Starting to have more time

Anne Boleyn sewn back together

Grayscale (all black and white- no editing)

Putting my Portfolio together in January. Applying for college/ uni in February. Got a theme planned out in my head for a set of photos.

24/10/14

Recently been buying SFX stuff in bulk- spirit gum, wax, face paints, zips, latex etc. It's a great feeling that I now have the money for this stuff but also pretty shit that I never have the time to do anything with it. Was on for 54hrs this week but I've been signed off by the doctor until next Thursday. Hoping I'll be able to have a go at doing some face paints for my portfolio. 

First attempt at using SFX wax (23/10/14)

Version Two of the Skull (23/10/14)

Ventriloquist doll

Tim Burton's Catwoman

So yeah, the latest in my face paints/ make up. I have brown hair now, and work at Wetherspoons in Hawick. Definitely applying for the Make Up Artistry course in Edinburgh, maybe even a Fine Art course. Hate having no time to be creative (currently working up to 48hours a week). The money isn't worth it.  I hate being a grown up.

Darth Maul

Got help from Greg (Wright) with the eyes. He is a photoshop wizard! The rest is face paint.

GENERATION: 25 years of Contemporary Art

Check it out; http://generationartscotland.org/
ALL FREE! A lot in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Hoping to go to a few events.

More "make up artistry" attempts

"I'm a real boy!"

Pop Art- those dots are soooo hard to achieve

Beaten Up

Vampire.

Own spin on The Joker- Ledger eyes, Nicholson mouth (ish), the rest- me!

Harley Quinn- first try at painting detail on body. By far my favouite

Pink haired Zombie! First try at Liquid Latex.

Closer up. Supposed to be a bite. Practise Practise Practise!!! Suarez jokes were made.

This is what my holiday has amounted to so far. Trying to build up a better portfolio. I love the way make up/ face paint can change the face completely. 

Total spam of selfies though haha

And so it ends...

... but this blog doesn't! As much as I forgot about it, I found it useful so I will be updating every so often.

I got a Canon a few days before the end of the course. Here are some pics of my space;

from the left

from the right

Overall I was surprised by the exhibition. I really thought I'd hate it (all the people and the heat) but I loved it. I loved the feedback I received and I was shocked to win student of the year. 

I barely spoke to anyone in my year, of which I'm kind of glad. I got exactly the result I wanted (in terms of work) instead of making myself ill over drama etc. 

I am thankful for having the opportunity to do the course as I know what I want to do now. 

I'm starting up my etsy store this summer, and hoping to move up to Edinburgh after the summer. I really owe Christie, Alice, Martin, and Jordan for keeping me sane. I'm so proud of them all for how well they have done this year.

Everything has ended well!

On a personal note, LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY NIECE OLIVIA IS!

SHIT

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

FEEEEEEEEEEECK

It's 1:07am and I'm freaking out. All night I've been trying to figure out how to format a dvd. Today I got a portable dvd player that I was borrowing for the exhibition, put the dvd in, and nothing happened. I AM NOT GOOD WITH TECHNOLOGY.

So I've asked around for people who know how do to that stuff. Some people told me to use a certain programme to convert it (the programme was confusing and I hated it), someone told me to just put it on youtube (would take over 4 hours to upload- never mind processing time), someone else told me to just put it on an ipad and leave it in the exhibition (no way- it'd get stolen).

THEN I asked my engineering friend and he told me to use a programme that is already on the computer. It's called "Windows DVD Maker"... I feel so stupid that I didn't know about it about 7 hours ago. So yeah, the video has been thingied (edited? Formatted? I don't know, my brain feels fried) on that and then I discovered I no longer have any blank dvds. Cue another freak out.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go into Gala and buy last minute things for the exhibition- dvds, cupcakes, a cake, and whatever pops into mind.

I'm pretty much ready for the exhibition, I just need to do the cupcakes/ cakes, the dvd thing, and embroidery. Also, I need to talk to Niall about how it will be set up. I hope I remember all of this tomorrow.

Gender Abuse

Watched this video and it reminded me of what i was trying to get across originally in my Info Graphs unit (men are abused too). It's just shocking that people are just standing there laughing. Not one single person tried to help the guy but when it was the girl, people jumped in and tried to be heros. Fantastic way to show how messed up people's views are on abuse.

Ughhhhhhhhhh

Everything has been happening all at once. This weekend has flown past. I'm stressing out to the max for several reasons;

1. I applied for a job at my favourite shop ever and my close friend got it. I'm not mad at him (even though I was to begin with as he is unreliable and was recently chucked out of college for not even doing anything (but he is a good friend)) but I'm totally frustrated. I have qualifications, I had volunteer experience, I haven't been employed before though. I need experience to get experience. I have applied for every job that comes up in Hawick (even the mills) and I have yet to have an interview. I'm 20 years old and have never had a bloody interview!!! What the hell is up with that?!

2. I have to decide soon if I want to move to Edinburgh. I was planning on getting a job and moving up to live with friends but since I can't even get a job here, I'm worried about Edinburgh. So I have been thinking that I'll just maybe get a job here, focus on my etsy idea with all the crafty stuff, then move up at a later date if I want to. I'm all over the place with this to be honest.

3. Information Graphics/ FMP. Papermaking is fine, it's pretty much done. FMP has been suffering because of Info Graphs though. Info Graphs is just... taking over everything. I feel like I can't even escape it; I'm even dreaming about it in my sleep (well, more nightmares). Especially for the presentation that I think we have to do. I  wouldn't normally be scared but after the last one, I am just totally getting worked up again (remember, the last one through me into another episode). I know I'll be fine, I just have to forget about the last one.

4. I posted a picture of more face paint inspired by the stress of college, my mental health, and the thoughts on the future and I go a lot of people messaging me telling me I "NEED" to go to college and do make up/ special effects. I had thought about it in high school and in first year college, but after all the drama that seemed to follow me I decided that I had given up on education and I just wanted to get on with responsibilities.

It is a bit morbid but fuck it...

After Friday I'm sure I'll feel better. Also, I'm gonna have a few words with people about their opinion on me perhaps applying to Edinburgh's Make Up Artistry course. I've signed up and filled half of it in- just need to put in a personal statement then I can send it away. 

I don't know what to dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Also, I did more facepaint...

I spent my Saturday night in. I did this in under an hour. Just my take on a sugar skull, I was procrastinating from doing work for the course.  

I finally got the chance to watch it!

I just finished watching the programme I posted about the other day. It takes you from when the YBA were in college (using an old swimming pool as a studio) to when they broke through in 1997 in their big group show, "Sensation". Gary Kemp comes across really cool and really into what he is talking about.

The first artist spoken about (and to) was Michael Landy. I've known about him for a little while as thhe artist who destroyed all of his belongings. He seemed to shout and talk over Kemp at some points though. Gavin Turk was also interviewed and he came across warmer. I didn't recognise his name or face when he came on screen but I recognised his sculptures. It was really interesting to actually get a feel of what was going on back then from someone who was actually there and involved in the movement.

Emin and Lucas were quickly mentioned. I didn't know they had a shop on Brick Lane (I was there last year- it was awesome) which was interesting. It was a small shop but was open 24 hours over the weekend. I was a bit gutted that Emin wasn't interviewed or more wasn't said about the two of them. It did show a clip of Emin being very drunk and walking off a show. Which I thought was brilliant. I love that she just doesn't give a shit. She just seems to have a "fuck it" attitude and I think it's great.

The programme mostly related things back to Damien Hurst (who is Kemp's favourite).

A few YBA were mentioned that I hadn't even heard of, so I have a little list to check out. Joshua Compston is one of them. He died (at the age of 25) of an overdose, which was a "wake up call" for the other artists.

Jake and Dinos Chapman are also on the list. I have seen their work before but never looked into it more for a name. They create work that is offensive, unsafe, and provocative. Which is kind of what I want to do with my FMP, so I will be looking more into them.  

Overall, it is definitely worth watching especially for those doing Exploring Specialist Techniques.

Perspectives: Gary Kemp

Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the other Young British Artists on ITV. Will update tomorrow after I watch the whole thing. 

Alchemy Film Festival

Alice and I volunteered to help at the festival together. With all the artists coming into the college to give us talks, I've realised how lucky we are- these people are taking time out of their day to talk to us. I knew Richard Ashrown (he came in to talk to us when I was in the first year of the Art course, and we also saw one of his films at The Haining in Selkirk) was the Creative Director for the festival and decided I would give up my time to help him and the rest of the team out. I'm not really a film person (arty films I mean) so there wasn't much I really wanted to see. Also I had never done anything like this so I had no idea what to expect. I've put a bunch of stuff on instagram to encourage more people to come but I also wanted to blog about it.

The first day I was outside the Dreaming Room. I will hopefully have time today to pop in and watch some things as I didn't on the first day. All I had to do was tally how many people went in and also answer any questions. After the two hours were up, Alice and I went to the Auction House. The building is a bit out of the way compared to the other two venues, which showed with the lack of people who came while we were there. The building alone is amazing- it's so old and creepy and gives off an abandoned feel which seems to be perfect for the installations within.

My view outside The Dreaming Room

Day two went fast, we were on the register desk and then went upstairs to help with handing mics around during a Q&A. No one came out to get us (like we had been told would happen) so as people started leaving we went back downstairs. I had something on in the afternoon so I left just after this. I wanted to have a look in the horsebox (Pat Law) but I was in a rush- again, hopefully today!

Day three we were at the Crown Building. This building was previously a hotel. The corridors and long and the floorboards creak- I love it. After our "shift" was finished we went upstairs and looked at the installations.

Alice and I "For Everything To Go As Planned" (Emma Finn)


This Moving Image installation is in a tiny space. I liked it for it's minimal use of colour. 

"In ‘For Everything to Go Exactly as Planned’, the workers must come to an important decision. Our narrator, the wrecking ball, recounts for us what he saw, heard and understood. Everyone’s true nature is exposed, including the wrecking ball, who ultimately destroys his own story. Primarily working with moving imagery and narrative, Emma Finn draws upon a broad range of visual languages and codes, derived from comics, television and cinema. ‘I like seeing the Marks I make on pages join together. These Marks become people and things that have stories to share. Wrecking balls, postmen and office workers. They might mirror us but they are not us, they are less in power, dimensionally. They are the second to our third dimension.’ The narratives reflectively, if obliquely, address the distance between people. We create our own parallel and private worlds beside one another; ranging from lonesome to satisfying and everything in between. Working with the Marks’ stories, Finn pushes them into a dialogue with the third and fourth dimensions of space and time, using video installation and, at times, incorporating live performance."
- http://www.alchemyfilmfestival.org.uk/2014/moving-image-installations-2/

The next one we looked at was Ben  Skea's "Sleep Vessel". It attempts to explore and understand the three core processes of memory (encoding, storage and recall) by way of hand-drawn animation.  The film is projected onto a pillow which is really cool! In my own work I am looking for different things to use to put my message on rather than just paper or textile. Also, the pillow was a bit crumpled and that made the projected image seem more 3D. 
"Organic line vessels become glowing containers for fluid movement – transformative shapes and cyclic actions reinforcing themes of stored impulses, muscle memory and lucid dreaming. These loops are finally broken when the process of retrieval begins – rapid stop motion drawings are juxtaposed with photography and mixed media collage representing the human form as it wakes from sleep."-- http://www.alchemyfilmfestival.org.uk/2014/moving-image-installations-2/

Not sure if I was allowed to record it, but there were no signs telling me not to! 



Lastly we went to the third floor. "ORPHINE" by The Bird and The Monkey. THIS is a moving image installation. This is my kind of thing. It is in a large room, text bordering the walls, funky music, a speaker between some fake legs, 3 projections, just so much to look at! This was the first thing that caught my eye. I did take a closer picture of the side of the cupboard as it was half covered in red handwritten text but my ipod decided to delete it. Sadly I can't even remember what it said. If I get the chance today I'll go back  up. 

"The Bird And The Monkey are entering the Dreamlands with ORPHINE – their follow-up to their 2012 Sung To The Crows Installation. We plan to produce 3 films for projection, alongside unique sculptures, art, music and performance. Orphine looks into a puddle and through nature’s pull and the push of her emotions falls into the Underworld, where she is transformed. In the struggle to return, Orphine must locate and pass through many portals which will eventually lead her somewhere. Enlightening and dark twists and turns befall her in the Subconscious as she discovers characters and relics both familiar and strange."
-- http://www.alchemyfilmfestival.org.uk/2014/moving-image-installations-2/


I also recorded a video just taking you around the room for this one too but it will be uploaded (as well as more info) in my next update. I will also be talking about the Auction House again as I am there from 4-6pm tonight.

Today is the last day so if you have chance, please please please come along! It is too good to miss!

I haven't forgotten about you!

My blog has constantly been on my mind. I keep thinking "I need to update it" every day but I never get round to it. I've been suuuuper busy with my units. For FMP, I have filmed the piece i previously spoke about and got it on a disk.

I am obsessed with the shop B&M. It is super cheap and you get everything in there. Last year I got a bunch of frames for my x-stitch. This year I've got a few frames ready for some pieces. I also got a heart shaped chopping board for £1.99. As you can see I decided to paint on top of it. I'm trying to find something different to paint on instead of paper. I think this could work well if there was a bunch of them and if I was paying closer attention to typography. It was just a quick experiment so I didn't plan too much. This could be hung on a wall. 

I showed my sister (the one that paints skateboards and stuff (http://defy-art-lab.tumblr.com/)) and she said I was copying her. Yes, because she invented painting on wood with monochrome colours.

Finally, I will be updating a lot over the next few days about Alchemy Film Festival as I am volunteering for all four days. If anyone has spare time over the next few days they should definitely go- £4 to get into each film and there are artists coming from every where. Should be really interesting!

Marina Abramović

Yesterday Siobhan and I were talking about the performance piece I have in mind (not in great detail though) and I mentioned Marina Abramović . I said that I had seen some of her work but never used to be fussed about it. Until recently, I didn't really consider performance art as a subject I'd dabble into. Siobhan told me there was a piece where her ex boyfriend turned up and what happened was great. I found the video she was speaking about.

Watch the video of "The Artist Is Present" here;

 

At 1:16 her ex boyfriend walks towards the chair. Remember, she can't see these people coming because she has her head down. She can only see them when they are sat in front of her. It's really beautiful.  She begins to cry and then they hold hands. Something as simple as this is just so powerful.

First Installation Idea

My mind has been buzzing with stuff for FMP recently. I've got an idea for a performance piece that I'm not actually going to perform but instead record and put onto a blank dvd. I want to do it RIGHT NOW but I'll have to wait until the weekend until I get everything I need.

I've also been thinking about installations and where my ideas might be heading. I've had little bottles with corks for ages that I was planning on crafting with. They were 99p for 6- bargain! But then overnight I had a great idea for them. I put messages (my typical indirect sweary sentences) on a teeny tiny bit of paper, threaded that through the paper and up through the cork, back down and secured it. Here are the results-

You can't see the messages here. I bunched them all together, varying the lengths, and hung them from the ceiling. On reflection, I'd spread them out more. 

Normal light didn't really have an impact with this, so I turned on the projector and focused it on the bottles. I thought the shadow was really nice and added something to it. 

Decided the whole projector light wasn't really doing anything for impact. Cut out a crap circle, as if it were a spotlight. 

This had a much better effect. 

Pictures really don't justify this. Just that bit lighten up in a dark room was really nice. I can't really explain it, but I was super excited about it. I could imagine it being a darkened area that you have to walk into with hundreds of bottles containing messages hanging up. 

I just ordered more on ebay. 30 for just over a tenner. Woop!

Screen Printing FMP

 For my FMP I'm covering techniques I have learned in the last two years. I loved screen printing in our Printmaking unit, so I was excited to try it again on my own for this unit. I went for a typography piece as my work is primarily based on words etc. I took some pics as I went along.

Flooded screen

Final Product

 I tried to combine illustration with it and I think it has worked well. The paper was fiddly and I didn't know if they ink would push through the hand cut stencil in some parts ("A Mile") and I worried a little, but I didn't have to. In total I produced 14 prints in about 30 minutes. I decided to use black as I like how bold white and black are together. The great thing about screen printing is loads of prints without having to clean it every time. Sorry about the picture quality, for some reason google shrunk my images and they are all pixely looking.

Sarah Lucas Exhibition Glasgow

Sarah Lucas currently has an exhibition on at the Tramway in Glasgow. I'm hoping to go up before it ends. Here is a video of reactions to her work;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEijfBE86sw

I looked at Sarah Lucas in my Exploring and Extending Specialist Techniques units and I will be looking at her again in my FMP. I like that her work is quite crude and often refers to things about sex. I feel that sex is still quite a taboo subject in todays society. I have shown my moleskines to a few people in the class and whenever they come across a page referring to the subject, they quickly skip it. Also, one said (not about mine or Lucas' work) "I don't know, I just don't like her work. It's just too much about sex and stuff" and they added that they felt uncomfortable talking about it. I think it's fascinating that even though we are barraged with sexual images and messages from the media people aren't even slightly ok with talking about it. I can understand feeling uncomfortable if it was about your personal sex life or whatever, but even going to an exhibition like Sarah Lucas' is out of the question for some. 

I really hope I can get myself to Glasgow to see this exhibition. The only thing stopping me is the cost and the fact it would take a whole day to do it. 

On a side note, I can't open powerpoint documents on Moodle, but I can open word. It is telling me to buy the new version before I can open it. I don't think there is anything the college can do. Just saying it's mildly infuriating.

Today marks an anniversary

For the last week/ week and a bit, I've had crappy internet. It keeps disconnecting every few minutes which makes doing anything almost impossible. I haven't really been feeling "there" the last couple of weeks either. By that I mean that my episodes are changing. At least, I think they are. That is the difficult thing about this, I never know whether I'm up or down. I think it's probably just a blip in the episode to be honest. I don't feel all that comfortable to talk about my current situation on the internet, but I will write about it in my sketchbook. 

Today marks an anniversary;

From Moleskine book 5

This time last year I was in the worst depressive episode to date. It was also on this day last year that I broke up with my boyfriend (I should clarify that I was already in a depressive episode before we broke up). I began focusing my Exploring Specialist Techniques on the hell he gave me afterwards and it was then that I decided that expressing my thoughts/ feelings/ opinions/ etc was the way I worked best. There isn't anything overly special about this but as I was binning my old calendar I was looking through it and came across a few significant dates. So I cut them out and added them in. I still occasionally get messages from him threatening me over facebook, but I've learned to block and delete. 

I've thought about posting a few pages of each moleskine book in order to be less safe. Perhaps one a day and give some insight along with it. However, if you've seen my books, you know what they contain and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post that content on here. 

I've noticed that I haven't really been posting what is expected recently, but I think that is because I am currently still in the research stage for our new units. 

This blog will come alive again soon enough. 

Louise Bourgeois- Fruitsmarket Exhibition

 I went up with my friend (Edward) on Saturday to have a look at the second part of the exhibition. I was expecting something like Emin's 1000 drawings using lots of different media and obvious pictures relating to her point but I was slightly disappointed. It was basically a series of A4 lined paper/ sheet music/ graph paper with red biro/ crayon on it. The title of the series was "Insomnia Drawings 1994-1995" so the lined paper wan't as random as I first thought- when I am manic and have insomnia I grab any bit of paper and start doodling on it. After I read the description I had a walk round and tried to find one piece that I connected to or saw something in but it was mostly fields, places, river looking drawings which I wasn't overly bothered by.

However, As I got closer to the end I came across two pieces that stuck out. I didn't take any pictures as I wasn't sure if I was allowed to.

The first one that featured two door hangers. One said "Do Not Disturb" and the other said "May I Come In?". They were done with pink highlighter. I liked how one was asking to come in- like asking to enter your mind and see what is all going on inside. If I continue with that theory, the other would be asking to be left alone, not bothered (obviously) but I related it to when I was in my depressive episode. I just wanted to be left alone and not talk about my problems.

The second one I liked was of a clock. It was the face of a clock but had 24 hours on it instead of 12. There was only one hand which was at the 1. I felt I could really relate to this one as when you have insomnia, it's like time isn't even moving. Every time you look at the clock, it's still only 1 o'clock in the morning.

I spoke to Edward after I had finished walking around. Ed isn't really an art person but he said he quite liked it. I was surprised as personal work isn't really what I would think he would like. We then went upstairs to the larger work. I wasn't expecting them to be that big! When I had saw the picture on Artmatters, I thought it would be A4/ A3 size. I definitely like her larger work better. "I Give Everything Away 2010" 6 etchings and mixed media on paper-

Crappy image from Google. "I Am Packing My Bags"

"I Give Every Thing Away"

Taken from ArtMatters as I couldn't find it on Google Images. 

 "I Distance Myself From Myself"

The few I've selected were my favourites. I noticed when I got closer the the pieces they were on two separate bits of paper. One was quite thick and the other was like newsprint. The writing was in her own, and wasn't a specific typeface- that adds personality for me. All of them were signed "LB" some were signed more than once. The veins/ rivers which were featured work in the other exhibition appeared again in some of these pieces. 

I did like this part of the exhibition but it was a bit of a let down compared to the first one.