z

I'm studying a few new photographers recently and Richard Avedon's name cropped up a few times in conversation when talking about portrait photography.

Here are some of my favourites:

Bob Dylan.

Marc Chagall.

Francis Bacon.

Twiggy.

Hope you had a fun weekend!

x x

Seaside.

2010-12-02T19:25:00.000Z

My A level art theme is Coast&Countryside. You can some of my photos I took for this project in the previous post. Here are a few photos of my sketchbook!

One of Whistler's paintings (top) and my acrylic interpretation below it. I hate using acrylic.

My interpretation using pencils (top). Turned out better than I first thought it would but it has lost a lot of it's tone...

Here are my photographs and a little sketch (left page) and an acrylic interpretation with colour notes on the right page.

I took a B&W photo of the beach and I decided to write the lyrics from the song "Everyday is like Sunday" -Morrissey- around it. It isn't really relevant just personal.

I started out trying to create an acrylic interpretation of my photograph and ended up really hating it so i just dragged all the paint across and the results were interesting to say the least.

Most of the pages aren't finshed. I'm the only one in my class working in an A3 sketchbook. All the rest are working in A4. But I tend to feel really cramped when working to smaller scales.

I'll post tomorrow with some photos of my Advent Swap parcel that I sent off a few days ago!

x x

A Breath of Fresh Air.

2010-11-21T18:43:00.000Z

I went for a walk along the beach in Aberystwyth and it was at the right time when the sun looked it's best. I couldn't resist a few photos for you!

I took a sneaky photo of this man stopping to enjoy the view.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

x x

Working to bigger scales.

2010-10-22T15:47:00.000+01:00

At college, in my drawing lessons, I have been advised to work to larger scales (A2) and I have absolutely loved it. The most recent theme was 'organic forms' so here's what I came up with. The idea was to draw one object using different media.

Here I used a graphite pencil to sketch the outline of the object. Then used charcoal and ink to define the outline and white chalk for the highlights. I also added brown to add tone. Then my teacher came over and suggested I went a bit off the wall and flick the ink over the drawing.

With this one I simply used ink, charcoal, white paint and white chalk. I like the contrast and it's probably my favourite one so far.
x x

College changes and loads more art.

2010-09-29T19:57:00.000+01:00

Today I went to another college campus to see if I could take up Art alongside Photography. But in the end I wasn't allowed to but they suggested that I do an ND in Fine Art; Textiles, Fashion, 3D Design, Graphic Design, Photography and Drawing.

Today I had Textiles and it was more my thing. We were given some photos of micro-organisms and we had to interpret the photos through sewing/embroidery etc. It was loads of fun and the three and a half hours flew by. I have Thursdays off completely to continue home studies. I'll show you some photos of my work when we get some completed. Here's the contact sheet photo-copied below:

I have to go back to my old campus tomorrow to print my SLR film. It's a shame that I won't have an individual Photography subject but the second year I hopefully will.

I'm trying to start organising my advent swap presents now. I have the last one planned out just need to go craft shopping!

Ciao.
x x

Vintage Fayres.

2010-09-25T23:24:00.001+01:00

*NOTE: A POST FOR LAST SATURDAY(I haven't been able to put up any photos recently.)

Today was pretty awesome. It was only by chance that we even managed to go to the Vintage Fayre in Birmingham today. My stepdad wanted to visit the bike shop in the Custard Factory so I had a wonder round and bought a lovely handmade crocheted headband and heard about the fayre.

I have never seen the shops there so full of clothes and lovely clothes, bags and jewellery. There was a really pretty, silver charm necklace with the Eiffel Tower on it and an old coin. But I went back and it was gone.

In the end I managed to find (and buy); a dress in the sale reduced to a fiver, a doctor's bag and I'll show you the headband as well. I would've bought more but I am useless at shopping in cramped stores with loads of people!

That's all folks.... for a little while anyway.
x x

Vintage Shopping and Surprising Sewing.

2010-09-17T19:51:00.000+01:00

Over the last month I've been trawling the local vintage shops and walking out of the shop empty handed. Until the day that:
a) my step-dad told me about a shop he used to buy his clothes from when he was my age for alternative dressers.
b) my brother and I dared to step into the unknown shop in the Custard Factory.

Low and behold I managed to find these two jewels.

Both were £15 each. I love them so much. And I wore them to college last week.

I felt creative last night and my 'Cloth' magazine had just arrived. So I decided to make myself a little felt flower hairband.

And there you go! It was really quick to make, I'll probably get neater over time too. I'll tell you all about college and show you some doodles I've been doing.
x x

Last of the summer wine.

2010-09-06T16:33:00.000+01:00

My summer is nearing an end. But I have done quite a lot within it, with a few accidents along the way.

Recently I went over to Dublin, Ireland to visit my Dad. Taking my camera was a brilliant idea. Sometimes when we go over, we just stay in the house and don't venture out into the wild world. But this time we did. My Dad drove me and my brother over to the coast where we stayed overnight. I've missed the beaches and the sea.

The next morning we caught a ferry to a place called the Aran Islands. It was famous for its inhabitant's knitted jumpers that they sell to the tourists.

There were loads of little models of some of the houses on Aran Islands. My Dad and my brother 'holding up' the house.

It was a really interesting place. I loved being there, I would have liked to stay for a couple of days to really explore.

Many interesting buildings there too. Like this one above. So vibrant! We all hired a bike each to explore the island further and to visit the beach. On the way there I fell off my bike and later found out I'd fractured my elbow. A complete disaster.

So, with starting college this Friday I'll be wearing a cast and I can barely take photos with one hand anymore.

Hope you had a better end to your summer!
x x

Waiting and waiting and waiting.

2010-08-26T20:55:00.000+01:00

Today was a busy, jam-packed kind of day. Sometimes I like these days. You always feel like you have achieved more. Today I finally managed to enroll for my new college. I was there for over two hours. Apparently I wasn't allowed to do the subjects I wanted due to a clash in lesson times. I was offered an ND in Art&Design but by the time I'd decided it was oversubscribed. In the end I decided to go for; Art, Photography, Graphic Design and English Lit/Lang. They were pretty pleased with my GCSE results and so was I.

Even on such a dismal day like today I still managed to trudge over to the Art Gallery to go and see an exhibition I have been meaning to see for ages. The Photographs of Steve McCurry. He is such an incredible photographer. The portraits are amazing and truly breath-taking. My favourite photo overall was probably this one:

Some of his photos were just so emotional. I'd really recommend seeing his work.

I'm off to Ireland in a couple of days. So there will hopefully be some new photos up on here and Flickr soon.
Hope you having a good Summer, despite the rain.
x x

Jazz and gifts.

2010-07-13T21:39:00.000+01:00

Hey!

I've been working voluntarily with a festival recently. It doesn't start until Friday but we have a lot a preparation to do. It's called Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival. It's a lot of fun working there, my first voluntary job so far.

Lynda (LaaLaa) sent me a present full of all sewing type things! I was so happy. Especially since I've only just got into the sewing side of things. Here are a few photos:

Magazines and patterns. I agreed to make her a bag out of that patterm. They are so cute! I'll definitely be busy.

Two materials; one with little owls on and the other with Russian dolls on. Also she gave me a pin cushion (that I'm thinking of attaching elastic around so I can wear it whilst sewing. Courtesy of Francine, the woman who runs the workshop.), some pins, some pale yellow organza ribbon and purple sewing thread. Neat or what!

x x

A touch like stardust.

2010-07-07T20:17:00.000+01:00

Figuring out the whole editing photos recently. I could easily spend hours editing. Which is no fun at all since it means less time taking the photographs!

Here's one:

Oh, and last night I went to another open workshop and made a bag. Hope you like it. The classes are around 3 hours long and material was provided this time.

Song of the week: Jungle Drum - Emiliana Torrini

x x

Oh, p.s a little something else:

Fin.

2010-07-05T16:49:00.000+01:00

Picture of my finished skirt. Finally got round to sewing that last bit. Hope you like it!

Bought the material from a shop in Walsall called 'Hole In The Wall' Cost me £3.99 p/metre and I bought about 1.5 metres. I do like sewing. You always feel like you've accomplished something when you've finished.

x x

Ted (Hughes)

2010-07-02T20:24:00.000+01:00

I went for a walk and saw two cats emerging from these nettles. My brother and I decided to call them Ted (Hughes) & Sylvia (Plath). Ted had decided to follow us through the park and to the lake. He decided to bask in the glory of the Sun, I think he might've forgotten where he was, momentarily. You can see what happened with the photo in comments. Sorry for the blurriness but I think it's hilarious. I swear I didn't push him in..

Tata,
x x

Workshops and photographs.

2010-07-02T12:43:00.000+01:00

I'm officially back now! Haha, so you'll be seeing or rather hearing a lot more from me, I'm afraid.

Last night I went to this workshop in Birmingham. Made a wrap skirt in almost three hours. I was so pleased. But I have one last thing to stitch then I'll post up some pictures for you.

I met my new Nikon D3000 for the first time the other day. I must say, I am in love.

Song of the week: Home Sweet Home (rough mix) -Those Dancing Days

x x

Little Friend & Countdowns

2010-06-20T20:37:00.000+01:00

Yeah, fortunately not the programme Countdown. I mean the countdown to when I go home... nine days to go.

Started reading a book called 'Little Friend' by Donna Tart. I love it, some of the conversations are so funny between the characters. It's a great read, probably not entirely the best time for me to start reading books but guess that's one way I procrastinate. Only four more exams to go now.

Song of the week: I'm a Cuckoo- Belle&Sebastian

I saw a great local band last night called Virgil and the Accelerators. Great atmosphere and one awesome band.

Hope you had a good weekend
xx

Patience.

2010-06-12T22:36:00.000+01:00

It's a virtue. You're going to have to hold on for a few more weeks with me. See, I'm on my way to moving back to Birmingham. So, all I have to do is sit my exams and then we can let the Summer roll. And the good times of course. I am pretty excited for the Summer, it's going to be pretty busy. Got a few workshops to go to, festivals to attend, photos to take and art to create. Need to get all my textile materials together ready for college in September.

Song of the week is: Sigh No More, Mumford&Sons

Hope you are all okay.
x x

Change.

2010-05-20T12:13:00.000+01:00

Wow.

Okay, firstly, sorry for not posting in long while.
Secondly, I'm not too sure... Good Morning?

So these past few days or this past week has produced the biggest changes in a while for me. Firstly, I moved out of the house I was living in with my grandma. Things are looking a lot more positive. And it's so annoying but I keep wanting to take photographs and draw and sketch but there is so much revision that I have to do. Had my first exam on Tuesday. I know there's only a few weeks of exams left now. And then I can fully concentrate on my art. I feel so excited for that.

I watched a great film last night called 'The Waitress'. It was so lovely, it made me smile. The ending is incredible and sweet. Watch it some time, you might like it.

My friend took me on this walk and wanted to show me a little lake that had a rowing boat in it. But the cows were in the way. So by next week that'll be my mission. To see the lake. And take photographs of course.

Ciao, for now.
x x

Ideas and untidy handwriting.

2010-05-09T20:05:00.001+01:00

I'm keeping a notebook... (yes, another one) of any ideas I get. I love jotting things down. It's mainly about what I want to do next year. I hope to set up an online shop. I see so many wonderful shops already, they're so inspiring.

So, that is my aim next year. Besides passing Alevels, that is. I'm having a few ideas, just basic but it's a start. I know it's going to be a lot of hard work but I enjoy the challenge. I'm hoping college will test me artistically as well. But, then again, it may not. So, it's going to take motivation. But I'm up for that! I want to be able to define my own style. And that's going to take time and determination. Anyone else feel this way? At the moment, my work (what I have of it) is pretty vague. Sometimes I can get pretty despondent about things. I feel like I could never think of anything new. But I've just got to keep at the ideas that are somewhere hidden in my head. That's another thing I want to do; create more art and photography. I want to learn as much as I can in photography. Take it all on board and process it into something personal and inspiring. It's all going to begin in the July, when my exams end. And I just can't wait.. so watch this space! (:

Just some ideas I decided to get down on paper. (:

Hope you had a good weekend!
x x

P.S Have I ever told you that I love France. I want to go there again someday. Take in the inspiration of it and make a travel journal. What's your favourite country?

Tell Me A Story.

2010-05-08T22:26:00.000+01:00

I did it a bit backwards but, oh well. Created the front cover for my art journal. I'm doing the art journal for an online class. It looks a bit plain at the moment though. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them (:

Basically, what I did was incorporate the idea of a story into the front cover. It's like a mini book. Behind the front page are seven other pages with sketches and quotations on them. The pages looks dull too. But I quite like the contrast this will, (hopefully) be to the rest of the journal:

Front cover, used inks and deco tape. Brown paper. It says 'pretty please?' at the bottom. Was thinking maybe of drawing something, but I'm not too sure what.

The first page inside the 'book'. Called Monday.

Second, called Tuesday. They were plain before then I jsut went crazy and sketched over them. Might add some colour. I'll keep you posted if I do. (: check the rest out on my flickr.

x x

The good find.

2010-05-05T13:32:00.000+01:00

I was sitting in the library at school today, attempting (unsuccessfully) to not think about the exam I was about to sit. So, I wandered over to the box that said 'FOR SALE-10p each' And low and behold, I found the best book. It was an older copy of George Orwell's 'Nineteen eighty-four'. I was so chuffed. I also bought 'Black Beauty' by Anna Sewell and 'Gulliver's Travels' by Jonathan Swift. It's great how a bargain/luck can make you feel sometimes. And it had the perfect timing.

Unfortunately, I managed to completely mess up my German Speaking Exam. I was so nervous and then I didn't understand anything the teacher was saying. I've been learning it for five years. And I do love learning it. But, in truth, I didn't revise enough. But, on the plus, it has made me realise how much I need to revise for my exams that start in... 13 days.

Here are some photos for you:

And here is another one of my German revision. Something I wouldn't mind seeing the back of.

Hope you are having a good day.
x x

A Blue Day.

2010-05-03T14:13:00.000+01:00

Finally!
I have finally made a start on the 'Tell Me A Story' class journal. And I'm fairly happy with the results.
I felt in the mood for blue today. It's quite a calming colur, cool and level-headed. Think that's what I'm going to need these next few weeks.
So, I didn't really fancy working at a desk either...opted for the bed. Hope you enjoy them! More detailed photos on flickr.

The (obscured) view from where I was sitting. Should get a better photo really. (:

All of my materials and yes, the great Morrissey playing on my iPod.

Here are my two pages. They are supposed to be introducing me to new people. With little facts like where I live. I didn't have any old maps of Wales, so just decided to sketch it instead.

Hope you like them.
x x

He Knows...

2010-05-02T17:04:00.000+01:00

I haven't really done an awful lot today. Started out just searching the internet, listening to some music. When my favourite song by Morrissey came on called "He Knows I'd Love To See Him." So, I just printed of the lyrics, ripped a few pages out of an old magazine and started cutting away. And this is what I made:

See them up close on flickr. (:
Hope you've had a good weekend.
x x

A Peek.

2010-05-01T16:37:00.000+01:00

Here are some drawings and random quotations and doodles I do in my diary. I love writing as much as drawing sometimes. 

I like to write what the top ten songs in the charts were that week.

These are some of my drawings. I think I copied them from 'A Beautiful Mess' blog.

This is just something I wrote. I wrote down all my thoughts and feelings in this book. It says:

"I have the hope that I could be a good photographer if I wanted to be."

This is a sketch I did. The writing on top says:

"I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel."

My photograph and the note I put in the jar full of water.

I absolutely love magpies. Ever since I heard the old rhyme;

One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy. Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. 

Love this saying:
"In a society that has abolished all adventure the only adventure left is to abolish that society." 

We are reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee in my English Literature class. So I tend to pick out any quotations I like. This one says:

"Matches are dangerous but cards are lethal."

I love doodling around sentences. So to emphasise this one I glued stars all around it.

Just some sketches I drew.  

Testing out some new stamps my Mum bought for me.  

I used red watercolour to paint the hearts in. 

Hope you enjoyed it!
Check out my flickr for a few more pages.

Treasure by post.

2010-04-29T18:09:00.001+01:00

She's done it again. My Mum bought me more things on line. And I love them. So, here are some photos of what she bought. First envelope from an on line shop called Altered Moments:

I absolutely loved all of this! It was perfect, the little moon tag was so incredible, neatly packaged. I just want to get started on using them. The last photo was what the photo before that contained. And more! I couldn't fit it all on to one photograph.

Next was from paper-and-string:

Lovely deco tapes. I loved the little card and the tapes were all wrapped in green tissue paper. Thank you! I cannot wait to use these either.

xx

Cupcakes Craze

2010-04-27T16:52:00.000+01:00

Today a few girls and I held a cake stall. It was to raise money for the school. Since in two weeks time we are holding a prom for our year 11. Personally, I don't see the point. However, it's going to be a good way to say goodbye to everyone. We sold; chocolate muffins, flapjacks, flapjacks with chocolate, plain cupcakes with butter icing and hundreds and thousands and chocolate ones with these chocolate sprinkles. The cupcakes were really cute. The whole stall was a big success.

Now, I am really in the mood to bake and decorate some cupcakes. But I can't. Not because I can't cook. I'm not trusted in the kitchen. It's quite funny actually. :D

Anyway, here are some downright awesome cupcakes. (All photos from we heart it)

P.S I'm loving this song. (You'll probably recognise it)

xx

My Love.

2010-04-25T18:42:00.000+01:00

My love for colour.

Today it is Yellow. Because it makes me smile. Its a happy, cheerful colour.

All images are from weheartit.

Hope y'all had a good weekend.
xx

Seriously, It Felt Like Christmas.

2010-04-22T19:28:00.000+01:00

Ok, gonna be a big picture upload but hey... 

I got home from school today and sitting on my bed were three parcels. I tore open the amazon packaging and inside were two wonderful books from my Mum. 

'Mistakes in the background' by Laura Dockrill.

(Same authoress as Ugly Shy Girl)

'Wreck This Journal' by Keri Smith

I absolutely love the look of this one. Flicked through a couple of the pages and literally you have to wreck the book. It should be very interesting indeed. 

Ok, so next was the a brown parcel with printed label. Opened it up and there were really cute boxes, it made opening this more exciting. Inside the two small boxes were beautiful rings. (I didn't realise I was getting any of this, my Mum ordered it all)

This is a pretty, white rose ring. (all of the following were from a shop called Lilies and Daisies) They were wrapped so nicely too. 

 The fact that I got this white rose one was pretty strange because today, for the first time, I decided to wear a red rose bracelet I bought out in China. It's a small world. 

 Then there was this little pouch. So, I opened this up and inside were two small parcels. Inside those were; a flower brooch made of felt methinks and a floral, button bookmark. I love them both, them all in fact!

So there they all are. Thankyou Lilies and Daisies (and Mum). 

Last, but certainly not least, was Claire's parcel. You see, my Mum won Claire's giveaway and wanted me to have it. 

The actual parcel. It had this leopard print tape around the edge of my address. Love it. I opened this parcel and inside was a big wrap of pink tissue paper, I tried so carefully not to rip it when opening it.

Two cute butterflies, both purple. 

Everything in the parcel. Thank you so much Claire. I absolutely loved everything.

So all of these parcels literally made my day. 

Hope you had a good day.

xx

Parcels arrived.

2010-04-21T18:50:00.000+01:00

I'm always so glad when I get post. So today I got home and I had a book in the post from my Mum. The book was "Ugly Shy Girl" by Laura Dockrill. It's written part diary from the girl and part story narrated by the authoress. It's kinda quirky, with some little illustrations. So, I'm going to start reading that tonight. Even though I have a Welsh speaking exam tomorrow.

Really want to get out and take photographs right now.

xx

Oh-so clever.

2010-04-20T16:35:00.000+01:00

I've been taking photos of my art journal recently. Over the last weekend I was in a mad rush to get it finished. In the end, I did a lot more than I actually needed to. But hey, good job I like art. So, I handed that journal in yesterday for my GCSE. But totally forgot to take pictures of all the pages I did. Clever right? And I won't get that back until...July? I'm gutted. But anyway, now that I haven't got that journal to do...it's an excuse to start a new one.

Here are a few of my favourite pages (that I did take photos of):

This last one I just loved how everything I had (scraps of paper and collected poems and photos) seemed to fit together.

The poem is called 'Sonnet' by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

xx

Then there were two.

2010-04-17T15:23:00.000+01:00

A bit about me:

I live in Wales.
I love art.
But hate drawing people.
I love photography.
I own a Holga, a Praktica mtl5 and a Nikon D3000. I love them all but haven't had a chance to use the last one yet.
I love listening to music.
I wouldn't say I had a favourite, it just depends what mood I'm in.
I'm very forgetful and I'm always losing things. Which isn't so helpful. (:
I love vintage. And wish I had the guts to wear half the clothes I love.
I'm really looking forward to starting college next year.

x-x-x

And In The Beginning.

2010-04-16T21:02:00.000+01:00

So, I have decided to start up a blog. I have have been inspired by so many other wonderful blogs, including;

Claire Donovan HeartHandmade

Kim Smith ArtequalsHappy

Elsie Flannigan A Beautiful Mess

I have been using flickr for a while now, so check it out here.

Enjoy!

x-x-x