Why can't I be you?

He was just some Joseph looking for a manger

I had a nice quiet day today, I snuggled up in a big cozy jumper and watched Lost In Translation whilst I drew this reindeer christmas card for my friend. The quality of the scan is a bit off, it's darker and the biro mark-making looks a bit more subtle in real life. But oh well.

I'm going to a carol service tomorrow, which I'm not particularly looking forward to, but after that I shall go to town and get some christmas presents...and perhaps treat myself to a little something! It's less than 2 weeks (I think) till christmas but it doesn't really feel like that to me. Maybe because we haven't got a tree yet and I haven't had to write mounds of christmas cards this year (yay!).

Anyway, good night! x

Flower Crowns #2

Part of the Christmas gift I'm giving my friend this year is a flower crown (along with some other little goodies, but sshhhh). After creating a prototype (see below) I have made the final crown (above), which I think is pretty damn good, even if I do say so myself!

I then went to town to get some photos of myself wearing it in a photobooth. It was quite annoying though when I got there. Before inserting my money I had a look through the types of photo you could get and the choice was pretty shite. You could get 5 passport size and 5 for 'other ID' size in one range, so I clicked on the 'fun' range which was either one big portrait of you and your friends, 16 tiny little photos or one with a frame. Each of which cost £5! When did photobooths stop doing the usual strips of 4 or so photos, all different, so that you and your friends could pile in and take silly snapshots? So I ended up getting the passport style photos, which I am going to use in some art for the zine.

Someday I would like to build my own analogue photobooth, complete with red velvet curtain, but I think that day is pretty far off....

Les Amours Imaginaires

So I watched 'Heartbeats' (Les Amours Imaginaires) on Film4 the other day. I had wanted to see it for ages and couldn't find the dvd in any uk shops, apart from the Tate Modern giftshop, but it was a bit too expensive. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good. It was definately very visually arresting, and the sets and costumes were great, but I felt there was something missing. The characters were a bit annoying and affected and I found it hard to sympathise with any of them. That may have been because it was in French and perhaps something was lost because I don't speak the language, although I don't think that's the case.

Anyway, I still enjoyed it. My favourite shot was of Marie walking, in slow motion, as Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang Bang' played, and I loved her styling. I guess I would probably recommend the film, although approach it with an open mind: I always think films/albums/exhibitions/books/whatever are ruined when you have the words of a critic ringing in your ears.

Have you seen 'Heartbeats'? What did you think?

Lord knows it would be the first time

Today I was woken up at about 7:45 by a squirrel barking. Barking. I didn't know squirrels could bark?!!? I thought it was a yappy little dog. It was right there on the window ledge and wouldn't move even when I banged on the glass. Strange.

On another note, I can't get that smiths song that's on the John Lewis advert out of my head! I like it but I only know that one line so it's getting on my nerves...

I'm going to make some more flower crowns tomorrow! Well. Exciting.

Issue One!

Yay! The first issue of Grin and Bear It zine is now here! It contains a few illustrations, a collage, some little anecdotes and a page about my foray into flower crown making. Eventually I would like to sell these on here, but I'm not sure how yet...

Flower Crowns

So, one of my favourite websites is http://www.rookiemag.com which is edited by Tavi Gevinson (she's brilliant!). I guess at 19 I'm a little older than the intended audience, but saying that, I think anyone can really enjoy it. I just wish that something like Rookie had been around a few years ago, it would have made being an awkward 13/14/15 year old a lot less, well, awkward.
The photographer Petra Collins (she's brilliant too!) often contributes to the site, and in October posted a DIY video on how to make these amazing flower crowns as inspired by Meadham Kirchhoff ss11 (go watch it! http://rookiemag.com/2011/10/crown-of-love/). How great is the room they are making them in?!?! Anywho, here are some examples of what I'm talking about (first picture credited to Meadham Kirchhoff and Petra Collins), and beneath is my attempt to make one myself! It's just a prototype as I wanted to try out my glue gun (yay), and also because I didn't have a hairband really wide enough. But I think it turned out ok! I'm going to make one for my friend as part of her christmas present (more on that later)!!

At Last

Hey there!

Welcome to my new blog! My name is Annabel, and this is just a space for my artwork/zine/pretty pictures/glitter whatever...
Um, yeah, enjoy!

xxx