A selection of drawings I did as part of my contextual studies project. I chose the artist Yuko Shimizu to base my sketchbook work on and I really enjoyed this block!

My own art

I have stopped writing in here, which seems rather obvious. I have decided that instead of a boring blog that noone wants to read, I am just going to post things that I draw, paint, sew, knit, make in general. If anybody ever wants to buy anything just email me at annieminnaar@aol.com

I just fancy having it all posted up somewhere...

much love, peace xox

Autumn, winter and the flu

(I took off the picture of the little drawing I did, because it was too big for my blog header so here it is, popped into this post.)

Today I woke up pretty early for me right now, half 8, and my god it was FREEZING! This is the first time this year I have had to sleep with a jumper on AND leggins AND shorts AND socks. WTF?! haha It supposed to be autumn, not winter just yet, pleeease. Anyway, I had a pretty brilliant breakfast of porridge w/ honey and apple from the tree next door and a nice cup of detox tea w/ thyme and honey, yummy. I still feel dreadful, like all bunged up and snotty and coughy and blergh. But I have to get sick once this season at least? I hope just once....I don't really feel like doing much today, just sitting in my woolly jumper with some hot tea and music and a book. I have been doing a lot of knitting (well, I've been trying to knit...) recently and I am a third of my way through a scarf. Its gonna be a scarf because thats all a long bit of knitting can really turn into when you can't really knit. :P

I was speaking to my friend from switzerland, David, on skype last night and it was so damn good to see his face again! He is meant to be coming over to stay for a few weeks on the 5th ocbtober but because of medical reasons I don't know how possible this is going to be... Its annoying but I'd reather he was safe and well than coming over in the plane to stay here for ages and get worse. If he does come over, I can't bloody wait to see him!! I miss the guys from switzerland so much. Sarah, David, Marge, Tus, Baptiste and all the others. Hopefully I'll be able to go adn see them for a week at Christmas but money is a problem. Also, I think I'd rather keep the money and spend it staying a little longer in the summer.

Everyone should try out this website :)


Its so much fun haha

Anyway, not much interesting to say really, just passing the time.

Ax

Arty Farty

(A wee photo of me in Wales, with an incredible view)

I'v been doing a lot of pen and ink work recently, like the drawing at the top of my page. I did that based on the work of the illustrator Yuko Shimizu, who's work I am studying for a project at college.


My mum gave me a set of nibs, a bottle of black ink and her ink pot and quill pen. They are so beautiful and drawing with them is so much fun! Everything seems to flow a lot more naturally and its so much smoother to hold and ink with. So, thanks mum :)

I have been thinking about what I want to do next year in terms of uni/college/whatever. I am still keeping the Art school option open but I have also found a course in holistic massage at the dundee college, which doesn't cost too much money and is close by to where I live. Thats anotehr idea for next year. I think that I would rather spend my time studying something which I could use to help people at the end of it, and not be in too much debt either! I mean, that is why I chose medicine originally but the course wasn't really suited to what I was looking for out of life. This massage therapy course looks great, and it involves learning anatomy, psychology and physiology or massage as well as learning how business works and salon etiquete. Thats another idea for the list then...

My good friend David has booked to come over from Switzerland on the 5th October, and I do hope that nothing gets in the way for him. Knowing my luck something will get cancelled haha Silly easy jet :P I can't wait to see him, and get back to doing some art and music with him again. Its nice being with someone that you can just be silent with for a while and yet still feel totally connected in communication. Hard to explain. Has something to do with energies.

Energy, funny one that is. I consider myself odd due to the fact that I can feel other peoples' energies. Like an aura, only not visual I suppose. I tend to be attracted, not necessarily sexually, to people with strong energies similar to that of myself and occasionally it can get me into trouble. Flirting too much and all that shnizzle. There aren't that many people who's energy really pulls me in toward them and only a handfull have ever let me borrow some of their energy or share it. Thats beena special few moments in my life. Must sound like I'm talking bull, right? Believe what you like but I think if we all tried to open up a bit more and try to feel energies of others we'd maybe get on a bit better with one another. Understand one another more.

I'm gonna stick a few photos up, if you've seen facebook then these aren't new, but there are a couple from the movie that I was part of in July. I was playing a drummer in a typical rock and roll band and had the BEST fun ever. We have our wrap party this coming saturday and its going to be so great to see everyone again! alors, voila, voici les photos!








Better get back to the pen and paper...so much to do for college, but I don't mind. I love art and it seems like a hobby at the moment instead of course"work". I miss doodling though. Projects don't tend to leave much space for doodles haha :)

Thanks for reading


A x

New day, New month, New course and everything else

So much has happened since I last wrote here. I had an incredible time in Switzerland and met some incredible people. Wow, what a month. I am doing a course in art and design at college, which i love. I make a mess everyday and its constructive! :) I am the happiest I have been for a long long time.

The reason I wanted to write here today is based on a movie I watched the other day, "No Impact Man". The man involved decides to try to reduce his carbon footprint as close as he can to zero during the period of a year. Him and his family take on this challenge and he writes about it in his blog http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

Most people who watch this, I think, will be people who are already aware of the impact they have on their environment and are interested in the conservation of our beautiful planet but I could be wrong. I feel that a lot of the time, there is a generalisation about these kinds of movies and blogs etc and its some "damn hippy environmentalists" who are trying to preach the general public about how to be green and happy and love the earth but this is not necessarily so. It is not at all "preaching", it is teaching. I find that in most cases, people do not fully understand (myself included) the impact that we are having on our planet and what we have to do to try to reduce that, even just a little. You don't have to be a hippy or an environmentalist to give a bit of time to help the earth, and it shouldn't be seen as just another fashionable thing to do to gain a bit of self respect or even an ego boost. The fact of the matter is that we are slowly but surely killing our planet and raping it of what it offers us. I don't see a lot of evidence to say that we give much back to the world we live in in return for the precious resources that it offers. Yes, there are some who respect this and try their hardest to live in a give and take and borrow mentallity but even things as simple as recycling are sometimes overlooked because "it takes too much effort".

The film "No Impact Man" fascinated me because instead of a one sided viewpoint, there were two throughout the whole screening. The wife in the family seemed against a lot of the project from the start and opposed to her involvment from the start as her husband, no impact man himself, threw himself straight into the project, perhaps a little naively, and became almost obsessed. At the end of the study they were both very much more aware of how they were treating the world they live in and what they could carry on doing in their lives to reduce the negative impact they have on the planet. They realised that they do not necessarily need to live without electricity or use cloth instead of toilet paper for ever, but do small things like shopping locally, using a bike or walking instead of a car, and recycling more to reduce their household waste each week. These kinds of things are easy to do, and yes they may cost a little more in some (few) cases but generally it doesn't require any more effort than anything else.

What annoys me slightly is that generalisation of people who try to take care of their planet a little more. I think its really important that people, everyone, every single person on the planet, do their best to reduce their negative impact on the earth. No matter what that is. I see so many people that just don't CARE and its so sad. We NEED to reduce our carbon output and we need to pay more attention to what we buy, use and throw away. How many of us know where it all comes from and more importantly, where it all GOES TO? We can't keep filling up every nook and cranny until the earth is full. We pollute or land, water and skies with our rubbish and it isn't going t carry on like this forever... One day, when the planet has had enough it will all cave in and if it isn't us that will suffer it will be our children, and our grandchildren to come. I think its selfish to think that it doesn't matter because "we won't be here anyway".

I am not perfect, and never will be but I am merely writing down my opinions in this blog. I don't want to offend anyone, I just want people to think a bit more about how they live and what they are doing to the world that provides so so much for them. We can at least all try a little harder and change at least one thing in our lives that reduces our negative footprint on planet earth.

If you read this, thanks for taking the time :)

A x

Last Day

So, this is my last day, and last time writing on my laptop in my flat at university. Halls is now going to be a thing of the past YIPPEE! No one eating my food or bumping my utensils :P No one banging on my door at 3 in the morning, no one stealing my slippers or blanking me in the hallway!! So chuffed to be free of this stupid little boxed in apartment room. I have a lease starting on the 1st of July in a lovely wee house/flat on Perth Rd with 4 of my old medic buddies from the last year :) I can't wait to get there and decorate my room and put myself in my own little place. Its gonna be great. Living with people I actually want to be with and feeling comfortable in place of my own.

Lindsay, my girlfriend, has gone down south for a few days and I don't think I'll see her before downlaod. She wants me to come back to see her un Dundee next week but I have things I wanna do with the family and I think it'd do me good to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while. However, the bus IS only 30 minutes and I love that girl too much to spend a month away from her company!




I also talked to Chris about the summer and we are definitely going to Paleo, but where we go afterwards is undecided. We both really want to go to India in August but it depends on whether I get my bursary sorted for college and if I have enough money set aside. I also need to go to the doctors and get my jabs and pills which will cost me a bloody fortune. Blergh. I can't believe he is leaving for so long, I'll miss him a stupid amount but I am so fucking happy that he is finally doing what he wants. I hope it makes him happy again.

Anyhoo, must dash. x