I love magazines. I love the physical connection between them and the reader, I love the design, the smell, the feel, the content, just everything. As someone who is studying Graphic Design, I am constantly flicking through magazines to find inspiration. A company I recently discovered during one of my class talks was 'Oh Comely'. I instantly fell in love with the style and design of the magazine. Minimalism is my thing, so this is right up my street. As soon as I got home from uni that day I placed an order of some magazines from their website, the arrived quickly, and I was not disappointed.
They came in beautiful packaging, and when I opened the box, I found some little post cards. I also am really into photography and these were completely my style, so they went straight on my wall!
The actual magazines themselves are breathtaking. They look incredible, and the content is so unique. All of the issues have a specific theme, but overall, I think the magazine is a bit of everything. It's described as 'where curious minds don't think alike', and I think it fits perfectly. It really is very satisfying to read, and I always find out amazing unique stories, it's a joy to read.

I really just wanted to share this with you, as I feel like this magazine deserves more recognition! I can't rave about this enough.
If you are interested, you can visit their website here. 

Thank you for reading!

So, the craziest thing happened to me yesterday.. (Aside from it being my last ever official day at school - there will be a blog post tomorrow/Sunday all about that, and also about the paintballing my year did today)

I had gone up with my portfolio full of my weird, stupid ideas, which when I compared to others' work made me even more pessimistic about getting into Dundee. There's tonnes and tones and tonnes of applicants, from all around the globe, and only 170 places in the whole of 1st year. I kept comparing my work to everyone else's.. 'It's nowhere near as good!' I cried to my mum 'I'm not going to get in!' She just kept saying 'Erin, stop being so negative.. You will get in.' Of course I didn't believe her..
However, I opened my email today to find out that I had an email from UCAS (oh the fear that runs through you when that 'Dear Miss Docherty, something has changed on your application' email comes through. Anyone else get absolutely terrified when it comes through?) I was so positive that it was going to be a rejection that despite being surrounded by people, didn't mention the email, as I logged onto UCAS. I was prepared to be rejected , so you can imagine the shock on my face (I actually gasped out loud) when I logged onto UCAS to find this...



YESSSSSSSSSSS! I got an unconditional offer to ART SCHOOL! My top choice! It's been a dream of mine for years to go to art school. I worked so hard on my portfolio this year, so after getting rejected from both Glasgow and Edinburgh Art Schools, I was feeling pretty bummed, and had basically given up on Art School... If I couldn't get into those art schools, Dundee obviously wouldn't want me, right?
After an interview I got offered a place at Edinburgh Napier, and after a mix up of folios, I also got an unconditional to Glasgow Caledonian University, so I knew I was going somewhere, and I was happy about that, but in the back of my mind I still dreamed of art school. So to get this offer it honestly means the world to me, I'm on cloud 9, I couldn't be happier. I couldn't stop crying! One of my best friends started to cry when I told her because she was so happy for me, and that really tugged on my heart strings , I'm tearing up a little as I write this, so I'll probably just end this diary-style entry here.
Basically to summarise, I got into art school, something I 100% though wasn't going to happen, and I'm over the moon, and felt the need to share it with all of you lovely readers! If you've got this far through my ramble, thank you! (and well done!) Sorry if I bored you! I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Hey everyone! You may have noticed that there wasn't a post yesterday, I feel like i've let myself down, as the idea of "Blogmas" is to blog every day, but to make up for it, there will be two blog posts going up tonight.
Basically, I had planned to do this post yesterday, but then my brother took really not well, and got rushed to hospital, and I had to look after my sisters, and the last thing on my mind was my blog. So yeah, that's why there was no post.
But shall we get onto today's one?

Today is the last of the updates from this project (previous update here). I finished the painting, finally, and I'm so pleased with the result of it! (I may add better quality photos of this painting later, on a professional camera), but here we go!

Look at the mess!!

A little close up for you all

As my theme is "Journeys" I decided to make it even more relevant, and add a very light map in the background in greys, purples and blues, to harmonize with the road itself.

and this is the finished piece! It's pretty hard to see the map in the background, but i'm still proud of it, none the less!

Eleven sleeps till Christmas, yay! Today's post is pretty short, and it's another update on this BIG Christmas Art project that i've been doing. In the following photos, I hope that you an see how far it's progressing. I'm really proud of it, anyway. (You can read the previous update here)

So it's only fifteen sleeps until Christmas (yay!) and it's time for another a third update about my Christmas Art Project! (You can read part one here , and part two here). By this point, as you'll be able to see by the photos, i'm slowly but surely getting there, it's taking a while... this is two whole weeks worth of work. Lets have a look!

I've started on the third house, and the roof turned out to be a lot harder to do than I expected! It took me ages to get it exactly how I wanted it.

Not much change really, except that the third house is completed! I am quite proud of it at this point, as this has taken me almost a week an a half to get this far!

Two weeks have gone, and this is how far I got, I finished the main strip, and I had started to work on the two hedges at either side of the painting. (With the help of two of my friends, who blocked in the colour for me, seeing as we only had three weeks to get this finished!)

So that's update 3! What do you think of it so far? Let me know! All my links are in the sidebar. Thanks for reading. Happy blogmas day 10, see you tomorrow.

It's Blogmas day six, and it's time for update number two of my big Christmas Art Project! If you missed update one, where I explained how it was set up, and drawn out, etc, then you can read it here.

This update is just a short one, i'm just going to show a few pictures i've taken, as my painting has started to progress, so take a peek!

I decided to start on the hardest part, which I thought was the row of houses, and it took me just over a week to do all of them! (this is only the first two days work)

For some reason this photo is blurry, but that was three days work, and as you can see by the state of the floor, i'm not a tidy painter! (It gets worse in future updates, trust me!)

A close up, to show the detail I'e put in the houses! I was quite proud of it at this point, because i've never painted on this big a scale before!

Four days work, I finished two of the three houses, and one of my friends offered to help me (as I am a VERY slow painter), so I asked her to block in the auburn for the hedge, so that I could just add the detail later.

So that's it for update two! What do you think of it so far?

Day three of Blogmas, and today is a post that I have been very, very, very excited to put up, because I am working so hard on this project. As I haven't finished my project, i'm going to split this post over a series of updates, over the month of December.
I should probably tell you what my project is, shouldn't I?
Well, I am an artistic person, and I want to pursue a career in this area, so I picked Advanced Higher Art and Design (for those of you who don't live in Scotland, it's basically a step higher than A levels? I think.. well, it's basically the highest level of education that is possible to do before you leave school, if that makes sense.) All of the Advanced Higher pupils get to create a painting, for the main hall, which gets decorated for Christmas. Now this isn't any old painting, this is a HUGE painting. I can't explain the size, so i'll just show you a photo.

my friend took a sneaky photo of me taping my photo, but i'm literally stretching to reach the top, it's that big (i'm 5ft3)!

Pretty big, right? Especially for a small person (5ft3ish)! They were made from four bits of card, glued together with strips of card on the back, then taped to the wall with a hell of a lot of duct tape! Because it's such a large scale, it would be near to impossible to draw out in exact proportion, so we were allowed to print off our chosen photo onto acetate, project it, and trace it on to the huge sheets of card. This sounds like a cheaters way to do it, but tracing it is harder than it looks, and so time consuming!
Every year, there's a theme, and this year it was "Home For Christmas". Our painting has to link in with this theme, but also with our own personal them for our folio, which gets sent away to the exam board. (mine is Journey's). I picked to draw a street scene, with a person walking away, presumably going "home for Christmas". This sort of links in with my exam theme, but I put a map behind the original photo, and i'm going to put bits of the map in the sky, to signify a journey.
Below is a few photos of what the set up looks like, and what exactly it is that i'm drawing.

a bit blurry, but this is what i'm drawing.

the acetate image on the projector, ready to be drawn

The very hi-tech, expensive projector and stand, haha

The image projected, ready to be traced!

So that's the end of my first update, there will be another in a few days, which will show the first part of the actual painting, yay!
Happy blogmas day 3! See you tomorrow!

It's December! How exciting is that? I love Christmas time so much, I love everything about it, (especially the advent calendar, you are never too old for it!
You might already know this, but I am going to be attempting "blogmas". (where you blog every day up until Christmas Eve) , so this is the first post.


The lovely people over at Homearama very kindly sent me two of their products, and I have decided to review them. This post isn't very Christmassy, but over the next 24 days, it will be a mix of Christmas, and not Christmas themed posts. Although, these product would make a perfect Christmas present for anyone, of any age, in my opinion! Anyway, enough rambling, lets get on with the review, shall we?
(Please note: even though I didn't purchase these items, this review will be just as honest as any other review done on my blog, I won't lie to you.)

First of all, meet Adam, The Doodles Man. he retails for £24 95, and on the Homearama website, and also the box itself, he is described as:

"the perfect companion to help you with your figure drawing. Made of stainless steel wire connected at the joints with aluminium rivets, his fully adjustable joints and limbs will hold any pose for as long as you need. He never rusts, never rests, never eats and never sleeps, so will always be on hand whenever you need him!"

Next, meet his companion, Rover, The Doodles Dog, like Adam, he also retails for £24.95, and he is described as:

"the perfect companion to help you with your figure drawing of animals. Made of stainless steel wire connected at the joints with aluminium rivets, his fully adjustable joints and limbs will hold any pose for as long as you need. He never rusts, never rests, never eats and never sleeps, so will always be on hand whenever you need him!" (pretty much the same as Adam)

Now, onto what I liked..
I love how unique these designs are. I've seen various wooden figures over the years, but never seen a wire one, until now! They are very quirky looking, and it's an alternative take on your average "wooden man". The variation of moves available is good, if not better than the wooden man.
Though considerably more expensive than the wooden versions, I think it's worth the money, as so much detail obviously has gone into making each of these perfect, and you really are getting the quality for what you paid, they are very sturdy.
Saying that, I am about to contradict myself, as at first, when I went to move their arms, legs, any body part, I felt like I was going to break it, and even though there is still some restriction in what way the arms and legs can move, I no longer feel like i'm going to break it, so just bear in mind if you are considering buying the product. You may think you're going  to break something, but it just needs a bit of "breaking in". (Is that the correct term?)
Another positive is that they are very easy to draw from, and it may sound weird, but because it's got gaps in it, unlike other mannequins, I find it even easier to see exactly where the body parts join together, and this helps me when drawing. They are definitely very easy to draw from.
I especially like Rover, the dog, as he is very unique, I have never seen a figure dog for drawing, and everything about him is great. They both look very pretty even just sitting on a shelf, or a table, as ornaments. Mine are currently placed on my shelves by my desk!


However with Adam, I found two minor things I wasn't so keen on. He doesn't come with a stand, like many other mannequins do, so I found it extremelly hard to get him to stay upright, and I found that I eventually had to lean him against something.
Also, his feet are very out of proportion, they really are massive! (bigger than his head.) But neither of these are major issues.

So to conclude, let's recap.
PROS

• Good variety of positions
• Unique, quirky, different designs
• Good Quality
• Very easy to draw from
• Look very nice as ornaments
• Will last a long time
• Dog in particular is unique, and perfect for drawing.
• Will make great Christmas presents for someone who is interested in anything artistic.

I've been a lover of "Etsy", the online website for quite some time now, but I am yet to actually buy something from here. Why? Because the items are so expensive, that I couldn't possibly afford them! Or, if they're a reasonable price, I keep managing to convince myself that I don't need them..

I do constantly visit the site just to have a little nosy, and decide which item's I would love to have it I had the money, and i've put together a little wishlist for you to enjoy!

(Red romantic musical iphone case)

(Personalised striped iphone case)

(Newsprint butterfly iphone case)

Despite not actually owning an iphone (i know, it's shocking..), I am in love with these cases. I actually adore every single one of them, and I can't pick a favourite! If I get an iphone, and these are still in stock, I will probably buy all three of them..

(Harry Potter Deathly Hallows ipod 5th generation case)

(Word art sign)

(I heart rain mug)

(Snow White Wallet)

(Business Card holder)