Wednesday 28 March 2012

Advice to Self


There are probably quite a lot of advices that I could give to myself if I start looking for every little detail in my work. However there are a few really important ones.

First of all, I think I should manage my time better. A lot of the time I end up finishing my assignments a day or two before the deadline and handing in everything at the last second. It creates unnecessary pressure and stress which can be so easily avoided. Also doing so doesn’t give me a chance of editing and retouching my project. I have noticed that after a fair period of time since I complete a certain piece of work, I get to see what needs to be fixed, added or removed. It offers me the chance of improving myself and of course getting better results.

Secondly I believe I need to spend more time doing details in my work. This is important as the quality improves and the overall satisfaction of what I have created increases. I tend to appreciate something, that I have spent a fair amount of time into and additional focus, a lot more rather than a piece which I couldn’t be bothered with as much.

Last but not least would be doing a lot more research. Looking up artists and mainly browsing the internet for inspirational talent, because it only comes with experience and experience comes with knowledge and research. Before every assignment I should study its area and type of art a lot deeper than I have been doing with most of my work except for the Martin Haake brief I did in year one, where I feel like I honest researched an artist in every way possible. That is a great example of how good I can be if I put my mind into it. 
As a conclusion, I feel like I should mention something which touched me. I got a gift from my step father not long ago containing a book of inspirational quotes. Since having received this present and having read it, I feel as if I have taken a fair few good bits of advice.







Sunday 18 March 2012

Gaga for Gaga!

Lady Gaga, where do I begin, not only is she one of my role models, she's perhaps one of my favourite musicians today. I mostly like her because of her love and devotion to her fans, and also because she comes across as a true, honest person. I love how open she is about her fashion, how she cares what no one thinks, shes actually really arty and all the time I see her continuously reblogging peoples art work of her over Twitter and Facebook. I've seen lady gaga live in Manchester and it was one of the best concerts I've been to, i'd go again for sure!

I look up to Lady Gaga as more of a fashion icon than a musical influence, because although I do like her music, i love how different and slightly gothic her appearance can be. Although, as I'm certain you aren't, I'm also not a fan of that horrific meat dress she wore, how could that feel nice? It certainly looked awful! And that is really the only bad thing I can say about Gaga, and it's not even about her personality!

I've got some pictures that Gaga posted on her Facebook profile, these are my favourite ones! 
Facebook.com/LadyGaga








I also created my own Gaga-corn, I just saw the original and wanted to give it a bit of colour, i regularly do things like this in my free time. I like to improve on my digital skills. The Gaga-corn I created is the one above this writing.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Bolton & Manchester Museums!


This week I went to a couple of museums. The Manchester University museum and the Bolton one which also has a little but fascinating Aquarium.As I like nature and animals in general, I was extremely fascinated by every little bit of them both. There were quite a few live exhibits which were incredibly fun to watch. I enjoyed looking around the animals a lot, however I was more interested in the extinct spiecies and old fossils. 
I could probably write a lot about each and every exhibit there was there, however I chose to do so about two in specific. Ever since I was a child, I always loved dinosaurs and their alleged behaviour. There was a cast of a few dinosaurs, the most interesting one was the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex which was acquired in the 1900's. It was purchased from a museum in New York which holds the original specimen. It was the third ever found and named 'Tyrant lizard king'! There was another casting of a Tuojiangosaurus (a what!?) and it also had a very interesting name: 'Tuo River Lizard with many spikes' and as amazing as it sounds, that giant 7 meters long and 3 tons dinosaur only ate grass, unlike the T.Rex.
I am looking forward to visiting more museums in future after this incredible experience.

I also take interest in Taxidermy, I just find it so strange that dead animals can be made to look so alive, when I was a child i'd be around my granddads mansion in spain and there were always dead animals in glass cabinets and animal skins hung on the walls. Ever since then i've been intrigued. I know most people find it revolting but I just find it so interesting, i don't find it scary at all, and yet i'm scared by mannequins? I'm not really scared of them but well, lets say me in a room alone full of mannequins would not be an ideal situation! 















This bird along with many others became extinct because of man king in the 1900's :(















How cute is this!? Howkapow!




These pictures are where I got my goat horn ideas from, it's fascinating!






I know I ended up posting a lot of photos here, (about 40!) but i had a TON more, These were my favourites and I couldn't shorten my list!

Thursday 8 March 2012

Snuffie

At the Start of the university year, in september, I had decided to get what i had always wanted - a parrot. And I travelled all the way to Nottingham to get my dream one! I had bought a male green-cheek conure off a parrot breeder, and I couldn't wait to get to know my little parrot better! We called him snuffie, he was full of character and I began to train him, and not very long after we began to hold him in our hands! There was many times i used Snuffie for inspiration in my work and had been sitting with him whilst doing some university work. When he moulted i'd pick his bright green, red, purple and blue feathers out of his cage and use them in my work too. Snuffie was a sweet bird with a cheeky character and on Yesterday morning, I was shocked and devastated to find him drowned in a bucket of water someone had left out the previous day. It's been tough since, everywhere feels empty - so I decided to make, a sort of tribute, you could say, to him. 

Here is my picture, and also some of the best pictures I took of Snuffie:



This is the picture tribute i made, it reminds me of him, and it's hung up in my room :)


R.I.P little Snuffie