Holiday?

Where did my holiday go? 4 weeks and 1 day til I move back to sunny Preston.

I got a confirmation of my place on the textiles course this year (yay!) and in the envelope was also my holiday project....(grrrr, how could you, UCLan?)...and a letter saying that the uni are running a trip to New York in February/March next year! Better get saving, since it's £600!! Very exciting, I've never been abroad! :D

Going for lunch at my brother's new house with the parents tomorrow, then a friend's birthday party in the evening, then to a festival in Bedfordshire next weekend - hopefully it won't be this rainy! Busy busy busy! My knitting is progressing very slowly.


The holiday project is fairly naff, though...we have to collect things that reflect our personal interests and experience of Summer, put them in a bottle, then do a sketchbook based on the objects. I was thinking of holding it outside in the rain. But that doesn't really reflect my interests... and wouldn't be very fun to draw.

Here are a few bits and pieces I've done so far -

Print blocks

Prints


Ink and Glue

Productive week!

I've felt very lazy since finishing uni for the Summer, so I gathered up everything I've made in the last few weeks, put it all together and was surprised by how much of it there was!! So feeling a lot better about myself now! All the cakes, tea cup and pot were made in the past week.


Spent a fair while making toys for April - little folded stars on card streamers to hang from the roof of her cage - they should keep her busy for a matter of seconds.....mad little creature.


One night of before bed reading and half the book is gone...Eeek!


Went to Wenlock today, looked in the bookshop, the little antiques-y place and twenty twenty gallery, and stumbled across Ippikin, which is one of the best shops I have even seen. Knitted sheep tea cosies, yarn, hand knitted clothes, all kinds of beautiful textiley things.


Must go back with money!

Decisions

What to do with my spending money?

Keep - I have extra funds for the rest of the Summer.

Spend - I buy this book, which I have been wanting for at least a year now.


Use - I get some greetings cards printed of my Snow Queen series of illustrations, and possibly approach a local bookshop to stock them.

Tricky.

Also, as of yesterday, some of my brooches are being stocked by the lovely Queenies Cupcakery in Ironbridge! Very excited about that, as it is the most gorgeous shop, selling the loveliest cakes and other treats as well as tea and milkshakes. Well worth a visit if ever you're in the Ironbridge Gorge.

Oh dear.

I fell off the internet for a while - we had a lot of power cuts one weekend, and then I had to get sorted for a craft market (at which I sold a grand total of three items - never again). But now I'm back blogging. Feeling very bad about dropping out of July Jesters. Also terrible about missing my brother's graduation today - but I didn't feel like wandering around his city all day on my own - he could only get 2 tickets for the actual ceremony.

Very sorry to all the Jesters!

Thinking of housewarming presents for various people, and also baby presents. Any advice (especially on the latter!) would be much appreciated!


I finally got a (pretty naff..) snap of my illustration piece that's in the Young People's Open Exhibition at The Place in Oakengates, it's on display with the other 39 pieces of brilliant artwork - the winner of the youngest age group is amazing - a furry collaged Gruffalo - my favourite from the whole exhibition. If you're in Telford anytime before 12th September, it's well worth a visit.

Sorting

Spent the morning sorting out my laptop, I'm really disorganised about where I save stuff. Going through my art folder and found this!

Lazy day

Have been lying in the garden just watching the clouds and listening to Lungs all day. Smothered in sun cream of course! Submitted an piece of illustration for an exhibition in Oakengates a couple of days ago, but not sure if it's been picked to go in or not... Oh well, I'll find out on Monday.

Got a 2:1 overall for this year. Couldn't have hoped for more as I did massively muck up a couple of projects... so very definitely doing Textiles in September! :) Considering mooching down to Ironbridge for a walk by the river, but think it'll be flooded with tourists. Will have to go when it's raining.

"Congratulations! ...

... Your place at University of Central Lancashire (C30) to study Art & Design (Foundation entry) (WW12) has been confirmed."

Thanks for that, UCAS. Now onto the slightly worse bit...


C E E B B - sort of my initials, haha! But all passes so I'm pretty happy :)

A completely undeserved C in AS Fine Art (really did not put enough work in to get that mark.), a high-ish B in Textiles (a bit gutted about how they marked my personal study, I thought it was my best unit, oh well - got an A for my Snow Queen illustrations!! :D ). Got an E in A2 Physics - I couldn't have expected anything more really, and the same for A2 Maths. Got a high B in AS Maths though, which I am extraordinarily chuffed about, since last year I got a low E!


Off to Preston in 3 weeks and 2 days. Eeeeeeek!

Fear

I have so much to do this week, but can't concentrate on any of it because the much dreaded and awaited a level results are looming tomorrow. I'm really not expecting good or even half acceptable grades, last year was a bad year. I just want to get it over with! So glad I had an unconditional offer from UCLan, one less thing to worry about!

I've also booked a table for a craft fair on the 5th September - the week before I have to leave this town, and the day of Catton Hall Festival of Fireworks in Derbyshire, which is usually a nice night out, especially since we got some free tickets - am a big lover of fireworks. :) Going to be a busy week!
The table at this craft fair's massive compared to any I've had before - 6' by 2'6" or something along those lines - I'm sure most people wouldn't be phased by it, but I'm a bit worried about how best to display my brooches and jewellery... any tips anyone has would be lovely!

Baking has featured in a fairly large way this week - mainly cookies. The sort that morph into odd shapes when baking -


Was digging around in the harddrive of my laptop earlier and found this picture I took for the compostion of one of my final paintings for art, had forgotten how much I liked it until now.

End of Year Show

Tonight was the preview evening of the end of year A-Level Art and Design show at college, some really amazing work in all the subjects - giant metal fish, beautifully cut dresses and jackets, amazing wall hangings and paintings.... it was really interesting seeing everyone else's work!

I got a couple of snaps of my little corner, in case anyone was interested.. compared to all the garments and massive wall pieces, my work looked very tiny... really to get the proper effect of it you need a magnifying glass! There's quite a lot of detail that you can't see from a distance.

Unit 4 - Self Written Study - Textile Illustrations for 'The Snow Queen' by Hans Christian Andersen



Unit 6 - Personal Study - Hats influenced by the work of Elsa Schiaparelli
(research and design boards for Unit 4 in the background)



Unit 7 - 15 hour exam - Mixed media vessels based on a theme of 'Journeys and Destinations' (suspended from bracket, research and design boards in the background)