lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice

Monday 19 May 2014


The last week has been a long one. I started my exams, and have actually started to sort of enjoy the relaxed timetable I now have. I feel a little bit like I'm on holiday already; I only have to go in for exams, and so even my Sunday nights have lost that depressing, sickening feeling as I no longer have the grey cloud that is school to look forward to the next day. I've set myself the target of using my extended break this summer to actually do something useful - I want to try and do a minimum of one really productive thing a day as I think that if I'm not careful I might waste the opportunity to gain loads of work and life experience that I wouldn't get if I just stayed in bed the whole time (which I can't deny is sometimes really tempting).
I also want to spend the time doing artwork, mainly as I am taking it for A Level next year but really don't think I've had anywhere near enough practice with painting. I used to be really scared of painting anything as I thought it was going to be really bad, so I just avoided it for two years and stuck to mainly textile-based pieces for my GCSE projects. Who knows, I just might become a painter yet (fingers crossed).




On the subject of art, this outfit was from my final GCSE exhibition on Thursday. The whole art department was converted into an exhibition of our work, which was actually a lot nicer and less embarrassing as I had expected. It was somewhat calming to see it all up and finished - considering the amount of nights I have spent working until late to avoid missing a deadline. I'd kind of forgotten about my old projects, and although it was a little unpleasant to be reminded of the collection of quite awful pieces I've produced over the two years, it was quite nice to see everything all together for the first time. It felt like everything was finally complete, if you know what I mean.





I wore an old pair of shorts that I bought in a sale in Urban Outfitters, a hawaiian print shirt from Camden, tights and socks from Topshop, shoes and bag from Rokit, belt and pearl fish pin from my Mum, and my necklace and favourite metallic threaded jacket from Beyond Retro. I haven't worn this jacket since it made it's appearance at London Fashion Week, and I'd forgotten just how much I love it. I may or may not be planning to spend the next week in it purely because it's shiny, and not much beats that in my opinion.





I wear these shoes way too much...I think I like them because they combine the platform that's really big right now with that sort of old school-shoe style that I really like. I also love them because they make me quite a bit taller, which is great as I really do need all the help I can get when it comes to height. I've never really thought of myself as small until fairly recently when I realised I am actually one of the shortest people in my entire year at school. I quite like it though, I mean I get to go in free to lots of things as I can often pass as under 16. The downside has to be never being able to reach anything in Sainsburys, and having to wait awkwardly for a nice tall person to come and help me reach.






Anyway, for my final art project (Order and Disorder) I looked at the natural order of things by researching the natural order of species in typical victorian collections. I then looked at how humans can disorder this by making species extinct, for example, and how we may try to reproduce the original natural order but can never make something as ordered as nature itself. It doesn't really make sense without looking through my sketchbook...but anyway my final piece was a huge frame of fifteen handmade unique moths, made to look like a typical collection (but jazzed up a little with some text and other details). They look a lot better in real life, but they took ages and so I thought I may as well show them to you (also I've talked about them loads on here).
I was surprised at just how varied everyone's projects were...the art department at my school is really good in that way as they really encourage you to produce quite unusual pieces, which then look really good all displayed together. I did kind of wish I'd had some of the other people's ideas though, as their projects looked so interesting.
Afterwards my family and I went out for a meal in Banners, a restaurant really near where I live that I only discovered a few weeks ago. My friends have been telling me to go for ages, and when I finally had the opportunity I realised why - the food is absolutely amazing, the portions are huge, and the atmosphere is so warm and comfortable you might as well be at home in your own living room (if your living room is covered in posters of Bob Dylan and serves complimentary popcorn, that is).





I hope you all have a good week...just as a reminder (sorry to keep mentioning it!) that the Company Style Blog Awards actually end this Friday on the 23rd of May, so this is our last week to vote! I was so lucky to be shortlisted, and am so grateful to you all for nominating me to get there, but obviously it would be so amazing to win and I would really appreciate it if you could just take a minute or two to vote for me here. You just select a blog and click 'next page', and keep doing that until you reach the 8th category (teen blog) where you select 'Rose and Vintage'. Then just keep clicking 'next page' and selecting a blog in each category until a box comes up and you can submit your votes!
Thankyou so much!


25 comments:

  1. I adore your outfit, and the jacket and shoes really speak to me. Your art is just so so so nice, I love the whole concept and everything. School over in the UK is so different from here, it just boggles my mind. We never have stuff like this, and it seems so cool. ahh, and I'm very jealous that you're almost done. I still have until the end of june until summer for me :(

    http://sonjatitanic.blogspot.ca/

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    1. thankyou so much! aw man I'm sure the time will fly by - hope you have a great summer :) x

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  2. I love your final piece! Very original, I'd like too see more of your sketch book, it looks really interesting. I finished my final piece a couple of weeks a go glad to have the wait off my shoulders, I fully sympathises with you about the painting problem, I can only paint in a impressionistic style, I've always favoured more realistic painting, very jealous of those who can aha. I wish we did a final exhibition at my school, looks like great fun. Good luck with your exams, i'm in full stress mode at the moment, so much to remember, worth it though :) xx

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    1. thankyou so much! I'm probably going to share more of it with you guys when I get it back from my teachers! and omg I feel your pain, when you see other people who can paint really well and you're just there like ..oh. hehe <3

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  3. I absolutely love your outfit, so, so cool :* And you're art looks amazing, I wish some of my course work looked that good haha xx

    stylesequinsandstripytights.blogspot.co.uk

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  4. I love this outfit and I'm with you on the love for shiny-ness in clothes. The amount of glitter that my wardrobe has accumulated in the past few months is ridiculous! I love your artwork - such a lovely concept and also massive props to you for keeping up this frequent blogging during exam season haha! xx

    thisisfrom-matilda.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. thanks! glitter and shiny-ness is the best! also omg I'm using it as an excuse to have revision breaks...I'm literally like 'mum I neeeeeed to go out for a bit because I need to do a blog post' and it works! haha x

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  5. Hey , I simply adore your blog it honestly has been a great inspiration for my own blog :)

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    1. thankyou so much! that is so lovely to hear :)

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  6. adorable!
    xx
    daniella
    simplybeautifulelegant.blogspot.com

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  7. GSCE art seems to be more interesting than the Scottish intermediate art I have done for the past two years (which consists of creating things which though I am proud of have no meaning behind them nor have any could really be considered as any form of art. Anyways, your outfit is so nice and I especially love your Hawaiian shirt, I always find it so difficult to find one which doesn't have too much of a garish bright print! :)

    http://zingerbee.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. thankyou so much! yeah I know what you mean, lots of them are a little too bright hehe!x

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  8. Wow, those moths are really cool!! I've always loved sculpture of animals made with unconventional materials. Your moths remind me of an artist, Mister Finch, and I actually thought that sculpture was by him at first!

    rockpapermisc.blogspot.com

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    1. Thankyou! I absolutely adore Mister Finch - this project was heavily inspired by his work!x

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  9. I'm very short but I'm through investing on high heels ahah
    About the popcorn: salty or sweet like caramel?
    You look so adorable, Ellie; is that a fish brooch!? Or part of the shirt? Praise!
    xx

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    1. thankyou! It happens to be a pearl fish brooch that belonged to my Mum when she was a teen.
      Also the popcorn is salty! (personal fave)
      xx

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  10. Your final project is so original, I really love the whole order and disorder concept. I also love those shoes, as a fellow *ahem* vertically-challenged person, something with a solid heel is always a bonus :) Hope you have a fantastic summer break!
    xx
    http://lilliputianlilac.blogspot.com

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    1. thankyou so much! I hope you have a good summer too! x

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  11. Love your shoes with the socks and tights. Exam period is tough, I know how you feel just power through. Lovely post x

    rubys-eyes.blogspot.com

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  12. I think what I love most about your style, among other things, is that you can mix all these prints together and it never clashes or looks loud or tacky. I love your shirt and that jacket best. And your project looks sooo cool!
    xx Tessie

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  13. Ah, Ellie, why so cool? It's so great to see people feeling really confident in their work - especially when it's as beautiful as your moths turned out. And I'm so with you on the painting and productive thing a day thing. I've figured the only way to be Munch is just to paint everyday until I figure out my own style and technique.
    Love, love, love, love your jacket and shoes and shirt. You have such an eye for mixing prints.

    xx

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