Hi Im Fiona Burke I am a 19 year old Irish Student, studying English and Art History with an interest in English literature, fashion, art, interior design, music and movies.
Its been a few weeks now but I really miss having kittens about my house, I have a tabby cat but it generally doesnt show much affection towards humans and speaking for myself I can honestly say the feelings pretty mutual. I would really like some kittens but the chances of finding any kittens half as amazing as these two is pretty slim. RIP
Me and my friends were recently discussing how your favourite songs from certain artists and favourite characters from TV shows or films can tell quite a lot about a person. The discussion really showed how different everyone in our group is for example; in the TV show "Skins" my favourite character was always Cassie yet one of my close friends always chose Cook as their favourite. The following is an interesting list I found on the internet of certain things which I agree can tell a lot about a person:
- the way which they treat the waiter/waitress - how they feel about the weather - whether they dog ear pages or highlight in books - fingernails and hands in general - their preferred creative outlet - how much they dread/enjoy talking on the phone - whether or not they drink coffee - if they ever forget to eat - how honestly they are with themselves (and others) - if they correct your grammar - whether or not they get nervous before haircuts
Another serious personal favourite of mine is whether or not a person uses Comic Sans or Internet Explorer...some things just cant be forgiven.
I recently got told that my style and attitude to life reminded someone of Alexa Chung, this has got to be one of my top compliments I have ever received since for a long time Alexa the quirky it-girl has always been one of my major style icons and her style has been adorned by myself and the fashion world for years.
Mostly known for her signature effortless style and usually spotted wearing brogues, chanel jumpers, casual t-shirts and of course thee Mulberry "Alexa" bag. Alexa has made herself a well known figure across continents having her own tv show in America, being front row in fashion shows around the world, along with her past with modelling she is also known to be seen trekking about festivals with everyone else and usually with some indie boyband member boyfriend along with her. At the moment Alexa is currently seeing The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. but it is well known that much of Alexa's fanbase, including myself, still wish that her and Arctic Monkeys lead vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter Alex Turner were still together but it her creative partnerships rather than her romantic partnerships that have made her successful in life.
Her partnership with Mulberry and Madewell have been some of the most successful collaborations known to date, with her designs flying off shelves proving not only does Alexa have style but she also knows how to get ahead in the business world.
The first two set of pictures are from Ceremonials and the next two are from the Lungs album.
The Equipment.
Two more frames to go.
The Florence frames completed.
The finshed products on display.
For my Art Show I was made buy frames for my photographs so they would look professional when displayed, once my my art show was finished I was left with 7 A4 frames. I bought these frames from the Euro2 shop in town but I still did not want to dump them or hide them away in my attic so I decided I would make some use of them.
Florence and the Machine has been my favourite band since around 2008 and I still remain obsessed with them ever since. I have already seen them twice in concert and I am going to see them in a few weeks so there will be posts before and after the concert and posts about the exciting build up to it (you have now been warned).
Using some pictures from my Lungs and Ceremonials albums I backed the frames with black card and placed two pictures from the albums in the frame. I made a set of two from the Ceremonials album and another set of two from the Lungs album I was very pleased with the results and will keep them displayed in my bedroom.
Photography experiments and Viktor and Rolf reference.
Pastel shell studies and possible cartoon Mermaid character.
The original Hans Christian Anderson tale of the Little Mermaid along with the original skteches by Edmund Dulac who was one of the great Golden Age illustrators.
For my final Major Project I used an A3 sketchbook to record and analyse all my ideas and help develop my final pieces. Above are some example of pages from my sketchbook.
Photography was a very important aspect of my project by gathering up Halloween costumes and a confident family member I was able to create these series of photos to represent my strange carnival folk.
A1 acrylic poster of Rapunzel as "The Bearded Lady"
A4 photoshop poster to represent Rapunzel "The Bearded Lady"
A1 acrylic painting of Ariel the little mermaid as the Fiji Mermaid
A2 pencil study of a Carnival performer
Medium sized canvas textured painting of a skull
My Final pieces displayed together at my end of year show
This week I dismantled my Exhibition, got my Diploma, moved back home and went out to celebrate my Summer freedom so all that has kept me busy and is the reason I have been unable to make posts but Im back and here is a selection of my work from my Final Major Project.
For my Final Major Project I focused on the theme of "Carnivals", using the title "Fairytale Freakshow" I combined fairytale characters with sideshow acts to create my own unique carnival themed posters and paintings. I researched different characters and their various acts that took part in these performances. I also produced a loose body of preparatory studies, photography, photoshop work and prints. I then developed these individual characters to represent a Carnival act by using inspiration from fashion couture collections such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix and original fairytales such as Alice in Wonderland and Rapunzel.
I recorded my research and experimental studies in an A3 sketchbook and regularly evaluated my work in a reflective diary and recorded my techniques and processes in a A4 sketchbook. I also completed a contextual reference report which contained all the artists, exhibitions and designers that inspired me throughout my project.
Staying on the subject of Art and Culture the following are a few pictures and videos from scenes of movies and TV shows that I enjoy involving Art Galleries, Exhibitions and Museums .
During the film 500 Days of Summer, characters Tom Hansen and Summer Finn make a visit to a modern art Gallery although they soon get bored and decide to take a trip to the cinema to watch a french film.
In the movie 50/50 Joseph Gordon Levitt's experience with Galleries only gets worse, suffering from cancer his character Adam is unable to attend an Exhibition opening with his girlfriend, his Best Friend goes along and spots her cheating on him with some Jesus look a like, they then later take one of her canvas paintings set fire to it and destroy it to pieces in the back garden.
In the TV series Gossip Girl, the character Aaron Rose is introduced to the show in Season 2 as an artist who works at Rufus Humphrey's Gallery. Aaron's character is featured in a few episodes of this season allowing many scenes to based around his work area, he uses Serena Van Der Woodsen has his muse after they start dating and he spends alot of his time creating work in the Gallery.
The Art Institute of Chicago scene featured in the 80s movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off " has become an all time classic.The shot features some of John Hughes favourite pieces in the museum and the calming music is The Dream Academy's version of the song "Please, please, please let me get what I want " originally performed and wrote by The Smiths.
Another major favourite of mine that I just had to include was the Rugrats episode entitled "The Art Museum" straight from my 90s childhood. While visiting the Art Museum with Stu, the Rugrats wandered around the museum, "finding themselves" in the pieces of art, Angelica even takes other kids on a tour of the museum explaining how every artist has done a painting of her. The works of art featured in this episode are similar to famous pieces done by artists such as Warhol, Matisse, Bosch, Picasso and Munch.
Me with my friend Raychel who creates wonderful textile pieces
An example of some of my work on my board
Me and my friend Naomi you can follow her blog here
Here are some of college friends featured in the show Josh is a Fine Artist that does amazing portraits, James is a fashion design student you can see some of his brilliant work on his blog , Meghan creates beautiful impressionim style landscapes and Padhraic is an aspiring Painter and Illustrator whos great work can also be viewed on his blog here. .
During the opening night of the show I was lucky enough to have some of my very close friends travel down to Limavady and attend the show. Here I am pictured with Andy, Alan, Claire and Tommy .
Meghan and I perfecting the professional and artsy business type look.
Last Tuesday night was the opening of my foundation year "End of Year Show ". For the last 10 weeks myself and everyone on my art course have completed a Final Major Project, this projects result will determine whether or not I will recieve my diploma for successfully completing this course.
We had our own choice of theme to work on so I based my project on the theme of Carnivals and used the title "Fairytale Freakshow" with the concept of combining vintage sideshow acts such as a Bearded Lady with classic fairytale characters such as Rapunzel. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience but it has been alot of hard work but I feel that the final vast body of work has been worth it. I get my results tomorrow so hopefully I will get the chance to post about my actual work in detail tomorrow.
The Show was held in the West Wing Studio in our college in Limavady, we each had two large boards like the boards featured in the above photos and were made to present our work in a professional manner on these boards. There was a major turn out for the event and I feel that everyone that was there enjoyed it, it gave a great oppurtunity for myself and my peers to get our work shown to the public and it gave us the confidence to consider the possibility of hosting our own exhibiton of work in a gallery in the future .
After making a post about my own bedroom I though I would include a few of my favourite bedroom sets from tv and films. Above are some photos from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Drake and Josh, Hey Arnold, Juno, 500 days of Summer and Clueless.
One of the main things I have always wanted in my room since the first time I ever watched Clueless was Cher's computer powered outfit generator the fact that movie was made in the 90s and it is now 2012 yet it still doesnt exist is very disappointing.
I have a great love for decorating and designing rooms whether it be the different textiles or colour schemes or furniture I love it all, this may have been influenced by the fact my dad used to be a painter and decorator so I spent most of my 8- 12 year old life tagging along with him to price big empty houses to paint and also visiting the paint store which was filled with loads of set up bedrooms which I got to explore all the time while he was buying paint.
During this year Ive spent most of time away at college and I have genuinely really missed my own bedroom so I have decided within the next month to rearrange and redecorate it, I used to rearrange my furniture alot to the point were my parents were convinced it was a bad habit of mine but I have not had the chance to do that in a while since Ive been away. My room is currently painted red on one wall and cream on the rest, it is fairly large room but I feel that now it is Summer I may need to change the "redrum" to a more summery colour scheme similar to the colours featured in the above photos.
For anyone else interested in quirky interiors or new ways to improve their room I would have a look at this page which is filled with lots of really amazing ideas for bedrooms and other rooms about the house.
Here are some pictures of the Dinner Party I took last night, overall I though the night was a success there was great presentation with fancy dinner plates, fairy lights and each table place had our individual twitter names on a card and on the other side of the card our twitter bio was wrote on it.
For food, we had vegetable soup as a starter, peri peri chicken with corn on the cob, rice and garlic bread as our main course and since the lemon and lime sorbet did not go to plan we had a wide selection of frozen yoghurt and ice cream from the fridge for dessert. We also had about 2 or 3 jugs of Pimms with ice and fruit to down it all with, a drink Ive never had before but is well suited for a Dinner party.
To add to the "come dine with me" style of the night as entertainment we had a twitter quiz inbetween courses, I was lucky enough to win this quiz but Im am now quite concerned this means I spend to much time on twitter, then to finish the night the camera was set up on a tripod in a separate room and we each took it in turns to go in and give our opinion of the night and rate Claire's Dinner out of 10, it was very strange talking to the camera but Im sure the edited version of the video will be more hilarious than mortifying hopefully.
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