London Aquarium

It may not seem like much, but this is one of my favourite photos I took at London Aquarium this summer (pictured above). I’d wanted to visit the aquarium after I had explored the Sensational Butterflies tent a few weeks before and was fascinated with all the intricate patterns and intense colours on the butterflies’ wings. Moreover, I was fascinated by how a living creature could produce such vibrancy so effortlessly natural. Needless to say I was inspired - I have been thinking about exploring colour in my upcoming art projects and now I may have found a starting point.

I visited the aquarium with hope of being inspired by the natural forms, patterns of colour of tropical fish and other sea creatures much like I had with the butterflies. It was a success, and I was stunned. But I wasn't expecting to see such an incredible display of coral and underwater plants. Half of these species I had never seen before; there were the most bizarre and beautiful shapes and colours to be seen in plants. It reminded me of how fascinating the ocean is, but also how important these plants must be to restoring balance within the ocean and producing a healthy environment for the creatures that live there. I wonder how many visitors are so distracted by the turtles and the ‘fish that look like Nemo’ that they completely overlook how attractive the environment they live in is.

Pictured above: No frame/filter. My favourite photo from my London Aquarium collection. This is actually a photo of spherical tank full of pink and purple sea plants/coral. One of the prettiest things I have ever seen.

Sensational Butterflies

This summer the Sensational Butterflies tent outside the Natural History museum in South Kensington opened and I was fortunate enough to visit before it closed last month. 

I chose to visit purely out of my interest in nature, but recently found that the photographs I took of the butterflies could potentially influential to my artwork as I begin to focus on abstract forms involving shape, colour and texture.

Above and below are a selection of photographs I took inside the tent of butterflies I found particularly interesting. In the upcoming weeks I'm hoping to create some abstract paintings in response to what I saw on my visit.

Lacock Abbey

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit Lacock Abbey in Lacock, Wiltshire. It's set in the tiniest little village where there are almost no traffic signs or street lights as it is quite often used in filming, particularly for films and television programmes set in earlier centuries. As it turns out, parts of the Harry Potter series were filmed in both the abbey and the village, along with the BBC television series Pride & Prejudice.

Above: photographs from outside the abbey.

Below: from inside.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take many clear photographs inside the abbey due to the lack of natural light and rule against flash photography - which I assume was in place to preserve the paintings and old furniture on display in the rooms. However, I did succeed in capturing the corridors surrounding the courtyard, which some may recognise from the Harry Potter films. (It did feel a lot like Hogwarts on the inside!)

After exploring the abbey I had a wander around the gardens where - much to my amusement - I found these stunning electric blue thistles that were the size of my hand. (Pictured below.)

Lacock village itself has a lot of character: the cottages are old and sunken with wonky tiles and tiny little windows, draped in ivy and other green climbing plants. They all look as if they have been completely untouched since their build, which I believe is what makes them so attractive.

Starting Over

And so it would appear that I am a terrible blogger. So terrible in fact, it's almost an art form. But after a year long hiatus I'm prepared to start documenting my work again, though this time I plan on sharing more of my ideas, personal likes and photographs in order to keep an open mind when I do come around to creating artwork.

I've been to quite a few exhibitions, museums and galleries recently, where I took a lot of photographs and managed to squeeze a few sketches in. (Posts to follow.)

Though places such as these with great collections of artwork can be inspirational to my own ideas as a fine art student, I've recently become quite interested in finding inspiration in other avenues, including books, film, wildlife, architecture, ceramics and many more. In addition to this, I've been experimenting with different kinds of crafts, such as sewing, which I hope will help me keep an open mind when drawing inspirations from different places. In doing this, I'm beginning to discover what it is that captures my attention in different art forms, which I'm thinking is something I would like to explore in my upcoming art projects when I start university in September. 

Portrait Practise

I draw this a couple of weeks ago - it's a portrait of a model I saw on my Tumblr dashboard that caught my eye. Her hair is originally a bit darker and her eyes were brown, however I wanted to play with a little more colour. I haven't really drawn anything as well as this before so I'm pretty happy with it!

It isn't part of any projects of mine, it was just a way of keeping me occupied this holiday and building up my personal portfolio.

Disney Sketches

This week I've been having fun drawing Disney characters (well, Peter Pan and Alice) as part of my art project. I'm aware that Alice in Wonderland is over abused so I probably wont use my entire collection of drawings of her in my project but some may be useful. It's been a good way to try out my new set of Faber-Castell pencils I was given especially!

Summer Update

Seeing as I apologise frequently about my lack of consistent updates, I feel no need to start this post with yet another one. (though I do feel slightly guilty for not posting!)

I've finally finished my first year of my foundation degree! It's been an awesome year studying my favourite subject and I'm actually rather excited to start my second. I've achieved satisfying results, though I know I could have worked harder and received higher grades. I guess that's motivation to work even harder when I return in September, especially since it will be the year that counts.

Since my last post I've been to Kurt Schwitters exhibition at the Tate Britain and Ellen Gallagher's at the Tate Modern - I'll have posts on those to follow.

I've also started my fine art project for my second and final year of my foundation degree (a little early, I know) as I wish to keep myself occupied this summer. I only have a few cartoon sketches at the moment but I shall post those also.

And if that's not enough, I have pictures to post of Jonny Craig at The Underworld from just over a month ago.