It's times like these I wished I knew how to use something other than the "auto" setting on my camera.....
Sunday, 31 July 2011
A walk along the canal at Fountainbridge
After the Museum visit on Sunday I walked along the canal at Fountainbridge, I always walk along there when I can at this time of year to see all the ducklings and signets and this time to take photographs of the brewery before it is fully demolished and have a little daydream about what will take its place (please no more flats!)....
It's times like these I wished I knew how to use something other than the "auto" setting on my camera.....
It's times like these I wished I knew how to use something other than the "auto" setting on my camera.....
Snow Black and the reopening of the National Museum of Scotland (whats behind the mask?)
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth," Oscar Wilde.
The Cramps-What's behind the mask
I start most mornings stumbling around the kitchen making tea wearing a night shirt and an eye mask pushed up onto my head, those who have lived with me will be able to vouch for this, I just can't sleep without one, and with one, I can sleep ANYWHERE, ANYTIME! it all started years ago when I watched Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys and fell in love with her turquoise mask and crazy earplugs
I also love the scene where she is shopping and steals a mask (though i'm not condoning or encouraging theft in any way!)
These last few weeks I've been lucky enough to see 2 mask exhibitions, the first one was a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead where there was an exhibition by Maurizio Anzeri, he is best known for his hair sculptures but this exhibition was a collection of vintage photographs which he had collected at car boot sales and charity shops, they were all portraits or groups of people which he then embroidered over, effectively giving them masks. I really liked them even though some were really creepy, especially the ones of children.
‘I work with sewing, embroidery and drawing to explore the essence of signs in their physical manifestation. I take inspiration from my own personal experience and observation of how, in other cultures, bodies themselves are treated as living graphic symbols. I then use sewing and embroidery in a further attempt to re-signify, and mark the space with a man-made sign, a trace. I am interested in people’s stories and histories, and the relation between intimacy and the outer world. I have been working with hair for the past few years. I stitch and sew hair together until it becomes a sculpture. I see hair as a metaphorical medium to represent bodily boundaries, the embodiment of space.’ Maurizio Anzeri
This weekend I got a surprise visit from my mam and grandad Jack and so we went to the National Museum of Scotland
as the Victorian part of the building was re-opening...
I wore a striped t shirt, navy pencil skirt and converse..
I really wanted to see all the taxidermy but I'd have had to have elbowed a lot of small children out of the way to get good views and so I'll get to look around it when I visit next week. In a slightly quieter part of the building we found a room full of masks and some were really creepy. I especially liked the ones which were worn by young monks during skeleton dances which were to do with having several lives and being reborn with new possibilities...
To be honest, after that, my short attention span kicked in and I stopped reading and started photographing my favorites.....
If I ever get good enough at trapeze to perform , then there will be mask wearing involved! More photographs and a bit of an opinion on the National Museum's refurbishment after I visit again next week!
The Cramps-What's behind the mask
I start most mornings stumbling around the kitchen making tea wearing a night shirt and an eye mask pushed up onto my head, those who have lived with me will be able to vouch for this, I just can't sleep without one, and with one, I can sleep ANYWHERE, ANYTIME! it all started years ago when I watched Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys and fell in love with her turquoise mask and crazy earplugs
I also love the scene where she is shopping and steals a mask (though i'm not condoning or encouraging theft in any way!)
These last few weeks I've been lucky enough to see 2 mask exhibitions, the first one was a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead where there was an exhibition by Maurizio Anzeri, he is best known for his hair sculptures but this exhibition was a collection of vintage photographs which he had collected at car boot sales and charity shops, they were all portraits or groups of people which he then embroidered over, effectively giving them masks. I really liked them even though some were really creepy, especially the ones of children.
‘I work with sewing, embroidery and drawing to explore the essence of signs in their physical manifestation. I take inspiration from my own personal experience and observation of how, in other cultures, bodies themselves are treated as living graphic symbols. I then use sewing and embroidery in a further attempt to re-signify, and mark the space with a man-made sign, a trace. I am interested in people’s stories and histories, and the relation between intimacy and the outer world. I have been working with hair for the past few years. I stitch and sew hair together until it becomes a sculpture. I see hair as a metaphorical medium to represent bodily boundaries, the embodiment of space.’ Maurizio Anzeri
This weekend I got a surprise visit from my mam and grandad Jack and so we went to the National Museum of Scotland
as the Victorian part of the building was re-opening...
I wore a striped t shirt, navy pencil skirt and converse..
I really wanted to see all the taxidermy but I'd have had to have elbowed a lot of small children out of the way to get good views and so I'll get to look around it when I visit next week. In a slightly quieter part of the building we found a room full of masks and some were really creepy. I especially liked the ones which were worn by young monks during skeleton dances which were to do with having several lives and being reborn with new possibilities...
To be honest, after that, my short attention span kicked in and I stopped reading and started photographing my favorites.....
If I ever get good enough at trapeze to perform , then there will be mask wearing involved! More photographs and a bit of an opinion on the National Museum's refurbishment after I visit again next week!
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Snow Black's past life...
Four years have passed since I graduated from University with a degree in Interior Architecture, I haven't done any kind of work in that field for over a year now and now I have very much got distracted by drawing and trying to think of a new venture, there are times every now and then where I get a panic on and think that I should really try and enter a design competition or something..then there are times that I sell all my old architecture books on amazon to make up some cash...
I have uploaded some of my old work to flickr incase all my back ups fail me and there is no proof that i ever did design work....
I have uploaded some of my old work to flickr incase all my back ups fail me and there is no proof that i ever did design work....
Monday, 25 July 2011
My nanna Edith and the single bed's worth of shoes
Last Saturday would have been my Nanna Edith's 90th birthday and it made me think of lots of childhood memories with her. I never saw my nanna without her red hair curled and her lipstick done, she loved clothes and shoes and when we came home from the shops she would go upstairs straight away to try on what she'd bought so we could see it, the patch of carpet infront of her mirror always was worn out where she stood. I used to go into the spare room at my nanna and grandad's house when i was little and lie down on the carpet and look at the rows of shoes she kept under the single bed there, i could lie there for ages counting them and i hoped that when I grew up, i would fill the underneath of a single bed with my shoe collection. Now, age 27, I feel i have achieved what i set out to do, i never really had any big aims in life when i was little apart from the shoe dream so i feel it is one big thing ticked off my very small list.....
Laura Susan Simmons: Collection #1 Now available! Finally! Win Win Win...
Take a look at my lovely friend Laura's super blog and buy her collection when it comes out soon.....
Laura Susan Simmons: Collection #1 Now available! Finally! Win Win Win...: "Hello! Here's a sneaky peek at some of the pages of Collection #1, in no particular order (so it won't really make too much sense, I don'..."
Laura Susan Simmons: Collection #1 Now available! Finally! Win Win Win...: "Hello! Here's a sneaky peek at some of the pages of Collection #1, in no particular order (so it won't really make too much sense, I don'..."
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Snow Black and the getting ready game (Being a grown up is rubbish)
Last night I went out with my lovely Edinburgh girl friends, I haven't been on a proper night out in ages , I always used to love getting ready for a night out, sometimes it was better than the night itself, but whereas in the past I could spend hours between the bathroom and bedroom I now seem to have to manage it in about an hour, being an adult is rubbish sometimes, this is one of these times....I decided to think back to all the nights of getting ready gone by...
Getting ready for a night out over the years....
...school disco nights out aged 13...
go to friend's house after school for tea before getting ready//douse yourself in loulou blue perfume//apply entire boots 17 make up counter to your face//smother yourself in body glitter//watch the simpsons//listen to pulp//put on your best topshop outfit//paint each others nails//get ready for a night of dancing to macarena and drinking cola.
...sixth form nights out aged 16/17...
get together with the girls and share a bottle of peach schnapps and lemonade//down a few interesting shot concoctions//all sing badly to gloria gaynor or dolly parton//discuss boys//wear your highest heels and try to make yourself look old enough to drink//take out the £20 you earned at your saturday job and prepare to spend it all//hire a minibus to pick up everyone you know and make the poor drivers job hell for the next 20 minutes//head to a pre club bar crawl and drink as much aftershock as possible//look forward to a night that ends either.... at the Empire college party //sat in the pizza takeaway sharing a garlic bread with lots of other drunk people//on a boat with a revolving dancefloor(grim times)//calling your dad from a phonebox at 3am after ending the night in Redcar and realising you have no idea how to get back (sorry dad)....
...university freshers night out aged 19...
realise you don't have a full length mirror and try to balance yourself on your bed to asses your outfit//realise now you're a student you can get away with wearing anything you like//adopt a going out uniform of red t shirt, black skirt, fishnet tights and converse//discover that people in edinburgh wear coats to go out in and get stared at going out in winter in what might as well be underwear//wear only eyeliner to give yourself more drinking time//get friends to dye your hair black//go to the shop and buy a bottle of the cheapest vodka possible and some rola cola//listen to some elastica or le tigre for a bit of solo bedroom dancing//look forward to spending a night anywhere that only charges £1 for a vodka.....end the night sat with a friend sharing a loaf of white bread and dipping it into a jar of mayonnaise//wonder how you discovered that this tasted so good//wonder why you've gained 10 pounds since you became a fresher//ask friends for help getting out of your overly complicated lace up top//vow never to touch the cheap vodka again.......
...nights out now aged 27...
..run down to debenhams for an emergengy eyebrow threading after work before you start to resemble Frida Kahlo..
..realise you don't live with your mam and dad or have the excuse of being a student and actually have to do some housework so your friends have somewhere to sit when they arrive//this gives the excuse of being able to wear favourite vintage 101 dalmations apron...
Have no time to find what music you really want to listen to so find the first good band that starts with an "A" in your collection (ART BRUT) and discover it is quite good to get ready to...
Wonder how you will get ready in one hour when this used to take hours in the past//have a shower then smother yourself in body lotion and a spritz of matching perfume to make you feel like you're body isn't so tired from work//give yourself 15 minutes to do your make up and make yourself look like you didn't get up at 6am//have no idea what you're wearing and have to use your hair straighteners wearing only your underwear and hope you don't have an unfortunate burning accident//have a nice cup of tea
Try to find out the dress you had in mind from your overfilled wardrobe...
Try dress on with 10 minutes before everyone arrives and realise its not looking right...
continue to wear unsuitable dress whilst getting distracted playing with your camera settings even though you have no time//sense the burning smell coming from the camera and undress again..
...with not much time to go dig out your failsafe black very clingy dress and thank god you've been doing ab crunches religiously for the past fortnight and can get away with it//wonder whether 8 years after your obsession with fishnets ended, you can pull the look off again...
decide against the fishnet look after recalling the amount of times you got attached to things during your obsession with them and had to sit the next day repairing all the holes...go for failsafe seamed tights instead...
do a bit of last minute backcombing and hairspraying before everyone arrives//look forward to a night of food, chat, and finally, a much needed cocktail.....or three..
Getting ready for a night out over the years....
...school disco nights out aged 13...
go to friend's house after school for tea before getting ready//douse yourself in loulou blue perfume//apply entire boots 17 make up counter to your face//smother yourself in body glitter//watch the simpsons//listen to pulp//put on your best topshop outfit//paint each others nails//get ready for a night of dancing to macarena and drinking cola.
...sixth form nights out aged 16/17...
get together with the girls and share a bottle of peach schnapps and lemonade//down a few interesting shot concoctions//all sing badly to gloria gaynor or dolly parton//discuss boys//wear your highest heels and try to make yourself look old enough to drink//take out the £20 you earned at your saturday job and prepare to spend it all//hire a minibus to pick up everyone you know and make the poor drivers job hell for the next 20 minutes//head to a pre club bar crawl and drink as much aftershock as possible//look forward to a night that ends either.... at the Empire college party //sat in the pizza takeaway sharing a garlic bread with lots of other drunk people//on a boat with a revolving dancefloor(grim times)//calling your dad from a phonebox at 3am after ending the night in Redcar and realising you have no idea how to get back (sorry dad)....
...university freshers night out aged 19...
realise you don't have a full length mirror and try to balance yourself on your bed to asses your outfit//realise now you're a student you can get away with wearing anything you like//adopt a going out uniform of red t shirt, black skirt, fishnet tights and converse//discover that people in edinburgh wear coats to go out in and get stared at going out in winter in what might as well be underwear//wear only eyeliner to give yourself more drinking time//get friends to dye your hair black//go to the shop and buy a bottle of the cheapest vodka possible and some rola cola//listen to some elastica or le tigre for a bit of solo bedroom dancing//look forward to spending a night anywhere that only charges £1 for a vodka.....end the night sat with a friend sharing a loaf of white bread and dipping it into a jar of mayonnaise//wonder how you discovered that this tasted so good//wonder why you've gained 10 pounds since you became a fresher//ask friends for help getting out of your overly complicated lace up top//vow never to touch the cheap vodka again.......
...nights out now aged 27...
..run down to debenhams for an emergengy eyebrow threading after work before you start to resemble Frida Kahlo..
..realise you don't live with your mam and dad or have the excuse of being a student and actually have to do some housework so your friends have somewhere to sit when they arrive//this gives the excuse of being able to wear favourite vintage 101 dalmations apron...
Have no time to find what music you really want to listen to so find the first good band that starts with an "A" in your collection (ART BRUT) and discover it is quite good to get ready to...
Wonder how you will get ready in one hour when this used to take hours in the past//have a shower then smother yourself in body lotion and a spritz of matching perfume to make you feel like you're body isn't so tired from work//give yourself 15 minutes to do your make up and make yourself look like you didn't get up at 6am//have no idea what you're wearing and have to use your hair straighteners wearing only your underwear and hope you don't have an unfortunate burning accident//have a nice cup of tea
Try to find out the dress you had in mind from your overfilled wardrobe...
Try dress on with 10 minutes before everyone arrives and realise its not looking right...
continue to wear unsuitable dress whilst getting distracted playing with your camera settings even though you have no time//sense the burning smell coming from the camera and undress again..
...with not much time to go dig out your failsafe black very clingy dress and thank god you've been doing ab crunches religiously for the past fortnight and can get away with it//wonder whether 8 years after your obsession with fishnets ended, you can pull the look off again...
decide against the fishnet look after recalling the amount of times you got attached to things during your obsession with them and had to sit the next day repairing all the holes...go for failsafe seamed tights instead...
do a bit of last minute backcombing and hairspraying before everyone arrives//look forward to a night of food, chat, and finally, a much needed cocktail.....or three..
Top 5...
Things in my flat that make me smile........
...my possibly 1960s totally non pc money boxes, rescued from a charity shop
...flamingo coffee mugs
...casper the friendly stag
...french banania poster
but most of all,Lucky, who always finds new places to sleep (currently cuddled up to my yoga mat)
...my possibly 1960s totally non pc money boxes, rescued from a charity shop
...flamingo coffee mugs
...casper the friendly stag
...french banania poster
but most of all,Lucky, who always finds new places to sleep (currently cuddled up to my yoga mat)
Thursday, 21 July 2011
New project sneak peek......
Snow Black is working on a new series of drawings...watch this space.........
Snow Black and the Great North run feral cat plan
In two month's time I expect my body to be crippled and to be doing not much more than lying in a bath for a week, on 18 September I will be taking part in the Great North Run. I signed up on impulse just before New Year's Day last year, because I hate New Years and needed to do something to feel excited about, I knew that even though I probably wasn't as fit as I'd have liked to have been to enter. if I told everyone I was doing it, I'd be too stubborn to back down.
The main advantage, I thought, was that I would get a super amazing body from all the training and I'd look so good that I could run it in one of those crop tops and a tiny pair of shorts like what proper runners wear...that's not really happened, I get spells where I train a lot, then times when I do something stupid like sprain my foot or fall off a trapeze and it means I have to take a break from it.
The thing I am quite worried about is being so slow that even people in giant costumes will take over me, I am also afraid of those people who wear costumes where you cant see their eyes, so It might make me feel like I am running through a nightmare. This is when i came up with the feral cat plan, I am running for a charity called farplace animal rescue who are a no kill animal sanctuary. They asked if i wanted to wear pink rabbit's ears during the run, which sounded like a bad idea to me, its a televised event and upon the tiniest chance that the cameras will show me, it will be bad enough that i'll be filmed wearing lycra, nevermind rabbit ears. Also, its a bit of a shame but I think rabbit ears now are just associated with playboy bunnies or sexy bunny Halloween outfits when girls no longer dress up as ghosts or blood covered zombies but think of an animal and try to make it look sexy, its weird and its wrong, cats and bunnies are not sexy.
If I did have to run in an outfit, it would be a feral cat, because I think they'd have a bit more character and the charity looks after a lot of them, and it would mean I could hide under my huge furry costume so no one would know it was actually me if i was really slow, and I definitely wouldnt have to try and look sexy....just......feral?!
Friday, 15 July 2011
Snow Black and the Eels concert
Last Monday I went to Newcastle to see the Eels at the o2 academy. The Eels are one of my favorite bands and I listen to their music a lot. There is something about the front-man Mark Oliver Everett that makes you not able to take your eyes off him for the entire show, I am a little bit in love with him, especially now he has his amazing beard, you just don't see enough beards these days...
The crowd were a bit of a letdown though, I don't know what was wrong with them, they only seemed to get excited when they played "novocaine for the soul" and when they played one of my favorites (fresh blood) and all I wanted to do was smile and dance about, no one moved-even though it was AMAZING live and the red lighting was ACE. I like how you can listen to albums over and over and bypass some songs then hear one live and it ends up one of your favourites, this happened with "this is where it gets good"
I wore my lace body with a stripey t shirt over the top, black shorts, and my super massive high wooden heeled boots that I wore incase I got stuck behind a tall person (I ended up stood behind a boy of about 11 years old and had a perfect view but sore as hell feet.) When the gig was over I could barely walk so I stumbled into a nearby fish and chip shop and got what has to be the best take away you can get in the north east-chips, mushy peas and scraps (or batter as the geordies call it) So even if the geordie crowd let me down, the food there never will...
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Snow Black and the big clearout
This weekend was time to clearout my wardrobe....
bye bye lovely dresses and tops with crazy patterns.....
I wore a t shirt which I felt summed up this last week the best......
And now I have cleared so much out, its time to put on my drawing shoes and drink a lot of tea and vow never to own so many clothes again (unless i convert my en suite into a wardrobe)........
bye bye lovely dresses and tops with crazy patterns.....
I wore a t shirt which I felt summed up this last week the best......
And now I have cleared so much out, its time to put on my drawing shoes and drink a lot of tea and vow never to own so many clothes again (unless i convert my en suite into a wardrobe)........
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