sunday

So here I am. It's Sunday, it's about time I did my essay. It's time I find other things to do. Here's a new blog entry! Yahoo.

Well. First thing really is the same thing that everyone else is talking about. I recently started becoming interested in what is happening to this country, and the people that are meant to be running it. As I write we still have no government because the men are still in 'talks' to decide. All I can say is, don't do it Nick! Hopefully on Monday after these discussions we will actually have a decent parliament and something good will happen. I was amazed to see that my local constituency in the Midlands had gone to the blue side, after a long tradition of Labour support, but it was quite interesting to look at the map and see the red blob that is Birmingham and Dudley floating in a sea of blue.

Enough of this folly. You want pictures right? Here is a sample of my work from my LAST EVER visual studies! Sob! I am going to miss it greatly, as it is the only time I can piss around and cut and stick without it meaning anything. And my tutor is awesome because anything anyone ever does is always "ooh beautiful" and it makes you feel great! I got the materials for these images from various sources; from old etchings, an old newspaper article (the cat), old issues of vogue (the angel face), my own photos (the cupcake) and lots of collage paper textures. I really enjoy working like this and hope to employ this style when I take on my next project. I'm happy with these too because they look great once re-printed from the originals.

Lovely. Next thing I'm going to do is hopefully a fairytale, haven't picked one yet though. It's a bit scary knowing there is only about four weeks left of my time in the second year studio, third year is a scary prospect - hopefully they'll let me have a go at it.

Oss

It's been a few days. Sorry!

Over the weekend I went to the mayday festival in Padstow. I have been going for many years, we discovered the festival when I was just one year old and our family has been going ever since. This year I had the privilege of having a good camera so that I could capture some photos of the 'Oss. My dad has always been the one to take pictures but this year I got my camera out! The festival celebrates the first day of summer, and the locals are very serious about their celebrations. It has a unique atmosphere, and I always feel privileged to witness the day every year. The drums and the music stay with you for days afterwards.

hungry

I have finally put scissor to magazine and done something creative! yippee! why is it that every time I have visual studies I like what I produce more in those lessons than what I do for my actual work. I should really re-evaluate what I am doing... but for now I can relish in what I have done. Kind of.

Next stop book jackets for me at uni - Shakespeare called out to me and I had to answer. I'm thinking paper theatres and crazy photographs so far, and I hope spending time with my foundation friendlies last week in bourneymouth has inspired me to be a bit more out there. It was my friend's 21st and we had fun times with barbecues and very chocolatey gateaux, and I have realised how good it is to be around arty people because it really influences you.

I also passed up the opportunity to buy an old polaroid camera the other day and now I'm kind of regretting it - I thought the film cost would outweigh the novelty value but now I am not so sure! maybe luck will come to me and the camera will be sitting there waiting for me when I go back to the car boot. For now I will be content with the 3ft barbie doll I got, now named Brian.

forgetful

I forgot.

I love the new Doctor.

I hate to turn my back on David Tennant, but after watching Matt Smith's first turn as the Doctor, I am so glad he totally outdid the expectations I had. And as for Amy Pond, isn't she beautiful!

discovery

I apologise in advance for the first bit of drivel. If you like pictures, scroll down and forget this bit! (Or look up and enjoy my new banner... if that's what it is meant to be called?) I'll mark the start and end of it so you can skip it how nice of me.

look away now

I never intended this blog to get personal, but I came across something a few hours ago that surprised me, something that was written to me that I have only just read. I won't post a link to it, they know who they are, I reckon.
Things at the start of this year got messy, and I didn't know how to handle them - but I know now that things in the past are unchangeable, doesn't matter how petty and insignificant or huge they might be, life is as it is in the end.

To make it clear, I'm not looking for resolution here, I just want to say this. I hate to read things that I know are intended for me when the person writing doesn't feel like they can tell me, and by writing this obviously I am doing the same, but there isn't much else I can do with this information at this point. At first I felt a little cheated and hurt, but now I realise that it's simply just happened now. It's history. Everyone wonders what ever happened to those people you lost contact with at some point in your lives, but sometimes life sees an improvement without those people, on both sides. There are some people from my past that I truly miss, and it's my responsibility to get back in touch with them, and there are those that I left behind because I had to. For my sanity.

This is by no means a personal attack, however. I am about to do something totally lame and terrible, yet strangely apt - I just watched the video to a Destiny's Child song, and those words they sang are just right for this, so I'm going to quote them. Laaaaame!

"I'm wishin' you the best,
Pray that you are blessed,
Much success, no stress, and loads of happiness,
(I'm better than that)..."



read again now

Back to important things. New banner - hope you like it, it's stuck together bits of other illustrations because it's all I have at the moment!
I have re-discovered tweeting as well, still don't fully understand it but I think I am getting there, someone might be interested!

For those of you that think this blog is full of too many words at the moment, here are some pictures, hooray! I made a birthday cake for a friend of mine who turned 21 at the end of last month, and I got creative with the decorations...

I scoured Kidderminster for that Giraffe. £4.75 they wanted, in Early Learning! Christ! Eventually I found a bag of assorted jungle animals in BM, with awesome faces. For £1.99. Awesome. Someones getting an elephant cake next.

I can't remember if I posted a picture of Millie's birthday cake.. oh well seeing as I am putting cakey images up here I might as well rekindle the joy with food! I realised recently that when I have a camera in my hand I love taking pictures of animals, plants and food. I have probably said this before and I stand by it, they are just better behaved than people! Maybe one day I will be able to control a perfect portrait shoot. But, here's a cake in the mean time.

parrots

there has been a lot going on but I am far too tired to recount it all right now - I will post again soon so I can really go through! For now, here are some photos I took at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham. In these particular ones I focused on birds, namely macaws and budgerigars, but I do have many of the plants which I might put up tomorrow. I do think these birds are rather beautiful, especially the one that squawked "ello children!" at us.

four

repulsion number four - my iPod is broken. it works but it cannot be clicked.

damn.

some work coming soon.. :) hate not having a laptop

maps

I'm currently embarking on a project that involves creating an illustrated map. I've never done a map before, and I'm still going through my usual trouble of creating interesting linework and not knowing how to add colour to it, so it should be an interesting journey. I have been experimenting with using pen and ink instead of fineliner at the moment and it seems to be working quite well for me, shame I spilt half of my black ink pot all over my desk at uni the other day though! Here's a page from my sketchbook with some pen and ink experiments..

I also went to the Tate in St. Ives today, and saw their exhibition of Dexter Dalwood's paintings and collages. I'd never heard of Dalwood before, but I enjoyed the way that he used collages as a starting point for his large oil paintings - the way he faithfully reproduces the images, right down to the torn edges and cut pieces of paper was visually stunning. I also found the back stories of each piece quite interesting, particularly the series of interior paintings that represented events in popular history.

Soon I will be starting another blog - a film review blog - which will include illustrations and my own writing. I'm not really expecting a big readership but it'll make a good hobby and a good project in the meantime.

repulsion

I repel technology. I really do.

Repulsion number one - Laptop Charger. I am writing this blog fom my boyfriend's laptop, as my laptop charger is currently having a fit. I have no idea why, maybe it broke because...

Repulsion number two - we had a ten hour long power cut. In the midst of this power cut my flatmate managed to give me a fat lip by way of hug/walk collision. AND I missed Being Human, so I don't know quite how to feel.

Repulsion number three - my lovely Skullcandy headphones have broken... which makes me feel very sad. I've had them for about six months now and the headphone plug wire has come loose... good job I have some old spare headphones I can use!

Seeing as I don't have my laptop at the moment, I had to refer to my deviantart page to get some form of work to show. (http://cultcartoon.deviantart.com/) So here is a photo of my cousin's cat, for your enjoyment! :)