annanemone - square one.

I've got a week until I have to set up the exhibition at the Warehouse Cafe. It's been a bit manic planning it but really good practice- deciding which work to pick, how to hang it, how to promote yourself..
Last week I made some A2 lino prints (which I can't wait to share, they're preetty psychedelic) and it was really nice going back among more fine art-y people as opposed to fashion all the time. It feels really good to work with your hands the whole day and then come home and feel like you've actually accomplished something. 

On another note, I finally made a Facebook page for my brand annanemone! So like it and spread the word, I promise not to spam your news feed too much. Thanks so much for the support!

Yesterday my lovely housemates Louise and Sophie (who have been featured here before!) were my models. Also Louise promised to be one for our MA fashion show in June, I'm really excited! Now that it's on here you can't back out Louise. Ha! 
I photoshoped my patterns on their clothes to see what they would look like, which will be helpful with deciding which prints to choose for the fashion show. Which ones do you like/would like to see more of?

 

vegetarian exhibition

One day I was walking to uni through Digbeth, the more hip part of Birmingham. I actually really like it for its old brick houses and bridges and just the overall industrial feel, it's very photogenic. I'll take some pictures soon and help you get an idea of what I mean. Allison Street is now my favourite (it's also the name of one of my very dear friends), as I've discovered the amazing Vintage Clothing with some great bargains as well as The Warehouse Cafe. 

Sophie's veggie burger topped with brie&cranberry - mmmm.

I'm so happy I found this vegetarian restaurant because a few great things have happened since I have. We went there with my housemates and the food.. OH THE FOOD. I had the banana burger (a vegetarian burger topped with fresh banana, chilli peppers and home made peanut butter?! YUM.) and all my friends were preeetty happy too. Not to mention the squealing when we got our vegan brownie with ice-cream. Why we shared I don't know, biggest mistake ever. But we will be back there a lot because...

They will exhibit my work there throughout the whole of April! The staff were so nice and were happy to have a look at it and tadaa, here we go. I'm so excited, it seems like the perfect place to show my nature-related work. 

I showed them my centipede and bug designs but apparently that might cause controversy among the vegetarian customers so fair enough. Haha I loved that remark. It looks like I'm going to wallpaper one corner of the restaurant with asparagus, hopefully I'll get no haters about that.

I'm also going to work on some more designs for this occasion so get ready for some more linocuts, those seemed quite popular. Get ready hands, you will probably get cut at times. 

Any ideas for other weird vegetables I could draw?

 

screen printing therapy

It hasn't been such a happy time recently. Practical hands on work usually helps me get my mind off things so screen printing was much needed. Sometimes it's best to not think and just do. And fun things can come out of it! 

I will hopefully use some of these for illustrations my friend Filip's short stories (some of them are about sea monsters and plants, how perfect!), I can't wait to see it all come together. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these little experiments. I was told I needed to widen my colour palette so I've been trying to push myself- green, blue and yellow always seem to find their way in there somewhere though..

my logo!

my screen printing buddy Fika spreading some palm tree love

Manchester England England

Last week was self-study week so Rose, Fika, Louise and I decided to take a road trip for the day. Woo! Manchester won the contest. Most of us hadn't been there before so we were excited to see what it had to offer. I really wanted to visit Whitworth Art Gallery, which is well known for its wallpaper collection but when we got there we found out it's closed for refurbishment, bummer but next time. So we made our way to Manchester Museum instead. 

As soon as we entered, I heard the girls say: 'Ahh, this is perfect for Anna.' because it was pretty much a natural history museum, so yep, my idea of a fun way to spend a few hours. Except it was half-term, which we hadn't realized. So the place was packed with kids. Most of these were banging on the windows to make the animals react not realizing that they weren't actually alive. I was reminded of the scene from the first Harry Potter when Dudley bangs on the snake's window and screams 'Make it MOVE!'. There actually was a greenhouse section with actual live lizards and chameleons, which I felt truly sorry for. 

I watched them for a few minutes, admiring their weird beauty until I was stepped on and kicked in the shin by some child and was forced to move. At least they made something move I guess.

leaf & stick insects!

'Earth laughs in flowers.'

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

After getting our fill of dead things (and wanting to make other things dead), we went to explore another part of the city called the Northern Quarter. We loved it. It was full of cute cafes, charity and vintage shops, artist studios and alleys. Here are some snapshots from our great afternoon around.

Fika & Louise & a pretty wall

We unfortunately had to leave quite early to get back to a Newton Faulkner gig in Birmingham (mind blown), which was just a perfect end to the day, followed by some jazz music. It's amazing what can happen in just one day. This one was definitely memorable, thanks for driving and putting up with our noises of excitement, Rose!