Tag: art (page 11 of 18)

March 29, 2014 / 0 Comments

Radiohead, Film Editing & The Weekend

I am a Radiohead fan. I have an old concert t-shirt of theirs I stole from Mr. Michie many many moons ago, it is perfectly soft. He is an even bigger Radiohead fan and so he smiled sweetly and closed his eyes when I played this for him this chilly Saturday morning, found via The Fox is Black.

I have a film to finish editing this weekend that will go on display along with 14 other films in St. John Smith’s Square Music Hall this week. It is an abstract film that will accompany the symphony. It has been an interesting process for me as I have never made a piece of abstract film before. I will post the film and share more on that soon.

Oh, the weekend! Those two words: THE WEEKEND, hark so gloriously to my ears. This week has been insanely busy, with more than a few late nights. It is funny to think that the place you call home, the place you spend time creating as an oasis is sometimes the place you spend your least amount of time in. I have spent more time outside of my house than in it this week. Hmm, I think this work/life balance thing needs some reconsideration.

We plan to do a lot of walking this weekend, a little coffee drinking, a bit of shopping as I am working on putting together some surprise packages and a lot of delicious eating and being in each other’s company. Being with Mr. Michie makes me happy.

February 11, 2014 / 1 Comment

Painting Film

Today I got to help with a group of students who are creating an abstract film that will be shown in London alongside the school orchestra’s performance of an Elgar piece.

The film will be projected on to a screen in the back of the church and will appear as a moving abstract piece of stained glass.

First things first, the students were painting strips of film that will be digitized so they can more easily manipulate them to process and edit their final films.

As this is a medium I have not worked in before, I was very eager to give it a try myself. This is the closest I will ever come to being the cel painter I always dreamed of being at Disney. The strip I was working on was almost 10 feet in length, yet this will only equivalate to about 10 seconds of actual film time. I hung up my strip to finish drying when I was done alongside everyone else’s, now on to the next phase…

February 8, 2014 / 0 Comments

Late Shift

Even the floor is beautiful!

Mr. Michie was coming in to London to meet me for a date last night after a very long week of work. While I was awaiting his arrival, I did one of my favorite things: the Late Shift at the National Portrait Gallery. They had a drawing class, a choir singing Bach, and many other happenings hidden in different gallery spaces.

It is always a mini adventure. I normally put my headphones on and go visit a few of my favorite pieces, although without fail I always discover something new, a painting or bust I hadn’t paid attention to before. I came across a mini Vivien Leigh exhibition in the downstairs gallery. What a stunning woman! One photograph that caught my eye was this one:

NPG P742; Vivien Leigh by Madame Yevonde

by Madame Yevonde, colour dye transfer print, 1936

This image doesn’t even begin to do this print justice. It is a color dye transfer print, which was a process used by Technicolor. The red was so very vibrant, but not garish, it was almost surreal.

The building is just buzzing with energy it is such a great place to be and an interesting way to spend your Friday night.

February 4, 2014 / 0 Comments

Walking Behind Liberty

I walked to school yesterday morning with a little bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds. I had a moment of quiet as I wandered down a side street. I was quiet. It was Monday after all. As I rounded the corner there were children heading to school. There are a number of schools in the area.

There was an attractive looking woman in her early 20s in front of me, marching a little girl in her school coat and hat off at a clipped pace. She had on a cropped black leather jacket, leggings and black Dr. Martens boots.

Her leggings had a pattern on them that I didn’t quite take in at first, but upon further glances I realized that the pattern was actually a painting by E. Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People. The head of Liberty and her arm raised high with the French flag waving, wrapped its way around this girl’s upper thigh and went right across her a**. The flag actually rippled as she walked!

Now, I am sure when Delacroix worked countless hours in the creation of this painting, he never in his wildest dreams imagined it becoming a piece of clothing and especially clothing that would wrap around one’s derriere! Now, I am not prudish, but seeing Liberty tightly stretched against her buttocks that early in the morning was more than I needed to see.

I think Delacroix might be rolling in his grave!

January 8, 2014 / 0 Comments

The Immensity of the Universe

The universe is indeed immense, yet at the same time it is as small as a drop of morning dew. We are separated, yet we are all connected, like the evening stars, whether they are still burning bright or have left us in a blaze of sparks.

The nighttime sky forever dimmed where they once shone. No longer burning bright, but never forgotten. The little pocket where they once existed will never be the same again, but imagine how sad it would be if the star was never there to begin with, to never have illuminated the sky with all its glory? I would rather know it once shone so bright, than never glowed at all.

{image found via The Tiny Aviary}

December 15, 2013 / 0 Comments

We Shall Find Peace

Happy Sunday!

{Image by Mary Engelbreit}

October 24, 2013 / 0 Comments

A Mini Project

Well, its that time of year again. It is time for me to start working on my Christmas card. Which sounds just plum crazy when you say it out loud, but once I decide on a design and then shoot the photographs or make the piece, edit it and get it sent off to the printers, it is a process that needs to be started sooner rather than later.

I gave Goose Girl and Foxy a break this year and decided to go a completely different route. One of my favorite artistic mediums to work within is collaging. I was inspired by the lovely Phoebe Wahl and a set of Christmas cards she made (see below). Now, when I collage, I don’t normally make all of my pieces myself, I am inspired by other things and I use those to create the elements of each piece.

With my love of vintage patterns I set to work, finding just the right pieces to put the puzzle together. Finding bits and bobs here and there, in vintage wrapping paper and post cards, I slowly formed a collection. Below are the the first few bits I created. I played around with the potential design, but I have now settled on one and my Christmas Card is really starting to take shape.

My Christmas Card for 2011
My New Year’s Card for 2011

October 18, 2013 / 1 Comment

Jumping for JOY

I’m jumping for JOY! After a very, very hectic week, the weekend is finally here and with it my Fall Break! I have BIG plans and a lot of projects that I want to start, work on and finish over this time.

Woo-Hoo, to the weekend we gooooo…

{Image: Sato Kanae, Pinned: HERE}

October 14, 2013 / 1 Comment

Munchkins and Other Things

Mr. Michie bought me my first munchkin of the season this weekend. It looks so cheery tucked in around my Halloween and Fall decor.

It was a very wet weekend, so we stayed in and bundled up, drank copious amounts of tea and had all our little candles flickering away. I caught up on our mountain of laundry and worked on an art project for school. So my afternoon was spent listening to the Capital Cities album and cutting and pasting and sketching and doodling. And now, I can’t get this song out of my head:

Mr. Michie took me out to dinner on Saturday night, it was a great date! We braved the rain on Sunday to run to the grocery store, my green polka dot wellies kept my feet nice and dry! All in all, it was relaxing and everything a quiet weekend pottering around should be!

October 10, 2013 / 0 Comments

A Friday Date

Last Friday, Mr. Michie came into London to meet me after work. I had planned a mini date. The great thing about living in London is all of the magic that is on your doorstop. For one, the plethora of museums. I have my favorites, I will admit!

My feet decided to take me to the National Portrait Gallery on Friday. It was a Late Shift evening so there was a lot going on, the bar was open, there were lectures, a harp player upstairs and a very eclectic crowd. There is something special about being in a museum in the evening, it comes alive in a different way.

I wanted to see the Jonathan Yeo portraits and once I saw them, I knew that Mr. Michie would like them as well.

I loved the unfinished pieces. I loved that you could clearly see where he had graphed out his canvases. Some of the faces were almost unreal looking, there was a photographic quality to them.

After a snoop around we picked up some cheeseburgers at Five Guys. We sat in one of our favorite spots, ate too many french fries and drank too much vanilla coke, and talked and talked. It was a lovely date!