#twitterer

Well today has been a pretty long day, and i haven't really got much to show for it, haven't really done anything productive either, it's just been one of those days where i haven't felt like doing much. I had a night out for my best friends birthday last night and so was a bit tired and just spent all day browsing the internet (what's new there?) I'm becoming a massive twitter addict. My partner Dean spent one night on my twitter account connecting me to loads of people within the industry and it's really paid off, i now have nearly 200 followers!! It just allows me to be connected to people within the design industry, everyone's constantly updating on it, i can find out what's on, such as markets, fairs, exhibitions etc, Get to know different artists in various areas on expertise. I'm getting the hang of all these hash tags though and it's exciting!!

So i've been uploading loads of pictures on to my twitter account and a couple onto my Pinterest, i came across a few really really old pieces i had done as well that brought back old memories, some pieces went back as far as high school!

This was a project i did in college, it was basic on 'The expression of colour in music' It included lots of research, imagery and experimentation of techniques. The above piece is a small wall hanging and it is basically a patch work of many smaller samples, each patch has been died in a different way, including tiedye, batik and bleeding dry dye onto wet fabric. I have then added extra dimension by embroidering over the top or felting certain ones, also mono printing and lino printing has been used. Each patch is based on a music visualization for a different song like on windows media player.

Here was my final outcome for my exam i think it was if i remember rightly, i created a lampshade cover using the same techniques as above, In order to add depth and more complexity to my final i chose to use all of my favourite techniques onto the one piece. For the base i bled dry dye onto wet fabric, allowed  it to dry and then created a mono print over the top in contrasting colours. I then used my sewing machine and embroidered some designs into it. Once completed i then used a thick yarn in a bright pink and used blanket stitch to attach the cover to the frame of the lamp. I used blanket stitch as i wanted the seams to be on show in order to purposely put across the impression of it been handmade. 

The images of the lamps are obviously photographs of photographs and so full potential is not really seen, especially the image of it turned on.

Getting into a routine

Ok so i've now only got about 4 weeks until i return back to University for the first time in over a year, and i'm SO no ready! I'm so nervous and i haven't done nearly enough work, i panic too much about my work not been perfect or right and even when it comes down to mounting my work into sketchbooks and such  panic about the smallest of things such as whether or not things are in the right order and such. I emailed one of my tutors a few weeks back and mentioned my worries to her, told her that i'm worrying i have forgotten about how the system works etc and that what i take back isn't going to be right, however she sent me a lovely email back saying not to worry and to just get drawing!! Anything and everything, a drawing a day of anything that excites me whether they relate to each other or not, not to panic and to just jump into it and do as much as possible and it should all come together by the end.

And so here we are now, i have decided to really try my hardest to get into a routine, i have now moved back in with the mother until September when i will be moving back over to Huddersfield, and so whilst i've got the time on my hands i'm going to try and make a timetable and a weekly planner and stick to it, this will also include a blog a day even if it is a small one. I'm not sure how long it will last as i buy diary after diary and always either lose them, don't write in them or write in them but never look in them! I think  i already have about 3 diaries for this year somewhere. However i am feeling optimistic and positive, i have had a good ol' search around the tinternet, looking at other peoples blogs, last years graduates works and it's getting me in the creative spirit!

Just as a taster i am going to leave you with a few quick sketches that really aren't all that great but tomorrow i will explain my project a little bit more perhaps.

Here is the first original sketch, created using pastels, it is a drawing of a miniature statue that my mummy has n her shelf, i like the solidness to it and the fact she is holding her head. It's a long time since i have done any real drawings and with this one i tried very hard with the shading in order to create the sense of it been a solid object with a light reflective surface. I don't think i did too bad to be fair however i'm not too sure about the colour palette.

Well i've just got this snazzy new laptop and it has come with a family pack of programmes with it, luckily for me they were mosty all creative programmes such as Scrapbok Artst, Anime Studio which is obviously a programme used to create characters, Paint Shop Pro and a few others. At uni we use Photo Shop however, growing up as a teenager i used to use the original Paint Shop pro none stop and i became a pro at it, however i haven't been lucky enough to have a computer to hand for the last few months and so i've become a little rusty, here  was just experimenting with effects and what not, i can't remember which effect i finally settled on to create this, i think it was dual colour or something or another, however i really like it as it looks more ornamental, like the original statue. The mono-colour tones allow for the light to bounce off it a lot more.

For this next image i again used Paint Shop pro to create an outline version of my drawing using the pen tool, i then overlayed several of the same outline and altered the positioning slightly every time, i was trying to get the impression of movement within my stationary statue. I like the effect this gives of with all the lines as i am a big fan of line drawings and layering, a simple  line drawing i feel can be turned into something special with a certain amount of layering, this is just a 1st attempt and i feel it needs a bit more depth to it, however for a 1st attempt at simply trying out new ideas i think it's not too bad!

And lastly but by certainly no means least this is the final one  have done so far with this image, all i did with this one is go over the previous image with a blurring brush, i think it gives off a slightly better impression of motion and it softens the harsh lines also.

Right bed for me now! That's all until next time!!