pea green girl

| | | bela lisboa | | |

2015-08-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

A very special week was spent with my best gal pal Kate in the glorious Portuguese capital, and nearby seaside town of Cascais. Lisbon has a very chilled vibe, which we fully embraced. A great place for a weekend trip away, be sure to try a Nata - Portuguese custard tart- accompanied by a shockingly strong espresso: surely the perfect 11am indulgence, all for a couple of euros. It's also worth hopping on a train to the town of Sintra, which is not too far away, and is filled with stunning views and sites of historical interest. We visited Pena Palace, which is certainly an acquired taste in architectural terms (it looks like Disney Land with added narcotics) but the colours are fun to photograph and it's weird enough to justify the ticket cost. Be sure to check out the stag room.

Cascais (pronounced 'cash-caisch') is also a cute place. Great little beaches. And there's a nice lady who works on the main street called Angela that does beautiful hair braids - we embraced our inner 6 year olds! Sadly no dolphins were spotted along the coast, which we are still pretty gutted about but that's just life. Thanks to Speedy, our pals from Nice Way Cascais, Pete, CA and special thanks to The Gals.

That Aperitivo Life

2015-06-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I was lucky enough to hop on a plane and spend 5 days with one of my best pals in the glorious Tuscan city of Siena. Olivia has been living there since September as she is currently studying at the university. This meant that I was able to experience the historical, cultural and most importantly culinary highlights of the little city with the invaluable knowledge of a local! Learning about the medieval tradition of the Palio- a horse race run around the Piazza del Campo twice yearly- and the importance of the city's wards, known as 'contradas,' each represented by an animal or mascot, really helped to enrich my appreciation for this tiny Game of Thrones-esque city.

A day trip to nearby Florence was a highly enjoyable part of the trip, made even better by the fact that Olivia and I were picking up a lovely pair of poor bedraggled travellers from the train station, whom we went on to enjoy a very raucous night with, Siena style. We took in an amazing meal from a local Osteria with Olivia's boyfriend and other Italian friends, all of whom were great company, as well as a contrada party and a bit of shape throwing at 'Bella Vista'. Waking up in time to catch my plane home the next morning was a serious challenge, but thankfully it all worked out.
A really, really memorable holiday. Thanks to Olivia!
Viva l'Italia!

Multi-faceted line drawings

2015-03-28T15:13:00.004-07:00

I've always been fascinated by the structures of rock crystals, and have recently been experimenting by capturing their angular, organic forms with black ink. By using a watercolour wash behind the lines, I wanted to evoke the luminescence of crystals such as amethyst, with the colour glowing through the rock's structure.

Summer Style: country wedding chic

2014-07-28T07:50:00.003-07:00

It's been a very busy time for the extended Green family, and on Saturday 26th July, my cousin Tom married lovely maths teacher Jess. It was a tremendously happy occasion, with the ceremony taking place in a little church in the Peak District, and the reception in a fabulously decked out barn down a long twisty track. The setting was relaxed, rather magical and perfectly English.

My sister and I have been particularly excited about the wedding, as it was the very first one we'd been invited to! Much deliberation went into our outfit choices, and the weather issue made it quite a challenge. However the day was hot and sunny and therefore no emergency pac a macs were required thankfully. In the end we both opted for floaty maxi dresses. They seemed like the right sort of thing to wear in a field, particularly as heels were a no-go due to the grass and sloped ground. Smaller Green went for a double layered, cornflower blue Zara number, whereas I picked out a fiery orange Topshop dress with a V neckline and a frilly sleeved affair.. not very well described.. see the photos! I also chose a floppy wide brimmed straw hat which I tied a vintage silk scarf around for an air of boho. Smaller Green found a really pretty white lace jacket, also from Zara which she wore to the church. It looked perfect with the dress, an excellent find.

As for the rest of the family, Mum wore black and white with a big hat (my only hat buddy!) and Dad proudly rocked a knitted tie which we all agreed was a great touch of subtle quirk.

Needless to say, Tom and Jess both looked incredible and pulled off a spectacular event. It was a very memorable day, and I wish them both the happiest of honeymoons in Bali!

(Photos taken on numerous different cameras and phones, sorry for the variation in quality!)

En Vacances

2014-07-16T15:52:00.002-07:00

A few snaps taken on a little disposable camera whilst holidaying in the glorious south of France with my good friend Von.

Days were sun-soaked and chilled, evenings were spent catching up on all the goss from our respective years at uni, wine glass in hand. We rented a great little apartment in Nice for the duration of our trip, found on airbnb's website. It was in a quiet location, 10 mins from the beach and close to a little supermarket and plentiful boulangeries for the obligatory baguettes. Great value for money, especially seeing as we had a cute little kitchen which meant we didn't have to pay for meals out. See the apartment here. Nothing quite like taking a day trip to Monaco with a lunch box in your bag, we were both SUCH students. Von is my thriftspiration, an absolute eBay queen with a killer wardrobe. Check out her style at THE GRAPEVINE. Was very sad to leave this beautiful part of the world, but thankfully all the sunbathing paid off and we both returned home with a hint of a Riviera glow.

Summer Style - the Green sisters

2014-06-06T05:11:00.004-07:00

Over the next few months I am going to be blogging about the looks and trends that myself and my sibling (the smaller Green) will be channeling. Our styles do vary quite a lot, although we are constantly inspiring each other with new ideas for outfits. Smaller Green is still in sixth form, so a lot of her clothes verge towards the 'business wear' side of things, as is the school dress code, although she makes sure that she always puts her own quirky mark on looks. As for me, my life this year has been mostly a constant battle to try and stay warm trudging to lectures up in Edinburgh, while attempting to look nonchalantly cool in wide brimmed black fedoras and cut out heeled ankle boots. I haven't yet managed to make it all the way to uni without the hat flying off onto the windscreens of unsuspecting cars and garden hedges. Not quite the Chelsea Chic vibe I was going for.
Anyway, I'm back home in green green Oxfordshire for the summer, and today's looks were a matter of finding that balance between embracing the summer and getting our legs out, while remembering that it's actually still not quite pushed 20 degrees yet.. Classic Britain.

My outfit: playsuit- TRF Zara; sunglasses- New Look; sandals- Topshop; headscarf- vintage.
Smaller Green's outfit: pinafore dress- Topshop; grey top- not sure; cut-out boots- Marks and Spencer; sunglasses- stand at a festival.

Light painting around Edinburgh

2013-09-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I joined the photography society at the University of Edinburgh and our first project was a night walk around hidden parts of the city, capturing light in interesting forms. We were given an initial briefing, with suggestions about which settings we should be using on our cameras to capture the best shots. This proved invaluable information, as I was able to finally stray away from the safety of 'auto' and try my hand at manual photography... a little bit scary, especially without a tripod. However I actually preferred the slightly more abstract photos, as with a 6 second exposure and the traffic and shop lights of Princes Street, there was a little bit of magic in waiting for the shutter to close.

photography society

Experimenting with Collage

2013-06-13T09:19:00.002-07:00

My love of playful imagery and dislike of Photoshop resulted in me stepping away from the computer and revisiting some old friends: scissors and glue. These collages include images from a variety of sources as well as some hand drawn elements.

Happy Street Day

2013-04-16T08:24:00.004-07:00

From my perspective, Shelbourne Road is just another long, fairly anonymous Bournemouth street.
Nothing really happens here.
Other than the occasional social gathering in the corner shop, we go about our daily routines side by side and yet our paths never seem to overlap. I only really know my next door neighbour Paul and his dog Foo. I don't know who lives opposite, or 2 houses down, which really makes for quite a sad state of affairs.
So how can I make a difference?
One smile at a time.

I don't intend to change the world. but I know that if you brighten one person's day they are highly likely to brighten someone else's. Happy Street Day took place on Monday 15th April 2013. It was my personal mission to bring some unexpected cheer to my fellow Shelbournians, encouraging them only to stop for a moment and talk to one another.

This project was about inspiring people. So take my ideas and share them with your community.
Go on, spread a little joy.

Tiny Stars Sparkle

2013-02-15T07:23:00.000-08:00

These are some images from a zine I created for a graphic design project. The idea behind the project was to investigate the stories behind people's pieces of jewellery and the personal associations they hold.

The Outsider - Albert Camus

2013-01-14T14:24:00.004-08:00

Over the Christmas holidays, I designed 3 new covers for the classic, cult novel 'The Outsider' as part of my course in graphic design. After reading the book, I decided that I wanted to stay away from incorporating any obvious figure in my work, as many previous covers had done this and I was keen to keep the contents of the book as ambiguous as possible. I tried a range of styles with my covers, and I think some worked better than others, however after the group critique I felt confident in my own ability to balance composition and colour, as well as suggest an appropriate mood and tone.

An autumn dream

2012-10-11T13:33:00.002-07:00

Raindrops

2012-10-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

Monday, illustrated.

2012-09-23T14:48:00.003-07:00

In my latest fine art project, I was inspired by installation artist Sarah Sze's use of 'connectors', which allow her to join together found objects, creating 'leftovers of human behaviour'. I also researched the spontaneous, chaotic embroideries of Tilleke Schwarz, and was inspired to let go, and draw whatever came to me. This resulted in a precise, yet fluid illustration of my view of the objects, processes and events of Monday 17th September.
This concept developed further, and became more of an infographic map, contrasting my subjective view of the world with an objective structure of daily events.

Last days of summer

2012-09-12T11:47:00.002-07:00

Early September, making use of the last beautiful rays of summer sunshine on Bournemouth beach.

The Box Project

2012-09-06T12:47:00.001-07:00

Over the last few days I have been working on a project at AUCB, where I am currently studying, in which we were given one cardboard box, and told to just be creative with the box! I decided to focus on the physical structure of the box, and created a lampshade. I took my inspiration from sculptor Tony Cragg's fluid layers, and fashion designer Issey Miyake's use of pleating to create a dynamic feel.

I wanted to give my box a bright yellow lining, as I thought this would help the light reflect more easily and also give it an interesting contemporary feel.

liquefied.

2012-07-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have created an ephemeral jewellery collection inspired by my fascination with the physical change between liquid and solid states. The jewellery is made from caramelised sugar which I have manipulated into abstract shapes, before allowing each piece to cool into a permanent solid. I then took each one and sprayed it with chrome coloured paint, creating a beautiful precious appearance. The metallic façade also enhances the idea of fluidity of the organic shapes, as well as creating a transient sealant layer, coating the sugar with enamel, until an increase in room temperature begins the gradual and inevitable reversion to liquid.

saturation- 1:22

2012-02-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

This is an experimental video I created as part of my art project. I'm fascinated by the beautiful formations that ink droplets create in water, and I have documented my experience in this video.

into the tropics

2011-12-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

This year I was lucky enough to spend Christmas on a beautiful island in the Maldives. I wanted to capture the steamy tropical surroundings in my photographs, with my own take on the classic white sand- turquoise sea- green palm tree combination. It was an amazing place to spend a week, aided by the stunning architecture, minimalist- with a focus on white paint and washed out wood paneling, courtesy of the chic Italian owners.

I would recommend Athuruga to anyone, utter tranquility (if you ignore the slightly annoying Italian singer..) http://athurugabeach.diamonds-resorts.com/

daydreamer

2011-06-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

Some photos of my lovely friend Jenny, with thanks to KDog and Poojie..

some illustrations..

2011-06-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

my sister's a fairy

2011-05-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Como, cocktails and carefree living

2011-05-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

I decided for my first post to include some snaps from last years trip to Lake Como in Italy. Such an amazing week, and so many laughs in such a beautiful place..