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 

Ukiyo-e

Oh wow, I am tired. I finally handed in my art coursework yesterday and it was just such a relief, I have not slept so well in quite a few weeks. I absolutely adored my coursework unit and am sad to finally be saying goodbye to it, still getting our exam today was exciting and I am looking forward to exploring all the tingz.

For our coursework we were allowed to chose what topic we wanted to focus on and I chose Japanese art and the history of their culture. Long story short I drew in everything I could think of about Japanese art, the prints, the garments the calligraphy and I just made one big ass (well it was only a metre tall) KIMONO:

Oh yus, I constructed this bad boy out of handmade paper, some of which I made some of which I bought, and just went crazy yo, I put mountains and flowers and water just all over this shiyat. I know I'm not explaining anything very well but I am so arted out right now that I can't even begin to talk about the symbolism and whatnot behind this. So here y'all can just take it in for the aesthetics. 

Bodz

Hey butts, I hope your weekend was satisfactory, mine had a weird beginning a tough middle and is resulting in a pleasant end, a lot of different emotions can be felt in 48 hours! I thought I'd just post a few photos of what my final Textiles product looked like, I am very pleased with it and the fact that I have given in all of my Textiles coursework on Friday is just weight lifting! I still have a chunk of my art to finish, however I am determined to get that semi done for tomorrow... Hopefully the teachers will understand. 

Body Language

Ya hey everybody, deadlines are coming up and I am having mini freak outs here and there trying to get my work done, however over the weekend I did do lots of little bits to finish my Textiles off and if I remember correctly I said I would share my work with y'all!

For my Textiles I was able to decide what topic I wanted to focus on, and I chose the human anatomy. At first it was a bit daunting trying to figure out how to depict the human body without it looking twee and cute. It's been a long journey but I am almost there. Now my final piece isn't actually finished, but all the components are. Hopefully once I finish in school I can show you all the finished product. What I really enjoyed about this project was the huge amounts of fabric construction I did during it, this includes hefty amounts of knitting, weaving and felting. Overall I am pleased with the results of the piece and I can't wait to see her hanging with all her bits and pieces in tact.

So this is the torso, which was created through machine embroidery, dissolving fabric, knitting and couching. The idea is so you can see through her, and the organs will all be chillin' behind.  

These are the lungs which consist of a wire structure (for shape and sizing), knitting with 12mm needles and handmade yarns, weaving with wool, yarns and dyed muslin, topped off with a little bit of french knitting (for the trachea part). 

My Stomach was made by using Priscilla Jones' technique of painting wax onto fabric which is layered over a wire structure. A few months ago I made this during a tres groovy workshop with her.

I then made the small and large intestines. The small intestines were made from dyed-muslin yarns which had been french-knitted into a huuge tube and gathered/ruched together to create the lumpy effect. The large intestines were also made from dyed-muslin yarns, however the yarns were boung round thick cord and wire then plaited together for a different texture. 

I have made a heart, but sadly I have noticed a couple of things which could be improved on, so I'm just havin' a little tweek right now. Anyway I hope you have found my coursework unit interesting and I hope to share my art final piece with you all.

Also I have been absolutely obsessed with these two Bon Iver songs for the past 24 hours, especially Holocene as it just is so subtly intense! Do ya get meh?

All she needs is a name now, what should we call her guys?

Où & Quand?

Ah, I just absolutely adore the film Amelie. I remember my friend always telling me to watch it years ago, and I used to see it in charity shops however I never bought it. I'm so glad I did though as it is one of my favourite films now. Everything about it makes me happy, and considering I've had quite a hectic month, week... day! It's nice to feel all warm and romantic by the end of it all. Not only does the fact that it's French make me want to melt, but the endearing style and characters are just raad. With lucid colours and odd camera angels this film just screams France to me. All the different and unique characters on the other hand are just so charming and shy that it makes me feel better about myself when I'm faced with situations like theirs, particularly Amelie. The story line as well is just fantastique! So many small things happen which create such a glowing atmosphere that I just want to drink up this world that they all live in. Oh my, how everything seems so sweet in their world of introversion.

Pat-me

Oh my how cool is Patti Smith? I mean just look at her, she oozes radness. Not only do I love her blase, Sunday morning appearance most of the time, I also find her voice and music captivating. Yet to buy one of her CD's I am quickly going through the available songs on Youtube and I-tunes, just for a snippet of the Smith. Unfortunately I don't feel our personalities would match very well if I met her, still I can appreciate her. 

January Blues

So here we are again... January, apparently the most depressing month of the year. For me it's not really that depressing just stressful, as all of my coursework is in for the end of the month and I has sooo much to do it's cray-hay! Just expect very sporadic, if any, posts from me. Anyway, I hope you are all not feeling too blue, it'll all be getting better and warmer and soon the summer will be here and freedom will be upon us!

Throughout these pasts few weeks surrounding Christmas I have really displayed a sense of introversion, cooping myself up in the house and doing work, thinking. This thinking has lead me to staying awake for ages at night and writing out some of these silly thoughts. Sometimes I wish I would stop doing that and let my head go blank as it really just takes up so much time and effort, and in the end, when I wake up, I've changed my mind about everything it's so ridiculous. Luckily my Rookie Yearbook Two has kept my mind off of 'serious' matters which are filling my brain and letting me explore others avenues and think up different scenarios, I don't know I'm just such a goober.

Au revoir

~~

Nico

I hope you all are snuggled inside right now, as for me it is just disgusting weather and going outside is as uninviting as eating poisoness frogs... Yeah, I know. Whilst I've been inside I've been having a little browse around in the musical section, seeing I haven't bought any music in just so long! Already knowing about her from Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties" I have really been loving the music of German singer Nico. She has such a low husky voice and frankly is so endearing, just listening to her album Chelsea girl actually does make me want to go out and buy it. What lead me back to her was the green line bus scene in The Royal Tenenbaums as not only is it a lovely scene between Margo and Richie, it also has Nico's voice lightly sprinkled on top of it, making it all the more romantic. 

Seriously peeps? Can you not hear that magic, there's just such consistency to her voice and the song.

 

Supernatural Meaning

As you all know I love my jewellery, and this especially includes rings! Heck I've been collecting rings for almost four years, which is a long time for me. Over that period of time I have collected 44-45 rings, with a selection of them going missing, which I am still really sad about, leaving me with a mere 42, I know right, that's hardly any. Anyway over this festive period (I feel a bit cheesy calling it that...) two new rings seemed to have found their way into my clutches and I have been obsessively wearing them for the past week or so.

The first one is the eye ring (on the right) which I received from mumma Panda for Christmas. I like to think of it as a cousin to the Turkish Evil Eye, a symbol which I would imagine a lot of you being familiar with. If not, it's basically a blue rounded pendent with a white dot in the centre enclosing a smaller black dot, making it look like an eye. It's used as a pendent to warn off evil and keep the wearer safe, which I think is real nice of dat eye. Seeing as eyes are also my favourite organ in the body and has a general pleasing aesthetic and I am super happy to be parading round my little peeper to keep my protected.

The next ring is known as a Claddagh ring (on the left) which fell into paws from my lovely sister, who spent a lot of her time in Ireland and bought this ring when she was very young. Not needing it anymore she passed it onto me. I've been wanting a Claddagh ring for a while, however never knowing when to buy one, but that has made me so happy as having hers feels a lot more special and since it's a real Irish one it's also more traditional. For those of you who also are not sure what a Claddagh ring is, they are a traditional Irish ring, first made in the village of Claddagh in Ireland and represent love, friendship and loyalty (the hands are friendship, the heart is love and the crown is loyalty). I decided to photograph it upside down as I wear it the way my sister taught me (sounds like a Beyonce song...) when one wears it so the heart is pointed outwards it means their heart is not taken or in modern terms 'I is available!' and when in love it's worn so the heart is pointed towards the wearer. Seeing as I am not in love at the moment I wear it upside-down. Whereas my sister wears hers the right way round.

I do love rings, but I adore rings with meaning as there is a certain air about them which makes them all the more fascinating. Much like my friend has a pendent my friend and I bought her which she never takes off, including one her boyfriend bought her, or like a ring my mother gave me which I never go a day without wearing. These kinds of pieces are so lovely to have as they symbolize something more than just consumerism (gettin' deep here!), they give you a more sentimental eye for those few things which cannot be replaced by money.

Wutt 14?

Darn it to heck yo it's almost like I'm a mother who has abandoned her sweet sweet young in the damp cool of these past months! Don't worry babies, mummas home, and she's made some tea for us all to just sit and chill out for a second. In my last post I vaguely explained why I have not been on da webz in a while, and that is simply still the reason. It began to feel like nothing I was doing was good enough to blog. I stopped buying/searching for new music and I started to become a little bit more involved in other things? I don't really know what, but I lost interest in my blog for a bit, and I'm sorry. I got a very sweet comment from an anonymous reader, and to them I say thank you because it was nice to know that what I had to say interested them enough to make them want more. I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas (if you celebrate it) and your night last night wasn't too wild! I ended up just dancing a lot and making cocktails with my friends, which was well fun.

Do I have any expectations for 2014? I suppose I do. I am becoming and adult soon, which is freaky as I should not be unloaded with all of that responsibility. I am hoping I complete my sixth form with grades I deserve and am happy with, I am hoping to have a long and eventful summer as I am planning many things. I am also hoping to have a good foundation course and really just be happy as the first half of 2013 was met with a lot of sadness and pressure. I know there will still be some of that this year, but I'm hoping it'll be more like is has been for me these past few months where I have just taken deep breaths and become passionate for the things I love to do.

As a catch up for you all I now have a new job in another shop in my town. It's so nice to do something different and for the couple of months where I didn't have work I realized how much I enjoyed being part of a company and doing something outside of school. So much so that I want to do a little bit of extra curriculum, whether it be joining classes or a club, I don't know. I also have been scoping around many universities these past few months and my future is beginning to shape a little bit which is exciting. Really I've just grown, I have grown a lot. Maybe not physically, or very much to my friends but I have become more confident, and not in a cocky way.

So to end what seems like a long post, I hope you all see more of me next year and that you stick around for more posts on my simple and slightly uneventful life.