"I am a Strident Feminist!" She is you know.

This doodle means quite a very much lot to me, so I do hope you like it. It was quite a while ago now that I drew her, but I am still pretty happy when I look at it (which is quite rare!) I know it is far from perfect but I suppose thats why I like her. I had just finished reading "How to be a woman" by Caitlin Moran. Her 2nd book (1st published in her adult life!) about her life growing up and her views on modern feminism. It has now taken off in America I believe and she is now a proper feminist super star. With really amazing hair, Huzzah!

So after I had read it, at lest 3 times (quite an achievement for a dyslexic me thinks) and listened to the audiobook many more times, I picked out a phrase that really affected me, and did a little doodle. She talks about 'reclaiming' the word Feminist. Dusting off all the dull stereotypical assumptions and associations and using it as a power for GREAT! And putting 'Strident' in front of it is even better, she says, if you can say "I am a Strident Feminist" out loud, you are in her gang!

The second layer of importance/creepy fandom is that I went to see her talk at the Cheltenham Literature Festival (Quite a big thing for me to do at the time) AND she signed my book, AND she gave me a hug, AND when I gave her the original (that is why the colours are a bit wishy washy and there is a terrible shadow around the edges) she said she would put it up in her kitchen! AHH!

She is a proper PROPER hero of mine and so THAT is why I have placed so much meaning on this little inky thing, AND why I have been using so many CAPITAL LETTERS! If you read her Times column, you will understand!

Thank you so much for reading to the end of my witterings (if you did get this far, well done, you should get a small prize of somesort) and I hope if you know of Caitlin, you did nodding at all the right bits when I said how AMAZING she is and if you are not aware of her (why) I hope this might make you seek her out and discover the AMAZING-NESS of her. And her hair.

P.S I really HATE photos, maybe I will expand later, but basically I have not been in front of the camera, willingly, for a long time. BUT, I was so excited after coming out of the talk and seeing her, that I actually wanted to! I am doing the obligatory 'Muppet Face' that she assumes in most of her pictures.

Ooh la la x

Hello Again,
 just another quick backdated doodle for your perusal
I am orf to Paris in a few days with college, and before you start doing "ohh look at you all la di daa" faces, it is a research trip, mostly... but I am sure A LOT of pastries will be consumed!  As she looks like quite a fancy french lady, I shall call her 'French Fancy' hmnah ha ha!

Bus Character No.1

From one of the first days on the bus to new college!

Lovely little lady I sat next to who almost missed her stop because she was dozing!

Summer Sketch Book Pages

Oh dear me! I haven't really got the hang of 'regular' posting have I! I shall have to continue the back dated posts and then hopefully I will catch up with myself!

These are a just a few pages from my summer project, in preparation for starting college. Gosh, that seems so long ago now! Anyway, here they are...















The project was about 'your favourite things'...hmm. bit cringy but I think they just wanted to get to know us as people a bit more. I found it quite hard to start with, I wanted to draw my favourite people, (I have a lot! i might do a little post about my heros one day) But eventually I realised my books, my Granada's ink pot and favourite words could count...ish!

Swirls

Just a little something to keep it going while I am battling with the sketch book work for the foundation course!

Posty Cards ~ New American Artists

I thought I should probably start posting some of my many Posty cards, as I have bombarded this blog with predominantly all my own scribbles, so far...
These three are from the first proper exhibition I visited in the summer before I started A level art. So naturally it has stuck in my memory, like a particularly sticky thing. It was held in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (one of my favourite places in bristol) and he title was Art from the new world: New American Artists.
 I could only afford to get three post cards, (they were particularly pricy posties!) So I chose my favourite piece (to the right), and the two that most intrigued me...


The Mia Araujo piece completely floored me! The tiny images woven into the main painting, are so incredibly detailed and beautiful in their own right and they completely draw you in to the story behind this woman, looking out to sea. Who is she? Who is she writing to? Is she waiting for someone?... and other pretentious questions! It affected me so much that I used her style as an inspiration in my my exam project in the first year. Although I will not inflict that atrocious page on you, dear interwebs, that would be too cruel!






The next two, as I say, intrigued me. Before this exhibition, I had never really ventured out side the confines of the conventional, syllabus set artists. Then to discover, that you could like THIS? Completely and utterly imagined, CrazyWakckyMadCap creatures and characters, with still life on their head, if you so wished! It's a beautiful, graceful painting,
with quite a large
helping of bonkers,
which I adore!

New Watercolours!

I am a little too excited today because I have bought some new watercolours. I have always used the ones in our little art room at sixth form so having my very own (that only I can make messy), is very special. Hopefully this will prompt me to doodle with paint as well as pencils and pen. Anyway, i just did some experimenting with the colours to test them out!