Ragz

Bonjour, oh how it is so beautiful here at the moment. The sun has constantly been out and made me feel so much warmer, especially when I go cycling. A good distraction from when you're doing work indoors, still I shouldn't be complaining that much as I haven't really been doing that much work to the dismay of my teachers. Ho-hum what ya gonna doo?

So in appreciation of the beautiful weather my mumma and I took a trip down to Birmingham on Tuesday to go to the rag market to find exciting things for tres cheap! I went a little crazy and ended up buying fifteen rolls of tassels and trimmings, along with six individual tassels... What can I say? It was for work though! I'll be puttin' these tassels to good use for my Textiles, well for the research part anyway I don't know what I'll do with them after that. Probably weave them together into a massive woven shug-rug thing ooh that would be amazing!

To top this all off I have been listening to Cosmia by Joanna Newsom on a loop for the past twenty four hours, it's just amazing. Despite it being fourteen minutes long you feel more like your going on a journey with Miss Newsom as it just goes through so many different phases and mah! I love it. Enjoy your day everyone, I leave you in Joanna's capable hands.

Adulthood

Holy crap guys! Guess what happened yesterday. No wrong, guess again... Still wrong! You guys suck at this game. Just kid, but yesterday I turned 18, I know what a shocker I am now an adult. It was such an amazing birthday this year, I really feel like I have achieved something? Or at least crossed over to the dark side. These past three days have just been one big celebration and I have loved every moment of it. I am so lucky to have such hilarious and thoughtful friends, they are massive goofballs, but we have fun and yesterday was just fab. I don't really have much else to say just that I can't believe I am an adult (eep), and I have just had such a glorious weekend and some of the cards and presents I have received from my friends and family have actually made me well up to the point where I needed a second (heh).

What was also so lovely about my birthday was that I got to celebrate along with my rad bro Isaac as we share the same day'o'birth, and with Louis whose birthday is tomorrow, woohoo, we're all pubbin' it from now on.

Memories

So today I went on an art trip down to King's Road and Trafalgar Square to visit the Saatchi and National gallery. I find I am much more of a modern art person - however not going to far as conceptual, I need that shit explained! I still appreciate the tremendous dedication and skill it took hundreds of years ago to make such emotional and thought provoking pieces, as they are so glorious and the actual collections in the National Gallery are beautiful, with some of my favourite paintings.

When going to the Saatchi we had a small tour around some of the exhibitions they had revolving around the theme of 'body language' - Ooh I do love the Saatchi. Anyway there was one artist who just absolutely inspired me and just spoke to me in such a personal way that I went a bit crazy in the shop and now have an almost shrine dedicated to her work.

(my shrine)

Makiko Kudo is a contemporary Japanese artist whose oil paintings inhabit nostalgia and delicacy, each one emitting this dream world in which I found myself becoming lost in. With a stimulus of a place, a plant a sound she creates these huge pieces which encompass childhood memories. What I loved when having the talk was that she apparently never got rid of the initial marks she makes on the canvas, instead they very much become a part of the piece, building up vividness as her memories become stronger. I just can't get over that room and her art, both so pure and beautiful.

(mini freak out, but so beautiful and serine)

(aah, look at these amazing marks!)

*

Oh and my friend and I did blind contour drawing on the bus ride home and they actually turned out hilariously good:

*All paintings belong to Makiko Kudo