One feeling explained

'My current life feeling' was going to be the title but now I realise that is too vague as I could actually write a book on that.

I was thinking about where 'home' is. (Where the heart is, I know.)

I don't believe I have had a home for a few years. I currently live in a flat and, to me, that is not a home as it is rented and it has an end period of time when I have to leave, making me unable to settle and rest.

I see myself and my belongings as hovering above the ground. This is just my mental image and feeling so it is a hard one to translate into words to make anyone else understand, but if you follow what I'm saying then, well done. I picture an image of myself and everything that I personally own floating just off the ground, perhaps a foot high. All of my 'things' are scattered around at the flat, my mum's and my dad's. If they were together in one place where I am too, and somewhere preferably permanent so there is no feeling of being unable to relax, then that would be home.

The floating feeling is so that I can hover and wait before the next movement. If I allow myself to relax I won't want to move, even if I know I have to.

Soon I would like to feel safe and in a home.

I hope this doesn't make too little sense. I am hoping to create a piece of artwork on it soon which may demonstrate the feelings in a clearer way.

Bye for now!
xx

It's been a while... Oops

It's been a while *blushes due to lack of motivation to write blog posts*.

Oh well! A lot has been going on with my job and I've moved into a flat and ramble, ramble, ramble - we'll save that for another time.

Today I thought I'd pop into Waterstones to spend the rest of my book voucher and I found a book that even the cover was inspiring me so I had to buy it.

The Art of Urban Sketching

I love sketchbooks. I love the lack of precision with them. That images seem hurried and caught in the moment but this just adds to the story the drawing is telling. I have done a lot of on-the-go sketchbook drawings when on art holidays that I went on with school, but I have never found it a comfortable thing. I love seeing what other people produce but have never been overly satisfied with the results I was getting from my own sketchbook. Although, I look back on my sketchbooks now and find them really interesting to flick through.

The amount of detail that someone can actually get into a drawing in a public, and sometimes uncomfortable, space is just amazing. It's just about having the confidence to sit/stand somewhere for, what could be, a long time.

There are so many different styles and techniques that I see when looking through the book that I'm itching to get started on some sketches. I want to experiment with different techniques and hopefully develop some confidence with working in public.

This last image shows drawings/paintings done on public transport, something accessed by so many people on a day-to-day basis but no one thinks to look at the people around them in such a way and in so much detail. The two styles just shown here are so different and I especially love the bottom sketch which appears to have such free-flowing, quick marks that still clearly depict the people sitting in the typically uncomfortable, upright position of a passenger on public transport.

Hopefully this blog post with be followed up with images of my own work in a sketchbook I start to take everywhere. (Although that could be a while! I need serious encouragement and motivation.)

Bye for now!

DIY Cheap Headboard

I'm just sat here warming myself up having been in the cold for about an hour and thought I'd right a blog post.

The other day I finished making a headboard for my bed. I'm sorry that in the photo above it isn't very clear, clearly it's camouflaged! I hope to add some kind of decoration to it to make it look a little more interesting as well but at the moment it is doing its functional job.

How did I do it? Well, I don't want to claim to any of the ideas behind it because it wasn't my idea at all. I followed THIS tutorial. There were many tutorials to choose from but this one seemed simplest to me. Partly because it meant I didn't have to buy a big sheet of foam to fit which could also be expensive. I used cardboard rather than wood for the backing and filled with old pillow stuffing which had over-used it's time inside the pillows. So I spent about £1 on this entire headboard as I did have to buy the material which is made from two curtains that I got in Red Cross for just about £1! Bargain.

You may be wondering why my headboard looks different to the one in the tutorial because when I got to the point in the photo above I felt it didn't look very neat or stable so I went and added another layer of fabric on top which smoothed the headboard out and brought it all together.

Now it's supporting my head when I'm in bed and is nice and comfortable. I just hope it lasts a while but even if it doesn't, I'm pretty happy with my £1 spent!

I hope you like this blog and let me know if you end up making a headboard too!

Bye for now!