art equals happy.

I was feeling done in... couldn't win. :: My Life & Art Journal.

'Had he lived to-day he would still have had machines to fight, but he could at least have seen that a machine can be a good servant – if a bad master.' (Holbrook, 1947)

I've been thinking so much about this. About our reliance on machines. On how much 'screen time' we get everyday, every hour, every week... How I would like to live my life and how I do live it. I guess, doing an essay on William Morris and Socialism and how imporant it is to do 'useful work, not useless toil' (Morris in Holbrook, 1947) will do that to you.

It's been a tough month or so at college. Let's just say that Second Year is kicking my butt.And I lost all of my unpublished photos/videos from 2012 (and some from 2011) in a harddrive failure. Luckily I still have copies of the things I posted online- but there was a lot of blog content and college work that evaporated from exsistence. Just that like. 
Scary.

It's setbacks like this that make it really hard to keep my head above water (Like- it's about 10x harder already because I have to deal with a chronic illness). All of that hard work. Gone. Poof. My body is already giving up on me rather rapidly (too many deadlines), and my brain is really struggling to keep pace. I know healthy, young, happy students who are finding it too much- I really thought I was going to crack!

But, one thing this illness has taught me: I AM STRONG.

I may spend a few days in bed, I may not go to all of the exhibitions, I may have werid routines or have to take a bus instead of walking- but I know I can always do it. Whatever it is- I can do it. Pass A-levels? Sure. Do a 2 year course in 1 year? Alright. Deal with a broken heart/abandonment? Hell yeah. Be a vendor at Renegade? Obviously. Get a degree? LETS DO THIS! 

So this is kind of half a pep-talk and half an 'I'm really sorry about the blog being empty' post. I don't know about you, but hearing someone say 'it's going to be okay' or 'it will all work out' doesn't do anything for me (kind of makes me want to yell into a pillow, haha!)- SEEING someone prove that they can win when they are against a lot of stuff- makes me realise that if they can suck it up and do it, so can I. 

I know a lot of people are doing exams right now, I know it's 'finals week' and there are projects and essays to hand in. YOU CAN DO IT PEOPLE. It's probably going to be hard, but I believe in your strength. And hopefully, you can find something that makes it fun and if it's worth doing that shouldn't be too hard.

Love you.

p.s. Loosing all those photos and videos made me really really sad- but life carries on and new photos are waiting to be taken. Sorry for the delay. <3

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Holbrook, J. (1947) On Art & Socialism. Essays & Lectures by William Morris. London : Purnell and Sons Ltd.

Post-it drawings. :: Illustration & Sketchbooks.

With all of these college projects on at the moment (we've got like, 6 things to worry about)- I've been trying to set myself some time in the evenings for fun things. The other night, I made a series of post-it note drawings.I did these completely from my head- pulling attributes from people I'd seen during the day. And trying to keep it as much of a continuous line as possible. Although- I really didn't want any rules. Just funsies.Then the next day, I did these- drawing directly from life.I think the thing that makes these easy and fun for me- is that I'm not worrying about making that person look 'pretty'- I'm just practising lines and shapes and connections.

To do this yourself- all you need is a stack of post-it notes, a pencil (or pen or crayon! anything!) and an imagination!! Try starting with the nose and eyebrows, building in the eyes, mouth, jaw, and then hair. Be free and let the pencil wander! 

Love, Kimxo 

Forget that she is beautiful. :: Drawing & BA Illustration.

Here are some more drawings from this workshop day. The advice we were given was to forget how conventionally 'pretty' or 'attractive' the person was and to just focus on the lines/shadows. This helped me a lot because sometimes I don't know where to start.This last one is probably my favourite because it worked the other way around- this man was... well- lets just say he wasn't my type- but by distancing myself from that feeling and just drawing it... I ended up with an interesting image.Remember these are just rough, quick drawings that were done for experimentation. [: Kimxo

Drawing Workshop. :: Ba Illustration.

A month or so ago, we had a big full-class drawing workshop. These are some of my favourite times, because everyone is together, drawing, and experimenting and it feels like we are actively learning- but also like we are in primary school getting messy with big crayons. [: haha. We started drawing from a black and white film of a man doing some kind of meditiationy-dance.Our focus was on 'the head' and 'the face' and trying to think of it as just another part of the image. We were encouraged to draw lines from one end of the page to the other, and intersect it where it needed to. So- a nose would run into an arm which would run into a shadow for example. It was very liberating. Sometimes you just need someone to say 'it's okay to do something different'. SO- I'm giving you all permission to try something different with your drawing. Try looking at the shapes and lines rather than the content.We were encouraged to do these quickly and sometimes draw on top of other ones. All you need is a movie or a youtube clip, some big paper and a pencil or crayon. I used a big graphite stick for these- but later on moved to crayon which I found wwwaaaayyy too much fun.All of these were done in under an hour I think. I hope your weekend is full of fun times and sunshine (it's really bright here!!) Love, kimxo

 

 

 

 

 

More memories from July. :: S.A. Sketches

Here are some of the remaining pages that I haven't shared yet from my trip to South Africa last July to visit my grandparents. If you haven't seen the other pages, you can see all my adventures here. I've still got loads of photographs, and some sketches from when we went to a game park to share- just don't want to overwhelm the eyes with holiday photos. haha. Anyway, here we go!

A little drawing. :: BA Illustration.

Just checking in. This is from a drawing workshop a few weeks ago. Using both hands- one colour in each hand- drawing at the same time. I'll see you later with some updates. Love you kxo

Fact + Fiction Studio Exhibition.:: Camberwell BA.

Hello! It's been assessment time around the Camberwell Illustration department. 1st years had thiers, we just finished ours and the 3rd years were looking pretty stressed today labeling all thier work. It's customary for the 2nd years to put on a little show around this time, celebrating the work we've all be doing over the last Unit.

There is a huge range of work up and EVERYONE has put in tons of hard work, and the quality/talent is amazing. Gosh, guys- I'm just so proud!
There are a few of my knitted pieces up on the wall and a brand new book activity book that I'm really excited about. I'll take some pictures tomorrow while the exhibition is up- but you can take a little look at some of the digital work from the last project HERE.
(Above is a screenshot from the facebook page)
Kimxo

P.S. Talking about camberwell...One of my tutors this year- Luke Best- did a little interview recently. :] I think you'll find the video pretty inspiring. Also- you may just fall in love with this packing tape designed by another tutor of mine. 

Painting postcards. :: SA Sketches

From a magical couple of days where Ted and I painted in the garden...
I mostly made postcards for friends back home.
I've still got a couple of these postcards, if anyone wants one, e-mail me ($4 and I'll write you a little message!) kim@artequalshappy.co.ukSee more South Africa adventures here.

Summer 2011 :: Notebook & Drawings.

Hello. [: Like most people who do creative things, I keep a notebook- one I carry around with me everywhere. They tend to last me a season, depending on how big it is, and what else I'm working on. In the Summer of 2011 there was a lot of product designing for Renegade, to-do-lists, blogging lists, notes from galleries and films, and colourwork pattern designing.This notebook has squared paper in it. It's A4, so the perfect book to doodle and work out patterns for new knitting experiments. Drawing on a grid is something that I love to do. I got this book out in all kinds of places to quickly jot down shapes and patterns I was thinking of. Here are some peeks from those times... (You might even recognise some patterns that become more finished things!)**Please remember that these are my designs and should not be copied or reproduced without my premission beforehand. Copyright. Thank you for respecting me and other artists that share work online!**

Thanks for letting me share- I hope this inspires you to try and doodle more in your free time! :] There is inspiration everywhere in this world of ours- if we open our eyes and look around!

Drawing at Standen House. :: BA Illustration.

Standen House is a National Trust property that is about an hours drive away from my parents' house. The architect who built it was Philip Webb, who was a close friend of William Morris- and the Arts and Crafts movement is shown throughout the house in every nook and cranny. Not to mention the beautiful self-sufficient garden that the lady of the house had. 

Mum and I visited at the begining of October for the first time, and I fell in love. I needed to do some reference drawings for a college project, and so although I saw a few parts of the house really well- there is still so much for me to explore there. I cannot wait to go back again! It's open to the public, and if you live around the southeast of England, I highly reccommend a day trip.

Here are some of the quick drawings I did whilst I was there and from photos I took. I mainly wanted to focus on the house as a wealthy, mysterious and fantastical place. Full of entrancing patterns and objects- but that could be the scene for a more sinister story. At this stage I was purely gathering visual information.Also- I may have gotten side-tracked by all the Morris wallpaper... sigh...Victorian times are inspiring me the most lately. 
(Photo at top taken by Mum on her iPhone.)
Love, Kimxo