Winter!

Although I am loving all the snow...well, I love waking up to see the woods over the road covered in snow, the trees glistening in the sunlight, or more snow falling, I'm not exactly loving going outside in the cold!

This time of year just makes me want to snuggle up in cosy jumpers...however, I have fallen in love for the total opposite of as warm snuggley jumper... Its this, a fab lace blouse, in midnight blue, its gorgeous although totally impractical! Its even fairly cheap...but being this late in the year, student loans don't stretch very far when it comes to impractical things :(




Perhaps instead I could just switch the funds to this snuggley looking hoodie instead, I mean it is cold out there and they say it will get colder... :)



Maybe I will just check and see what the account says tomorrow...after I remember to pay the gas bill! At least the jumper would keep me warm if they cut me off haha!

Long time, Lots of work!

Well, what can I say, its been a while!
I think that has got something to with uni laying on a second project on top of the first one, not that I mind working on two things at once, but the prospect of completing 20 paintings in about 5 weeks, on its own seems a fair deal, but if you add in the research file, compiling relevant artists and inspirations, a reflective journal discussing ideas, debates and theories surrounding your work and attending lectures, seminars and anything else they throw at you! But, in the end I made it! Well, almost, due to personal circumstances I only had 3 weeks in which I could do the painting...so, I only managed to complete 17 out of the 20, but did all the research and the reflective journal, oh and the contextual studies tasks and the 1000 word essay!!

Now it is time for a little relaxation...or should I say its meant to be time for relaxation, I got home after hand in and didn't know what to do with myself, so I ended up cleaning my little studio!

Just for you I am going to include a few pics of the paintings I am pleased with :)

This piece was the painting in which we had to paint on a non fine art surface, I chose a small metal tin to paint on and this was the result.



This painting was an experiment using ink and nail varnish remover. The nail varnish remover seems to have merged and dispersed the coloured inks but left the black ink as solid lines.



This piece was the painting which was required to have a minimum of one hole in it. For me, I can attach a number of interpretations to this painting, but I will leave it up to you to decide what you think it is or means...



Now this painting I was really pleased with, it was one of the last paintings I did and was a totally random idea. The guideline was that we had to make a frame the integral part of the painting, so, here is my integral frame...



I wont bore you with anymore paintings! Would be great if you could let me know what you think to them though :) Thanks!

"The Unfamiliar"!

Long time no work!
Well, uni has finally started and last week was the first full week in uni :)
It all began with a drawing workshop, in which we were given the task to draw the unfamiliar, now this could be taken in its broadest sense and even allowed you to just focus on process and materials opposed to producing representational drawings, which I was pleased about as me and accurate drawing doesnt mix!

At first I didnt know what to draw at all, I usually like to have something in front of me if I am drawing it, so I was a bit stuck for something to do, whilst everyone else seemed to be settling into the work! Lucky me has a studio space next to a window, I looked out and there is a tree just outside my window, so that then became the focus of my work.

Here are a few examples of the work I created...enjoy :)

This first piece is one of my favourites, I had an idea of using post it notes and making them the shape of a tree but it went all wrong and this is what that idea led to...




This piece is simply gentle strokes of red watercolour paint...




This piece I decided to use black marker pen and instead of flowing lines, replaced them with straight lines to see what effect it would have..




On the basis of experimental drawing, I decided to further explore different ways of drawing, for this piece I used soft pastel on black paper, but I closed my eyes whilst drawing, I did this 3 times creating a series of "shut eye" drawings and also experimented with colour...

Simply Creative

As I was trawling through the internet looking for various arty things to spark some sort of inspiration so I could try something different, I came across this website.
It is a brief article about a Japanese girl who paints using her fingers, not odd I know but I guess its something so simple my brain had dismissed the idea as a possibility! So I thought I would share her work with all of you, Im still pondering over whether I like it or not, I think I do, there is an odd eerie freedom about them. Anyway, have a look for yourself...




The rest of her work can be found on the following website:

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/delightfully-innocent-artist-ayako-rokkaku-makes-colorful-works-with-her-ha

There is a video, but all it does is show her painting, unfortunately you dont actually get to see what it is she is painting but it does show her in action.

More arty things :)

I have been at it again, in amongst doing my project work I wanted to jazz up my newly converted studio, they I spied my glass paints and had a genius idea, I would decorate my window :) As im not the best at free design i used a template of a pattern i liked which i taped to the other side of the glass so i could follow it, my work is far from perfect but painting on upright glass is very tricky :/
So, here is part 1 of my new window design, there will be more to follow soon...

My Space

A few arty things at last! These are a few of my first creations for the summer project set by NUCA. The project was titled "My Space" and we can express our surroundings,whether real or virtual, city, town or room, however we please, and the following are what I created.

I basically took photos of various rooms in my house and transformed them into single image collages and behind them retained the original image to act as a transparent frame around the collages. The photomontages being inspired by the amazing work of David Hockney, more about him later...

Here are my own Hockney inspired creations, enjoy!

My bedroom.


My living room.


My study.





After these I had a little fun playing around with a couple of the photos that I took on my walk around Whitlingham Country Park and this is what I came up with...

Photography

I enjoy painting, more in an abstract way than purely representational, and I rarely ever draw, but I also enjoy going out with my camera and taking usually just random pictures of anything I like. At the moment I am focusing on the environment around me as that is what my summer project is for uni, so I have been taking photos for my work and for me to draw from before I go and brave the elements and draw in situe. So, here are a few of my snapshots....




Just to add that these photos were taken down at Whitlingham Country Park which is just outside Norwich near a place called Trowse..



At Whitlingham Country Park, there is a large lake which is used for many different activities and there are loads of ducks, swans, greebs, and many other birds to see and feed and be chased by...! There is also the wooded area which you can walk through which is nice on a sunny day, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere its so peaceful.



The above picture, on the right hand side, all that green area was the bank which rose straight up at the side of me as I was walking down one of the woodland tracks, you can see the trees at the top of the image, they were at the top of the bank. I felt like I was lost in a rainforest (mainly because it was wet and muggy!)
Below is the main road through Whitlingham, well, its supposed to be a road but has some of the biggest potholes Ive ever seen!

My Garden - Update

I know its been a while but I checked my pepper plant after a few days of leaving it after not needing to water it, thanks to the downpours we have had just lately and this is what I found....




My very first pepper growing on the pepper plant! Cant wait to see how many more it will grow :)

My Garden!

If I had known how to go about this whole blog thing beforehand I would have been able to put on more photos of my own little container garden that I created, but I didnt, so you will all just have to settle for these few pics and wait paitently like me to see what the outcome is!

One night I suddenly had the serious need to grow stuff,so I planned it all out and researched what I could grow in containers as I dont actually have a garden, I have a solid balcony. Anyway, I found a few things that I was still able to plant as seeds and what I could grow in pots. From this I went round a few garden centres looking for the best deal on compost and seeds. Just a tip, the best containers I found had to be the plastic laundry buckets at Tesco's! They are deep enough to grow things like baby carrots and spring onions. So I set about filling my tubs with compost and then planting the seeds, getting up every morning to water them and keeping watch for any seedlings poking through. After something like a month of this, this is the sight I am now met by in the morning.....



This tall plant in the middle is a green pepper plant, and around it at the bottom I am growing baby carrots and spring onions. I really cant wait untill I am able to dig them up and see what they taste like :)




In this lovely pot, I am growing Spinach and Tom Thumb lettuce :) It is so simple to grow things, I really urge everyone to give it a go, I think it cost me something like £20 max to get all the stuff I needed to get setup. There are instructions on the back of the seed packs and it is so simple to do, you just have to remember to water them! It probably sounds silly but its really rewarding waking up in the morning and seeing how much everything has grown, it gives me a real sense of achievement. Go on people, get growing your own!

Inspiration - Lady Gaga

Here is I think one of the most influential people in the public eye at present. She not only sets her own trend and stands for what she believes in, she also believes in being an individual and professional with it.
Also, I love her clothing range, it suits her and it is so fabulously structural and arty in a eclectic way. For some of us who are old enough it is clear where some of her inspiration comes from, ie the lightening flash on her face is clearly influence by the great David Bowie. Lady Gaga is a very intelligent and creative person and I feel more people should look upto her as she exudes confidence and more people should be confident about being themselves...including me!





Lady Gaga's outfits have been the cause of many a debate, is she crazy or a genius?
Personally I think there is a fine line between the two and honestly, I think she is a genius. Her outfits do exactly what she wants them to do and allows her to project who she is. They verge on being sculptural pieces of modern art which you would expect to see in a gallery, which I think is fab, more of us should be individualistic and not be frightened to do so :) Also, alot of people complained about Lady Gaga's style, but I think it necessary to point out to these people that alot of what she wears can be found in one form or another on the Runway at Fashion week every year!

The weekends events :)

This past weekend was the weekend for Norwich's carnivals and street processions!
These photos are what I captured of the famous Fridi Gras, which was a street procession mainly put on by local children accompanied by a few well dressed adults and pre-teens.

Here is what I captured...enjoy!

My creations!

Today has been a creative day!
With my younger sister, we managed to create a loaf of bread, but not just any old loaf of bread, its a gluten and wheat and half dairy free loaf of bread!
All you need is a bag of gluten and wheat free flour, we used rice milk, two eggs, sugar, salt, vinegar and olive oil (the recipe is on the back of the pack of flour) prove for an hour, cook for 40 mins and this is what you get...

Stage 1. The dough...



Stage 2. Proving...



Stage 3. Its cooked!...



Stage 4. The first slice.... Soo tasty!

Inspiration - Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell has to be one of my favourite artists, mainly because he is a hoarder like me! He spent years collecting all sorts of different items which he could then use in his work. Cornell is famous for his boxes in which he places varying items from his collections to create a scene within the box. The above image is one of my favourite pieces of his, mainly because it is so simple yet intriguing.

I actually made my own Cornell inspired box, in which I captured a Cornish folklore story within the box using items I had and covered the outside of the box with folklore stories. I will upload pictures of it as soon as I find them on my laptop...!

Here are a few more examples of Cornell's work...

I love this box as your first view interpretation changes once you look closer at everything that is in the box!





This image is of one of the few examples of collage that Cornell produce, but notice how it still involes using lots of different things and then juxtaposing them together. Again this is one of my favourite images, I love the use of colour and the positioning of each seperate piece.

Hey there!

My name is Lexie May McKenzie and I am a Fine Art student at NUCA (Norwich University College of the Arts). I have just completed Year 0 and Im on my summer break and wanted to carry on being creative.

I am totally new to blogs so please bare with me while I get the hang of it. Basically what I want to do is share my art work with all of you and also include info on who inspires me, who doesn't inspire me and general creative things of interest!

So keep your eyes peeled I will be adding photos of my creations soon :)

Thanks for checking out my blog,

Catch you laters :) xx