Unicorn Bedroom Mural

I was asked to do a bedroom mural for my dear little friend Lola; the room is very small so I decided a small portrait would be ideal. The window is very much in the princess/castle style with the round shape and criss cross detailing so I planned to enhance this with some ivy creeping up around it. Lola loves unicorns so I took inspiration from the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ horse and some unicorn images on pinterest. The piece is not entirely finished as I plan to add a banner above with her name but other than that the mural is complete. It was a very quick job but most enjoyable!

 my pinterest images for inspiration (above)

 

'Sleeping Beauty' Ballet

On Friday 21^st March I went to see ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at The Royal Opera House. A friend from the Opera I am in had a spare ticket and I jumped at the chance to see this ballet. I have only seen one other ballet live before and that was ‘The Nutcracker’ many years ago. I’ve watched many ballets on t.v, but of course live is always much more magical we had wonderful seats and the house was completely sold out. The ballet was beautiful and for a few hours I was completely transported into a fairy tale world filled with sparkling tutus and music so rich and sweet it felt I’d known it by heart all along. During the intervals we talked excitedly about the joys of theatre and our favourite parts, my favourite dance was when Princess Aurora on her 16^th Birthday pricked her finger on the spindle. This dance shows Aurora becoming more and more sleepy, whilst trying to stay upright and bright but finally failing and collapsing to the floor. When the lilac fairy cast a spell over the kingdom and one by one the people on stage fell asleep, this was very handsomely done. In slow motion the characters yawned and drooped to the floor. The set was very fairy tale inspired such as the illustrations of Kay Nielsen or Arthur Rackham and when lights were shone through the curtains of ivy, magical patterns appeared on the stage floor. The woods in which the prince wandered were filled with a thick fog that gave an impression of a fresh, crisp morning and the boat scene with the prince and the lilac fairy was wistfully pretty.  Ballet dancers are fascinating, I’ve always known this but Friday just reminded me what the human body is incredibly capable of.

‘The Great War In Portraits'

A few days ago I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see one of my favourite paintings on display ‘self portrait as soldier’ by Kirchner. I knew the painting was going to be displayed in the new ‘Great War’ exhibition (free entry) and was excited to see this painting up close, as I had no idea of its size. This is always interesting when one has gazed so fondly at a reproduced image but never considered how it would be up close. I first consciously came across this painting in sixth form when I was looking at German Expressionism and was captured by the crude, haunting expression of Kirchner’s portrait. The severed hand suggesting lack of creativity and ability to paint against the blacked out eyes suggests deadness; a feeling all too prevalent with War. I love the expressionists visible brush strokes, flat bold colours and exaggerated characters.

I could’ve stood in front of the Kirchner painting for hours actually, I felt so connected to it. It was smaller than I was expecting (of course) but the paintwork was exactly as I imagined and the cigarette still felt so camp and reckless that there was still that drollness present.

Some other things of interest done recently:

Played Laser Quest, had a vegetarian breakfast at Carnaby streets ‘The Diner’, watched ‘Legends of The Fall’ (Amazing movie) and ‘Last of the Mohicans’.

Also, I am part of an ensemble of the production ‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ which will be on at the royal Opera House. I have been attending rehearsals every Monday and last week we had a talk by Director Kasper Holten, which was completely inspiring.