The Future.

It's been a busy few months and quite a struggle, but getting there slowly. So my degree in Visual Arts is starting in Sept. After getting my Access HE Diploma that I worked so hard for, I feel prepared now. Below are a few photos of my final major project all about opium.

Here are some photos of my final major project it's all about opium.

The Roller Coaster of my artistic life.

As 2014 draws to a close I wonder how on earth I got through these last three months.

Back in Sept I started college, had been diagnosed with ITP a month before, just when my course started so did my treatment for ITP, this was not part of the plan.

I bloody did it though, caught two buses every morning and got myself into classes, did what was required and more.
The side effects of the drugs Prednisone and Rituximab were very debilitating to say the least, the list is very very long. The outcome will not be known for a few months, at least my platelete count is 201 as of yesterday, from a count of 10 which had me admitted to hospital a few months ago, I am living each day as it comes.

College has been fabulous, the tutors have been so supportive, being in an art college environment has been wonderful, such a learning curve. Thought I knew so much, couldn't have been more wrong, thought that my drawing skills were a none starter, nope not bad actually, found out (sort of knew it) that I'm a natural pattern maker. Negatives were, that I always want to have a finished product, years of making jewellery, cards and a few other things. The main objective was always to sell my creations, in the "Art" world it is the opposite, it's the journey, the planning, drawing and making notes in a sketchbook that matter more, if in the end what you create is finished, then good, if not, it does not matter.

Contextual studies did my head in at first, choosing a famous artist to research and write about was the easy bit,  I had never done any sort of academic writing in my life and found it daunting, a gap of 42 years is not recommended, that's why an access course is necessary for someone like me, it breaks you in gently to what is ahead when you do a degree. I am now starting to enjoy researching and writing.
So all in all its been very hard work, enjoyable and so worth the effort, believe me when I say hard work, just because it's "Art" does not mean to say it's easy, it's not, but you learn so much about yourself.
Here are few of the "Artists" I have written about and some that are in the works.
Louise Bourgeois, Marc Chagall, Tamara de Lempicka, Sonia Delaunay and Oskar Schlemmer.
all can be found on my pinterest boards, links at the top of the page.

Mark making at college

The class brief on Mon was to make as many different marks on paper, easy peasy you may think, well not too many on my paper, this one is with compressed charcoal, the first picture is the whole paper the other pictures are sections all taken with my camera. I love the darkness of the lines and the fact you can smudge areas with your fingers, it makes you feel like a child playing with new crayons. I am now very inspired to do more of this mark making.

Art College and ITP

Well I have not blogged for ages as I have not been well, recently have been diagnosed with ITP google it for more info, basically its your spleen, platelets attacking healthy platelets, so you don't have enough platelets, so its very dangerous you can bleed to death, not funny, so now I'm having a combination of Rituximab and steroids for a month in the hope that it will kick me into a remission, will keep fingers crossed, meanwhile at the same time I have started college, one year access so I can do a degree, its printmaking, ceramics, and other mediums with loads of essay writing about art, what it means etc, so its going to be hard work for the next few weeks, I know I will get help if needed, I am not one to give up and I'm not letting my health issues rule me, although practically speaking tiredness even when your tired is tired, lol is a factor, will still make jewellery it will be for sale

in Art Parade Saltaire, and my esty shop.

My last fair at Victoria Hall Saltaire

This is my last fair for a long time as well you know I'm off to Art College in Sept for a one year access course hopefully leading to a 3 year degree course.
This is a lovely event, a cake stall, cheese stall, wonderful handmade creations, some that include upcycling, lovely stalls with vintage treasures and workshops, what's not to like, the weather forcast is crap, but this is all under one roof so what are you waiting for.

Packing up my stuff for my last but one fair.

https://www.facebook.com/BelarouciDesigns?ref=hl this link does not work, ok if you want to have a look at my album, the facebook link at the top of the page works.
I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to make my stuff look nice, there is actually too much, so will get on the challenge and get off the computer lol.x

My last 2 fairs for a while.

I am very sad that these 2 fairs are going to be the last for a while, I have loved partaking in these events I will be visiting as a buyer in the future as I love vintage and antique stuff, I am also having a massive clearout of my own vintage stuff as I am downsizing soon, also there will be allsorts of jewellery bargains and new creations, I will carry on making things over the summer untill I start college, but then I will be packing most of it away, now I have to clean the cat sick, honestly there is always something is there not.x

New Discovery Sunny Bank Mills

This is a lovely place to visit lots of hidden treasures, as an ex textile mill its a wonderful space.

Apart from the lovely Gallery there is an archive of fabric sample books and all sorts of other interesting things to look at, you can visit once a month, soon there are some very interesting new businesses opening one I will be visiting next time I go is Scrap Creative Reuse Arts Project, oh and did I mention that my creations are in the gallery waiting for good homes.x

Its been a while, its cold and damp, need to get back to creating and a new necklace.

Well I am looking forward to spring and this delicate necklace and matching earrings are just the ticket to cheer one up and banish those winter blues, all made from vintage glass beads from different eras.
Its been busy in the Belarouci household sorting out my house to sell it, still not done yet, I have come to realise that I have an addiction, no, really, honestly, your kidding, ha, to hoarding beads, buttons, lace, old books, vintage stuff, the list goes on, so have had to say goodbye to those things that I no longer need or use, its a long ongoing process and will take time, I am sure there are lots of creative types like myself who say "I can make something with that" and never do, the intention is there and there it is in a box or draw gathering dust, so it may as well find a new home, and the hope is it will be made into something sooner rather than later, I will carry on with little snippets of my young life soon.

I just love textiles and embroidery the work here is wonderful.

How can people not be inspired by the wonderful textiles out there, if you want to know the names of these talented people pop along to my Pinterest link at the top of the page.

Thursday Blog ancestry a real mixed bag.

 Where do I begin, my mother had told me her mother had a French surname on her birth certificate and that it was a Huguenot name, we had a family crest as well, so as a teenager I used to swan around being snobby thinking I was better than everyone else because I had aristocratic blue blood running through my veins, as time went on I found out a lot more, some of it quite shocking although not surprising.
My mother informed me when I was around 30 that my father was not my biological father, I already knew he was gay and didn't have a problem with it, so the information that she gave me about my biological farther was, that he was a lovely dancer, in the army, and his name was Geoffrey Frank so the question for me was, was he Jewish, my mother said she didn't know, my reply was there are ways of telling, anyway I digested this information. I was sad that my gran whom I loved so much was not related to me, also my father as he was a kind man and he had a much bigger influence on me than one could ever imagine, all in a good way as you the reader will come to know in my further blogs.
So the information that I have gathered so far is my Huguenot ancestors left France and went to Ireland, there is a famous Huguenot church in Cork and there are others, at least 2 generations were silversmiths/watchmakers and interestingly before this information came to me I was already making jewellery. At some point there was some mixing with the Irish as there are Irish surnames on the birth certificates and as for being aristocratic well they were probably well off enough to have a family crest, but I don't think they were Dukes or anything so grand, but there is still a lot more to find out.
As for my natural father that is a whole other area of investigation, I reckon though that he was not Jewish, the name Frank derives from Franks which is a Germanic tribe thing, anyway that's one idea anyway.

FLASH SALE ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE

Yep I'm having a little clearout on my facebook page the link is at the top of the page.
Also my Folksy shop, the link is top right, is stacked with lovely things also Etsy link at the top.

My last posting day will be Thurs 19th

Thursday Blog A right little madam.

Well here I am (top photo) with my brothers pulling a right face and looking like a right little madam, this is outside Victoria Hall Saltaire early 60s, my Gran used to buy me and my brothers outfits that my parents couldn't afford.
My Gran was in the Salvation Army she is sat second row from the front far right, when I was young I was made to go to Sunday School, I did untill I was 12/13 when they tried to "Save" me I didn't go again. I have to make an observation about the photo the man in the middle looks quite pleased with himself sitting amongst all the virtuous young women, and by my reckoning me thinks the woman in the front on the left has an equally pleased look on her face, I will leave what could have happened between them to your imagination.

I am featured on Folksy's Favorite Finds

A couple of months ago I opened my Folksy shop and had one of my decorations featured after only being on there for 2 weeks and as of yesterday a lovely pair of earrings are now featured I have not had any sales yet, it is a massive market place and its very hard to get noticed but I'm not giving up yet, its early days.

Saltaire Vintage Home and Fashion Fair I will be there selling lots of new designs.

Thursday blog and graveyard kindness.

Most people have a best friend and mine was Alison she lived a street away George St, we met when we were 5 and we are still friends today, it was not always plain sailing though.
We must have been around 8 years old Alison had an aunt who knitted her dolls and teddies clothes and I was jealous of them, so one day I stole her teddies coat with the penguin buttons Alison knew and made me give it back and to compensate her I had to give her my Enid Blyton book along with a shoe cleaning kit that someone had given me, goodness knows why I had that, and we still laugh about how she made me pay, thing is I can't stand people stealing and would never do it myself, so a good lesson was taught, another thing we used to delight in, was going to the local graveyard, we would read the gravestones especially those of children and if there were no flowers we would steal a few off the other graves (I did say I would never steal but this was different) and place them on the ones without, we loved the graveyard.
There are many stories but this one is by far the best, Alison took care of her toys and possessions at the time she was an only child as I had brothers so I did not, so one Easter she had a chocolate rabbit the kind with a coloured foil wrapping and it sat on her dressing table, Easter came and went I had eaten mine and destroyed the foil long ago Alisons rabbit sat on her dressing table for weeks I kept asking her when she was going to eat it, and she just kept saying soon, it got the the point where the foil was peeling off and it really annoyed me, in the end Alisons mum was also sick of seeing it and put it in the dustbin much to Alisons dismay.

New thimble necklace for those who like sewing.

Ok these are not the best photos but we get the idea don't we, love vintage thimbles and sewing items even though I do not sew.x

Thursday blog creative life happens and painting by numbers.

Well here again folks, yes after my brother was born I was not the center of attention and why would I be, my parents must have realised that art was in my DNA and bought me painting by numbers, spirograph, various colouring books and an etcha a sketch, along with the normal girl toys, I loved my Barbie with the wind up hair, she married Ken and they had a baby, also loved playing with my brothers cars and making traffic jams, I was not an evil child but remember I got hold of my mothers stiletto heel shoe and hit my brother on the head with the end of the heal, I had made an actual dent, fortunately no harm was done, we had another brother by the time I was 6 so I was outnumbered and my dolls paid with their heads, by this time I was aware of some of my parents social circle, Uncle Basil who was a friend of my fathers, he worked for Sadler's Wells and was always encourage me to take ballet lessons, there were a lot of very theatrical people coming and going in our household.
My grandmother (fathers mother) had a very big influence on my life, I loved her to bits and I was her favorite because I was the girl she had always wanted, she would spoil me and buy me outfits that my mother could not afford, she used to take me to Betty's Cafe in Bradford and also Busby's (a department store), Betty's had a rotating cake display in the window, I always had toasted teacakes with butter, the same in Busby's, I loved these outings with my Gran, a photo of my grandmother and grandfather in Saltaire.

Composing a blog about your creativity.

I have come across some wonderful blogs in my 6 years ish of using the internet, mostly creative souls like myself, thing is I am crap at writing about my creative process as it has evolved in many ways for different reasons, so I have decided to blog about my life because the reader will see how my life is intertwined with being creative and is rather bonkers, so here comes the first instalment and you grammar police will just have to grin and bear it.
I was born in 1957 in Shipley in the north of England and my parents and I lived in a terrace house in Saltaire, my mother had met and married my father in Scarborough and had come to live in Shipley, by the time I had arrived they had moved  to Saltaire, my father worked at the Metal Box Company an engineering Co, I remember the christmas parties they laid on for the children of the workers, great food and films, one year we even went to Leeds to see a pantomime, my mum stayed at home as she had little old me to look after, when I was 2 years old I killed the family cat, well not really but probably helped the poor thing on its way, shamefully here is a list of what I did, threw the cat out of the bedroom window, put it in the twin tub washing machine, threw it at the coal fire, and apparently delighted in holding its tail and swinging it around, this pedigree siamese cat died of a cold virus and my mum told me the cat had gone to jesus, a year later my brother was born.
More next Thurs.

More new stuff and too many other things to do.

I have made some new cards and I should be making more jewellery, lots to finish off so later in the week should be listing on Etsy, so far have had no sales on Folksy, its very hard to get noticed out there, you can tweet and blog till the cows come home, I did have one of my heart decorations make the handpicked items on the front page of Folksy, not too bad when I have only been there for 2 to 3 weeks.