Book List 2012

The books I read and started to read in 2012...

Paris, J'Taime

Today I went to Paris to visit my friend Anna who is currently doing a year abroad from Tufts University. It was so Christmassy and we walked through a few of the markets taking in the sights while we caught up on each others lives.

It's times like those that I realise how many possibilities there are for me to choose from and pursue in life. It was really quite inspirational, and it cleared my head of some difficult realities and decisions I had to face up to. But that's not something I'm ready to openly blog about yet.

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca

Oct 27th - Nov 3rd 2012

A post of photos I took when I spent a week in Oaxaca, Mexico for the Day of the Dead.

NJW Hair & Beauty

My first commissioned project!

Final Year - Term 1

It's Chriiiiiistmaaaaaassss...

Sibling Sentimentality

This isn't the usual sort of thing I'd write about, but recently I've been discovering a lot about myself; my beliefs, my opinions, and the hopes I have for the person I want to be.

A lot of these things have lead me to reflect upon the past that I've come from, and the relationships that I have.

Being a Starlet!

  I have been wanting to write a post all about my recent adventures in Burlesque and discovering my inner Strip-Teaser! So what better time to reveal all than now, I have completed the Starlet Taster course with The Cheek Of It! School of Burlesque and am ready to pursue my tassel-twirling ambitions.

Taught by the gorgeous Lady Cheek herself, in 4 classes I learnt some brief history of the origins of burlesque acts, the basics of bump 'n grind, bared my sexy forearms while perfecting some glove removal techniques, and nurtured my flourishing performer alter-ego!
I found the whole experience so liberating and incredibly fun, I was absorbed in the routines we were taught and spent one week buried in blogs and YouTube videos of current performers on the London burlesque scene.

I also attended my first ever Burlesque show! It was The Cheek Of It's 5th Birthday so they put on an amazing show at Madame Jo Jo's and I went along, glammed up and ready to laugh and cheer. It was as clever, hilarious, dramatic, sexy and inspirational as I hoped it would be and it gave me such a buzz and excitement, I knew that I wanted to be up on that stage and giving it a go myself.

So, if I'm going to go further and learn more, I need a name for my performing alter ego! Lady Cheek set the class homework one week to find a name that encapsulated the personalities of our characters... It was a tough week, with a lot of brain storming and googling to check the name wasn't already in use, but I have found a name that has stuck and feels right....

* Dramatic drum roll...*

Ophelia Bataille

Ta-dahh! My inspirations came from Millais' beautifully tragic depiction of Ophelia from Hamlet, and Georges Bataille's 1928 surrealist novella 'The Story of the Eye' - one of my favourite erotic stories.

My next move will be a bump and a wiggle into the Showtime Beginner's Course at the start of the new year, with a graduation show at Madame Jo Jo's!

Watch this space, Ophelia is out of her box!

Xx

My First Skirt #2

Good evening,

It's been frustrating and technical but I've finished my skirt!
I wore it today filming with the BBC in a drawing experiment for the new series of Stargazing LIVE!
I pricked my fingers sewing, too many times to count, and I know my finished product is a little rough around the edges due to my inexperience, but I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out!



I could definitely practice and make a few more :)



Needless to say the whole process could be done a lot quicker with a sewing machine, however it would take a lot of practice for me to get used to using that too!

Skirt Project COMPLETE!

Xx

My First Skirt #1

Evening!

I've had a much needed, chilled weekend, and I have decided to start a long overdue skirt project. I don't own a sewing machine, so I've decided to use the project to brush up on my hand sewing techniques!
The skirt was bought in a kit at Meme Fabrics in Exeter and up until now I've been too chicken to attempt it!
So here is the start I've made... I'm just mastering the 'back stitch' for the side seams.


I'll let you know how I get on!

Xx

Twit-Knit Scarf Swap

For the past month or so I have been taking part in the amazing Twitter Knit Club which is organised by Scarlett Curtis (@ScarlyKFCurtis) She has organised around 70 participants into amazing little groups - I am part of Team Stocking! And I've met some lovely people!
So each group member knits 8x10 inch panels and sends them to their other team members, then we all stitch our panels together to make amazingly individual scarves!

Here is a pic of 2 gorgeous panels by fellow Team Stocking members @jennyjhoward and @leightonlucie!

And this is a pic of one of my panels, sent to @Carlawalakoala!

Team Stocking are working full speed ahead, and I can't wait to see everyone's finished articles!

You can find out more about Scarlett's amazing planning and success with Twit-Knit HERE
Xx

Guess Who's Back...

Good Evening!

Yes, I am back and blogging on my good old Blogger account! 
I had a short lived love affair with the blog on my WEBSITE, however it just didn't cater to my needs.

So now I'm back on here and ready to carry on posting and updating. I've had a busy couple of months with developments in the studio at Slade, a trip to Oaxaca in Mexico and now the fast approaching applications for Post-Grad courses!

I'll try to bring you all up to speed in the near future.

It's good to be back  x x x

My First Jumper!

I've been working on knitting my first jumper from a fairly simple pattern, over the last few months, and I am very pleased to say that it has been a success!
The last week has been spent learning and mastering many stitches to fix all my knitted pieces together and yesterday I spent my afternoon googling how to 'block' my wrinkled, mis-shapen creation. 
So now it's finishing drying out and I have made the finishing touches to add; a twisted cord for the hem and a Love Lucy-Lou label!
My good friend Abi is the 'lucky' lady to have this first attempt, and I will post photos of the finished product being modelled soon!

Art Macabre Life Drawing

I hope you're all enjoying the spirit of the Olympics! I've been really busy over the last couple of weeks; firstly I was whisked away by my boyfriend for a surprise trip to Centre Parcs, it was a much needed break and we had a lovely time. Then the craziness of London 2012 began and I have been working for Cadbury in BT London Live at Hyde Park since the 28th July! I have another week of chocolate madness left but while I have a day off I though I'd post some pictures of sketches I made at a life drawing class hosted by Art Macabre Drawing Salons at Cass Art Islington...

Check out their website for the next life drawing session at Cass, tickets are only £8 and materials are provided, it's really good fun!

Xx

Sensual/Sexual

 This is an exploration into my curiosity and why I find myself drawn to the subject of the bodily and tactility along with my fascination for the abject, obscene and sinister.

 If you haven't been to see the Picasso exhibit currently in the Vollard Suite at the British Museum then I suggest you go, it is a large collection of his exquisite etchings alongside some works of Rembrandt's, Goya's and classical sculptures - all of which had an influence on his work.

I went to this exhibition at a great time in the development of my ideas surrounding my current subject matter of marble Greek and Roman sculptures. Picasso's images evoked many emotions within me; the 'Rape' series (image above) left me feeling confused as I visually tired to separate the two bodies intertwined and emotionally tried to distinguish his pleasure from her pain. The series of the Sculptor in his Studio featured bright scenes with a nude man and woman reclined and relaxed together as they admire the latest sculpted nude creation, the euphoric atmosphere in them suggested to me they depict a post-coital haze, a delicate mixture of the pleasures of the flesh and beauties of sculpture.

  The image below sticks in my mind firstly because of its threatening sexual atmosphere, almost carnal, and secondly it brings to mind the Greek myth of Ariadne and her half brother, the Minotaur. 

In response to the etchings I made these sketches, exploring the intertwining of bodies and sensual/sexual-ity.

 The two sketches above are studies of a marble sculpture, both in charcoal. The one on the right is worked into with watercolours and gouache.

This sketch is influenced from the many recent drawings I've made of statues and explores the inability to distinguish one body from another.

The drawings below are a step forward from statues to life models, I wanted to explore the differences of capturing the contours and softness of skin compared to stone.

I feel by tackling all this subject matter it will help me develop my own clay sculptures into something more informed and purposeful. My time in the UCL Library today allowed me to refine the imagery I want to look at, I now have a book full of images of Bernini's baroque sculptures and have looked at Giorgio De Chirico's use of the marble statue in his Ariadne series. I have also been looking at contemporary painter Glenn Brown's abject, heavily worked paintings which have 18th century influences.

I will be sure to keep you posted on my developments over the next few weeks!

Xx

The Softness of Stone

I have been a busy girl, divulging in the beauties of greek marble sculptures from the British Museum's collections. A return to observational drawing was welcomed after a build up of stifled creativity due to inadequate space to make large artworks.
 What I find so exciting about making studies of these sculptures is their ability to come to life on my paper, they become fleshy and alive - I have no doubt this is due to the exquisite craftsmanship of their creators.
 I also enjoy the pull of tension between their once perfect forms and their present day deformities. Their appearances today are testimonies to their lifetimes and experiences, this idea of a visual history, a life story that can be read through their appearance, is something I touched upon last year in my work on objects within the home. 
 They are also a response to the clay work I made at the end of this academic year, which I think has a bodily feel to it.

I'm hoping to get into some life drawing soon, to give myself the chance to explore these ideas in relation to the human body; it's limits and it's tactility. 

Xx

Sketchbook Studies

Today I went to the Design Museum to see the Christian Louboutin exhibition, I am a big lover of his mastery and admired the designs, inspirational words and hypnotising hologram performance by Dita Von Teese. 
I'm always slightly jealous of fashion designers, their ability to create something and dress the human body is something that just doesn't come naturally to me. The best tribute I could muster for Mr Louboutin is this sketch...

I then went to Victoria Miro to see Grayson Perry's latest works 'The Vanity of Small Differences'. He has created 6 tapestries, 2 for each of Britain's social classes, as a result of his investigating and research, shown in his 3 part TV series on Channel 4 'All In The Best Possible Taste'. In each show he visits a different part of Britain, different people from lower, middle, and upper class societies. He gets to the cores of each classes' values, interacting with and questioning people, without seeming to mock or insult anyone! 

The final works are filled to the brim with colour and references, making them modern day records of life in Britain that will one day become historical references themselves.

As a result of all this information I gathered today, I came home, took out my pens and went through my resource imagery, making drawings and trying not to think about very much.

So that's the latest development in my art-making, I feel like I'm on the cusp of grasping something quite exciting, I just hope I reach that point of clarity soon because I'm getting quite frustrated!


Xx

A Return to Painting

Good Afternoon everyone!


I wanted to type up a little update before the England match later *ENG-ER-LANDENG-ER-LANDENG-ER-LAND* to share with you a few of the paintings I made yesterday!
After an early finish for the summer, I've noticed the absence of my routine of going into the studio, and although the ideas I have remain rolling around the back of my head, my productivity in actually making anything has dwindled. So yesterday I had planned to get back into making some paintings since I had spent so much time on making sculptures towards the end of last term.
My aim was to just really brighten up my palette and see what emerges without me having a set of images to work from. It was a great challenge for me as I have struggled with just letting things emerge from the canvas in the past. I really enjoyed myself and experimented with various colour combinations and brush marks. My only downfall is I get impatient working with oils, not letting the layers dry means the bright colours I had intended to stand out mixed in with the wet colours under them. I might try the same thing with acrylics to see if I can get a better result - or just learn to wait for a bit longer!
Anyway, here are a few of my favourite outcomes, to see the whole lot just click on my Tumblr tab.

I hope you all have a cosy evening indoors out of the rain, here's hoping a win from England will lift our damp spirits!

Xx