Winter Wonderland!

 Hopefully it'll be a white Christmas this year! I dont think ive ever seen it snow this early or this close to christmas before. As its christmas eve it thought i might put some festive photos up, i got really interested with the light and contrasting effects i could make using my camera taking pictures of the baubles and lights on my christmas tree, they look really delicate and beautiful.

 Also, earlier on in the month i went to see the exhibition that my GCSE artwork was showing at. two of my pieces were there, both winning commendations in the 'Directors Art Award', and shown at the Artful3 exhibition in the old town hall in Richmond. It was pretty cool to see my work with one of the little plaques next to it, describing the piece, artist etc.. but it wasn't really that big a deal.




my wedding cake sculpture, on the top tier there is a perfect couple, on the second tier the marriage has broken down and ive put shards of glass in and arount the pink flowers to show that something that looks perfect, isnt what it seems.



the plaque for my cake sculpture.



My tree house that i named 'the Cats House' i made it with twigs and felt which i made by hand. it was the final piece to my topic of 'Natural Forms'. 

After seeing the Exhibition, we went for a walk around Richmond and came across a little courtyard which had a Christmas market, it was really cool, with loads of Christmas lights and stalls. Then i realised that it was the place where the 'Matalan' Christmas adverts were filmed, with the tree and presents. it was so cool to see it in real life.



The Matalan tree!!!!

my sister in front of the tree i love the wintry theme of the christmassy tree and her eskimo coat.



i took the picture of my sister in an eskimo coat and i really liked the way the fur and her hair are so detailed, making it look really 3D and textured.
the other picture is a close up of the baubles on the tree, i love the way that you can see the reflection of the courtyard in the shiny baubles, as it is an ineresting way of seeing something through what looks like a fisheye effect. i also like the way the branches twist  out and get thinner and thinner which gives perspective to the photo because you can see the background and foreground quite clearly.

oops!

my art mock exam was earlier in December and in preperation for it, i had to make the heads for my 'final piece' puppets. so it had the clay, the tools and everything was going fine until they got to the oven. with this clay, you're supposed to cook it at a certain temperature, so i set it to that thinking it would be fine....forgetting that my oven is about 30 degrees hotter than a normal one. the heads were meant to cook for 45 minutes, instead, after only about 20, i went to check on them and well its safe to say they were a little bit burnt! oops. so after all this stress i had to remake them in time for the exam. However, these burnt faces have kind of given me an idea to make them into 'burnt puppets' and i'd quite like to experiment with them, making slightly ripped/burnt/distressed clothes and turn into a sort of theme for them. sometimes, the best ideas come from mistakes or accidents!

                                          the burnt heads after i rescued them from the oven.

                                         another trial at making my heads, which turned out much better.

The Shoe Galleries..

Last week, i went to see the shoe galleries in Selfridges, there were so many shoes!
i took some pitures of the really interesting ones, like cat shoes! i also really liked the mannequin legs with stripy tights, tutus and Hunter wellies. these were really interesting..maybe i could make some puppets with this sort of attire!
Puppet update: i have now given her some features.. she now has eyes, painted shoes and hair. shes starting to look more lifelike now, i'll continue to update with my progress as she continues to come alive!

                                          A giant shoe in the Selfridges Galleries.

                                                            The Hunter wellies.

                                           the cat/mouse shoes.. not sure which one they are....

                                                                        my puppet.

Puppet Workshop...

Yesterday i spent the day puppet making, and learnt some different techniques.
i learnt how to make some really detailed ones as well as the simplest puppets that you can make really easily using just your fingers. the finger puppets are very basic and literally take two minutes to make, but they're more for little kids to just mess around with.

one of the finger puppets.

We also made some proper puppets using "super sculpey" which is a clay-like skin colour "sculpturing compound".  Just the head, hands and feet are made of this.We didnt have time to finish them - they still lack any features and are unclothed!

my unfinished puppet!

one of my aunties 'gravy boat' puppets which she uses in some of her shows. i hope that when mine is finished it'll look something like this!

Im really looking forward to making more and experimenting with different techniques!

  having a go at dancing with isobels puppet he's lifesize and you tie elastic round you legs and waist so you can dance around!