Thoughts on starting university (again)

So I’m off to university again tomorrow. This time last year I had just spent my first week at my new accommodation in Oxford and I was just beginning my Art Foundation. This year, I’m starting my degree at Falmouth and get to do the whole going to uni thing again. I am really excited about going away and studying Graphic Design but I’m also, I think understandably, nervous.

I’m trying not to worry though. Hopefully the fact that I’ve been a fresher before will help me this year, I should have learned things last year that I’ll be able to use to make this year go a little smoother. I’m certainly a better chef (actually maybe ‘chef’ is pushing it slightly) than I was this time last year so hopefully I won’t end up with as many kitchen disasters or dodgy stir fries. And cooking for one had definitely improved, although it’s something I’ve still not perfected (why is pasta so hard to portion). I’ve also learned that sometimes cheaper is not always better- Eg. trying to use cheap blunt knives to cut meat and veg is both difficult and dangerous- and similarly using cheap, thin bin bags in the kitchen bin is like asking for the bag to rip while you’re taking it out and you’re halfway down the stairs. Over the year I have learned the art of minimising the amount of washing up there is (if it’s possible to cook this entire meal with only one pan and one spoon then I will) and things that are easy to wash up have become much more valuable to me- which one is easier to wash up? Colanders win over sieves, flat cheese graters over pyramid ones and plastic chopping boards win over wooden.

I am really looking forward to moving to Cornwall. We’ve visited many a time for our family holidays and I have always dreamt of living by the sea and living within walking distance of a beach so I am excited for the dramatic change of scenery (Oxford was as far from the sea as is possible in England). I’m not really looking forward to living in halls again, (come on, I’ve done my time) but I have had fun buying a few new bits for my room and printing out some fresh photos for my pin board and I’m looking forward to getting it all set up. I really hope everything goes well, fingers crossed I make some friends…

I’m hoping to continue documenting my project work and keeping my portfolio up to date on this blog although I don’t yet know how simple that will be, I’ll see.

So with the car almost packed and my heart all a flutter, goodbye home, hello Falmouth!

R

A Portugal Sketchbook

So this year for our family holiday we went back to Portugal. We’ve been many times before and I love it so much- very happy memories. We went to the Algarve in the south for a week and stayed in a hotel on the cliffs above a lovely beach. We normally do sightseeing and exploring and things while we’re away but this year we just wanted to stop and relax (which meant I had plenty of time for drawing and sketching, yay!)

I took my watercolours, some pens, pencils and tape with me and I spent many an afternoon on a sun lounger, just me and my sketchbook.

^ The sketchbook I used was one that my friend Heyse bound for me using different watercolour papers for Christmas so I was happy to finally use it. (Thanks Heyse!)

^ Right: I drew around the shadow of a Lantana plant and I think it’s quite a cool technique.

^ My favourite drawing I did was from a big pine cone that we found

^ We kept seeing these amazing birds called Hoopoes that had orange mohicans that they would put up just as they landed

^Left: I drew around the shadow of a cool plant but it kind of just turned out looking like seaweed. Right: I GOT A WHITE PEN AND I LOVE IT!

^ I painted this Hibiscus flower in watercolour from a photo after we got back and I’m really pleased with it.

I had a wonderful time in Portugal and can’t wait to go back. I really enjoyed doing this little sketchbook and I think it will really bring back the holiday when I look back at it later.

R

Summer sketches: Agapanthus

We have some beautiful agapanthus plants in our garden this summer and I am completely in love with them so I wanted to document them on here so that they last longer than the few weeks that they’re in bloom. I think they’re probably my favourite flowers; I love the purple-blue and I think they are really spectacular and fun, as well as just being gorgeous.We’re off to Portugal this week and I’m going to take a sketchbook so hopefully I’ll do lots of sketching and painting while i’m there (as well as hopefully enjoying the sun).

R

The Summer Exhibition | The Royal Academy

I am aware that I am very late to this party but I finally got around to going to this year’s summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts that everyone has been raving about- and it didn’t disappoint! I thought it was eclectic, fun and colourful which is everything I want from an exhibition really. If you’re in London in the next 10 days, it’s definitely worth visiting.

I was excited to see the stripy staircase by Jim Lambie in person after having seen pictures of it all over the internet and I really loved it, it’s a really great entrance to the exhibition and definitely sets up the theme and feel of the whole show.

^ SO MUCH COLOUR!

I really liked the pink, blue and teal walls of some of the galleries, something about them made me super happy and made me more attracted to the art on them. I know that some people wondered if the bright walls took away from the paintings but I have to disagree and say that their boldness enhanced the whole visit for me.

^ Left: Paul Hosking ‘Mimic’ (Spot me in the corner taking a sneaky photo)  Right: Dido Crosby ‘Five sheep and a goat’

^The grey triangle by Alan Charlton is perhaps one of the more controversial pieces that I saw, but I couldn’t help but like it. It’s impressive scale more than anything else.

For me, my favourite thing about the exhibition was the way that there were hundreds of works and they were all displayed in a higgledy piggledy way, so close to each other and climbing high up the walls. It made the whole thing a bit more relatable and less intimidating, not stark and unwelcoming like some galleries can feel. It really reminded me of what we were taught in contextual studies about how the Royal Academy summer exhibition has been displayed all along, with jostling for position and the best artists hanging their work at eye level, see below.

This was my first RA summer exhibition, but it certainly won’t be my last. It’s been held annually at the Royal Academy since 1769 (AKA a really long time) and it was wonderful to see such a contemporary twist on the traditions of old; long may it continue.

R

Carsten Höller: Decision | Hayward Gallery

Yesterday, I went to the Carsten Höller: Decision exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with my friend Ellie and we had so much fun. It was really great and I definitely would recommend going if you’re in London between now and the 6th of September. I mean, there are flying machines, darkened corridors and slides- what more could you really want?

The exhibition is all about decision making (apparently. I just had a hilarious time doing all of the activities). I don’t know how well I’ll be able to explain the theory behind the work so I’ll quote the ‘about’ page from the website:

“Immersing visitors in a series of experimental environments, Höller’s interactive exhibition explores perception and decision making. To enter the exhibition visitors must choose between two different entrances, behind which lie separate routes through the first gallery. Once inside the exhibition, visitors encounter a range of situations – including the invitation to consume a pill, contents unknown – that ask them to reflect on the process of decision making.”

^ Far right: Me and Ellie ft. snazzy goggles.

Most of the fun of the exhibition is that you don’t know what’s about to happen or what you will experience when you undertake a certain activity so I won’t spoil anything but it really was very fun and there was very little that I didn’t like (which is rare for me in a modern art gallery).

My favourite thing was the flying machine… yes, you heard me.

^Me getting suited up and looking a little worried.

^Me looking significantly less worried now that I have a helmet on.

^ Look at me, I’M FLYING

It was a really cool experience to fly (admittedly, just round and round in a small circle) over London and I really enjoyed it. I’m glad that we got there early because we only had to queue for about 20 minutes which we were told was not long compared to later in the day.

Another cool thing was that in order to exit the exhibition, you had to go on a slide out of the roof of the building. I found the slide surprisingly scary for some reason because it was very steep, spiralled and I went very fast. I don’t quite understand why the slides were there, or the concept behind them being part of the exhibition, but they were an exciting and fun way to end the show. I didn’t take any good pictures of them but here is one from an article in the Telegraph:

Photo by Guy Bell/REX Shutterstock (4805692e)

And here’s Ellie popping out at the bottom of the slide:

Overall, much fun was had and I would say it was well worth going to.

R

Lino printing @ Art in Action

When I was at Art in Action this weekend I signed up to take part in a practical linocut printing class. As always at Art in Action, the tickets for the practical classes sold out almost immediately so I was really lucky to get a place on the one I wanted. I arrived at the ticket tent 45 minutes before the show opened, and still I queued for ages and just managed to get the last linocutting ticket (phew). It’s definitely worth getting there really early if you want any choice of classes- next year I might try to book online.

Anyway, this year I did a class in linocutting which I had done before myself but hadn’t ever been taught. It was a fairly basic class, only one and a half hours, and they encouraged us to keep our designs really simple. I did a lil’ summer strawberry!

This was my final print:

^ We started by printing some backgrounds.

^ Then I sketched out my design on a piece of paper and used some white transfer tracing paper to transfer the design to the lino.

^ I masked out the area around the stalk and printed that first.

^ Then I masked out the area around the body of the strawberry and printed that on top.

I quite enjoyed doing the linocutting and I would like to do more in future, and maybe try something more complicated. My only mishap during the whole class was when I accidentally wound the handle of the manual printing press too far and the entire thing fell apart and landed right at the feet of a poor old man in a mobility scooter (oops).

R

Art in Action 2015

I spent this weekend at Art in Action at Waterperry in Oxfordshire having lots of arty fun. Art in Action is the biggest visual arts festival in the UK, it runs for 4 days every July and features 400 artists and craftspeople demonstrating their trade, exhibiting their work and teaching practical classes. I visited many times when I was little and have been every year for the last 4, I think that it probably helped inspire my creativity and interest in design from a young age and I feel a bit indebted to it. The whole event is run by volunteers and I decided this year that it was time to give back so I volunteered to work on Saturday and join the team of 600 volunteers and then I went again on Sunday just as a visitor.

Art in Action is held in the grounds of Waterperry House and Gardens which is a beautiful setting that provides the perfect backdrop for such an event. The show covers everything from sculpture to illustration, woodwork to textiles, jewellery to painting and everything in between. All the demonstrators set up studios in their respective marquees and its so cool to be able to actually talk to the artists and see their processes first hand.

^ My favourite tent! – lots of linocutting, etching, letterpress, screen printing, woodblock printing etc.

^ In the market I bought myself a giant cutting mat (woohoo)

As a volunteer I was posted in the Best of the Best tent which contained a selection of the best pieces from across the whole show and from all the different disciplines, as voted for by the artists. I really enjoyed my day but I did feel a bit annoying because I kept having to tell people to take their ice creams outside or stop touching the art (sorry everyone, but art is valuable).

^Some of the best of the best.

Here are some of my favourite pieces from the show – my own little best of the best:

^ Lisa Wisdom – “Autumn Walk at Helford Creek”

^ I loved the way that this piece looked like a rusty old scrap of metal when I first looked at it but then I saw the detail and the fact that it is in fact a lovely landscape.

^Este Macleod- “Blue Skies”

^Sara Fordy – “Indigo and Suede”

^ Jan Bowman – “Rain” Lisbon in the Afternoon

^ Roanna Wells – “Tour de France” – Hand stitching on wool.

^ This piece is particularly appropriate because I have been obsessively watching the Tour de France over the last two weeks – Go Froome!

^ Wendy Dolan – “London on the Map” – Drawing with stitch.

I only did one sketch which was of a bench in the beautiful Waterperry Garden. I was quite happy with it.

I had such a lovely weekend, with my Grandma and my Mum, both helping out and looking round the show as a visitor. It’s always such a pleasure to see so much creativity in one place and such an enthusiastic crowd of people visiting. My souvenir this year was a lovely postcard from Hannah McVicar who studied at Falmouth years ago! Hopefully I’ll be able to follow in her footsteps – although there is no graphic design tent at Art in Action so I’ll have to take up some other arty skill in order to fulfil my dream of demonstrating there one day.

R

Watercolour Cards

It’s birthday season! As a summer baby, I’ve always associated June/July/August with birthdays. So I decided to paint some cards and get them printed out ready for upcoming birthdays. I’m super happy with them!

I did some illustrations and lettering on hot pressed watercolour paper and then scanned them into Photoshop and then Illustrator. The real revelation when doing this was that I really liked doing the hand lettering for the text, I had no idea writing the word ‘happy’ over and over could actually make you happy (cheesy). I also LOVE this colour scheme, so bright and fruity (can I use that as an adjective?)

I printed the cards onto cardstock, scored and folded them. (I plan on sending them in some funky orange envelopes)

^ Let’s party!

^Happy Birthday!

I added a bit on the back with my name and this blog (woo!) just to get into practice doing some personal branding. I really love the way these two designs turned out and I would love one day to be able to sell little cards like this at a craft fair or something         *dreams* . Ah one day.

R

Summer Sketches

Last summer I had to keep a people watching sketchbook as part of the summer project for Foundation and, although I quite enjoyed the process, I learned that I am decidedly terrible at drawing people. So this summer, I thought I would indulge myself and draw what I really wanted to be drawing all along: leaves, flowers, landscapes, objects and buildings (basically nothing with a face). All of these are drawn from life.

^The garden path.

^Our raspberry bush. I spent way too long eating the raspberries instead of drawing.

I’ve also been using my beloved watercolours more this summer. I tend to use a waterbrush thing (yes, that’s the technical term) instead of a jar of water and some paintbrushes, because I find it much more portable.

^This one escapes the no people rule because NO FACE

I’m determined to keep up with this sketchbook over the summer and try to draw some of the things I see and get up to. (Hopefully I’ll draw some more interesting things than the washing line…)

R