Shine Silently Concert

So this weekend was pretty important for me. I have been practising guitar alone in my room for the past 4 months working on my singing and learning new songs to be performed at a concert at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath. 

The venue is so nice, just big enough, and they had tables out with candles so it was all very beautiful and atmospheric!

The concert was especially important as it was in memory of my Auntie Shirley who died suddenly of a stroke last year. She always did a lot of fundraising for Childrens Hospice South West so all the proceeds from the tickets and raffle are going to them (and we made a very decent amount too!) 

I sang backing with my dad and his band before doing a few songs myself. We then had local artists Sadie Fleming (so smiley, and an amazing voice!) and Johnny Coppin headlining. 

All in all it was an amazing evening, all the family and friends came along and the venue couldn't have fitted any more people! 

And now I have to go and get on with some uni work! 

Lets go to the beach

Had some friends visiting us this weekend which meant all of yesterday was spent hungover (I also went out again last night-double hangover!) and today we decided to take a trip to the beach as the weather was really nice.

We drove to Seaton beach in Cornwall, haven't been there before but there are some really nice rock formations and the rocks are all different colours and patterns (I used to do goegraphy so I like these sorts of things!)

Anyho, took the camera out so heres a few photos, if you ever get a chance to go there there is a really nice cafe' by the beach, its sortof sheltered and open at the same time, really good food and nice views :)

Plans for the new year

I have decided to use my instagram feed to show some of my plans for this year, not really resolutions because I never make new years resolutions, more just a few reminders for the coming months :)

1-Never stop drawing, even if your brain hurts from doing the same thing all day just find another sketchbook and doodle some weird things in it for fun! use this but for drawings.

2-Keep hooping. I started to learn hula hooping this year and I am hoping to get good enough to perform by the summer, when I feel I have improved enough I will reward myself with an LED hoop (because they are awesome)

3-Keep playing guitar, go to open mics. I am performing at a concert at the end of this month, I can count my public performances on one hand, I want to get to the point where I can play without shaking!

4-Make more things, do more craft fairs. I have enjoyed trying to sell more this year, though it is hard when you fail, I have learnt lots from every fair I have done and am slowly getting better at working out what is worth the effort of making and what people like. Will hopefully set up an online shop soon.

5-Eat more food like this. When deadlines loom my studio diet starts to look more like this:-

 Leading to: 6-Take food into the studio so that this isn't my dinner!

7-Work really hard on dissertation and keep motivated.

8-Buy more illustrated books and comics. Also read more, I started reading books on the kindle app for my IPad and have really enjoyed it, having not read a novel since the summer of first year! 

9-Wear animal hats. That is purely because I like this photo :) 

Whats is everyone else doing with their 2013? 

Christmas in the lakes

So this is way overdue since I didn't have my laptop over christmas and I haven't had a chance to edit my photos. 

I went to the Lake District with my family for a week over christmas.

I loved having this whole week to play around with my new camera, here is what we got up to!

Lots of walking in the hills.

We found some logs which people had shoved coins into, anyone know why this is? some kind of lucky charm?

We searched out waterfalls

And Robins

We had a blue and white christmas tree

I made christmas biscuits with sparkles

Mum knitted me and my sister awesome hats!

We resurrected the family tradition of indoor fireworks, making some holes in the tablecloth! 

And we also went out on my sisters inflatable kayak and made up songs about floating on a lake!

What did everyone else do for christmas? Get any exciting presents?

Home for christmas

I am now home for christmas and I have been spending this week getting ready for christmas in the Lake District with the family. Having so many deadlines so close to christmas has meant i haven't chilled out for a while so its nice to have not a lot to do for once!

I photographed my cousins wedding a couple of weeks ago which was really fun, if a little stressful as I had never done it before! I decided after that weekend that my SLR was getting a bit sad and old and it was time to invest in a new one so I managed to trade it in for a new Nikon just in time for christmas :) 

Here are some christmassy pictures from around my house. I also downloaded Lightroom last week which is an absolute godsend if you are editing large batches of photos, i would definitely recommend it.

Because we are nice to the environment these days we have a willow christmas tree!

My dogs are fairly rubbish at staying still for photos... Toby just likes to run straight at the camera and try and jump on me rather than look at the lense...