wicked, new job, and finishing college

hi guys! i have a lifestyle post for you today, but i'm not sure whether or not to keep doing these any more if i'm honest. i feel like my book posts are going really well and that these types of posts aren't popular at all and maybe my blog would be better if i focused on just one genre? but i also feel kind of guilty about not doing my theatre reviews like i used to, and i know that if i get to travel then i'll definitely want to blog about that, so i'm not sure what to do. opinions in comments would be greatly appreciated!

so at the start of may i had my final major project deadline! i was really good about planning my work and making sure i got stuff done so i wasn't too stressed by the deadline and i was really happy with everything i submitted. then sometime towards the end of may we got our results - and somehow i managed to get a distinction! that's the highest grade you can get on my course, and i only needed a pass to get into university, so i am over the moon about that! i want to go a lot more into detail about the work i did but college have kept my sketchbooks back to be examples for next years students so i'll have to wait a little while before showing you guys.

the same week that i got my results i also had an interview for a summer job which went really well and i managed to get the job! i don't really feel comfortable with telling you where this new job is because i spend so much time there and we only have around 3-6 employees in at any one time so it would be really easy to track me down if someone tried to find me and i just want to put my safety first. i will say that it's in retail for a big company. anyway, i started on the 1st of june and i'm absolutely loving it; it's the best job i've ever had! i'm actually quite sad that i'll be leaving at the end of september haha!

june has also been a great month for theatre! i saw an amateur production of 'seussical the musical' which was really good (although i did accidentally buy front row seats and we kept catching the cat in the hat's eye haha), and the 'wicked' tour came to the grand! i actually ended up seeing it twice - once with my family, and then about 5 days later i was able to grab myself a front-row dress circle seat. i saw 'wicked' in london's west end last year (which i wrote about here) but honestly, i thought it was so much better on tour! i'm not sure if that's because i forgot some details or because i was sat so much closer at the grand, but the story seemed a lot clearer and well-rounded. plus, as always, i found some new things to love this time round - nessarose's 'wicked witch of the east' was phenomenal and i realised just how heartbreaking the story is for glinda (she loses her best friend and the only man she's ever loved, and then has the courage to stand up and rule oz?! she's incredible!). i also adored nikki davis-jones' 'no good deed', which i had never really liked before. you guys know how much i love this show and you should definitely all go see it if you get the chance!

so that's it for now guys! the only thing that july holds for me is working hard and saving money haha! do you guys have any exciting plans? thanks for reading xx

interviews, offers, hard work

so i set myself a little goal to do a post every weekend but arghhhh i've been so busy! not busy these last few weeks, busy FOREVER. it never ends, it just goes on and on. getting there though! only a month or so of brutal work left and then i can spent the next six months napping and eating (and planning an exhibition, but let's not think about that now...).
so in the last month i've had interviews at bournemouth, huddersfield, and nottingham trent. i got two of those three offers (and two straight rejections, damn you edinburgh and bath spa!) and my place at huddersfield is confirmed! i'm SO EXCITED and am going to view my future accommodation on sunday.
college work is going fine, i'm gradually stumbling forward towards a final outcome. everything's looking pretty positive and i'm on track to get it all done, so i won't say much more because i don't want to jinx it. i'll show you some pictures once i get everything done and tell you aaaall about it, but for now it's a bit of a mess and i'm spending my time constantly covered in bits of tape. i spent practically all last week with my college friends, having fun and exploring leeds instead of doing work, but now the Pressure Is On so we've been hiding out at our desks and just ploughing through it. it's lonely but it'll be worth it (i hope!).
spring is very much on it's way in england which i'm so excited for. i've always been more of a winter girl but i'm finding myself really wanting to run on some grass with bare feet and i just cannot wait for the sun to come out. college days go so much quicker when we can see blue skies through the studio window too, i'm LOVING IT.
the rest of this week involves more tape and more hard work, but being productive feels great. i'm currently reading 'derby girl' (or 'whip it') by shauna cross which i'm loving, it very much lives up to the masterpiece that is drew barrymore's film version. now back to work! have a great week guys! x

art college update

it's been so long since i last updated on my course haha! really it's only been a few months but it feels like years, because this course just goes so quickly, it's crazy. 

so, last week was stage 2 assessment week! so stage 2 is officially over and i passed! WOO! we're now on stage 3 a.k.a. Final Major Project (daunting or what...). my theme for the fmp is 2 space policemen in the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy! it's a bit out there but i think i can work with it. 

stage 2 was both lovely and horrible. some weeks, such as a week of pure life drawing, were hell on earth; on the last day i had to run to town to get some free newspapers to collage with and i seriously considered curling up in a corner and sleeping for the rest of the day. it was completely ridiculous. but other projects, such as the colour project (the top image is one of my samples from that project) were really fun. we had a 'body extension' group project which i LOVED (our body part was the hips so our piece revolved around being 'joined at the hip', maybe i'll show the final product in another post), a styling photography project, the dreaded life drawing, 2 weeks of colour (this involved a lot of hardcore colour theory), and a 5-week independent project, which, for costume students, was based on a character from The Knight's Tale by Chaucer. 

stage 2 wasn't as 'fun' as stage 1 simply because all my lovely friends chose to specialise in magpi (moving image / advertising / graphics / photography / illustration) whereas i'm in tfp (textiles / fashion / design for performance), so i didn't get to hang out with them as much as possible. in tfp our studios are blocked off into individual desks so i'm essentially staring at a wall all day every day, which gets kind of lonely. it's good though because i get lots of work done!

stage 2 also involves applying to uni and putting together a portfolio. i've applied to bournemouth, nottingham trent, edinburgh, huddersfield, and bath spa, and i already have an interview at huddersfield! go me! i've sent my efolio off to edinburgh and i really hope i get an interview there, mostly just because i've never been to scotland and would love to explore.

in terms of the school, i do absolutely love leeds college of art, i've never been so happy in a school before, BUT it is worth knowing that costume students will not got a lot out of the foundation diploma. none of the tfp tutors specialise in costume and other than the independent project, costume students were always told to just do the fashion design brief, which i hated. communication really sucks too, there's been several occasions where myself in tfp and my friends in magpi have been completely clueless to important aspects of things and have been left in the dark until the last minute (the magpi trip to berlin was the first week of january but the tutors didn't tell them anything about it until the last day before we broke up for christmas). but these things don't make it a bad course - if i was anything other than a costume student then i recommend it 100%! it is, after all, the best school for the course.

this week i'm doing lots of physical research for my fmp and having lots of breaks - stress is starting to take over a little so i'm trying super hard to look after myself and making sure i have fun. i'm going to go play with some metal now, haha, have a lovely week folks! x

art college so far

finally learnt how to work shutter speed ahhhh!

lca floor tiles.

taking photo's in the museum all day.

experiments from my photography induction. (hi chris!)

this jekyll and hyde/american psycho thing i did for 'pattern and surface'.

hard workin'. 

giving paper cut-outs names and personalities is like our favourite activity. 

second week, drawing workshops, documenting chosen sections of the floor in A1 scale.

'50 photos' project crit week.

workin' hard, picnic in the park, workin' hard again.

organising the lines from my floor piece in size order, 4 items items in 4 corners coming together for 'pattern and surface', specialism lectures in hyde park picture house. 

16/9/2013 (tying my shoelaces with paper was a highlight).

so! i've been at art college for about a month and so far i am loving it! it was really strange at first because i didn't know anyone and i didn't think i'd be up to the standard creatively or whatever, but everyone has been so nice and making friends was really easy and i think once we all settled in and figured our way around the building it's just started to be amazing. they've been having us doing loads of weird things (i mean, drawing the floor? really?) and lots of it is kind of boring and tedious (90 minute lecture on the history of art education a while ago, yaaawn) but i'm actually really proud of all the work that's come out of these bizarre tasks.
it's very full on though, i should say that. i do 9am-4pm every weekday and then when i get home i mostly do coursework until i go to bed. i haven't had time for doing stuff like reading, watching tv, etc. up until a few weeks ago i was also doing 16-hour weekends at m&s, but my contract ended on that so at least now i get weekends to catch up on work and do things that i enjoy haha! (like applying for christmas jobs, wooo! not.)
my stage 1 assessment appointment was at 11.20 today and i passed! woooooo! as of monday i will officially be a textiles, fashion, and design for performance student!
i think that's all i need to say to catch you guys up. there's also a trip to london in november which i'm really excited for, ahhh! art school is so exciting haha! it's kind of crazy but i genuinely just love it. if you're debating whether or not to do a foundation diploma just do it! it's a lot of work but so far it's turning out to be one of the most fun years of my life! x