Waiting for the fires you light

I'm meant to be revising for *groan* very very important exams, so here's a quick art post for you. The photos below are from my new art journal - I have several journals: one for just original art, one for thoughts and doodles, one for poems, etc. You might wonder why I chose to use a lined notebook for my arty stuff, but I somehow like the look of it better. There are also a couple lines/poems from my own head, and some from songs I like.

 

 

If you have any questions about journaling or any particular pieces, feel free to ask in the comments or by email. You can also see these all on my tumblr. My journals offer real comfort and therapy for me, and I would really recommend anybody reading this to start one. I'm always pushed for time, but even a few minutes furiously sketching, or scribbling, or blobbing paint around makes me feel 100x better. And, one final note - your journal doesn't have to be amazing all the time! Sometimes you'll feel creative and inspired, and sometimes you'll feel like an artless potato, but you can always create something. That something is never worthless.

 

I hope that was somehow interesting or inspiring, and good luck with everything you're doing this week. I will sure need some of my own...

xxx

Topshop // Meadham Kirchhoff

I've been wanting to write more about things other than my personal life and fashion - I'm sure hearing what I get up to isn't interesting for everyone - but I rarely see something in the fashion world that is both accessible and exciting to me. However, all that ended last Thursday when the Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop collection landed!

The whole frilly, furry, crazily colourful Kirchhoff vibe fits right in with my current aesthetic, and it's not often that their amazing pieces are available to the less privileged of the fashion world. While some of the clothes are certainly out of my budget - with one fur stole reaching an eye-watering £250 - others would be perfectly reasonable investment buys for the regular Topshop customer, such as a slip skirt for £25 or an eyeball tee for £30.

The collection is divided into three subsets: Cherry Blossom (a girly pink pastel dream), Cherry Cherie (a more reserved navy blue collection), Cherry Pikka (fun and filled with patterns), and Cherry Satanika (a shouty, rebellious look). Browsing through the clothes, I didn't pay much attention to the four Cherries, and I think the collection works quite well as a whole - you can definitely pick and choose from all four looks. Most of the clothes have a teenager-y feel, what with all the fun clashes, and there's a ton of witchy imagery, and awesome prints. It's all very  Rookie, which makes sense when you consider the connections between Meadham Kirchhoff and the mag. My favourite pieces include:

These brogues - I really like the fancy ankle strap, and this recurring bejewelled pentagram.

This pretty pastel headband, featuring the same pentagram adornments, which would go perfectly with massive hair.

This delicate shift

 

This simple (but special) navy swing jacket. 

 

I also adore the pastel pvc pieces - I've never really got into plastic fashion, not due to lack of love for the trend, but because I've only just started wearing some of the more kooky stuff that I admire. If I had money to spare, the skirt below would be on my wishlist for sure - blue fur? How could I not adore it? I would probably pair the skirt with a pastel turtleneck, matching sheer socks, and some chunky-cute shoes from the collection. Some might think of a matching furry jacket as overkill, but you shouldn't pay any attention to that - Topshop, again, has just the thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, finally, the reason this post is about a week late: illustration! Below are the coolest sisters you'll ever see, wearing clothes from the collection. I get the feeling these chicks might return for future posts - we'll see...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you love the collection as much as I do, be sure to grab your favourite pieces quickly - I already missed spotting some of the pieces before they sold out, and the rest are disappearing pretty fast too.

 

That's all for now, see you soon!

xx

 

Took me to the Lion's den

Over the last couple weeks, I've spent far too much time stressing about A-level choices and not nearly enough time blogging, but I'm getting straight back on the wagon with some photos I took at the zoo last week. Below are my four favourites out of the hundreds  I took...

 

 

... and I'm really quite proud of them! Just pop me a comment if you'd like to borrow them for any reason.

 

The photos are for my current art project, which is roughly based around animals in fairy tales. It turns out that was a fantastic choice of subject, because there are tons of interesting things to draw and photograph! Lions, bears, wolves, fairies, princesses... the list goes on!



Rollneck and T-shirt: vintage
Dungarees: Topshop
The face I'm pulling: Hell







 

I was inspired to do some mega-layering on seeing this post by Maya of Teen Witch, who is always fabulous and 90s looking and who I plan on marrying (she doesn't know this yet). I've also been into wearing lots of black, and fierce silver jewellery.

Unfortunately I've had trouble focusing and being motivated recently, so I don't have anything much creative to show off, but I might post some poems in a bit. For now, you'll have to make do with a measly song recommendation:

'Lion's Den' by Dry The River

Which I have been in love with for a long, long  time. In fact, this band is just perfect and wonderful all round.

Right, I'm out. Time for art coursework and a sleepover. Have a lovely week, lads.
xx

October-ish thoughts

I've just spent a day traipsing around Oxford, so I'm pretty exhausted, but I thought it might soon be too late for a post about October, so here we are. These are just some thoughts I had last month, as well as some photos I took or liked, some of my art, some inspiration, etc. Fair warning: this will be long and photo-heavy, so you might want to grab some tea and snuggle down...

 

I tried taking one of those lovely pics of nice things arranged in cool patterns that pop up so often on tumblr, but I have neither a flat surface or impeccable folding skills, so this is what I ended up with. Top left are my new Topshop leather dungarees - these are so comfy and look cool with every top you could possibly imagine. Also, they're snuggly. The orange shirt next to them has actually been in my wardrobe for years (ever since I stole it off my brother) but I only just got around to adjusting it and wearing it. Bottom left are my ballet shoes. I really want some black, canvas split-soles as well as these, but I need an excuse to go to my dance shop. Then there's my signed, first edition copy of More Than This by Patrick Ness (which I have now finished), some make up, and this wonderful gosling green fluffy jumper, also from Topshop.



from here

From this wonderful post by Ellie Connor-Phillips

Found here

Found here

 

I've been loving all kind of misty, mysterious photos of plants and trees. This makes me sad that I live in a place with very few misty mysterious foresty places, being in a large city and all. Also, wolves! Ideally, I'd like a dire-wolf (as in Game of Thrones) but I might have to settle for getting me a husky as soon as humanly possible.

 

I've been on the hunt for the ever-elusive perfect jeans. For a couple of weeks, I wore my destroyed, 5 year old pair of Moto Leigh's non-stop, because they're sooo distressed and comfy. Unfortunately, my mum isn't too happy with the multiple rips, grass and mud stains and paint splatters. Sadly, all the new pairs I looked at were super tight and thin, or just badly fitting, so I'm sticking to dungarees for the moment.

And, on the subject of blue jeans, 'Requiem For Blue Jeans' has been on loop in my room throughout October. I adore Lana Del Rey and her original 'Blue Jeans', but I have to say this remix/mashup/cover by Bastille is even better.

 

 

And here's some other music I've listened to a lot. Just a couple notes - 'Satukit' is Sinead Satu of Peppermint Whiskers, and she is amazing. Not only can she put together dreamy pastel princess outfits and be a total artistic badass, but she creates wonderful music. Check her out immediately if you haven't already! Also, 'Dawn of Eden' by Underworld was created for Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle at The National. I saw a screening of this on Halloween, and it was one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. The acting, staging, music, everything was overwhelmingly beautiful and awe-inspiring. I only wish I could have seen it live.

 

 

Rookie meet up! This wasn't actually organised by Rookie, but by a group of lovely girls on Facebook who read the mag and wanted to get together. We met at the Southbank centre to do crafty-collagey things, and we chatted about school and blogs and life and whatnot. There may be another meetup soon, so if you'd like to come, check out this facebook group.

 

The babe in the last picture is Sophie of Pretty Passions, Fine Fashions, who has awesome style and makes cool zines, and is a total sweetie to top it all off.

 

This is the collage I made at the meet up. I will probably add more to it, maybe some text.

 

 

 And this is my baby! He took about a million hours to finish, and you can see some progress shots on my tumblr. If I hadn't drawn him for schoolwork I would add something to make him a bit more interesting, but I don't think my art teacher would be too pleased with flowers and poetry on my observational drawing practice.

 

Finally, some news for the future: I'm planning on doing a series of little art/poetry pieces, based on things that could be said/thought about loves and crushes and so on. If I have time, I might even turn them into a zine-type-thing. They will be posted on my tumblr, and probably here as well at some point. If anybody would like to contribute short lines or poems about the people they have loved/crushed on, that would be very welcome!

 

Stay cool,

xx

You Cut Me Open

 

I just wanted to get these pictures up before Halloween completely passes me by - I figured some people are still having Halloween parties over the next few days, so these could be useful inspiration. The look is based on plastic surgery gone wrong - I mad the face unnaturally shaped and contoured, added surgery lines and blood, and voila!

The makeup was really simple and only took about twenty minutes to plan and do. I used red, brown and purple shades from the Sleek Ultra Matte Palette to contour and draw on some massive lips, then added gloss to the lips and high points of the face, then some surgery lines and gore. My natural dark brown lashes and brows didn't quite fit in, so I whited them out with a bit of concealer. Chuck a white cloth around the head, and that's it!

 

I didn't actually wear this makeup yesterday - I didn't have a costume as I wasn't doing anything especially halloweeny - but I can never resist having a bit of fun with makeup and my camera. I will be posting what I actually did on Halloween tomorrow or the day after.

Cheers,

xx

Southbank Sixties

Sadly, silly me forgot to put a memory card into my camera, so I didn't get any pictures out of my trip yesterday. However, I did get a ton of new knowledge about the sixties!

As I mentioned in my last post, the Southbank Centre put on a sixties week as part of their 'The Rest Is Noise' festival, and I was lucky enough to grab the last couple of tickets. The Sunday portion of the event included talks, live music and film screenings; I attended three of these and, boy were they different to what I expected.

 The first, called 'Noise Bites' was very educational, but entertaining nonetheless. There were several sessions, and we went to the first one, which focused on Coronation Street, Woodstock, LSD, and Bernsein's Mass (we skipped Bernstein to have a yummy lunch at Las Iguanas). The Woodstock and LSD talks focused on aspects that were pretty new to me - for example, how most LSD research was funded by the military in the hopes that the drug could help control enemy forces. The 15 minutes on Coronation Street were a bit dry for me, but then it's not really my kind of thing.

 

After Mexican chilli chicken skewer deliciousness, we arrived a few minutes into a discussion about The Beatles. Bill Harry, creator of Mersey Beat and old friend of The Beatles (who, in fact, helped introduce them to their future manager), journalist Leslie Woodhead, and radio icon Paul Gambaccini all voiced their opinions on The Beatles' sudden rise to fame, the dynamic of the group and its members, and Liverpool's 'vandalism' of many music venues played by the group and others like them.

 

It was pretty packed and stuffy in there, so we had a wander around Southbank to clear our heads. We searched through the book stalls, checked out the little cutesy shops in Gabriel's Wharf, looked at all the pretty design shops of the OXO tower, and went into Foyles book shop so that I could spend more money on books I can't afford! I found this baby:

A signed first edition of Patrick Ness' latest book - I adore his books and this was just so cool I had to buy it for myself. It is amazing so far, and you'll hear more once I've finished it, for sure!

 

Finally, while most of the crowds were queuing for the Roger McGough and Brian Patten poetry reading, we slipped into an intimate performance of Stockhausen's Stimmung. This was really unusual - not so much singing as a combination of vocal noises - and in German, English, and jibberish (or so it seemed). The sound was lovely though, and quite fun to listen to.

 

And, Bonus, we got to see all the wonderful costumes of the folks heading to and from comic con!

 

For those who can't stand this text-heavy type stuff, there will be lots more pictures and fun stuff later this week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Kisses xx

 

 

Mayla Sunshine

I thought I would do a quick outfit post for today, as it's pretty late, but there is lots more exciting stuff coming later this week (it's half term, so I have loads of free time that I should be spending revising but lol who needs revision).

bitchface as usual

 I was having a serious case of I-have-nothing-to-wear syndrome this morning, probably because today was the first time in two weeks that I've worn normal human clothes (rather than blankets and pyjamas and misery).

smirk

 It ended up partially clueless inspired - hey hey tartan skirt and sheer knee socks - and partially sixties inspired. The latter is probably because I was getting hyped up about the super exciting Southbank Centre Sixties Festival, which I'm visiting tomorrow. There will be music, talks, discussions and performances about all elements of the sixties, from LSD to beat poetry to Frank Zappa to climate change to The Beatles, and just about every other relevant topic you could imagine. We are looking at 'The Swinging Sixties' in History GCSE at the moment, so it should be pretty helpful for that too.

Top: My mum's.
Skirt: Beyond Retro.
Socks: I'm not sure, but you can find similar ones in most hosiery departments.
Boots: Topshop.
Coat: Primark (many, many years ago!)
Watch: Baby G

Anyway, back to today. After music theory classes, we headed off to an art exhibition in Reading. Some of the pieces there were amazing, especially considering lots of them were by amateur artists. It also made me feel like creating more of my own art, which is always lovely. I may put up some photos of the exhibition later this week. And, on the topic of future posts, I took some photos of my makeup today, but I'd like to do something a bit cool with them, so watch this space!

That's all for now, cheerio!