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art, Style

STYLE, ART – A Weekend in Cambridge

February 27, 2020
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A couple of weekends ago I made my way to Cambridge, the iconic university city. I had been there a couple of times before and the motive for the stay this time was not only to have some more opportunity to explore it but also to do a workshop at the Fitzwilliam Museum. I have worked with the Museum before and it was a pleasure to be able to come back, this time to do a workshop for students who are doing their A-levels, GCSEs and applying to university.

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We arrived on Friday the 14th of February, the weather was awful as that particular weekend saw a great storm all over the country. We didn’t get to do much but we did get to go out for dinner. This is what I wore:

Yellow Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Flectarn Shirt – German Army surplus, purchased at Mauerpark flea market years ago

Black Double Cup Strappy Bodysuit – Femme Luxe

PU Trousers – H&M (on sale)

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

Tote Bag – from the Gilbert and George exhibition at the Astrup Fearnsley Museum in Oslo

BadgeSarah Barnfart Art

We had a lovely dinner and got home fairly early, as Saturday was going to be a long day and I wanted to be fresh and rested.

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The next day we arrived at the Museum and I couldn’t resist taking a photo with the wonderful Bompas & Parr pineapple. Isn’t it gorgeous? I loved the green glitter on its leaves.

The activity that was programmed for the day would be to guide students through the creation of a paste-up piece of art, by defacing and altering existing posters from the museum, which would then be pasted on a hoarding-like surface, thus mimicking (legally) the experience of putting out street art. It was a great experience and I met some really nice and creative young people, who I believe will get a lot of interesting things done in the art world.

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I decided to wear something a bit comfortable and practical for the activity so this is what I wore:

Pink Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Gold Glitter Sparkly Short Sleeve Crop Top – Femme Luxe

Black Jersey Dress – Simply Be (I think, can’t recall anymore)

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

After the day at the museum, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner and once again went to bed early, the weather as still inclement and we decided to save our strength for some daytime explorations the next day.

We had a nice pub lunch – a Sunday roast at The Eagle, a historical pub right in the centre of the city, visited the Sunday Market and did a bit of wandering while the rain was kept away. I wore something practical, as we were planning on doing a lot of walking and would be travelling back to London on that same day.

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Yellow Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Black Long Hoodie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Black T-shirt – Zara

Black High Shine Vinyl PU Trousers – Femme Luxe

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

My friend Stefani said it looked like I was walking away from an explosion, so I did a bit of quick Photoshop magic for a bit of a laugh and here it is:

Explosion

You have to play this song as you look at this photo, haha. I love a bit of comedy!

We spent the rest of the day at the Fitzwilliam Museum, their permanent collection is top-notch, plus they currently have on an exhibition called “Feast and Fast” mainly about food culture and history in Europe. I took hundreds of photos this weekend and it’s hard to narrow it down, so here are a few somewhat random ones from the museum.

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I hope to go back again at some point, the city is beautiful and there are amazing museums to see.

art, Lifestyle

Art – Starting the year organised

January 9, 2020
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Happy New Year everyone!

One of my goals for 2020 is to be a bit better organised, as my art career progresses, it is necessary so I am able to keep working to my full potential and not drop the ball on deadlines and projects, as well as keeping a decent social life. This is something that I always say, you don’t have to work harder, you have to work smarter in order to obtain results and that’s what I would like to accomplish.

You may remember I have worked with Colorland previously when I created a photo book so when they approached me to create a wall calendar I couldn’t say no, as it was just what I was looking for! I do use a diary to keep track of things but I always find that it lacks the possibility of seeing how full the calendar is at a glance, when travelling is happening, etc.

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A wall calendar is a perfect way to see what is going on, when the busiest time of the month will be, etc. I picked the largest format available, as I find I always need space to write things – I am not good at writing small and neat, I’m afraid. As you can see it allows me to have enough space to write what my plans for the day are. Or the main ones – I find that the diary is the best way to go granular and write more detailed to-do lists. As you can see, my first quarter is already filling up… No wonder I need to stay organised!

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The ordering process is very simple, you can upload photos directly from your computer or get them from your social media accounts by connecting them to the Colorland site. All you need to do is pick the right template for you and add a photo to each page. I picked a few of my art pieces to add to the calendar as I think it would make sense, to keep me inspired to keep working! I love the result and I am sure it will be a great help to keep me organised. Another interesting feature is that you can start the calendar anytime you like. We are already in January so if you are ordering something today, it wouldn’t make sense to order it with a January page, right? You can start it from any month you like and just have the subsequent 12 months on it.

As a brand ambassador for Colorland, I have a code for you:  MUSHROOMCAL – just enter it at checkout and you will get a discount. The usual price for an A3+ sized calendar is 23.94 GBP, using the code you would get it for just 4.49 GBP + 5.99 GBP shipping cost. Good deal, no? Since many people asked before, this offer is UK only, I am afraid.

To see more pages of the calendar, head on to my Instagram, as I’ve posted a couple of videos on there.

 

 

 

art, Style

Style – Weekend in Cologne

December 17, 2019
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It’s been a while since the last time that I have done a style post on here, so here it goes. I received an email from Femme Luxe recently, requesting collaboration and offering me four outfits of my choice. I thought to myself, “I do miss a bit of blogging and four outfits would really come in handy for the trip to Cologne”, so I said yes. The thing is, I hate packing and I hate planning outfits in advance so I thought this would actually be a perfect idea to resolve that problem.

I went on their website and managed to find a few things that did fit my current style. They have a great variety of things, such as the Bodycon Dress that I got. I was also trying to find a Jumpsuit or a Body Suit but unfortunately, I couldn’t find something in my current size. I’ll have to keep looking, as some of them were pretty cool!

So back to the trip and the outfits: I planned to strip to come and visit my friends in Cologne, plus participate in a group show featuring a few select urban artists. Basically a two for one situation! I needed a nice dress (not too nice, it’s an urban art exhibition, not a hoity-toity gallery, after all) and I found the perfect one:

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I’ll have to admit that it wasn’t easy to squeeze into it but with the help of Spanx, I managed, haha. Forgive my dorky face but I was quite happy that evening, met lots of people and put faces to a lot of Instagram names! Plus my friend Swenja (who I was staying with) did my hair. Doesn’t happen every day and it was super fun! You also get to see the skateboard I created for this show – I know I am biased but I am not the only one to say that it looks even better in person as you can see the glitter that I added to some of the areas.

The second outfit I picked was a lounging set. I figured that considering that some of the plans for the visit would be to go pasting, I needed something that was practical. So here’s what I picked:


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Outfit Description:

Black Short sleeve loungewear set– Femme Luxe

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

Mustard Yellow Rollneck Top – eBay

Checkered Over thing – Some pop-up store up in Brick Lane, near Rough Trade Records a few years ago

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

That day I went pasting in the Ehrenfeld area, with Planet Selfie and 8armstohug and we had a lot of fun until someone decided to threaten to call the police on us and ruined the mood. Ha well, it’s what you get for being a paste-up artist, I suppose. As I have moved all of my photos to my laptop which has since died on me, I am unable to post some more photos of the area. Hopefully, I will be able to get them back at some point, but just not in time for this post, unfortunately.

On the third day, we stayed home most of the day, except for a quick local paste-up mission in Opladen and meeting with friends in the evening for drinks in Cologne. I am afraid I didn’t get to see much of Cologne, as most of the time was spent hanging out with friends, making food and eating it plus rummaging through the local charity shop (where I found a wonderful 70’s dress). So this is what I wore on that day:

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Outfit Description:

Oversized Khaki T-shirt Dress– Femme Luxe

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

Black Rollneck Top – Primark

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

Onwards to the forth and final outfit, on the last day. I have to note that it was raining so much and so badly that we decided to stay in and take the photos in the living room instead, plus try on a pair of my friend’s shoes for a slightly different look, haha.

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Outfit Description:

Black loungewear set– Femme Luxe (yes, a different one, this one has a ribbed texture to it)

Patterned Rollneck Top – Orla Kiely for Uniqlo

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

High Heel Boots – from my friend, I can’t remember the name of the brand.

I have to say that it was also really cold and we froze our asses off, so not very inviting to go out and be a tourist (not to mention that my chronic fatigue requires me to have to take things nice and slowly). At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, as we had a great time and the main goal of the visit was to spend time with friends.

As for the Femme Luxe outfits, they served their purpose well, I like some of their designs but I would caution that even though I ordered the 12-14 size (my current size), some of them felt a bit on the small side.

PS: the Femme Luxe outfits were gifted and my opinions are my own.

art

Art – Creating a Photo Album as a Reminder

August 26, 2019
Colorland

In this digital age, it can sometimes be hard to remember every single thing you’ve posted on social media. The way it’s presented it can sometimes be a little bit awkward and in my opinion, nothing beats a physical book, whose pages you can touch, feel and smell and go through at your own pace.

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When Colorland approached me with the proposal of testing their photo book making tool and printing website, it occurred to me that it would be nice to have a book with a few highlights of what I have accomplished in the last 3 years that I’ve been working on my urban art project.

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The image selection process was easy and I was able to pull out images I had already used on Instagram, making it a lot easier than having to sift through thousands of photos on my hard drive (which you can do too). Going through all these images made me realise that despite the impression I usually have that I never get enough done, it’s actually not true. I’ve laid the imagery out chronologically and it makes for interesting viewing – plus the realisation that my work hasn’t been stagnant for these past few years, I can see some sort of evolution in it and that makes me happy.

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I think it was a great idea to have this book made, so when I have those low mood moments when the “imposter syndrome” hits (I honestly don’t know any artist who doesn’t suffer from this, at least not anyone who isn’t self-aware), I can just go through the book to remind myself of all I’ve done and how far I have come. Sometimes it can be difficult to realise how much progress you’ve done when you’re constantly working so hard in the present moment, that it can feel that you’re not moving forward. Looking at all of these photos made me realise that it’s not true, I am moving forward (or somewhere, not sure where yet).

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Colorland were graceful to also not only give me the sample book but also created a personalised discount code for my UK readers. By using this code, you will be able to order a Photo Book Classic A4, 36 pages for 5,99 GBP + shipping. Just go right on to Colorland.com, create your book and enter the code MUSHROOM at checkout! Let me know if you get one, I’d be curious to see all of your creations!

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Disclaimer: I have received my book as a sample, no payment has been received.

art

Art – Brexit?

February 15, 2019
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Where to start on a subject such as this? I wouldn’t want to pretend to be an expert in the political and economical ins and out of the whole thing but I have to say that I am against Brexit. I say this not only as a European citizen living in this country which I have called home for nearly 9 years and where I have built a life and an art career for myself… but also as someone who has grown to love this country and the people in it. I believe that this is a big mistake and mostly because of greedy politicians who are looking for their next meal… rather than look after the good of the people who have elected them.

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I know this is a very divisive subject, even within families and that there are many emotions involved but somehow the majority of the arguments for it don’t make much sense to me… particularly when you start hearing that due to this whole mess there is going to be a shortage of food, medicine etc. I’m starting to think that we should start buying gold and silver such as from Golden Eagle Coins, as the pound is also due to lose (even more) value. Or even start stockpiling tinned foods for us and our pets, as I have heard being suggested in the media. Great!

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As I feel fairly strongly about the issue, it was with a lot of happiness that I have agreed to participate in the Brexit Art Machine project, from the makers of Artobotic. I created original mini art pieces that will go in a vending machine, which will hopefully get to tour the country. Even if you don’t see it or get to purchase one of the art pieces from myself or the other participating artists, you can at least see them now! These are tiny painted collages, no bigger than the palm of your hand, so they could be fit in the vending machine.

I am not allowed to vote… but I am allowed to make political art… for the time being, at least. Who knows what the grim future brings?

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