dinsdag 17 april 2012

Schoolwork sundays.


 So last Sunday was quite interesting. We had this deadline on Monday to finish a brochure on pop art (Andy Warhol, you all familiar). It's a part of our "thesis". Not a thesis like the ones where you have to write a million pages, but like a final "piece of work" to get your degree. I'm studying graphic design at Syntra right now, maybe I should have said that first. I always kind of start telling something in the middle of the story, instead of explaining people the crucial information first. So, just get used to it, mmmkey?

Of course it had been Easter holidays for the past two weeks which resulted in me spending time with my boyfriend instead of me working for school. Duh. Nevertheless that brochure needed to be finished. Or at least a final preview needed to be finished, it has to be really really finished by tomorrow. But I didn't want to make a brohure in Indesign. I didn't want to set up eight (facing) pages and fill it with a lot of crap you find on the internet about pop art. I wanted to do something else so I started thinking: what IS pop art? And actually, pop art is a whole bunch of stuff that aren't really too serious. Yay for that! The "first" piece of pop art was made by Richard Hamilton and it's called: "Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?". I love it that the title is like a random thought of the creator. It's also a collage and I LOVE collages.






































So I decided to make a collage myself. Sort of a collage-brochure. The word collage now sounds so funny in my head, ihihihi. Pop art artists also take advantage of already existing elements and materials within reach. They don't try to make a super meaningful piece of art. They want to bring art to the people and out of the museums. They want to show in their art how prosperous the post-war society actually was. They don't want to criticize mass production, they use it as inspiration.

For my brochure I used an already existing magazine (thank you Sjiek Magazine, HBvL), ripped out some pages and wrapped it in some red with white polka dots wrapping paper. I always get my wrapping paper at Hema, they have the most lovely prints! Not that I buy wrapping paper thàt much though. For my cover photo I used an image of Astrid Bryan which I edited to give that typical pop art feel to it. She does look a bit like Michael Jackson now. I think it's because her nose is almost invisible (sorry Michael) and 'cause of her cheekbones. For content I used images I found in magazines.

Anywho, my teacher loved it. Ok he didn't use the word "love", but he did say I should keep it this way and not change a thing about it! Yay! Maybe only print my cover photo on some glossy photo paper, which I totally agreed on. We just didn't have any anymore, and well stores are closed on Sunday. So I'll do that today! And dye my hair turquoise. And I have to find a way to 'reproduce' my brochure, so I'll have to photograph it or scan it.

Here are some snapshots of the making off and the final result! Photographs off the final result aren't that great though, I'll photograph it again in school in the studio.

Oh and feel free to drop me a line on how you feel about it! It doesn't mean my teacher likes it, that I don't want to hear some other opinions. 










zaterdag 14 april 2012

Un jour à Luxembourg.


Yesterday, me and my friend visited the city of Luxembourg to rob the Ladurée shop. Well, not quite rob...but you get the point. We've always wanted to feel a little like Blair and eat a whole bunch of macarons. Instead of making them our own (as if we are great cooks) we just went to the nearest shop. In Luxembourg that is.

I got up waaaay too early, is 6am even morning yet, and headed to my friends place in Maasmechelen. Luxembourg is a two hour drive which we filled with loudly singing along to the radio. We couldn't be tongue-tied of all the wonderfull views because it was too foggy to see a damn thing.

Luxembourg isn't a very big city and when we arrived it seemed like we were the only two people there. So quiet! We parked our car and tried to find the Ladurée shop. Actually that wasn't very hard. After a two minute walk we already bumped into it. It's very petite and has a mint green facade. What not to love! After a lot of "Ooooh's" and "Aaaah's" and "Ooh look at that's!" and photographs we finally entered the shop. Although the shop is very petite, there were three smiling faces standing in front of us. They were probably laughing because we were acting like two total retards outside. Sofie explained it was our first time in Luxembourg and that we wanted to buy some macarons. I was too busy being startled. The very friendly smiling lady explained we first had to choose a little box for the macarons and afterwards the flavors we wanted. Oooh the joy! We both chose a rectangular box which can contain six macarons. No ordinary box, a beautifully decorated box with the Ladurée logo, in a variety of colors. As for the flavors I chose Raspberry, Rose Petal, Pistache, Coffee, Vanilla and Chocolate-Banana. They all were very good but my absolute favourite was pistache! Not only for the mint green color, I just really love pistache. But I must add I wasn't really blown away when eating my macarons. Maybe they just couldn't rise too my, very high, expectations?

For the rest of the day we strolled through the streets of Luxembourg and concluded that this city really wasn't very big. So after all that strolling, eating all our macarons and eating a very disappointing croque hawaii (after the macarons ofcourse) we decided it sure was a good idea to buy ANOTHER box of macarons. So base camp (read: home) could have some too. We've spent 30 Euros on macarons, but it was worth it, even though I'm not really convinced about the greatness of macarons. They sure look pretty and ah well, they ARE yummy. I shouldn't wine that much.

Oh and on our way home we made a quick stop at Chaudfontaine, because Sofie really wanted to visit the giant clothespin at Parc Chaudfontaine. Really cool actually! Let me indulge you into some pictures. I was wearing my new pink Zara pants and my new FAVOURITE shoes EVER from Urban Outfitters.