22.11.11.....

Trying to decide on 'patterns' for our 8 samples we are doing for Indigo, Première Vision, I realised I didn't pop up some of my drawings from our workshop with Les and Martyn. I loved the workshop, we had to bring in a 3x3x3cm object and did lots of exercises such as drawing with both hands crossed over, with our opposite hand, without the object in front of us etc! Admittedly I kind of prefer my drawings with my left hand, as they were much more free. Anyhoo, here are a few of my drawings ...

The one on the orange background almost looks like a persons legs...?

Laser Cutting ...

This morning was my first time on the laser cutter completely on my own (scary thought I know) but I'm quite pleased with how my samples worked out

Fly away ...

So I happened to have some wings hanging around, and my life drawings just staring at me ... this is what happened ...

Life Drawing 2.11.11

Second proper life drawing class today - so gutted its not more often, but we had a lovely female model today.

2 birds, one stone ...

On my walk into uni today I came across 2 dead birds -- one fully feathered and the other a carcass. (I would just like to point out I did NOT kill them myself!) Anyway, I have been examining the wings and how they move. The colours in the birds are lovely -- when up close you can really see the green/pink/blue that runs through the feathers! I am so interested in the layers of the feathers especially in the wings -- how it is constructed is so interesting!

Life Drawing

Some of my drawings for Life Drawing earlier this week - it is so nice to get back into it again - I haven't done proper life drawing since school and I have really missed it.

Cleopatra

I have realised my main costume focus is on ballet - as I love the way the body moves and the way the fabrics move with and against the dancers. Last night I went to see the ballet of Cleopatra at the Royal Theatre Norwich -- it was incredible! The performance was memorising. The dancers grace and beautiful movements were fantastic and the costumes were perfect!

I was so lucky as I went backstage before the performance and saw some of the costumes. The fabrics were so interesting up close and moved beautifully on stage. I felt so inspired being backstage and watching the performance.

http://www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk/
http://northernballet.com/

Start Rite ... End with Feathers (...everywhere)

Today we had a great seminar with Sarah Angold about our Start Rite project! After 3 mins of very quick crazy idea "drawings" we got into our wee groups and discussed different possibilities of our ideas. Although I still don't have an absolute idea I feel more confident that I will get there in the end. This weeks task is to research into the brief and see what we can come up with.

After the seminar I got back onto my Bird wagon, playing with the different feathers and making some drawings from them :) ... I left my drawings in the studio but here is a photo of a few of my forever growing feather collection

227days ...

It has been a crazy first two days back at uni! We are into third year now and boy has the pace picked up. We’ve been thrown straight back into it all and I am loving it! Not only do we have our main focus project and essay, but we have a fantastic opportunity to show work at Indigo in Premiere Vision Paris next year and have a live project from another company. Honestly it is all a bit over whelming but I can’t wait to get straight in … Following on my project from last year I am continuing to look at birds, costume and movement. I have been drawing a few Eagles recently and I am in love with their huge wing span and how they soar through the air. I find the idea of feathers so interesting as they are so fragile on their own but so strong when layered up as a wing. I would like to look into feathers and wings and possibly make a costume with this. Hopefully filming and photographing it. I also want to explore different materials and the different qualities I can create with them. I would also like to research and learn more about the rituals and dances influenced by birds … it’s going to be a busy year … bring it on!

Pitlochry Theatre Work Experience

Last month I spent a week in Pitlochry Festival Theatre in the wardrobe department. I absolutely loved it there, everyone was so kind and welcoming and I learnt a lot when I was there. During the summer Pitlochry have 6 shows going on at the same time, they start the season with the first 3 or 4 plays on and then open up the last 2/3 a few weeks later, meaning for the last month or so all six shows are up and running. The idea behind this is you can go to Pitlochry for a week’s holiday and see a different show every night.

When I arrived the final show, ‘Dr Angelus’, was about to open. I was so lucky with the week I went as I got to be involved in rehearsals, making of costumes, maintenance and dressing. I learnt how to use an over-locking machine while making a dress for the autumn play ‘Whisky Galore’ and was shown how a theatre is run behind the scenes – literally!

The first half of my week involved watching the last few rehearsals of ‘Dr Angelus’, watching the opening show, fixing broken costumes and making costumes. The second half of my week was making costumes, maintenance and dressing. Dressing is definitely a passion of mine; I love the backstage vibe and being on hand for quick changes, fixing things if something doesn’t go to plan. Everything went to plan of course but it was fun being at the ready if not!

I was lucky enough to go backstage for ‘Privates on Parade’ and ‘Trelawny of the Wells’ – both very different from each other so it was great to see the different costumes.

As I said I loved my work experience at Pitlochry Theatre and would recommend everyone get down and see a play there! The actors, sets and costumes are all fabulous and definitely worth going to see!

http://www.pitlochry.org.uk/


Dr Angelus





Privates on Parade





Trelawny of the Wells

Ballerina

Sadly my final film is too big a file for my blog but check it out on my tumblr :) -

http://rachellobban.tumblr.com/

Film...

So, I've never done any sort of filming before, but I absolutely loved doing it in this project!
Especially filming ballet movements.
I decided not to have any sound on my film as I wanted to concentrate on the movement of the ballerina and how my costume moved with her and against the wind.
I definitely want to learn more about film and would like to use it in future projects.

These are the 'tests' (sorry the quality isn't great - I'm new to uploading videos)

Photoshoot

Photos from the shoot yesterday!
It was so much fun doing this shoot and I am really pleased with how the photos turned out!
I was trying to get the fragile quality of the costume combined with the delicate, light movements and poses of the ballerina.