Great Day

What a productive and exciting day I've had! Today was the Art Department's Open House which we third years organised to raise funds for our degree show. We had a load of art work for sale as well as stalls with homemade cakes, greetings cards and jewellery. My mian responsibilites lay with the art work side (which is the biggest source fo funds). In our sub-comiitee we had to mount and prepare loads of works, organise them, liase with artists about prices and commissions and so on. I feel like I've learnt a lot just from the role i played in that group. It was also fun selling the work! In fact the whole day was a lot of fun (i spent a lot of time jive-ing to upbeat christmas songs!) and although i don't know yet how much we managed to raise in the end, there were some highlights in the meantime: my housemate won first prize in our raffle for a meal for two in a Lancaster restaurant (hope he takes me!), i bought a couple of works that i really like from my friends, and Imogen is gonna put some glitter on her painting for me :D, and also the response to my own work was really encouraging: I was persuaded to put some of my first-year paintings into the sale although i thought they were useless, but loads of people stopped to examine (admire?) them and loads commented favourably, and at least one of them sold! Hurrah! The pieces are of Luton, using photocopies of black and white photos of Luton from the olden days incorporated into black and white paintings. Hurrah for Luton!

Here's one of my Luton paintings



The other thing in my excellent day was cell. Bit too tired to write about it tonight but it was awesome. We prayer-walked and did some yellin, shared communion in a cosy room and testified about God's greatness to each other. The Holy Spirit rules.

How Things Work Out

I love how things work out. I'm sitting here eating a gorgeous bacon and fried egg sandwich knowing that my bed is all warm with hot water bottles ready to snuggle up in. Conjunctivitis caused me to sleep for most of yesterday, so i was up all night finishing my dissertation stuff. I didn't mind cos i didn't really feel tired and the work got done fine. Cat was up too working on hers and we'd occassionally write an encouraging message vis msn to each other! Then we got the first bus in this morning, handed the work in, then sat in the coffee shop and had a good long chat. It was so nice! I'm glad we were there for each other at a time that could otherwise have been tiring and stressful. My eyes aren't as painful as they were yesterday although they're still very red - but it makes my irises extra colourful and bright (a bit like Frodo)! Thank God for silver linings! Now it's time to sleep :)

Joy and Misery!

I do now have the opportunity to ballroom dance with Amazing Guy! Joy!

And i have bad conjunctivitis in both eyes. Pain and misery all round on the physical front!

Joy

First of all i wanna say that Jesus is awesome!! He is wild and beautiful and intimate. His is faithful, even in our infidelity, because he cannot deny himself. He wields almighty power by his Holy Spirit and - mystery of mysteries (or one of them) - he delegates that authority to me!

The National Fusion Weekend really was something else. That's because Jesus was present in power and love and he was faithful to speak and answer and bless and call (not just me but everyone i think.) Thank you Jesus for answering my last year and half's reaching and pushing and grasping.

I know I always seem to comment on ballroom dancing, but i just can't help it. Last night we had a social - the Pudding Plod (like a bar crawl but eating puddings instead of drinking!) - followed by dancing the night away at Revolution. Gotta say it's really fab to go clubbing with other dancers. Aside from just being well into it generally, we also had a bit of a rumba to the R&B downstairs. It'll be embarrassing if he ever reads this, but the guy who is the best dancer in the society (by miles) asked me if i'd go dancing with him again - aces! I guess he means in a clubbing capacity but it's still one step closer to heaven - the chance to ballroom dance with him! Oh yeah and in the very short time for clothes-changing between the Pudding Plod and the club i also managed to put my hair up in an awesome quiff which stayed up perfectly all night! Oh the joy!

Right now i'm writing the introduction to my dissertation - slowly coming to grips with the whole christianity/art theory thing - and later this evening i'm going to a 1920s/jazz themed birthday party at church - woo!

Bits and Bobs

I may have a new dance partner! Luke went bar-crawling instead of ballroom dancing tonight so i danced with a lovely guy called Greg and found out he's looking for a new partner. He and his current partner have too great a height difference and it messes up their balance. I actually went tonight with a view to finding someone new because Luke's not as committed to it as I want to be, which means we often miss lessons. So if all works out fine and we don't offend too many friends, Greg and i may end up together, which will be fab! We have been learning the rumba, which is a very romantic dance with complex footwork and difficult timing...but when it's done well it's so beautiful and intense!

Won't be attending the practice session this sunday though, cos i'm off to the National Fusion Weekend! Woo! Apparently no showers...this may be an issue...but i know that God is gonna encourage me and Joe (cell buddy) loads and hopefully invigorate our already much-invigorated sense of vision and purpose for cells this year!

I'm quite excited about my art work. It's taking ages for the full version to be realised but the maquettes are interesting! This year I'm making Secret Places - small rooms where a person can go to reflect or meditate or do whatever they want - just be. My first one looks a lot like a prayer room! My next one will be much more of an enclosed coccoon-like space with some gorgeous red or purple fabric. Watch this space.

Oh yeah. Trip to Poland got cancelled. Gutted...may try and go anyway, maybe arrange to visit cousins.

Dissertation is proving very difficult. Have to hand in my introduction soon. My current frustration, which i'm feeling in both my theory and my art practice, is that as soon as i mention God my whole argument seems invalid in the eyes of everyone else. I don't want to have to write a dissertation about 'spirituality' per se, it's just that my beliefs about humanity and creation play a part in my argument in favour of immersive installations and the embodied-transcendent experience. I see the spiritual and physical dimensions of creation and humanity as inherently connected, and that has huge implications for art (especially my art). Other writers believe that too (e.g. Merleau-Ponty, who i'm studying for the diss.) but for me it's because of God, but people dismiss it when i say that...grr...

Now i'm off to try and find some plasticine...

12 / 2 = ?

Why is it so difficult to split (multiply! :P) a cell of 12 people - which is made up of 6 girls and 6 boys at that - into two workable cells?! On paper it sounds easy, but it's actually really hard! We need help Holy Spirit!

We have a campus bar crawl fundraiser for the Final Year Art Degree Show tomorrow night...fancy dress, which i love, but i think we have to dress as artists and i don't have an artist outfit! Not wearing my sculpting overalls! Might have to crack open the ole pirate costume again instead. Raising money is hard. We gotta get £2500 between us, preferably before the end of term (in 5 weeks). We're holding an Open House in a few weeks' time: for a whole day and evening the art department is open to the public to look around and buy the work that is for sale. It'll also include a cake stall (which always brings the cash in!), a homemade christmas card stall and a jewellery stall. Does anyone wanna buy any artwork? We have excellent artists in our year! Seriously, if you can think of something you might want...

...anyone wanna buy a life-sized lion made of fibreglass and fabric? Just in time for the release of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe!...

Above and Beyond

Saturday night was AWESOME!!! Man, Above&Beyond were so good. It was the best trance i've ever heard, and Nathan thought so too, and he's got loads more experience in trance than i have so they really must have been amazing. I love trance that is melodic but brings in a propa heavy bass line and has beautiful vocals too. Last night they were like angels' voices. As Nath described it, it totally makes you melt on the floor. It was the kind of music and the kind of DJing which compels you to dance and you just can't stop dancing. We were lovin it!

Got back to Nathan's some time after 5am...knackered!...Sunday was such a lovely day: totally lazy and cosy. Chatting with Nathan's mum while we prepared dinner made me realise how much i value mothers, and also the homes of families because they feel secure. You can rest while a mother is around - not in the sense that they do all the work (!) but because there's something about the design of mothers that means they bear the responsibility and they fill the place with love and peace.

This is the only photo i have of me. I got quite a few comments and thumbs up in the club for the make up and eyelashes (although maybe not as many as Nathan got for his glow-in-the-dark t-shirt!) Sorry, i forgot about getting a full-length shot. What a treat you would have had! You would have been able to see my retro-cyber-goth look, complete with neon pink fishnet tights (over my black tights, so cool) which glowed super-neon orange in the UV light in the club! Aces! This pic doesn't show my hair too well - it was a better quiff than it looks, but nowhere near what i wanted. will keep practicin. Also the make-up doesnt stand out very bright. Gonna invest in some decent make-up like that Xenia girl from Liz's website has. Christmas present perhaps?

Blame The Eyelashes!

I've been thinking about identity and clothing (seemingly the favourite topic for my year group in the art dept!) I love clubbing, but there's a such a big emphasis on girls lookin fit as. Now, i can do sexy, but do i really want to? Is it all that helpful? Probably not...so why have i just borrowed Cat's black kilt for Saturday night at Tangled - www.tangled.co.uk check it out!! - possibly the shortest skirt i have ever worn in my life? Actually, it's because i've just discovered a new way of dressing up for a night out!

It started when i couldn't resist buying a pair of extravagantly feathery blue-and-purple false eyelashes in Liverpool yesterday! I decided i'd wear them to Tangled, and then realised i'd have to plan the rest of the outfit around them - what on earth goes with massive colourful eyelashes?? Furthermore, i had to find a make-up scheme to go with them. After using google image search for inspiration and playing around for several hours wth various cosmetics i've figured it out: i'm gonna draw funky patterns around my eyes with my amazing non-smudge liquid eyeliner and colour them in with purple, blue and silver colours. My fringe is now long enough to get in the way of said funky patterns so i'm going to try and put a big chunk of my hair up in a major quiff (just about managed it today with tons of mouse and hairspray!) Clothes have to be plain so as not to clash with my colourful face so i'm gonna wear either a blue or a black top, and the black kilt is exactly what i need to keep the funky theme. I'll preserve my modesty with some black or blue tights.

Back to the point: as you can imagine, this whole ensemble is not exactly going to make me irresitible to fellas! I haven't even considered how attractive i will or won't look - it's about what i like and what i think is funky. I'm glad i'm brave enough to wear stupid rock-solid hair and weird face painting out on the town! I feel really good about it! (Just hope the quiff stays up what with all the dancin)



The whole thing with the eyes has drawn to my attention how much i love drawing and painting on the body. I think body art is something i'd like to get more into - not so much tattooing and scarring and permanent, painful things like that, but more body painting. I don't think i'd want to do "trompe l'oeil"/illusionistic style painting (eg where they make nudes look like they're wearing clothes) but i love the more decoration-based designs; those that acknowledge the body and its forms rather than subvert them. It'd be great to start a trend for decorative face painting for nights out in lancaster!