by the sea

I went to Wales with my family earlier this week. We went to the Welsh Mountain Zoo and Llandudno beach. I like walking along the shore, you can forget about trivial things and paddle like a kid.

I have to share this red panda's ridiculously cute face. He was asleep, but every now and again he'd pop his head up to have a gander at us. :)

The above outfit is one of my favourite go to, casual ensembles at the moment. The top is from Topshop and my trusty basic skirt is from H&M. It's good for work and general wear, I usually wear it with tights but for seaside purposes I wore leggings on that day. You can see the look on lookbook, here.

I got my welcome pack from uni the other week, things are really dawning upon me now.

Art wise I feel a bit stuck for inspiration and hope I will get back into things when I start the course.

I have been listening to a lot of 90's hip hop and have nearly finished reading American Psycho. It's way more grusome than the film. :(

lusting over knitwear

I personally am actually looking forward to the cold seasons coming up (although lately it has been quite chilly...) because I personally prefer Autumn/Winter style and like to layer up in warm clothes! There have been loads of exciting new season previews about, I was surprisingly impressed with River Island and even Primark! Topshop have already got some knitwear in store that I would like to get my hands on soon. Usually I think their knitwear is overpriced but these pieces I have selected are reasonable (from £26) and look really snug! Perfect for cold nights in Preston;

Anyway...I must say I found myself rather distressed and saddened from the riots happening in my local city of Manchester, a place I have loved over the years. Me and pretty much everyone I knew simply could not stop watching the updates on the news on Tuesday night, just to see what could possibly happen next. These people did not have a reason, a message, a cause. Nor are they underprivileged; they have a house, a family and friggin' blackberries, along with expensive adidas tracksuits. They just wanted an excuse to be destructive, for a laugh. They add nothing to the community and then seek out to destroy it, when we pay for the money the majority of these youngsters out of work and education live off.

I feel so bad for all the businesses that will be affected by this. I was distraught to find one of my favourite areas in Manchester, the Northern Quarter was struck by looters and vandals. There are so many small, independent clothing boutiques, book stores, music shops and bars around there, many of which bring a lot of small designers and an element culture to us. But quite a few are going to struggle with the cost of damage now, some may even be sent under.

I really wish the best to all of the people affected by the riots, in other areas of the country as well. I hope restoration will come soon. Thankfully I think it has quietened down in most areas too. The council and community did a good job of cleaning up the city center yesterday morning. I feel I have lost faith in a lot of people, so it is reassuring to know a good amount of decent human beings care for the city they were raised in.

want; from the gemma correll shop

If you thought her illustrations were adorable, then just look at her merchandise! Here are a few of my picks;

Yes, I am a fan of cats. The illustration on that tote bag is actually one of my favourites from her, so it is an absolute must have. Will be perfect for carrying around all my uni stuff!

Speaking of which, only a month till I move to Preston! I've actually spoken to a few girls who will be on the course and they all seem really nice. I'm getting excited now! I've also started a new job lately (finally got out of JJB!) at Office shoes and have been working lots of hours over summer, phew. Busy busy busy.

Will keep you updated soon!

london

I got back from London on Wednesday after spending a few nights there with my boyfriend. It was lovely and it kinda sucks being back up north. It's a place where you will never run out of things to do. With that said, I'd be wary of living there because of how huge it is, but I can definitely see myself moving closer to/in a city after my degree is finished with. We primarily went to London to see Tim and Eric (of awesome show, great job fame) at the Lecesiter Square Theatre on the Tuesday night. I was the first person to be pulled up on stage by Tim Heidecker in their closing number! He just grabbed my hand and I didn't know what to do, sort of started awkwardly dancing to a pumping song about Britain! It was amazing though. I was shaking and so giddy from it for the rest of the night! We were in a Travel lodge near Euston station so everything was fairly easy to get to by bus. We went shopping around Oxford Street and the Camden Markets, but I didn't really buy that much considering. We also went to Soho for food and drinks, saw friggin' big ben, went to sea life (for free), had sushi (ironic), walked along southbanks, went to the tate and had more drinks after Tim and Eric. Drinks are so expensive in London, especially cocktails, but we found a bar where it was buy one get one free on cocktails, so I had two apples martinis and well we called it a night after that hahaha. It was really so lovely and I want to go back.

In an effort to keep this blog more art related here's some photos from the tate, there was a big mixture of the classics and contemporary stuff;

This was really interesting...a printer kept spawning these pieces of paper with some foreign text on it. Each piece was different.

I do love book/paper art...so delicate.

Bit o' Lichtenstein.

Cute illustrations which were associated with dark humour.

Picasso.

De Chirico

Loved this.

Adored Diane Arbus' photography, self portrait above.

Gehard Richter

An original Monet, how lucky we were!

Franz Kline.

girl crush; drew barrymore

I loved her 90s style the best.

Dungarees

Haven't posted an outfit on here in a while! Just uploaded this to Lookbook. I got these dungarees at a Cow Vintage stall at Glastonbury, the stuff was considerably cheaper than it is in the main store! I got some other pretty awesome clothes whilst I was there too! This is an example of a current go to outfit now, aha. I got the bag in prepration for Glasto at TK Maxx...it got mighty muddy. But it's actually perfect and I've been using it a lot since. I'll try and make these kind of posts a regular thing!

end of year show and glasto update

Hello! I've been extremely idle lately as I've been a very busy bee. On Monday I got back from having the best five days ever at Glastonbury! I'm having a slight case of the post glasto blues and have really wanted to go back to what feels like home now. But I do admit having a nice cosy bed and regular showers was missed. I experienced every possible weather condition whilst I was there; I was freezing and wet trying not to fall in the mud for the first couple of days, but now I've actually come back with a bright red sunburnt nose from the beautiful sun we were blessed with for Saturday and Sunday! Highlights for me were definitely Queens of the Stone Age headlining The Other Stage on Sunday night and Warpaint, both were amazing live. All the bands I saw are here if you're interested.  I'm gutted we have to wait till 2013 for the next glasto. :( I will upload pictures soon, I won't get them till Tuesday though as they are on disposable cameras which need to be developed!

Before all that we had our final show at college. I actually missed the night because I was heading down to worthy farm on the wednesday but I think it went well for everyone and there was a varied amount of work! I got my grades back for the whole two years; DDD! :) For those of you who aren't familiar with how National Diplomas work, that's like getting three As. I was genuinely shocked and pleased after having a bit of a rough start after leaving another college for a further two years in education. Geez I only needed MMM to get into UCLAN! I'm just full of relief and can relax now for the summer knowing everything I possibly need to do is done. Student finance is all sorted for september now too, and I also have my accomodation in the bag. Made sure to get en suite! I'm just really nervous about what my flatmates are going to be like haha...

Anyway I digress, here is the series of three paintings for my final piece. My theme was metamorphosis, in particular the changing of one form into another. Think of an experiment gone wrong. I wanted to convey feelings of aesthetic pleasure and also those of disturbance. I used acrylic on wood and also incorporated collage to make them mixed media pieces. I've also included some close ups of the details:

Mecha

 

Flora

 

Fauna