My Weekend Trip To Switzerland

This weekend I traveled to Switzerland with my mum, aunt and aunts next door neighbour (lol) to visit my cousin who is currently working out there! As I have no work to post at the moment, I thought I would post some of the photos that have inspired me ready for my next art venture, which I am a little bit excited about to be honest! Here goes...

Day 1:

What an awesome way to start the first day in Switzerland! After leaving the airport we all walked around Lake Geneva, and I ended up spending most of my money on chocolates for people (although I'm not sure who yet, haha) and took some amazing photos! We then retreated back to my cousins house - fully equipped with a bomb shelter (?!) and got cosy for the night. Considering it wasn't a terribly busy day, the walking and the flight definitely tired me out! 

Day 2:

The second day absolutely ruined me after 4 hours of walking at different inclines around the open air Swiss museum! I Kinda forgot that 'walking around' in Switzerland generally doesn't include a level surface. It was a great day though and awesome to meet up with my friend, Joy Paton, outside of Leicester though. The views there, which included lush greenery and snow capped mountains, were absolutely incredible - as were the ones at the lakeside where we ate dinner. Absolutely mind blowing! That evening we spent watching the Eurovision song contest (more like forced to) and just chilling out. It was a well deserved rest!

Day 3:

This day was another brilliant day... possibly the best yet! We took an exciting tram and cable car ride to the top of a mountain, which slowly ascended into the snowy peaks where we ate dinner amongst the clouds and memories of the fun I had snowboarding came flooding back. It was incredible to go from standing on green pastures, to standing on snow within a matter of minutes! This was followed up by a visit to the ridiculously cute village of Gruyeres where after a challenging climb up the hill, we were greeted with cobbled roads, traditional Swiss horn players, a lovely castle and more incredible views! The castle gave me some awesome ideas for some art work, which I am eager to get on with as soon as I get back to my desk in Leicester! :)

Day 4:

The final day brought with it a mix of emotion - sad to leave such a beautiful place, but happy that my legs would get a well earned break and I could rest properly back in my own bed! This day consisted of a short trip across the lake, from Oushy in Lausanne (Switzerland) to Evian in France! As the day we went was a bank holiday however, not a lot of things were open but it gave us just enough time to eat lunch, have a short walk around and buy some souvenirs! It felt crazy to be crossing a lake into a different country as opposed to the usual sea-trips you would associate such things with! The day however, was very enjoyable and the hills in France were a patch on those we had been walking the day before! It has been a thoroughly enjoyable weekend! Another place I can cross off my 'to visit' list! 

Book Illustration: Brave New World

As part of our illustration module at the beginning of the year we were asked to make 3 images and a cover to use to accompany the book, Brave New World. 

The book itself if quite messed up, and reminds me almost of George Orwell's 1984 - but opposite. I've tried to make the images represent this twisted, backwards reality with a series of abstract portraits to tell the story. 

Book Cover

The night before the final deadline I decided to re-draw two of the above images (Cover and decapitated head). Looking back on the work because it was done a few months ago, I'd like to think I could do a better job of them if I tried again however they sadly weren't going to be worth enough marks to warrant a complete re-design.

Stencilled Informational Card Pack: Fish Facts

After hours of cutting and many plasters, blisters plus a finger that hasn't regained feeling yet, my informational card pack - based on fish - is finally done! I'm pretty happy with these despite a few alignment mistakes, but it's not that noticeable! :) Check it out!

Box containing the cards

Cards inside the box

The whole range of cards on display

Front and back design of cards

Back is cut to look like fish scales

American Propaganda (Uncle Sam) Exhibition Model

It's the project that's caused me the most stress and confusion but I think I've finally got it! 

(Well.. I'm happy with what I've done now so it's tough shit if it's still wrong)

The aim was to create an exhibition based on something you'd written about previously in the year and so I chose the Uncle Sam propaganda posters by James Montgommery Flagg. 

There is a poster and a postcard to go along with the model, but here is what I've come up with.

Entrance / Exit view

The red lines connect the work to each other and stem from the main 'I Want You' poster.

(Which is technically/historically correct as they all followed in suit after the first one was so successful)

Side View 01

Side View 02

Finished Zine: View on Issuu

Finally finished my Zine and handed it in last Thursday, which was a big relief! 

I thought it'd be cool to share what I made on here!

My Zine is based on a typical lifestyle magazine, but for the dead housewife!

So a little bit of a twist on the norm.

Anyways.....

Check out AFTERLIFESTYLE ZINE here!!!

And let me know what you think! That'd be awesome! 

Informational Project: No Pain, No Gain

I haven't blogged in a while due to the sheer amount of work I've been trying to finish (or in some cases put off till last minute) but one in particular has been a real pain.. literally.

For an informational project based on Fish I've been stencilling and cutting out cards (like trump cards) with the picture of them on the front and a scaly reverse. It's been pretty time consuming and finally, now that I've lost all sensation in the tip of my right index finger, along with some skin on my middle finger and thumb... I'm almost done!

Here's a little glimpse of what I'm up to and why my hands are in such bad condition at the moment. 

Please excuse the bad quality photos, I don't have time to take fancy ones!

I've been using masking tape on my hands to protect my skin and reduce the pain in my fingers!

A small preview of the back of the cards