A trip to Pineda and Blanes

So I've decided it best to make use of my week off...I hadn't done any sight-seeing in a while so my good friend Laia suggested we take a trip to Pineda and Blanes. It was just over an hour in the car. Blanes is a nice little sea side town. Defiantly worth a visit. I spent the day taking photographs and drinking coffee, something which is becoming more and more of a problem. How on earth will I be able to go back to the coffee in England compared to what I have now become accustomed to out here! 1.20€ for amazing coffee at any cafe or £4 for weak and gritty Starbucks. I will have to go back on the green tea when I come home.

Back to Blanes....it was such a relaxing place, a lot less people and much more of the beach to yourself, though that's probably got a lot to do with the time of year also. I can imagine it getting very busy in the warmer months. But an ideal get away for me, I think I needed a break away from the city. I guess the city gets to you after a while. There is so much to see and do, I am going to make sure that I have been to as many places as possible while I'm out here, because there's not long left, and I won't have this experience again. I really want to go to Madrid, but it costs over 100€ via train. I will wait until June for that one, and only if I have money left over. 

Here's some photos from today's trip

 

Illustrative style and refinement

I have been spending a lot of time on refining my illustrative style. For a while now I have not been happy with it, I feel it lacks character...but only in a way which can adapt to individual looks. For example, a politically aimed piece that expresses disenchantment, apathy and sadness, verses an exotic, happy, bright and colourful piece and how I express that through my illustration. I need to find some way of drawing models in a way that is fitting to any type of collection I create. I will shortly upload a series of different looks and several boards which shows how I have come to what I believe to be a really artsy and fairly unique style. I am very happy with the outcome, and even happier that it comes naturally to me and that I can draw at speed with my new style.  (Boards to follow this evening due to posting on my mobile phone right now) 

Eco fashion project progress...

This week I have been working towards some designs for my Eco project. As per usual, I have changed my mind, I don't want to use shirts anymore, I thought of recycling old denim jeans, I had visions of all the jeans that get thrown away because the bottoms have dragged on the floor and ripped, this tattered old worn effect is actually quite beautiful, damaged by being scuffed on the concrete. I remember as a teenager buying extremely baggy jeans, when I was going through my skater/grunge phase.

Cavalcada del Reis Mags

The festival of the three kings, something I've never experienced before, an event mainly for the children, but that's ok, I thought...why not go and experience this different tradition.

I arrived at catalunya square to meet my good friend Laia, around 19:30, the metro was packed full of people all cramming on desperatly to get to the square before the event started. When we got there, not too far from our meeting point at Cafe Zurich, the crowds were horrendous. There were too many people. I didn't get a very good view of the carnival from where I was, and undoubtedly because of fully grown men standing on chairs from the nearby Cafe. The event lasted about an hour, and a lot of work had clearly gone into it, the costumes were great! Here are some photos that I took anyway...

After spending time back in England over the festive period, it was very hard for me to come back out here to Barcelona, I often thought of not coming back out and giving up on the whole thing, not because I don't like it here, I just miss my family that's all. I contemplated is this all worth it? How much money I'm spending over how much I'm missing out on back home. Also it seems fairly impossible for me to get any industry experience out here. I have decided that I am going to try to find a job, something that I can work around my studies. It will be good for me to earn some money to help with the expenses of living here. Tomorrow I will get a Spanish SIM card, so that companies can contact me easier, and I will also get copies of my passport done and some photographs. I will need all these things to apply for my NIE, its an ID number to enable me to work. I do hope this process is straightforward. A friend told me she found it impossible to get an appointment to apply of the NIE. Fingers crossed!!