NEW BLOG

Hi all, thank you for following my brief journey on Zephaniah's Collection. However, I regret to inform you that I have since started a new blog - 

ATA|ALL THINGS ANITA

 

Thank you for visiting! 

Procrastination

- the act of replacing high-priority tasks with those that are of a lower quality. 

On GCSE results day, I said to myself - If I do manage to get onto AS-Level Fine Art, I will definitely put all efforts into it.. Outcome? Well, it sort of worked.. for the first week of school. 

I am fully aware that taking Fine Art is a really, time consuming subject, shall we say. It requires a lot of hard work and determination in order to succeed, have a strong portfolio and final piece for a decent grade. 

For the past 2 homeworks although I've been achieving straight A grades in them, I actually feel really bad for getting supposed 'good' grades, because I feel that I simply haven't put enough effort, time and determination into completing them in a manner that will make me feel proud of the work I have done. 

It's currently half term - where we have a week off school. We've been set the task to plan, organise and be 100% sure of what we're going to do in the weeks up to and possibly including the Christmas period. This means that I'll need to be bursting fully of ideas when I go back into school.. knowing what I'll be doing every single lesson and actually DOING the work. 

The title of this post is 'Procrastination', and this is what I've been doing for the past few days. I know 110% that I should be doing art, in fact, I've promised myself to 'finish' what is required during the first half of the week, but I've found that every time I sit myself down to do some work, I either get a sort of 'Artist's Block' or distractions.. (procrastination) 

But hey - hopefully, this procrastination 'session' will be the last one: 

Sunday Afternoon

Hello! I'm back again with another 3D Origami model, this time using approximately 1100 triangle modules.. taking around 8 hours in total :) 

The tutorial I followed is by Jewellia7777 on Youtube and she can be found here. She also has another variation which is this one.

Check out her blog at jewellia7777.blogspot.co.uk/

Attending College Interviews

Whether you're applying college places as back up just incase you can't (well, don't get the grades to) stay at your current High School, I would definitely recommend applying.. Just for the sake of it. Well, not literally. Okay okay- it is. College interviews provide you with experience and the basic of "how to sell yourself", this could be beneficial as it gives you an insight to what may happen at job interviews.. Although they're much more formal and important. Not that education isn't =)

Hours leading up to the interview (didn't have time to think about it because I was revising for exams), I was going over possible questions the tutors may ask me, such as "Why this particular college?", "Talk to me about some of the artists you have studied" for your information, the interview was for an A-level course in fine art.

These possible questions caused me to run answers over and over again in my head.. But it turns out that they didn't pop up! In fact, she (assuming she is a fine art tutor?) simply looked over all the work I've done since year 10, as the work produced in year 9 (school started GCSEs a year earlier) doesn't reflect my current ability.

Due to some complications, I joined the room half way through, whilst she was putting on a presentation of current and previous AS & A-Level artwork pieces. 

After the presentation, she explained how she expects high attendance from all of us, as Art in general is a demanding subject - particularly at Level 3 on the education system. So, she asked us all the attendance rate of us at this current school year.. Surprisingly, all of the responses were below 90%! I didn't really pay attention to the responses until I said that I had 100% so far - and everyone looked at me. She gave me a weird smile. Like the cheshire cat in Alice In Wonderland. To make it worse, she then decided to get us all to tell her our English and Maths GCSE predicted grades. Oh boy, that was awkward. (TURTLE!) 

The ones before me hesitated before saying that they either had completed the GCSEs with a certain grade, or are predicted with a grade whatever. (Insert grade here)

When it was my turn I decided to lower my actual predicted grades because they were a little high.. compared to the other 16 year olds applying for a place.. When I told her my targets, she hissed 'Lovely', yet again with the cheshire cat smile. But this time, cross that with Harry Potter's parcellin- parsel- PARSELTONGUE THAT'S IT! hissing sound- and you'll know what I mean. 

After all this, she wanted to look at my sketchbooks. As organised as I was, I even brought the official GCSE certificates along, even though they're not for Art. 

Flicking through my sketchbooks and recent pieces of work, she had the general idea and knowledge of a commited and organised person I am. When she was done, all she did was fill in the sheet of 'Short & Long Term Goals' for me and proceeded to ask me to list all the GCSE subjects I was doing.. 

Not on purpose, I started to list all 16 subjects I was studying for. (At this point I haven't told her that she may run out of paper.. because the box was 2cm x 5cm in size!) 

Anyway, Dual Award English, Dual Award Maths, Separate Sciences (she had the cheshire-parseltongue voice on again, complimenting how good of me it is to follow Da Vinci's footsteps of studying Art & Sciences), Geography, ICT - complete, Cambridge iGCSE Computing.. at this point she stopped me because she had ran out of writing space after Dual Award Maths - so she finally asked me in total how many subjects I was studying for. When I replied with '16', she immediately had a shock of horror on her face, yet managing to blurt out 'How do you sleep, eat and have any spare time?' I simply laughed. Apparently the average student at this particular college has 3 GCSES. That was when I was in shock. 

All in all, it was a really good informal interview, she placed me with a conditional offer due to restrictions and guidelines for the course application, but then again she did say that rules are meant to be broken and she'd give me an A-Level grade by simply looking through my sketchbook. Hmm.. 

I had a really pleasant experience today and I feel really bad inside because I did simply apply to this college as a back up application.. because I am honestly really scared that I won't hit the jackpot to continue studying at my current High School.

Now, I feel obliged to write her a card in August (when the results are out) that I wouldn't be attending the college..

Calmness before an Exam

I had three exams today, I was running a little late for the one in the afternoon, when I arrived at the exam hall everyone was seated and awaiting latecomers. As I had sprinted along two corridors my heart was beating fast.. added with the panic of 'What if I fail'? As this exam was the last chance to be taken. 

I suddenly then remembered a calming trick my English teacher taught not long ago, at that time I didn't think that I'd require such 'Yoga' because I was prepared and calm for pretty much everything. Today I was proved wrong, I was panicking, concerned how much my bad result would affect the subject grade. Nevertheless, I managed to contain myself and try out the breathing technique. 

Step One: Exhale fully

Step Two: Inhale deeply

Step Three: Hold for 3 seconds

Step Four: Exhale to halfway and hold for 3 seconds

Step Five: Repeat for 3-5 minutes

I honestly haven't yet felt so much calmness within me before an exam!

Blogger on Android

*Phone - Xperia Play

After permitting a mobile version of this blog, I was browsing on the Android market and realised that there was a Blogger app. Figuring that it may come into use if ever I blog on the go I'd use it. Such a shame I can't because it has to be a Googlemail account login.. And I signed up before Google took over various sites such as Blogger and YouTube.. So now I'm typing this post up in an awkward way.. 

Taking screenshots with the phone and trying to upload them is a pain.. So I think even if I do blog on the go, I'll have to draft them instead. At the moment I should really be getting some rest.. As I have several exams this week and it's currently 02:36am.. Whoops ^_^ oh well, im a night person anyway ~ I'm the most productive at night.. So in the day time I absolutely cannot concentrate with anything.. Generally. 

Current favourites? 

Song: "The one who got away" by Katy Perry.. I think this song can relate to pretty much anyone that's fallen in love with someone before.. Not that their partners have gotten into an accident before.. But perhaps the arguments.. Memories.. Thoughts.. In general, everything about their other half seems to linger.. And stay for a while. 

Film: Definitely "The Inbetweeners Movie" - I first vaguely heard about them when the film was released. Then on one occasion I was at the cinema with my then-boyfriend (unsure whether I like the term "ex") hoping to see "Water For Elephants" instead.. But it wasn't showing, whereas on the Odeon website it stated that it was on. Nevertheless, I suggested that we'd watch "The Inbetweeners Movie" because I heard from him previously that he wanted to watch it.. The movie itself is a follow up from the TV series of 4 17-18 year old lads (honestly, never used that word before!) in sixth form. Walking into the showing screen (is that what you call it?), I honestly didn't expect much from this.. But it turned out amazing! Outrageously hilarious.. Typical guys! From Jay (similar to Samantha Jones from Sex And The City.. ) overusing the word "sexy" to Simon being shy to undress for skinny dipping in the dark in front of a girl.. Every single moment I spent inside the cinema laughing away at the hilarity of either the commentary by Will or what possible scenarios may happen next. Overall, I give this film 5*s, as much as I love it, I think I'm proud to say that I've watched it 4 times already. 

TV Series: Hands down, the new "Sherlock" Series Two - I've just finished watching the second episode to the series which was The Hound of Baskerville, would someone please remind me next time to not watch it in the dark.. Under the covers? But seriously, I think it's one my my favourite episodes so far. Dr. John Watson: "Oh stop showing off!" Sherlock: "But that's what we do" Ahhh <3 That's all for tonight, think I'll be able to fall asleep as soon as I'm in a comfortable position, thanks for reading!

A BIG Thank You!

Yup.. I know that I've been away for more than a month (Le Gasp!) but I've noticed that my readers have been helping me 'donate' to Arts & Crafts funds.. through the widget I have on the right hand side of the blog when you scroll down a little bit. I would like to say a HUGGGGEEE thank you to those who took a spare minute in their life to perfrom several readings of sentences and clicks, I am very grateful for those and just.. thank you for helping! 
I mean.. I haven't been checking back this Blog for a little over a month and the amount of projects we've supported through the widget has increased by 150! To us, this may seem a small amount, but to certain parts of the world this opportunity for children and families less fortunate than us is just.. an unbelievable.


Thank You for clicking, reading and sparing a minute. 
Much Love, Anita xoxo 

Beautiful Views

Belated Lent Post

Lent - is a time of sacrifice for Jesus, it is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calender. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter.
By observing the 40 days of Lent, we as Christians (and some none Christians) replicate Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Lent is marked by fasting, both from food and festivities.
Whereas Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after His death on the cross, Lent recalls the events leading up to and including the crucifixion by Rome.
Only a small number of people today fast for the whole of Lent, although some maintain the practice on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is more common these days for believers to surrender a particular vice such as favourite foods or smoking. Whatever the sacrifice it is a reflection of Jesus' deprivation in the wilderness and a test of self-discipline.




How come 40 Days?

• In the Genesis flood which destroyed the earth was brought about by 40 days and nights of rain.
• The Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land brought to them by God.
• Moses fasted for 40 days before receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai.
• Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness in preparation for His ministry.

Moses on Mount Sinai by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Image sourced from Google



What am I giving up for Lent?

I shall adapt to living a more healthy lifestyle than I currently 'follow'.. I'm going to give up on Chocolate, Chippy food (except for the once in a blue moon small portion of chips), Confectionary, Biscuits & Soft Drinks.

I cry that I sin is an anagram for Christianity.

BRaIn fART

I haven't been back for a while now, having a brain fart isn't good..

Today's topic/discussion will be Origami.

 Image sourced from Google

I.. to be honest have stopped making origami for a month now.. due to personal reasons and I'm an 'ECO warrior' lol. 

I grew up making origami.. it became a part of my life as long as I could remember... I've never been this long without folding paper into a work of art.. I remember the feeling of accomplishment I used to experience after a minute swan or crane was complete.

I also remember the urge and amazement when I saw a new origami model.. how I'd search for ages on Google, desperate to find instructions.

Sitting here typing, I recall the time when I had self taught myself how to fold the tiny stars, despite the failures I didn't give up.. only had in mind to continue folding until each and everyone of them was perfect. 

Thinking back, this was a waste of paper and time.. I could of learnt another skill such as polishing up my chess 'tacktics' or go out and prduce endorphins (exercise).

The deepest thought embedded in me is the period of time when I had the commitment to make a jar of stars and construct a 3D Swan

Anyhow.. this is all history now, I know I can't get back into making origami anymore... I can't.

Valentines Day...

Yup, I'm aware that Valentines Day is over.. but at least I'm here for a uber short post even though it's late~ 
I hope you had a good day with.. a significant other, boyfriend, girlfriend, family or even just friends in general
What did you do 2 days ago then? Tell me below ^_^
...What did I do then?
I sort-of went shopping, bought 3 dvds and 2 cds.


At HMV Breakfast at Tiffany's was on offer at a price of £2.99 with any purchase.. 

So, in order to 'validate' this, I bought 2 dvds - The Notebook and Confessions of a Shopaholic through the 2 for £10 offer.

As for the CDs, I took a trip to the local charity shop and managed to find a brand new copy of the West Side Story CD and a Catherine Jenkins CD (forgot name >_<)

I Recommend: Monet at Giverny

Image sourced from Amazon

Monet at Giverny by Caroline Holmes

Recently I've been into reading art based books on impressionists.. the best one I've flicked through is Monet at Giverny - give it a try if you haven't read it ;)

Monet's quotes are printed every 2 pages or so, very inspiring ^___^

''I am chasing a dream, I want the unattainable. Other artists paint a bridge, a house, a boat; and that's the end. They've finished. I want to paint the air which surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat; the beauty of the air in which these objects are located; and that is nothing short of impossible. If only I could satisfy myself with what is possible!''
This quote for some reason brings me to tears everytime I read it.. yes, you guys may complain/whine to me that it's not normal for a typical teenager to be thinking and saying of these deep things..

This book contains over 140 illustrations, including paintings, engravings and garden views.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hi all! Happy Chinese New Year- or alternatively, 新年快樂 =P
Run Rabbit Run! The tiger year is out and bunny hop's in.
I here wish you all the best - new year, new start. I pray that you all will have a healthy life, those studying will do well in exams, you'll all earn lots of money -- the typical Chinese phrases to say~

Image sourced from Google

Facebook Like d(^_^)b

I'm proud to say that.. 
Zephaniah's Collection is now on Facebook!~
Theres still a few bits and bobs need jingling about on the page.. e.g. upload a photo & other random stuff
I'll also soon get round to having links to my Twitter and Youtube for this ^^ meanwhile, got a spare minute? Click on the SocialVibe widget on the right and help charities! Thank you~ x

Happy Origami Rose Edition: A Review

‘Do you still remember the paper plane and origami crane in our childhood, which brought us a lot of good memories? The simple origami gave us endless happiness in our childhood. In our daily life, origami can still be seen everywhere. Each origami shows our deep affection, including a self-folded gift-packing for friends, a personally folded rose for sweetheart etc. Origami is a game without restriction of time and place. Only a common sheet of paper is required, then we can display our imagination and creativity. Let’s re-experience the simple happiness again through a sheet of paper.
Happy Origami Rose Edition will introduce the skills to fold a rose. Through video, it will show all the procedures briefly. You can follow our video and try yourself; you will work out a beautiful production. Using it as a daily decoration or a gift, it will shoe your kind-wished life attitude and your sincerity.’

Price: Free

File Size: 88.7 MB

In this edition of Happy Origami, it shows you how to fold a rose through video and soothing music (makes me fall asleep to be honest). The high quality video clearly presents the folding methods, but I did find that some steps were a little hard to understand.

Good Points:

High quality video

Shows ratings out of 5 (being the hardest)

It’s free!

Shows preparation work (e.g. what you need)

Downsides:

Too fast, particularly for a beginner… but then again that’s that the pause and rewind functions are for…


If you have this app or have tried it, what do you think?
P.S. This is perfect for Valentines Day! Make some to polish up your origami skills and give to your significant other~~ 

Update!

Hi all~~


As you may have noticed, this blog/website has a fresh new look! I'm now participating with Google and Amazon, hence the advertisements :) 
This means that I am earning a tiny amount per visit from you - University fees hehe


But on the plus side, I can manage the adverts (particularly with Amazon) to deliver genuine products I have tried and tested, to recommend to you all.


If you scroll down after reading this short message, I have a glimpse of the Amazon Associates aStore I constructed that has some products which I do like and would like to share with you~


Until next time, take care ^^

Sudden Thought: Black Swan

Black Swan was out last Friday in the UK.. saw it on Sunday~

Initial thoughts? It was a perfect ending for her as she was.. perfect ;) 

I've just had this crazy idea of making an actual black swan... Modular Origami :) 

Should I? 

Image sourced from here

Life..Is Like a Cup of Coffee

For Your Interest.. I've only tried coffee once in my entire life - last Sunday's Costa Iced Mocha. It was unbearable. Still don't understand why people *love* coffee so much - especially teachers aswell >__<

Image sourced from Words4Mind - Coffee Art

^Image sourced from Google~Coffee Flavour Tasting Colour Wheel...

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

 ^Image sourced from Google

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

 ^Image sourced from Google

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

^Image sourced from Google

Love Generously

Speed Drawings I less than *three*

Here's one produced using the Graphics Tablet model I'm hoping to get~ (Using Photoshop) 
Lady Gaga Speed Painting (Time Lapse)


Of course, how can I not research different programs for art? (This one's using Paint)
This guy's INSANELY talented! 
Titanic - The Drawing Scene - Rose Speed Painting by Hbt Allen


Speed Drawing of Neytiri from Avatar~
Click Here :)


I'm a fan of Prince of Persia Sands of Time... here's a speed drawing of it ~ Loads of detail! 
Click Me!


Last but not least, the classic pencil study of an eye
Hereeeeeee

FYI: < less than 3 = heart

~Have A Lovely Weekend And Fill It With Happiness~

For some reason, I've been having a major *brain fart* these days... => blocked brain.. unable to generate creativity~


Urban Dictionary defines it as: 


''A spontaneous stupid (Stupid the noun, not stupid the adjective) usually accompanied by loss of train of thought and saying something fantastically stupid without realising it.

"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Hold secondary fire and the screen will change"
"What the hell? 

"?? Oh, uhh... brainfart"  ''


Anyway, how has life been treating you lately? 
Yesterday I made another swan.................. but the 'experiment' was whether or not doubling the size of the triangles adjusts the size of the swan.. I didn't have the 1st one (pics you've hopefully seen) next to it for a comparison but my instinct tells me that they're very similar..


One thing I noticed is that the increase in dimensions of the little triangles (used to form the structure) does affect how the overall sculpture looked. The wings curved inwards.  
Also, I had a struggle on  F2L - the base layer for it to all hold together. 


Hopefully next time I'll be able to get back to you with picture(s) of comparisons.... ;) 


How has life been treating me then? Well, I've been researching more about Graphics Tablets and figured out that although I did want an A3 sized tablet, it does have the downsides such as costing significantly more and having to move your arm a lot for sketching...
Therefore, I have come to conclude that I would like.. in fact - love to purchase a 8 x 6 inch tablet.. due to the price (generally depending on where you buy it) and ease of use/transport as I do love to travel a lot *and* compose studies..  


Shall catch you all later, 
Read the title above ^^


Anita x