Christmas decorations

 Every Christmas, when we put the decorations up, we have some Norwegian additions (from my Norwegian cousins and Uncle). You put them around the house, in not always obvious places. Nissa are Norwegian folklore figures used to keep you safe - if you keep them safe! We have always had them at Christmas, so they are a staple decoration at home.

Christmas Card

My mum attends an art class which her friend runs, and one week I went along and they were design Christmas cards. I painted a robin using water colour. My mum liked it so much that we made it into Christmas cards to send to our family and friends etc. The original is now framed on the wall in the kitchen. See below.

Packhorse, Huddersfield renovation project. My Pop Up Avant Garde hair stall. Development.

The First Cut, Manchester Art Gallery

I went with a couple of friends to this exhibition in Manchester. What people can do with paper and a scalpul is incredible.

We also got to visit the Christmas Markets. German decorations and mulled wine gallor!

 Life size tree branches create the effect that your walking through a forest. I love how the leaves are opaque. A real sense of magic indoors.

 These birds were by far my favorite. Claire Brewster cut each creature out of old maps. These common garden birds are transformed into exotic beings.

Family trip to the Lake District.

We didn't see many lakes, but lots of hills! Some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Autumnal Trees.

Foggy Sun Rise.

Hobbit Land

Paralympics, London, 2012

Olympic Park, with main stadium on the left. Own photo.

 When tickets became avalible for the Paralmypics, I thought it would be amazing to see the final sprints. My brother managed to get these exact tickets which was incredible. I hadn't really though of what it would be like, so I was totally shocked about what an incredible experience it was.

The park itself is vast, and felt like a world festival, with so many different people from all around the world. Such a valuable experience.

Thomas Hetherwick - Olympic flame. Own photo.

 The Olympic torch, design by Thomas Heatherwick - a British designer- represents everyone coming together, as each 'tulip' was lit by a different country in the opening ceremony. It reminds me of my school moto 'Membra sumus corporis magni' (We are members of a great body). Heatherwick says that the cauldron represents 'everyone coming together in Peace'.

Gold medalist Jonnie Peacock. Own photo.

York Mystery Plays 2012

Scaled model of the set. 1:50. Own photo.

 Recently, I was involved with making set and props for the York Mystery Plays. The Plays have been going on for hundreds of years, and are world famous. It was amazing for me to be able to help, as they mean such an important thing to the people of York. 

The Mystery Plays are stories from the bible originally performed in the middle of the 14th century for the common folk because they could not read Latin. They would show the plays on carts which could be taken all over the city.

The plays are always performed in the Museum Gardens and this year the back drop was St Mary's Abbey. So the set designer had to integrate this into the design, which he did perfectly.

Umbrellas, representing the sea. You can see Noah's ark in the back ground.

The angels (pictured at the back right) danced and sang in the background. they were very different from any other character, due to the striking colour and full skirts.

Conceptually, the play was absolutely brilliant. So much thought and depth went into thinking about every scene.

The flooring was used in many different ways. It had 45 trap doors hidden in it. When Herod attempted to kill all the baby boys in Jerusalem, the trap doors were the local's houses, and the soldiers would knock on the floor as in on people front doors.

The Ark, which I helped build and paint.

The costumes were quite modern, from the 1930's which was refreshing instead of the normal dress people accommodate with the bible.

I really enjoyed being part of this, and have started to really appreciate set design. We have a placement year next year for my Interior Design course at University, and I would love to do something to do with set design.

The poster for the plays. Inspiration from Stanley Spencer.

Finished set on the night I went with my family to see the production. Own photo.