Looking back at some dead world that looks so new

some sketchbook pages

xx

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

I'll tax your feet

Here's a few pictures of my day. I've spent most of it listening to the Beatles and playing with a new app (well, new to me) that takes kaleidoscopic, prism-like photos, whilst making this lovely twinkley sound. It's really trippy and addictive. And then I made a little study/ studio area in my room with this beautiful wooden school desk that my Dad made about 30 years ago. I've also been churning out the continuous line drawings, drawing my face by feeling it, with my eyes closed. It all sounds a bit silly but I really like the results, especially my very first portrait (second pic) which has a kind of sad presence.

And now I think I'll go watch some Derren Brown.

 

When I'm in the middle of a dream, stay in bed, float upstream.... 

 

 

Party Piece

  He said:
'Let's stay here
Now this place has emptied
& make gentle pornography with one another,
While the partygoers go out
& the dawn creeps in,
Like a stranger.

Let us not hesitate
Over what we know
Or over how cold this place has become,
But let's unclip our minds
And let tumble free
The mad, mangled crocodiles of love.'

So they did,
Right there among the woodbines and guinness stains,
And later he caught a bus and she a train
And all there was between them then
was rain.

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 

Elephant

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?