100 Theme Project

Day 54: Tower.

2011-01-05T04:55:00.002Z

"...and as the child in her was playing the oldest game in the world, her body, following the course of her imagination, had climbed to the sill of the window where it stood with its back to the room. For how long she would have stood there had she not been jerked back into a sudden consciousness of the world - by someone knocking upon the door of her room, it is impossible to know, but starting at the sound and finding herself dangerously balanced upon a narrow sill above the deep water, she trembled uncontrollably, and in trying to turn without sufficient thought or care, she slipped and clutching at the face of the wall at her side found nothing to grasp so that she fell, striking her dark head on the sill as she passed, and was already unconscious before the water received her, and drowned her at its ease."

Day 53: Keeping a Secret.

2010-12-22T01:45:00.002Z

One night I cut you open

To see if I could find

The secret you were hiding

But when I looked inside

You were completely hollow

Your secret was just that

And I felt the deepest sorrow

That my boy was just an act.

(In hindsight, I realise that I promised this theme to the love of my life. Many apologise, love of my life.)

Day 52: Deep In Thought.

2010-12-22T00:06:00.001Z

The creation of this piece was a little bit muddled, in that I originally drew a man witnessing an explosion and just standing there. I initially wanted to capture the feeling I get a lot of being really immersed in experience, in all the small things around me. I had this dream once that I saw a mushroom cloud in the distance and that I just stood in awe, completely calm. Fascinating, huh? Yawn. Anyway, so I was drawing that and then I didn't really like it so I changed it a little and turned the mushroom cloud into a tree.

I went ahead and painted it and then when I was nearing finishing it, I realised that it is very similar to a piece I fell in love with a while ago: Wow. I'd already painted a lot of it and was quite fond so I figured I'd post it anyway alongside encouraging you to go and admire that far better, very beautiful painting. Lovely.

Oh, and here a couple of colour variations:

Day 51: Sport.

2010-12-21T22:01:00.000Z

Okay, I've decided to be so productive that I'm going to post several a day so that maybe by the end of the holiday, I'll have made some real progress. This painting relates to the story of Athena and Arachne. I'm not terribly into sport or competition so my immediate thought was the story with the race and the golden apples which then made me think of this story which seemed like it would be nicer to paint.

Anyway, enjoy :)

Day 50: Breaking the Rules.

2010-12-21T02:17:00.000Z

Yeah, that's right. Two in two days. And guess what? There's totally going to be another one tomorrow.

This might not make an awful lot of sense but I read the theme and was a bit eye-rolly. And then I started searching for those mad laws and stumbled on a Liverpudlian law which states that it is illegal for women to be topless unless they are a clerk in a tropical fish shop. Or something. So really, it's up to you to decide whether or not this (slightly deformed) topless woman is breaking the law as she could be a clerk... but she could also just be a fish enthusiast who has popped in.

Enjoy judging her.

Day 49: Stripes.

2010-12-20T22:46:00.000Z

Tomorrow will mark 2 years since I started this blog. That feels a little bit embarrassing. But man, am I going to make a dent in this baby this Christmas. Yeah, I really talk like that.

Day 48: Childhood.

2010-07-18T21:42:00.004+01:00

So, this came out of two places... firstly, the idea that people spend way too much of their time wishing their lives away, rather than enjoying the benefits of where they are at that specific time and the second is a more focussed version of that point: that children wish away their childhood because they want to grow up. Obviously, that's really depressing from this side of the fence. Why would anyone want to give up childhood for responsibility?

I've actually drawn this a few times now and lost it. And uh, just now I painted it in a lonely, weeping rage. So... it's finally done. Enjoy?

Anyway, you can have two versions. The actual painted version and a manipulated one. God knows, I love to be manipulative. But then, that's a perk that I've enjoyed since childhood. It's not an adult perk!

Day 47: Creation.

2010-03-13T23:35:00.002Z

This is pretty simple. I don't really feel like it needs to be explained and I'm perhaps feeling a little too lazy to do so anyway. This is in no way about regret.

Day 46: Family.

2010-03-04T21:39:00.003Z

Phwoar, Decemberist lyrics. Or at least, the ones that I hear. So, I decided to totally bypass the actual theme of family and went for romance, as per usual... because see, as a female, I am just completely obsessed with it *reads Mills and Boon* Uh.

Yeah, I stumbled across something earlier that someone said a long time ago. They were talking about a party coming up and to paraphrase they said "it'll be good - I have a couple of friends coming, some family... and my girlfriend who is a lovely combination of both."

That was a pretty beautiful sentiment and so I decided to steal that and put it into this messy painting :)

Oh, er and I just added another version which I painted in the inverse colours. I rather like that one...

Day 45: Illusion.

2010-03-02T23:40:00.000Z

Mm, I did this ages ago. Weirdly, I got into the habit of painting onto tissues on a whim because I noticed that they soak up colour just beautifully. It honestly looks so delicious when you're doing it. Trust me to drag in the word 'disillusionment' eh? That word suits my day to day life ridiculously well, mainly because I my perception of everything around me is mainly made up of illusions that I create for myself. Somehow, they seem to make life seem a little more beautiful for a short while. After a while, it gets a bit difficult and tiresome to keep trying to keep myself blinded to the reality of everything.

On a slightly less bleak tone: wow, bright colours.

Oh, this is another version I did way back. It's pretty much on the exact same theme just obviously there is a massively obvious visual metaphor sat plainly in view whereas the one I prefer is pretty abstract and indistinct. I did ages ago when I was on the canal boat with my entire family... It was a nice weekend on the canal It was cramped and a little bit stressful at times but I slept on the living room floor next to the fire that weekend so that was pretty cosy.

I really miss my family which is interesting since the next theme is.... 'family.' That will keep me frustrated for a while. Oh, theme list.

Day 44: Two Roads.

2010-03-01T22:46:00.007Z

Mmhm. Two Roads. I'm still barely getting anywhere with this list but hey, one day I'll finish itand then I'll probably mourn it. True. I decided to give up with this. I've been working on it for ages. I actually have a lot more versions than this, including an oil pastel version which is pinned to my wall but I'm not particularly fond of any of them really.

I decided to settle on the one that got across the idea that I had in my head that was strongest. I was working with two things in mind. A visual idea and a more conceptual one. The visual one was obviously about hands and was born out of thinking about life-lines and that kind of thing. The conceptual idea was more to do with the idea that there are any number of ways that you can choose to live your life but everybody ends up in the same place ultimately. I suppose that sums it up. But you could apply that idea in a less bleak way.

These ones were all just watercolour and ink pens. Usually I'd be all about the biro but I've been in the mood to see ink run. There's something delicious about it. I'd rather like to incorporate that image into a film somewhere sometime.

As much as this one has driven me completely up the wall, I've enjoyed painting again. Hopefully it continues a little longer this time before I get distracted from it all again. I think it would probably be fairly beneficial if I did keep doing it as I can feel myself slipping out of the mania a little which is worrying on the verge of a fairly big project...

Day 43: Dying.

2010-01-11T00:54:00.003Z

This one comes with a long rambly story. Back at uni, if you walk through the backstreet route to my nearest Asda, you pass a house with a pear tree. For the whole of October, I always went that way and whenever I passed the house, there was a mound of rotting pears under the tree and it plays on my mind sometimes. It's just such a strong vivid image and every time I think about it, I am reminded of the pungent smell. Anybody who I talk to regularly, will probably have heard me ramble about that tree before.

Anyway, then a few days ago I started scribbling in my poetry book about a woman who planted a pear tree as a child and grew up with it but when she then dies, the pear tree carries on living, carries on producing fruit but as she is no longer there, the fruit builds up and decays. For some reason, I feel quite strongly about that image.

Enough ramble now. I hope you like it. It's not one of my best but it's not one of my worst either.

However, I do think that the background could do with a little more. But nevermind.

Day 42: Standing Still.

2010-01-10T00:40:00.008Z

Mmhm. Long gaps, I know. This one is about unrequited love I suppose. Our lovely young lady is filled with adoration for the statue of Venus - the Godess of love - who continues to stand still and uninterested, unmoved by said adoration.

I imagined this one to be better than it turned out.

I used this stock image as a reference point for the girl because I momentarily fell in love with it. If you want to see some more beautiful ladies... clickherepls.

Day 41: Teamwork.

2009-11-13T07:15:00.004Z

Yeah, Teamwork. I did this at least a month ago. Um, so I had a lot of trouble coming up with a visual idea for this one because personally, I am a bit of a loner and tend to work alone with everything I do. Well, usually anyway.

For this one I decided to look at insects because they're a really good example of extremely effectively teamwork. As it happens, last night I was rambling to Andrew on the phone about how amazing ants are and my rant got to a point where I started to feel really disillusioned and insignificant. That was pretty cool. Uh.

I did that colour invert thing here again where I decided what colour I wanted things to be and then painted it in the opposite colours so that when I inverted the colours, they appeared luminescent and eerie. I thought that fit the image quite well.

Day 40: Rated.

2009-11-12T11:22:00.000Z

I took a really long time to get to this point. There were some technical issues here and there, basically revolving around me moving to university without a scanner or the last painting I had done. So for a while I got hung up on it and then a couple of weekends ago, I went ahead and did another picture for Rated, shortly before returning home and taking a photograph of the original one. Oh dear.

The new one looks at social ratings. It's about how your physical appearance can change where you fit into society, often determining whether you are at the top or the bottom of the pack. Being attractive can mean that people are nicer to you, more polite and friendly, whilst being unattractive can mean that you are often ignored or overlooked, even used as a figure of fun and therefore rejected from social groups. Heavy?

The old one was called "You VS Spock" in my head and was measuring how much I liked my boyfriend in relation to how much I liked Spock. It was a laugh really. Especially since I like Spock more than I like anyone else in the known universe. Oh, Spock.

I don't really know which one I prefer. I just figured that I'd put the new one as the main entry because for some reason that made sense when I decided to do it. I can't really justify it now, sadly. Hopefully, I might be able to find access to a scanner soon because so much colour information and detail is lost in photographs.

Day 39: Dreams.

2009-06-04T03:09:00.003+01:00

Can you believe how long this took me? Because I can. I have the gift of faith, you see. I did about 4000 versions of this which is why the title has gradually changed over time, much like how the message of God gets distorted through time.

This isn't one of my best pieces but it isn't one of my worst either. I painted it really quickly because I wasn't feeling very patient and so it's an incy wincy bit messy. But on the other hand, wow, look - It's done.

This one is about dreams in a sense of surrealism and comfort. I've been having a lot of comforting dreams lately as opposed to the ones I get more often and so I thought I would do a piece that had a touch of surrealism in the colours and the presence of all the watching eyes, mixed with the idea of comfort, perfection and warmth that dreams can have.

Day 38: Abandoned.

2009-04-24T06:34:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure I feel about this piece particularly... I don't think I connected very well with the theme. Usually I would have then chosen to do something based on a piece of literature but instead I just went ahead and did something quite clichéd. I guess I can't win them all. Besides, the colours are quite tasty.

Day 37: Eyes.

2009-04-23T06:20:00.002+01:00

This is a fairly old idea which I decided to recreate and re-use. I did a unit on cityscapes for my GCSE exam so that was about four years ago, I suppose. In total, the piece was made up of three A1 pieces and the piece linked is just the middle section. The original idea was simply a visual mesh of elements of cities that interest me, primarily: surveillence, light, over-crowding, technology etc. There's another piece I've done that is also quite similar here, which I painted when I was in Brazil.

Day 36: Precious Treasure.

2009-04-15T00:08:00.002+01:00

Okay so that's supposed to be oil. I either wanted to do oil or water for this one. I thought oil was a more interesting one to go with. This one has a very similar look to the last one, no?

Day 35: Hold My Hand.

2009-04-14T23:56:00.003+01:00

Here we are, finally. There's a long drawn out story behind this one which I would tell except it would probably ruin the picture itself. I love nature by the way, if you hadn't noticed. You can interpret this how you like... or not at all.

I left the writing in for Cassie, even though I'd usually cut it out. So you'd better enjoy my bad handwriting, Cass.

Day 34: Stars.

2009-03-27T23:54:00.002Z

Sorry for the massive delay. Originally this came from the idea I had for a tattoo I wanted which I found out I couldn't get which is sad. Secondly, this is about the life of stars and how they are dead by the time we see them. Sad.

Enjoy :)

Day 33: Expectations.

2009-02-26T01:50:00.002Z

I love these little guys I doodle. How adorable :) Um, so this is about following in the footsteps of your parents. I don't have anything else to say. Enjoy!

Day 32: Night.

2009-02-25T01:40:00.003Z

Originally I wanted to do 'Night' about my favourite nighttime chat-pal; Cassie. But I couldn't think of a way of weedling her in. Sorry, Cass <3 This can still be dedicated to you, mind :)

xXx

Day 31: Flowers.

2009-02-24T18:29:00.000Z

I think this is utterly adorable. I don't think it needs much explaining :) I hope you can read the text... I know it's a bit dark.

Day 30: Under the Rain.

2009-02-23T23:01:00.002Z

Hm, so a few days ago I posted a painting that was essentially 'Under the Rain' but having not planned ahead particularly well I then encountered the same idea again. However, I have dealt with it a little differently to make up for it. Fail?

I rather like this. It's kind of cute I think. I like the pipes at the top :) I'm not sure sure about the flowers and grass but nevermind.

It's looking vaguely like I'm back on top of my blog, huh? :)

Day 29: Happiness.

2009-02-22T09:21:00.001Z

I cut it off but at the top it said;

"I'd rather be happy and alone
Than be unhappy in a crowd"

So that pretty much explains it I guess. It looks quite bleak, looking at it now but it's about happiness, I swear :)

Day 28: Sorrow.

2009-02-21T23:42:00.006Z

A couple of months ago, when I was still working I had a period of writing a lot of poetry based on the mythology of various cultures.

I became particularly obsessed with the tragic love stories like the story of Orpheus and Euridice and that of Osiris and Isis. I'm still in the process of working on a couple of pieces.

I did a drawing for this originally which took a really long time and so rather than copying it I made copies and then worked over the top. However, the second one is actually painted on the original piece. I decided to post a few versions though because whilst I prefer the last two, I did a fair bit of post-production.

So I posted a traditionally completed version as the main piece but personally, I think I prefer the yellow-y one. I had an idea for a version coloured entirely in the colour of terracotta pottery... and I painted two like that but they weren't very striking.

Day 27: Foreign.

2009-02-20T09:16:00.003Z

This is very childlike, haha. I think this would look really good on a T-shirt though. Guess which one is the foreigner. GO ON.

Day 26: Tears.

2009-02-19T03:05:00.002Z

And I'm back again. This was inspired by a title I used long long ago called "Tears of Mother Nature," referring to raindrops. I used the two colours I seem to be wearing all the time at the moment; green and purple.

I wish I had more to say.

See you again tomorrow ;)

Day 25: Trouble Lurking.

2009-01-31T03:59:00.002Z

This piece was basically about iconography and symbollism, particularly looking at red as a sign of danger. I'm not sure how readable it is but it says 'the lady in red is destined to die.'

There's not much else to say really is there? I love string... and flicking paint. Anyone who wants to flick paint is always welcome to join me <3

Day 24: No Time.

2009-01-30T23:38:00.002Z

So, I'm back. I took my time, rather. Basically I took a couple of weeks off due to a massive college/UCAS issue. But I've got positive replies for my top two univerities now so I don't feel too stressed out about the whole shebang.

Onto the theme. 'No Time' had me a little stumped although when I originally got this topic I ended up watching a brilliant Lost episode that centred around time travel and one of my favourite characters which then ended up in a couple of pieces of Lost fanart, especially since I then went on to be quite ill that weekend.

I didn't really want to submit Lost fanart to this thing because it didn't feel right so I kept exploring various ideas and images different ideas to convey and eventually came out with the main piece which I thought was quite cute. It's bigger than most of the pieces I have done so far, even though it's only A4. I used oil pastels that my dad got me for my birthday :) It was actually my dad who got me into oil pastels in the first place which is cool :)

The silhouette in the background is supposed to be of some cute-sie creatures building a church which was meant to represent people who feel the need to devote their lives to religion or work as the piece overall was about how you can be making the most of your life when you're doing nothing at all; that simply enjoying your surroundings is a good way to spend life. On the back I wrote "there's not enough time to be worrying about wasting it."

Day 23: Cat.

2009-01-15T16:19:00.003Z

Somewhat bizarrely, this actually took me a really long time. It's not of a very good quality... at all. Basically, I got really hung up on wanting to have really straight lines and just because of the nature of the canvas, I couldn't get them. When I have got a better image of it I will put that up. The one up currently is just a webcam shot because whenever I have taken a picture of it so far, it's just been too shiny and... yeah. Blah. Whereas in this one, I suppose a lot of the colour has been lost. Originally I was going for a kind of... Art Deco thing. And I was going to put more in the composition than I did. Specifically I had a design for a window to go in the corner but my first canvas was destroyed in mysterious circumstances and so I used a far smaller canvas (about A5, the original being A3...) so I thought it would look better left simpler.

I have been considering doing a second one of the same size in a similar style to make a set.. maybe?

I also thought it might be cute to put up a picture of my workspace at the time because it was such an absolute mess, haha. So there you go. Enjoy.

Um, yeah. Hopefully I will remember to put up a better image soon.

OH, LORDY! I forgot! So there is a story behind this one. I was thinking ages ago about what I'd do for each one and when were back at 'Memory' I considered doing this and then went for something else. When I was little and I still lived in Hythe with mum and dad, Sarah and I were always really naggy about pets but dad was allergic to cats. So mum painted a stencil silhouette of a black cat at the bottom of the stairs. And this is kind of what this is about. My first cat :)

Day 22: Mother Nature.

2009-01-13T23:06:00.001Z

I wouldn't say that this is the traditional image of Mother Nature. In fact, I wasn't going to go for something like this originally. I was going to go for the more traditional green smothered version. But then I kind of thought about how nature is more than plants... obviously. And so I decided to go for something a little more atmospheric.

Also, butterflies are really weird and incredibly impressive so I wanted to use them in there.

Day 21: Vacation.

2009-01-12T01:11:00.008Z

I would say that I had a little bit of trouble this one. Basically I think it was originally because of the origin of the word 'vacation' and how it's not really a word I would use. Anyway, once I had got past that issue, I realised that I actually had no idea of what I would do.

I had this idea of doing something about how people often don't really enjoy the time they get off from work because they end up working through their holidays as well. Generally, I liked the idea of doing it about people who find it hard to leave work behind them... which I think is most people really.

I found myself itching to do some image-manipulation today so I was playing around a bit and have decided to put up a couple of bits I did.

Other than the bold colours, I don't think there is an awful lot I like about this post. I've been told that I am being picky but I am fairly certain that the reality is that people are just being polite.

Day 20: Fortitude.

2009-01-11T23:34:00.007Z

This is fairly embarrassing but I actually had to look this one up on dictionary.com. Yep. Embarrassing. I had a vague idea of what it might mean but I was in no way sure. Either way, my understanding of it wasn't quite right so thanks dictionary.com:

Fortitude

For"ti*tude\, n. [L. fortitudo, fr. fortis strong. See Fort.]

1. Power to resist attack; strength; firmness. [Obs.]

The fortitude of the place is best known to you. --Shak.

2. That strength or firmness of mind which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression, or despondency; passive courage; resolute endurance; firmness in confronting or bearing up against danger or enduring trouble.
Extolling patience as the truest fortitude. --Milton. Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues. --Locke.

Anyway, this is a fairly daft effort considering I am not good at portraying anatomy, movement, people (generally) or expression. But this was my best attempt. I had this idea of doing a painting of a wounded woman running towards the frame carrying a child but the sad fact is that I simply don't have the talent to do something like that. Oh, woe.

Tomorrow is 'Cat' I believe. Schwee! :)

Day 19: Grey.

2009-01-10T23:11:00.000Z

This is kind of a review of a poem I wrote a long time ago. I'm coming to find that a lot of people around me have become very cynical and have been worn down by their progression to adulthood. I guess... I find it sad... because in a way it's like a tiny death in one way but in another way it's the death of an entire personality that I loved.

I've seen it happen quite a few times and it's very... disheartening.

Anyway, I don't like this piece. At all. Ho ho ho.

I like the little crow-thing on the bench though. That is mighty cute.

Day 18: Rainbow.

2009-01-09T23:11:00.003Z

This is the smallest picture I have done so far. It's probably only about 7cm across. Adorable. Anyway, um. This isn't very tidy because I didn't neaten it up after I finished. But I kind of like the messiness. Phwoar. Messiness.

"How am I to compete with such vibrancy?"

Apply that to what you like. Read it how you like.

Day 17: Blood.

2009-01-08T23:11:00.003Z

I wanted to go for something vampiric and I kept thinking about it and drawing all these images that were obviously vampiric whereas this is more vague... I'd say.

Underneath it I wrote "blood gets everywhere" but I took it out of the scan because I thought it was kind of cheesey. Above it, I wrote "you can read this vampirically if you so wish." I do tend to scribble little notes all over the pages of my sketches to give myself some idea of want I'm doing. I also wrote "I give myself to you, both body and spirit; I die so that you might live."

So anyway, although I'm not one hundred percent on this one, I kind of like the simplicity in style... it's more about iconography than people or situations.

Day 16: Questioning.

2009-01-07T23:11:00.003Z

This was a tough one. But I got there in the end. Rather than me explain what I had hoped for this and then you being disappointed, you can decide what it means and just enjoy that.

Day 15: Silence.

2009-01-06T23:41:00.002Z

"Silence is golden" is a phrase I wrote many many times over today. There were about four pages worth of 'Silence' ideas and I ended on this one... It's another that I'm not entirely convinced by but to be honest, I'm not that convinced by anything I do at the minute, haha.

I wanted to convey the idea of tranquility. Originally I looked at 'silence' as something darker... but decided to go with my personal feelings on it... and look at 'silence' as a peaceful thing.

Day 14: Smile.

2009-01-05T23:46:00.002Z

"Smile though your heart is breaking
Smile even though it's aching"

Last night I was feeling a bit low and was singing the song 'smile' to myself for a while and it's one of those songs which is actually pretty depressing. Anyway, so I decided to work on the idea of putting on a smile or a brave face when you're feeling pretty bleak.

Unimpressive, I know. But I like how simple it is.

And the crescent-y smile on the hand is cute, methinks.

Day 13: Misfortune

2009-01-04T22:33:00.001Z

This is really cheesey. So... misfortune led to Miss Fortune which led to Lady Luck. I know... awful. Um, this is actually a bad drawing anyway. All in all, disappointment all round. I wish I could have done something I liked but honestly, at this point, I cared more about getting up to date than doing a decent piece of work.

On the other hand, I have something amazing planned for a later date. I bought a canvas and everything. Wow, yes.

Day 12: Insanity.

2009-01-03T22:28:00.003Z

This one is about Aileen Wuornos and therefore, this must be the closest I have got to sticking to the theme, since usualy I deviate it in some way or just use it as a springboard and end up somewhere totally different.

I became interested in Aileen when I was younger after reading about her in a book called Deadlier Than The Male which became my favourite book quite quickly. Anyway, Aileen's life was riddled with misery and tradgedy which all lead up to her being raped and beaten by a 'client' (she was a prostitute) who she then shot. She became addicted to the power and just kept killing. Having said that, she only killed 7 men but still got the death sentence.

If you want to hear the full story, don't wiki it because the wikipedia page misses out most of the interesting stuff.

Day 11: Memory.

2009-01-02T22:25:00.002Z

It's kinda little... so I'll tell you what it says.

I always wondered
If you knew
How hard it was
Forgetting you.

How twee. Anyway, this was about someone I was in love with and how I spent a few months trying to forget about them even though they were basically the happiest time in my whole life. I say whole life as though I've had a long life... but that's part of being young and naive, which I am.

Ramble ramble ramble.

When I finished this I realised how similar it is to Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless mind... which made me feel daft.

Day 10: Breathe Again.

2009-01-01T23:00:00.000Z

This one isn't particularly clear... um... so, that's a corset. And... she's smoking a cigarette. I would say more about it and explain it but I think it's fairly obvious. You know... naked lady *giggles*

Day 9: Drive.

2008-12-31T23:14:00.000Z

I did a few versions for this one... again. I keep finding that there are loads of directions that I could go in and then being unsure of which direction to then take. Anyway, I chose this one in the end, as opposed to the others which were more car-related, if a little experimental. Meanwhile this one is more about 'drive' in a motivational

Particularly, this is looking at how as a person I gain a lot of zest for life and inspiration from the people around me, particularly people for whom I have romantic feelings (interesting phrasing there...). This looks a little weird but the idea is that she is being carried away from the flames by the heart. It doesn't really have the sense of movement that it should but that's just because I am unimpressive :( and perhaps I didn't really think about enough before doing it, haha. Um, the symbols in the heart do mean something... you can be assured of that.

Generally... I'm not sure I actually like this one but it's the best of a bad lot.

Day 8: Innocence.

2008-12-30T23:01:00.000Z

A little morbid perhaps but I decided to go with the 'loss of innocence' more than innocence itself. This image is particuarly based on Lucy Westernra in Dracula... just because I always adored her. I was going to have her in white originally but then I thought it wouldn't fit well within the colour scheme... and there were other reasons... like how black symbolises death in a way.

I like the image of the baby being cradled in her arms because it questions the role of women as mothers within the concept of female serial killers. An obvious case would be the Moors Murderers where Mira Hindley was really villainised (fair enough) whilst Ian Brady kind of got ignored a bit by the press, even though he was incredibly brutal.

Anyway, I don't think this needs much more rambling. I keep drawing ginger women.

Day 7: Heaven

2008-12-29T22:05:00.000Z

So this is kind of about perception of paradise and how everyone's idea of paradise would be different ideally. For example... personally... a place full of religious guys... really judgemental over-the-top religious people... that would be horrible.

Enjoy? ^^

Day 6: Break Away

2008-12-28T23:00:00.000Z

This actually started as a joke. It was a doodle I was doing at work. And then I got home and looked at it and thought it was kinda cute. So I scribbled all over the back with oil pastel and printed it onto a thicker piece of paper so I could paint it. Sadly, it means that some of the details is actually lost in the cliffs. Essentially I could have gone back and filled it in... But I didn't, clearly.

In case you can't read my awful handwriting, on the left it says "The White Cliffs Experience." I live very close to Dover... about half an hour drive at most and whilst I was originally thinking 'Break Away' in an emotional sense I decided to go for the more literal erosion sense. I just kind of liked the idea of little islands forming away from the cliffs with crazy royal families and laws, haha.

Okay... I live in a fantasy world. But it's got to be better than the real world ^^

Day 5: Seeking Solace

2008-12-26T21:25:00.000Z

I must have restarted this one about a thousand times over. I had a really clear idea that I desperately wanted to use but... I could portray it quite as I wanted to so I gave up and in the end, decided to go back to this painting which I actually started quite a while ago - so I decided to finish that for Seeking Solace instead. Otherwise I would never ever have moved on. I was disappointed enough to have missed doing the Christmas Day one and it's not as though it was because I didn't have time; I just found myself completely unable to get across the idea I wanted. Either way, I thought I'd show you some of the other stuff I did too. I've got about 10 versions of 'Seeking Solace'.

Basically, I was trying to get across the idea of desperately looking for someone in whom you can take solace... but being unable to find someone who is prepared to listen without passing judgement. But also, it's about then bottling things up and keeping everything to yourself, essentially. So again, I am taking a negative perception of the offered theme... looking at it in reverse. How pessimistic of me! Anyway, if you click on the little ones you can get a bigger view. The one with the path was a bit of a laugh... What can I say? I love bright colours and cute things.

Oh, anyway. The one I have actually gone ahead and posted. The lyrics are of course from Exit Music, Radiohead. That one is looking more at isolation and nature as a form of escape and comfort. Ignoring how childish it is, it's got a very preraphaelite feel to it... which is all lover-ly.

Hopefully I can try to forget 'Seeking Solace' and move on with my life and onto 'Break Away.'

Day 4: Dark

2008-12-24T17:57:00.000Z

This was a bit of an experiement. I painted it in the inverse colours, scanned it and then inverted the colours. So the whole time I was painting it with the colour wheel in mind. It was an interesting way to work though. The dark is actually something that I find very comforting so I don't know why I went for this "what lurks in the dark" kind of image. But I think it has that ethereal and sublime feel to it and so my love of the night comes across in that at least, I'd say.

Day 3: Light

2008-12-23T17:15:00.000Z

I realise this has a lot of 'dark' in it but lets face it, light can't exist without dark there. So hah. Um, again... the composition appears to have suffered due to timing and therefore, lack of consideration. I wonder if these pictures will get better as I go along? Maybe. That would be a nice bonus.

Also... PRIMARY COLOURS <3

Day 2: Love

2008-12-22T21:21:00.000Z

This is an idea I have been toying with for a while. The scanning of this has made it weirdly dark which is something that I'm finding hard to correct. Um, I wrote a load of poetry with this image in mind ages ago... So you can have some of that unfinished arrangement of words:

Rusted and bloody
The chain emerges from my chest
And disappears into yours.

Cut out my heart
And drag it behind you
Screeching and
Spitting sparks.

Hopefully they won't
Catch and burn you.

What can I say? It's a working progress <3

Day 1: Introduction.

2008-12-21T14:57:00.000Z

I'd like to dedicate this one to James who inspired to me to finally start the 100 picture challenge which I have been planning on starting since about June.

Originally when making this I was going to then black in the background but having painted it, I then looked at it and found that I loved how messy and organic it was. I loved all the splodges of paint at the top and how the paint just drips outside of the lines.

In terms of 'Introduction' I thought of this more in terms of 'Introductions', meeting people and how first meetings can be somewhat legendary. This one is referring to a specific meeting that has been very much on my mind recently. But on the other hand, it's also an introduction of myself as both an artist and as a person.

Hopefully I can find this much to ramble about every day, huh?