Busy Bee 

A lot has happened since my last post. It feels like I've been on holiday for weeks and weeks since I handed in my work! It's been a lot of fun seeing my friends everyday without any worries. There's been a BBQ in my garden, a film night in my house, lots of going out, Norwich festival- theatre and singing, a trip home, a trip to the beach and another one for good luck.
We went to a small seaside village called Sea Palling in Norfolk for a few days as a celebration with my new housemates for the end of our 1st year (it's gone so fast!), as one of my friends is lucky enough to have a family holiday cottage there.

It was ideal for my new project 'A Personal Seaside' and I came back with plenty of thoughts to keep me inspired.

The four others all take Fine Art, so I am the only designer in the house. One thing I know now is that we do not think alike! I ended up recording the sea and suggesting making a sound piece for my final 'illustration' at the end of summer. What's happening??

Fear not though, I'm thinking it could prove quite helpful in having different perspectives on my work, maybe it will help me to be more experimental. It's something I definitely need to work on, thinking differently. 

Luckily, that's what I've been doing today, and I have a new idea for a sculpture type thing for this brief which I'm getting all excited about!

Matisse

Yesterday, I went to the city library to find some inspiration for our new project for the summer. It's called 'A Personal Seaside' and I can't wait to get stuck in, I love the beach!! Hopefully it means taking lots of 'educational' trips over the holiday. So far I have a few ideas that I'm excited about. 

Recently I've realised I'm drawn to certain types of artists as inspiration. I saw a documentary online about Henry Moore which was really interesting to see where he took his inspiration from- natural forms such as pebbles and driftwood which have been naturally carved by the sea. 

Looking at Henri Matisse's work, you can see many similarities between the two artists and their focus on shape, no matter how abstract. 

Henry Morre- Reclining Woman- Hair

Henri Matisse- Reclining Nude II, 1927

 I found a book in the library called 'Matisse' by Volkmar Essers (Taschen), and you can really see how his drawings turned into sculptures; the shapes and style are identical. 

Beautiful lines 

Bold, graphic shapes and intense colour. The shapes are so confidently cut into perfect shapes.

Deceptively simple drawings, but they all accurately describe his face and character.  

I think I will make a collage tonight...

Tie dying

Today, I spent the day tie dying with friends. We stopped off at Primarni for some cheap white clothes to experiment with, and I now have 5 pairs of crazy socks and a dip dyed pink t shirt. Somehow I've also managed to dye my hands pink too, so I now look mildly diseased with a purple thumb. 

Can't wait to get my feet into these- socks and sandals all the way! 

Pylons, pylons everywhere

I think i have a thing for pylons, I seem to take a lot of photos of them...

Photography competition (...kind of) 

Over Easter, my family and I went to the beach on a typically gloomy british day in Norfolk. Seeing as we were all taking photos anyway, we thought we would see who could take the best photo of the day; this soon turned into a full on, competition between my brother, my Dad and I, with categories and a judge. Good old family rivalry!

Sketches- people

London Liverpool Street 

Watercolour and ink experiment
(Inspiration from Alan Fletcher)

The wife... 

and husband in Sainsbury's cafe 

I take a sketchbook with me everywhere because you never know what characters will be out and about each day! These are some of my favourites from last months scribbles. 

   

Plaster Heads

Some more work from our last project! One of our weekly workshops was called 'Plaster Heads' where we sculpted our own characters. I didn't know what to expect from the title but we ended up being given a cup filled with plaster with a stick in the middle. Once you cut the plastic off, you can start to carve the cup-shaped plaster into something more interesting. This is my first attempt at sculpting/ model making- much harder than I thought, but satisfying!

3D Illustrations

As some back up work for our last project, we made some basic 3D characters and scenery using card. We went out into Norwich and drew buildings and people with chalks then came back to the studio and put it together to make a scene. This is what I came up with!

Flat Pack Theatre- Finished! 

The whole family and the fairies

Sleeping Beauty on her birthday

The whole house asleep

Prince Charming on his way to save Sleeping Beauty!

Prince Charming and his dog

The happy wedding

My very first blog post marks the end of my first year as an Illustration student. Our last deadline for this year was yesterday, and it was very welcome! We had to design and make a flat pack theatre and I chose 'Sleeping Beauty'. The photographs were taken by my friend Rosie; she is a brilliant photographer, and you can see her work here.