the end

friday was my last ever day at school, sob. it hasn't quite sunk in yet that i have officially left school, ie no more lessons, frees or common room antics. anyway, for the last day of school all the year 13s dressed as either geeks or charvs. evidently i went for a geek costume (well, more a geek inspired ensemble), as did the majority of my sixth form. actually, at the christmas ball i was nominated for the "geek chic" award, so this was clearly right up my street, so to speak.

laura & me.

me, beth & kate.

birkbeck, harry potter, me & kate.

lopsided glasses alert.

the three charlottes!

dan, chris, me, becca & birkbeck. a sort of spanish class photograph, there is definitely a normal side & a creepy side to this picture.

me engrossed in the deathly hallows.

i feel like elvis costello & buddy holly in these glasses, it's so strange.

palmer, harpreet, me & kate.

amanda & me with mrs pascoe, legendary english teacher.

i don't even know how to caption this.

mrs fitzgerald & our two art classes. you can sort of see me squinting into the sun on the right hand side.

 13VFI! woop.

our entire year group! i think we're one of the biggest year groups the school has ever had, which explains why you can't really see anyone's faces as it was so difficult to get us all in! i think i'm vaguely in the middle somewhere.

after school, we all sort of floated down to the pub which was pretty nice. then, after a break in between, me, kate, birkbeck, beth & charlotte all met up later for the pub quiz, woo! i actually bloody love pub quizzes, and our team - winning women, a bit of an obscure and (to us) hilarious apprentice reference - came fourth out of 11 teams. so yeah, pretty happy with that! the whole thing was organised by my friend amy, & we managed to raise £250 for the great north air ambulance.

i've got my driving test soonish (check me out being all vague), so wish me luck!

awkward annie

i have seen this post about on a few other blogs and, at the risk of being a follower, i thought i would do my own version of a "what's in my bag" post! now, this isn't what i would generally carry day to day as it would be a bit too heavy, but if i'm going out for a whole day or going shopping for art/jewellery supplies.

from top left, clockwise (ish); sunglasses & sunglasses case, random travel tickets, a hair flower, camera, headscarf, book, phone, umbrella (depending on weather conditions of course), ipod & headphones, purse, keys, notebook, diary, pen, mascara, badge, hairgrips & bobbles, carmex lip balm & a ring. gosh, i carry around a lot of stuff!

my purse, keys & phone are obviously pretty essential, & so is the ipod if i'm travelling back from somewhere on my own. i always find listening to music on a train or on a bus very relaxing. carmex is pretty much my only vice beautywise (you've probably noticed i'm not really that into make up on a day to day basis) & i like to carry around a piece of jewellery that i have made, so if people ask me about it i can show them. i've also started to carry a book around with me, so that as well as listening to music on the way home i can also read. i have just started reading love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez, which i have always wanted to read, although i really wish i had bought the spanish version as well.

i bring quite a few hair things around with me if i'm going out, mainly because if the weather turns i want to be able to straighten up my mane of hair. the sunglasses are obviously so that if the sun comes out i am suitably accessorised, & i have about 5 pairs now so i like to change them up every now & then. a camera is also a good thing to have out & about, especially because my bigger one (which i took these photos with) is a bit too fragile & heavy to take around every day. i also like to take my diary with me, just because i like to know when i'm free if i'm arranging things with friends. and last but not least, i like to have a notebook around to jot down if i have any ideas for jewellery making (this is also where i keep all my finance details for the jewellery scheme, but that's far too dull to go into now!)

normally i take a few tissues around with me too because i always seem to have a cold, or a twinge of hay fever, but i couldn't find any to take pictures of.

anyway, hope you've liked this little peek into my handbag, so to speak.

art nerd

last night, my school put on an art show with work from the two a level art classes, one of which was mine.

most of my class & the other class after we gave our two teachers some flowers to say thank you for everything over the past two years. i'm on the far right, being a goon as usual.

lucy, catherine, mrs fitzgerald (legendary art teacher), naomi & me.

lucy & me in front of neville, one of the art room's famous mannequins.

and this is my display area. the whole night was really strange, i kind of liked people looking at my work but also kind of hated it. it's hard to describe, but i just felt ridiculously nervous most of the time.

the photographs i took of my work are a bit rubbish, because i was in a bit of a hurry & didn't want to look like i was obsessed with my own work.

this is the final piece i created in the 15 hour exam, based on the title political & social events or issues i chose feminism.

the pieces i created were a quilt piece based on tracey emin's work saying "feminism is a four letter word", a pencil drawing & collaged piece of my friend kate dressed as a land army girl (based on these photographs), a cross stitch & coloured pencil piece saying "fat is a feminist issue" and a headscarf with embroidery reading "feminism is the radicial notion that women are people".

this is the first piece of work i created in year 13; a still life mood board. basically, in the middle of one of our art classrooms the teachers created a huge pile of stuff from dried flowers to empty photo frames & we could choose whatever we wanted to create studies from. looking back i think this was one of my favourite projects  from the two year course, somehow it made me feel like a real artist by drawing from life & not just photographs.

and here is the final piece that i created based on the above moodboard, a dried poppy seedpod in oil pastel based on one of the photographs i took while preparing the moodboard. i think it is the best thing i have ever done.

for some reason, this piece really doesn't photograph very well, something to do with the surface of the paper i think.

anyway, this is a portrait of my cousin (from one of these photographs) and an "expressive" fabric & brusho background, which was for the structures project where i was looking at the reflections & refractions of light on/in water.

me with a totally dorky smile stood in front of my work. i have to admit i shed a tear or two when i got home, to think that art is completely finished is quite sad for me.

we had to write a little statement about ourselves for the display, and here is mine;

“Art is the most intense form of individualism that the world has known” – Oscar Wilde.

Art has always been a huge influence on my life, from the way I dress to the way I see the world. I have been told many a time that I “look like an art student”, and I consider this the highest of accolades.

I thoroughly enjoyed Art at GCSE, but it was only at A Level that I began to completely immerse myself in the subject. The last two years have been an incredible learning curve for me; I have discovered so much about the artistic process and have produced work that I am extremely proud of. There literally never is a dull moment in the lessons, either because I am absorbed in my work or due to the amazing people I have got to know throughout the course.

In my Art lessons, I have loved experimenting with different techniques and gathering inspiration for each project from a wide variety of places such as photography websites, magazine editorials, local art galleries and the lyrics to a John Lennon song. I always visit the Newcastle Gateshead art fair, which is always an enlightening experience as it gives an insight into what my life could be like if I choose to follow a career in art.

During Year 13, we were given the opportunity to go to Edinburgh and London to visit a number of art galleries. This was an amazing opportunity to see the work of artists I admire up close, such as Vincent van Gogh and JMW Turner. I especially enjoyed the V&A Museum as I had a chance to see a conference on women’s body image in the media, which gave me the idea for one of my A2 exam pieces. Visiting the textiles gallery was really inspiring as I have always loved sewing and using materials in my work.

My interests outside of Art include reading (especially Russian literature and the works of Sylvia Plath), compiling an encyclopaedic knowledge of The Beatles and making my own jewellery. Some time in the near future, I would like to start my own online jewellery shop using reclaimed materials and vintage ephemera. I also love vintage clothing from the 1940s through to the 1960s, and I did briefly consider a career in fashion before realising the industry doesn’t quite fit my feminist attitudes.

As well as Art, I also take Spanish and English Literature and I studied Psychology at AS Level. Next year I am going to be taking a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Newcastle College which I hope will allow me to explore other forms of Art, such as Textiles and Photography. I am really looking forward to the experience, and I hope that it will bring me closer to deciding on which university course I would like to pursue. At the moment, I have no real plan for the future but would like to do something to do with art, textiles or journalism or live in a Sofia Coppola film. Of course, if that doesn’t work out I intend to live the life of a starving artist.

i hope you enjoyed a little tour around my art world (:

blob.

i realise that this blog has become really dull & quiet of late, & i am sorry. it's just been pretty difficult for me to summon any enthusiasm or energy for posting here while there has been so much work for me to concentrate on at school. but lo! there is light at the end of the tunnel as i only have two proper exams left, yay.

on saturday, i went to town with a couple of friends to buy a present for a birthday party i was going to that night. we went around a few charity shops & woolworths-esque supermarkets to find a cheap game of twister to play at her party (and found a battered 1970s box in a salvation army shop), & found a hilariously bizarre squishy yellow rubber ball, the same kind that people used to have on string when i was in about year 5/6 so obviously we had to buy it!

we took it to the party that night, and hilarity ensued.

because it also lit up if you hit it pretty hard, i decided to play about with my camera to see what kind of effect i would get.

also, it looked awesomely weird if you squeezed it.

being cool with long exposure.

BLOB.

i realise these are pretty silly, but i think they're also pretty good.

tomorrow is my a level art show & school, so i might post some pictures later in the week of how that goes. (:

always where i need to be

hello! first of all, i'd like to say thanks a lot for all your feedback on my jewellery post. it really means a lot, & i can't wait to set up the shop now!

today was the third of my three consecutive days of exams and, bar 30 minutes of finishing off tomorrow morning, i have finished my art exam and two spanish exams. yay! it just feels really good to have them over & doen with, even though i'm not sure i did particularly well in my a2 oral.

on saturday, i'm going shopping for presents for a couple of friends whose birthdays are coming up soon, & then i'm going to the party of one of them! i decided to buy a new dress for the occasion, because i don't have many smart/casual ones (smasual, if you will).

i had a leftover gift card for new look (where i don't usually shop), so i bought this piece of floaty loveliness. i bought it off the website so i was a bit worried about the fabric quality (as i am a total snob), but it's actually really nice & the dots are much more visible in person.

i think it's something i can wear as a day dress too, with some "interesting" leggings, ie not black.

anyway, sorry for the state of posting lately, but at the weekend i should be back up to my usual posting ~glory~.

is this love

hello again! long time, now post. ish, it has only been a week.

i hope everyone is having a lovely springtime (or autumn-time, for those in the southern hemisphere), i am certainly trying to despite my thoroughly demanding revision schedule. i have been taking a break every now & then however to do a little bit of jewellery making!

i have been going a little bit mad on ebay & in certain craft shops recently for little things to make into jewellery so that i can start my own shop/business over the summer. i've made quite a few rings & earrings, and the miniature tea sets you see here are going to become necklaces very shortly, just as soon as i've found somewhere to buy chains wholesale.

i've made 12 of these rings (for a total cost of 35p each, score) and i'm going to sell all of them except for this one, which i have fallen in love with slightly.

what do you think about using photos like this as publicity/product images for my shop? i quite like the angle, & the fact that the jewellery is the main focus. obviously as i was taking them on self-timer they aren't that great, but i think something like this could look really good. if you have any thoughts, i'd love to hear them in the comments (:

i've also been trawling ebay for ages looking for doll's house tea sets to make jewellery from. mainly i just wanted to make some tea-cup-and-saucer rings (which i have), but i also thought some teapot necklaces would be pretty cute.

i do plan to add a pearl or a bow to the necklaces later, mainly because i think that will be a little bit more interesting.

saturday's outfit, headscarf inspired by my art prep. i mainly decided to post about this as i thought my outfit matched the colours of my jewellery pretty well, especially the ring.

tshirt - vv brown concert, skirt - vintage/altered, headscarf - vintage, jewellery - homemade.

i am unbelievably excited about the prospect of starting my own jewellery online shop in the near future! this is something i've been wanting to do for a very long time now, since i was about 15/16 i think, so i can't wait to actually start the process. i think as soon as my next week's worth of exams is over i will start by making a facebook group, & then move onto an etsy or an ebay shop, whichever will be easier.

the only thing slowing me down is that i can't decide on a name for my shop! i have a few thoughts, if you could tell me which ones you like (or even which ones you hate!) in the comments i would greatly appreciate it!

here are a few of my favourites;

lovely rita - based on the beatles songs, of course

granny takes a trip - the name of a psychedelic sixties clothes shop.

lucy/nancy/audrey takes a trip - basically just variations on the above, i thought about using old-timey names instead of "granny" (slightly inspired by lily allen's vintage clothes shop lucy in disguise)

strawberry fields - again, based on the beatles song.

moonage daydream

lady stardust - this one and the above are taken from david bowie songs.

*

it would be lovely, & oh so valuable to me (and possibly to you, as the quicker i get a name the quicker i can open the shop and the quicker you can buy the jewellery, if you would like to that is) if you could let me know your opinions on these names. even if you think they're all terrible, i'd still appreciate your thoughts.

thank you, love charlotte.

x