it was so lovely hearing my friends enjoyed reading my last blog post, i want it to be a regular thing i do, but it's already been so long since my last post!! i've been so busy time has just been flying by. in a nutshell i've been:
- working on uni projects
- collaborating with a group of students to run a stall at bound art book fair, selling prints and zines
- learning so many new ways of making!
- spending time with my friends
- starting to really consider what happens after uni - how i can pursue a creative career (aaa)
uni
uni has been going really well so far, i cant believe i'm already half-way through the current project. having the studio with my friends has been everything i hoped it would be, going into uni every day, inspiring and motivating each other to usually have a really full and productive time. i'm not always doing project-related work (i just made some badges with a stupid-looking bug on them), but nonetheless, i'm creating and that feels great! so far for my project illustrating a sci-fi book cover, i've been researching radio telescopes (which are super interesting and allow us to see what's happening on the other side of the universe), abstractly drawing weird space related things like black holes and the big bang, using experimental digital manipulation on my drawings and further, photo-transfer monoprinting these images (using a gelli plate). i've been having fun exploring lots of processes but i'm getting to the point where i need to start refining, which is a bit daunting, but i'm really looking forward to (hopefully) having some final outcomes i can be proud of.
being in my final year, it feels great to be having some really meaningful discussions with my tutors lately. i've spoke to them about my friends and i starting our own artists collective (SO EXCITING), which my personal tutor was really enthusiastic and supportive of. she gave her insight on having a communal studio, which added even more fuel to the fire that we really need to make this collective a reality!! also, im feeling really happy that after 3 years of being here, i finally feel comfortable using all of the facilities like bookbinding and the print room, which used to feel so intimidating. it seems so silly looking back and i wish i had the confidence to make use of them sooner, but that's easy to think in retrospect. anyway, now i love strutting into bookbinding to make a stupid badge.
life
i've also been spending lots of time with my friends and girlfriend!!
- i saw ye vagabonds with my girlfriend, they were AMAZING. their voices are so unique and their talent with any and all stringed instruments is just insane (you should check them out, i love 'the foggy dew').
- i went to soupgiving (thanksgiving, where we all brought soup) hosted by a half canadian friend. it was a lovely evening a such a nice thing to go around saying things we are grateful for.
- i went to the cinemas to see a restoration of perfect blue. it was absolutely amazing, and terrifying. if you're unfamiliar, its a phycological thriller anime that inspired black swan. i'd 100% recommend watching it, it's a real experience, the soundtrack is amazing and the animation and colours were so beautiful. my girlfriend and i were genuinely scared walking home from the cinema lol, because the film is so mind bending and creepy.
- i went to the cinema again! to see a restoration of princess mononoke, which i'd already seen, and love. it was extra beautiful with the big image and sound, i cried at the very begining when Ashitaka leaves the village, the wide shots combined with the building soundtrack were just so beautiful they filled me up.
- i went to an association of illustrators event, listening to 4 local illustrators journeys and challenges. i was so tired on this day and i got there in such a rush that when i arrived i just wanted to switch off and listen to the speakers, but to my horror, it was a room of people socialising...n e t w o r k i n g...anyway it wasn't so bad, listening to the speakers was really inspiring and helpful in terms of understanding what my own future could look like.
- i went to jodrell bank (centre for a giant radio telescope, with an amazing exhibition on astronomy PLUS an arboretum!!!) which needs a blog post of its own, it was so amazing, so inspiring, so magical, i couldn't believe it.
- i saw gwenifer raymond with my friends, shes an absolutely INSANE guitarist, her new album 'last night i heard the dog star bark' is simply magical. she was selling merch afterwards so i bought a shirt, i spoke to her but all i could muster was "you're so cool". was kicking myself after that one.
- i went to the beach! formby is just a short train away and it's so beautiful, especially the surrounding woodland and dunes. it was way too cold to swim but lovely to walk on the beach anyway, we found the coolest looking sea snail wriggling around in a giant conch!. my friends and i all screamed toward the ocean, when else do you get to scream at the top of your lungs. we watched the sunset, which turned out amazingly pink on that day, then got chips and gravy and ate them on the way back home.
- i went to bound art book fair, as a seller, and a buyer of many cool amazing pieces of art. again, this needs a post of its own!!
- it was my birthday yesterday, i turned 24. i had a nice chill time, walking around china town, getting my favourite bubble tea and looking around one of my favourite craft shops, then i went home to see my family and my cats.
ok, that was my super rushed recap of a whole months worth of stuff i've been meaning to write about, hopefully i'll be able to write more in detail about some of these things soon, if once again, im not mega busy! thanks for checking up with me :)