Autumn

It's such a lovely time of year we're in at the moment that I can't help but notice the beauty of every tree and landscape. 

The colours are bright and warm and create a startling contrast to the grey skys and black roads. It just makes me happy.

Magic

I visited this garden three years ago, it's at a house (an old church i think it is) that we stayed at and everything about it was lovely. I was different to the way I am now but even then I knew a magical place when I saw one. This was one. I felt like I'd arrived at the secret garden, truly beautiful.

I'd like to visit there again one day. I haven't found a place like it since.

Books

This is one of my shelves on my bookshelf at home at the moment. It has most of my favourites on it but I've had to begin double shelving! This is mainly distressing because I like to stare at the prettiness of my books as they're displayed.

Lunch break

Mmm.. Deliciousness to get through the day. Yums.

I'm currently listening to the Josh Thomas and Friend podcast and eating a falafel toastie and a warm hotcho. Feeling warm and snuggly with my warm lunch and woollen mittens.

Shame on you Disney.

An extremely rough comic strip about the negative imagery being marketed to children by Disney. Inspired by their decision to redesign Princess Merida.

If you'd like to read further on the matter, try here: http://www.hypable.com/2013/05/12/brave-princess-merida-design-change/

This is the current comparison between the two:

If you look closely:

-Merida's eyes have been further outlined to be given a seductive look (just what we want all little girls to aspire to!)

-Her hair has been compacted into a neat wave (Merida's messy tangle of curls is such a huge part of her realistic look)

-Her neckline has been altered dramatically. Before, sitting straight across her chest and finishing near the tops of her shoulders, her sleeves now sit dramatically off the shoulders and create a far lower neckline.

-Where is her bow and arrows? Nowhere to be seen apparently...women don't need a passion or a hobby when they're this perfect.

-And furthermore- her belt is there to hold her bows! Now it's just sitting there as fashion accesory with a strange sash attached to it.

-Don't even get me started on the waist reduction (remember that scene in which Merida is forced to wear a corset and can barely sit down with it on?)

I just have so many issues with this, it's breaking my heart. Not only does this take away from the strong and independent reality of Merida's character, it shows little girls that you need to change yourself in order to be considered beautiful, and it shows little boys that this is a woman's role in the world- being pretty.

Hermione

This is probably the only time I've ever been truly happy with my depiction of a character from the idea I had of them in my head.

Busyness and pressure

I've been so busy with uni and work recently I've barely had time to paint. Something happened recently though- I began to enjoy writing my novel. Now as most people write novels because its what they want to do, this doesn't seem so strange a thing to happen. The thing is that I've not enjoyed writing for about two years, and that has a lot to do with me and my indecisiveness in what I want to do. I have always adored drawing and painting, but writing was a love of mine that only kicked in at the age of 16 or so. It derived from an intense love of reading and wanting to write a novel I'd love to read myself. However art has always been my first love and it had been the direction I was heading throughout all of my highschool years. It was only in the last months of year.12 that I made the decision to go with writing over art. My reasoning at the time being that I'd always keep up my art no matter what, but I needed motivation to continue writing. And I will say, doing my writing course has done so much for my writing and I'm grateful to now have those skills, but in all honesty, that reasoning was absolute crap. It wasn't exactly that I was afraid of what people would think of my choosing to study art, it was that I believed it might be viewed as more 'academically' pleasing and impressive to be studying writing. I think this has a lot to do with the school environment I grew up in. I was continuously taught by many teachers and authority figures that art (and to a less extent, English/ writing), was a hobby, not a profession. If I wanted a career I needed to focus on maths and business and that was that. My talents and passions were belittled until I began to feel that I was worth less than those people who were academically brilliant and were headed towards completing degrees that would catapult them straight into big money making jobs that are apparently the only definitions of success.
I know better now and feel more confident in my talents than I once did and am glad I've done my writing course as its been a learning experience that's taught me much about life as well as the written word. I'm also excited to begin creating my own pieces of art in the coming year and hopefully getting somewhere further with that.
But for now, I shall drink my tea.