Strawberry Shortcake

I've been working hard at uni so I struggle to find the time to update my blog, but I must keep it up in order to remain relevant! Also, I see this blog as my little slice of cherry pie in the internet world, so it is my hideout and thought-collection jar, as well as my source of constant inspiration and personal expression. This week has been super intense for me, but if I'm honest, I am loving it. I love that the Masters degree is far more self-directed and client-orientated, and the focus is on the process as much as the final outcome. It feels much more real than 3rd year of the Bachelor's degree did. Plus, the Masters studio is so much better than the studios undergrads use! (The perks of post-grad life are noticeable :3).

Anyway, here's my week in images:

1. Yummny homemade lunch, featuring a salad base of fetta, spinach, cherry tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, lebanese cucumber and carrot with a Hungarian salami, cheese and dill toastie sandwich.
2. GRADUATION DAY!!!
3. T2 is my new heaven on earth - a lovely store entirely dedicated to the art of drinking tea, these are my kind of people.
4. Discovered Stella magazine by chance at my little local newsagent, decided I needed it and I don;t regret purchasing it, it is an amazing little publication filled with beautiful things.
5. My graduation presents, consisting of OWLS! I am sure you are all well aware of my owl-loving ways, they're so lovely and majestic.
6. This was the owl that came into my parents backyard recently, so beautiful and so rare as all my years of living at home and seeing the multitude of outback wildlife, I never once encountered an owl perched on my gate!

And these are some of the things which have been keeping me inspired this week.

Okay, I shall leave you all now, in order to read the latest Lula magazine and drink many cups of English Breakfast tea! ♡

Incipient

Hello! ♡

So it's official - I am finished with my degree! I managed to pass everything well and I am super happy with how everything turned out! Now it is just time to play the waiting game to see if I am accepted to do the masters degree and be prepared for the graduation ceremony next year! Very excited but also a little nervous. :) Three years have flown by so quickly and I feel I've learnt a lot about design and where my skills lie, but of course there is much life-long learning to be continued.

I have started working on those personal illustrations that I have sorely neglected during this year (now that I have my holiday time), but I will finish them soon, otherwise I'll feel unfulfilled as I always feel when I haven't finished something I've started. (I have too many notes all over my phone and computer of things to complete!)

This work is just a little amalgamation of all the things at the current time I find comforting and pretty, just a little illustration to pass the time.

This is titled Winter Harvest and relates to the season of Winter, the notion of cycles, seasonal vegetables, fruits and herbs and protectors of the forests and their respective wildlife. I have entered this into the Yen Young Female Art Awards, which you can check out here.

My illustration of Boudicca is quite close to its final stage, however I still have to work on perfecting certain elements, but I have left it at home as it is too hard to safely cart around watercolour paper on airplanes. This was the last photographed stage it was at.

Here are a few snapshots of things that have related to my life at this present moment. (From L-R, top to bottom):
1. Photo editing and in a current phase of loving white and roses. Plus, these sunglasses are so perfect for summer.
2. Finding nostalgic childhood books that are so wonderfully illustrated.
3. Setting up the Christmas tree, it looks so magical.
4. Starting the first in what I want to be a series of small portraits of women I find intriguing and inspiring, This initial sketch is of Virginia Woolf. It doesn't resemble her greatly; it is funny how the simple stroke of a pencil can dramatically alter the expressions within a drawing, something so tiny can have such a great impact on the resemblance of the subject.
5. My cockatiel Buzz, a strange parrot indeed - she only likes one person in my family and it isn't me!
6. One of my 21st birthday presents, a gold diamond ring from my grandmother. ♡

My holiday afternoons will consist of reading the newest Frankie and Lula magazines, and drinking plenty of tea.

I have been listening to a lot of soundtracks from some of my favourite films of late, this one has been permeating my mind for quote some time now. It is the Love Theme and Finale by Ennio Morricone from the 1997 version of Lolita. So beautiful and peaceful. ♡



That is all for now, until next time,