Patience for the Renaissance...

The birth of Venus.

Vintage myth - These places are crawling with bedbugs.

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. - Milton Berle

Art is such a wonder thing and discussions within the four walls of Foundation make me question all the time... 'What is art? Who are Artists? What makes there work Art'. the 'A' word is a word that is questionable on many levels and that captures me and I do wish someone knew the answer...

October half term came and went, leaves came and went. Autumn is on it's way and I am getting prepared for everything that is coming!! October half terms have been apart of my life since Primary school all those years ago and this one is my last! Now you'd expect me to be doing something exciting but that is where the optimism ends... I was sat for days writing an essay on 'How the human figure is represented in the Renaissance', I had to look at 6 different pieces of work from this period to which I knew nothing about, analysing them with there composition and the shapes. I found this essay hard but interesting, as an artist anything and everything can influence future work and looking at an Art period that existed back in the 14-17th Century makes you look at where we were and where we are now and the gap that separates them and the work that been created and developed in that time. The line '-' that tells us so much, who knew that something so small would do so much...

The essay was completed after a lot of hard work and research, I found the idea of near naked beings compelling and made me question the nature of the works.
In other news, now that I am back at College I have been finishing off from folder work in terms of reflective practice for both ceramics and paper projects. This involves evaluating each project and looking at the good and bad points, things I could of done better and improvements!
This has to be done in the next day so that the new project can begin which I am looking forward studying and posting about!!

Personal life...
Not much is going on at the moment, Sister is coming home for her reading week which I am exited about and very much looking forward to and spending time in coffee shops and catching up! Glen's birthday on Thursday and I haven't been shopping yet which I again am looking forward to, I do hope Christmas is good this year as last year it was perfect. They do say, 'you never beat perfection' but every Christmas is different and I have to embrace them despite the circumstances. Harvey the cat is also doing well, seen a few bits on QVC that he will love so better get his kitty Christmas list sorted!! I have started reading a lot more also nowadays and feel it enables me to be transformed to a different world.

Getting closer to your butterfly...

The final Piece.

Drawing of the Final Piece.

Vintage Myth - You’ll never get that stain out.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'! - Audrey Hepburn.

As quick as time itself another week has passed and work continues to progress, develop and finish.
Since the last post I have continued to develop the headpiece by adding an additional 70+ butterflies, 60 of which were small butterflies which has enabled me to create a visor for the head which enables the eyes to be hidden and create the ideas behind keeping the person mysterious and the idea of the butterflies sweeping across the body creating a swarm. Adding the smaller butterflies enabled me to fill in the smaller gaps and add to the density. For this piece of work I wanted to create the illusion of flight. With the piece on the bodice I feel like I have created an installation that would fit into an art gallery without much tweaking.

Today I had to draw the final piece onto an A1 piece of paper which made me look at prospective and the shapes that make up the headpiece, I began drawing the head and gaining the dimensions and proportions ready for the finer details to be put within the work. I furthered into drawing the butterflies on the visor before branching out into the left hand side, building around the top before tackling the precarious right side of piece. I began breaking up the shapes of the butterflies into simpler shapes being that of triangles before progressing them into more complex shapes. Initial construction began with pencil before tuning in the finer details with biro which enabled me to create texture and the 3D nature that I wanted from the piece.

Personal Life...
What a week for my personal life!! Firstly my beloved Sister returned for the weekend!! We went to Liverpool and enjoyed talking random shots of each other as we sipped coffee and Hot Chocolate in Central Perk whilst watching a Friends Episode! We had so much fun and love my sister to pieces!! We furthered into Liverpool and enjoyed having a giggle together! On Sunday I took my Partner bowling which was so much fun as it was the first time I have met up with him outside of the Youth group we both attend. Love the lad to pieces and makes me smile so much! He seems like the missing piece to my jigsaw in my life! His smile makes me blush and puts the biggest grin on my face. He is one special guy!!

Spread your wings my little butterfly...

Front view of the Headpiece.

Back-side view of the headpiece.

Vintage Myth - Charity shops are crawling with bedbugs.

'The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.' - Rabindranath Tagore

Another week passes and I continue to move forward with the idea of paper fashion and I continue to question the motives behind the headpiece and don't have to look further than my peers and the headpiece represents head-strong and strong willed people who have been on a journey and have continued the journey with me. To me the butterflies represent moving on by focusing on what's important at the time, capturing the moments before storing them away under your wings before creating new memories. When I learned about the topic of  'Paper Fashion' I immediately thought of 'headpiece' and ideas came whizzing around my head like birds to a bedazzled Tom and Jerry.

This head piece is made up of 100+ butterflies that have all been made by my hands and have been made from a range of different papers which denote a range of textures, colours and size. The main inspiration behind the hat was from Karl Lagerfeld and also Philip Treacy who have both made a range of hats, Karl's being of Paper and Philip's being of butterflies and felt inspired to combine the two, match this with my love of Origami and you have the perfect blend. I am encouraging diversity and the idea that every butterfly is different which metaphorically represents people by accepting everyone for who they are. To finalize the piece I am going to add another 35-40 butterflies and create a veil down and around the back to create the idea of movement of the insect.
I am enjoying this project over the ceramics project and it sadly comes to a close this week.

Personal life...
Sister is coming home this week which I am exited about and we are heading into Liverpool!!
My Partner and I are moving forward and everyday I fall for him even more, he is my rock and inspires me to keep going with life through the thick and thin. He makes me proud and is doing well at college!!