I need a fix 'cos I'm going down

Holograms from Annabel Duggleby on Vimeo.

Holograms

Hey! I haven't been blogging much recently as I'm more into tumblr right now (www.grinandbearitzine.tumblr.com) as I think the stream-of-consciousness-ness of it suits me better. Does that make sense? Anyway here is some of what I have been doing lately - based around the theme of the hologrpahic universe. 
Also, I've been listening to a lot of Grimes recently. I think this song is the perfect accompaniment to the above work. 

The Holographic Universe (part one)

The Holographic Universe (part 1) by Annabel Duggleby from Annabel Duggleby on Vimeo.

You guys, I made a film! It’s just a short experiment to work through some ideas. It was inspired by a book called ‘The Holographic Universe’ by Michael Talbot, in which it says that near-death experiences (and death itself) “are really nothing more than the shifting of a person’s consciousness from one level of the hologram of reality to another.” Isn't that beautiful?

Also, it sounds much better with headphones!

In other news, I bought some nice brie today. Yum.
x

Cleanse myself with vitamin health, but I'm already gone

Had an amazing drawing day at college today! We covered the room with webs of coloured wool, which I sat beneath and drew for hours whilst listening to the above album. It was kinda dreamy. xx

http://grinandbearitzine.tumblr.com/

The electric feeling

This week at college we've been doing illustration, which was probably my favourite (and last) topic! We were given a brief with five questions/prompts on it, one of which we had to choose and illustrate. I (and most people) chose Explain out of body experiences. I found a really interesting website by the Out Of Body Experience Research Foundation , which contained loads of testimonials from people who claim to have had out of body experiences. Some were cheesy, some were baffling, but regardless of whether they were "genuine" or whatever, I found them poetic and many provided some interesting imagery.  Here are a few examples of my intial ideas, which culminated in a series of four posters and a little zine.

This is actually a quote from an interview with Roger McGough, about a kind of false/altered memory he has.

Nice scanning skillz

This is just a little taster, as scanning and editing is laborious!
I hope your week has been as fun as mine :) xx

He pulled the mirrors off his cadillac,

cause he doesn't like it looking like he looks back

Tame Impala Elephant

Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, Blue Jay Way

photo by Ira Cohen

Well I had a lovely day today. I picked up the latest issue of Oh Comely, found an interesting book by A. Alvarez about suicide, and got some new film for my camera. I took a walk around where I live, without direction, purposefully disorientating myself. Sunflowers, stone, white on grey, windows and volkswagens, directions, accents, lingering shadows, keep the engine running, missed opportunities, lips parted, unusual quiet, head against the pane, breeze on my cheeks.
This week I have been on a magical mystery tour of the wonderful world of psychedelia. Seeing the afformentioned Beatles film was a revelation! It was brilliant. I loved the freedom of the camera, the prism-like distortions, the projections and layering. My favourite scenes were probably when they actually performed songs, particularly George Harrison's Blue Jay Way, which was enchanting. I'm also listening to Tame Impala's album Lonerism , which is pretty Beatles-esque in parts. The video for Elephant is probably the best music video I have ever seen. I usually find music videos quite tiresome, I'd rather just listen to the song, but the video for Elephant, directed by Yoshi Sodeoka is so visually arresting, I can barely look away. There are loads of comments beneath it on Youtube about how it is/would be great/scary/trippy to watch whilst high, but I think it works perfectly well instead of drugs, experiencing it sober seems powerful enough to me.
Perhaps my eyes need a rest. At college we've been doing life drawing all week, which was amazing and tiring. I think it's true what they say about how drawing teaches you to look differently, properly, critically. I catch myself paying much more attention to forms and volumes and negative space. I was sat on the bus the other day, daydreaming and looking at the soft curve at the elbow of some stranger, imagining how I would draw it. I could almost feel the shape. It was strange. Unexpected, but welcome.

x 

Baby can you see through the tears?

 

I'd never really understood why people kept cacti. As a child, they seemed like the sort of plant that I would only ever encounter dust-covered and cobwebbed on shelves, in the musty sitting rooms of old ladies you were obliged to visit with your mum. Bobbly curtains, saccharine lemonade in yellow glasses,  ancient murray mints. But now I totally get it, they're beautiful! I especially love the flowers, the juxtaposition of silken petals and bristly pines and the rings of blooms like crowns. They look strangely succulent, sumptuous, almost. I think I'll go do some cacti drawings now! 

The next week of my art foundation course will be focused on textiles, specifically screen-printing, which we need to prepare drawings for. Wouldn't a cactus print be amazing?! 

Speaking of art foundation, I've been horribly busy lately, so sorry if I promised you a zine that hasn't arrived! I've pretty much scrapped issue three of Grin and Bear it, as I'm considering taking it in a new direction...

Today I've been listening to the song below non-stop, I love it. It's making me want to go out dancing...but in a sultry, slow motion kind of movie-way. Does that make sense? It does in my head.  I will love you till the end of time. I would wait a million years. Promise you'll remember that you're mine, baby cam you see through the tears?

Journey

Here's a small selection of artwork I've been doing for college, which started today!
I've begun looking at migration, immigration and starling murmurations and have done some drawings/experiments but want to move on to maybe using sound or installation. Anyway I won't say much about it till it's finished, I'm not particularly bothered if anyone's interested or not, it's just helpful to write about it.

Migrations

Getting quite excited about my college project now!

Go chase the wild and night time streets...

Today has been pretty swell. I woke up early and went to town, and as the sun was out we walked through the park, which was refreshing. There was this beautiful tree whose branches were stooped to the ground, pregnant with blossom, which I picked and swirled into the air like confetti. After some dull banking we went to some charity shops where I bought this silky chinese-style dress and a candy pink plaid cotton one, which reminds me a little of Lolita, or at least how I imagine her in my head.
Then we popped into the library, where I withdrew Bande à Part and a book on art and feminism that looks amaaaaazing. After that I just lazed around and day dreamed about a project I'd like to start in a few months, to organise a small artist-run gallery/space where I could show the work of students in the local sixth forms/colleges/university and hold community events like zine fests and craft evenings. Of course I'd need funding and generous volunteers to make it work, so I'll try and recruit some people when I begin art foundation. I've only really had the idea today, so it's at that airy, ethereal, intangible phase where anything feels possible. Like Schrodinger's cat: only by lifting the lid, putting myself out there and hoping for the best can I find out whether it will live or die.

(I've also started on issue two of Grin and Bear It, above)

Acid Brass

Every once in a while I will see a programme or exhibition, or read an article or something, that really reminds me just why I love art.
Today I watched a Culture Show documentary on Jeremy Deller, it was SO GOOD! I just really love his work. I like how he creates these non-traditional, unsaleable (um, yeah, apparently that's a word) conceptual art works, without being a complete dick about it. He just seems so friendly and down to earth, and even though he works in mediums which the 'average joe' (ha) might not recognise as art, he's totally inclusive and not elitist at all.
I'd really like to go to his exhibition at the Hayward that's on soon, particularly to see his bat film (title?), which just looks so intense and beautiful.

Also, I had my art foundation interview today and got in. Yay! So I just feel really excited and inspired now. I think I'll go watch the documentary again! Eeep.

Count the headlights on the highway

I have an interview for art foundation on Friday so I'm sifting through, re-doing, and mounting work for my portfolio. It's tiringgggg but actually kind of fun. This post is pointless but I need something vaguely 'productive' to do on my 'crisp break'. I'd forgotten about these photos I took through a prism. I quite like them, they're kind of trippy...