This Week I...

I started the week by sending off a painting to America!

This is the first painting I've sold off my Etsy shop so it was very exciting.

In scale model making class I worked on my wall.

Check that brickwork.

On Saturday evening I went to the gig that I'd organised for the Letchworth Arts Centre when I was still interning.

It was country-ish music as when I got the position back in August I told them I'd be going on holiday to Nashville and they were like, 'Nashville? You can organise a country music night then.'

I booked two bands; Taylor'd Country and CC Smugglers.

CC Smugglers got everyone up dancing and at the end of their set they came into the audience to do a few songs busker-style. It was awesome.

The Memory Book

This is my last holiday post. I promise.

This was our travel journal.

Or as I like to call it; the memory book.

My Mum gets an academic planner from Paperchase every year and there's always blank pages left over so I put them all together to make this journal. There was lined paper, squared paper and I added some sketchbook paper too.

The mix of papers just makes things more interesting.

I'd collect things throughout the day - leaflets, receipts - and once we got back to our apartment or hotel room in the evening I'd get everything out and armed with my trusty Pritt stick I'd put together a couple of pages about the day.

I made sure to write about a day on that same day because I'm sure I'd forget things if I waited.

For example, I definitely wanted to remember what we heard a girl say on the bus back from the Grand Ole Opry:

(In a southern accent) "Miss! Can you go easy on the bumps? I need to go to the bathroom!"

Hilarious.

I liked finding interesting things to write on, like this comment sheet from Mood, the fabric store.

When I got home I altered some plastic wallets so they'd fit in the book so that I could slot in leaflets from the different places we'd been.

Do you like my colouring-in? In the Country Music Hall of Fame they had a table where you could design your own outfit for a country star. Joss and I did one each while we were there, but I also took a colouring sheet with me to do later.

I coloured it in whilst watching Country Music's Night to Rock which was on tv on the Monday night. So good!

Nashville!

I'm back from my holiday!

Did you miss me?

Now, I don't know how interesting people find other people's holiday photos, but I'm going to share just a few of mine anyway and give you a little recap of what I got up to.

Today I'll show you Nashville.

It's fair to say I was pretty excited to be in Nashville.

My first impression was that it was so warm! Even at 6 o'clock in the evening when we arrived.

My second impression was that everyone was so friendly! Mainly the bus drivers, who were super helpful. We used buses the whole time we were there, not one taxi, and I'm very proud of myself for figuring out the public transport system.

Downtown Nashville is awesome!

There was live music coming out of every bar as you walked along the streets.

And it was country music. And I knew the songs. That doesn't happen in England.

It was great not to be the minority when it comes to being a country music fan.

(Note how I'm not wearing tights or a cardigan even though I packed plenty. It was like a proper summer!!)

That's me with Taylor Swift's actual laptop!

Boy oh boy, exciting stuff.

That was at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum which had an exhibition of all of Taylor's costumes and props from her Speak Now tour.

That's my sister Joss and I on stage at the Grand Ole Opry!

We took the backstage tour which was very informative and I especially liked the video pieces by Blake Shelton.

You see the circle of stage we're standing on that's different to the rest?

That's a piece of stage taken from the original home of the Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, so that everyone who performs there gets to stand on the same stage as the greats.

That evening we saw the show at the Opry which was amazing.

The performers were Lori Morgan, Riders in the Sky (they wrote the 'Woody's Roundup' song from Toy Story!), Jimmy Wayne, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, Kellie Picker (pictured), and Dierks Bentley. So good!

The highlights for me were Kellie Pickler singing 'I Wonder' and Dierks Bentley singing 'Home'. I love those songs.

On one of the days we walked round Hillsboro Village which is full of lovely little shops.

It's also where the Pancake Pantry is.

So good!

Go on their website and listen to their theme song. It is hella catchy.

One evening we were walking round our neighbourhood, which was basically Music Row, and I noticed the building which houses Big Machine Records. That's the label Taylor is on.

I'm not a stalker, I just recognised it from google maps....again, not a stalker.

We were also walking around hoping to catch a glimpse of filming for the new tv show Nashville (which I watched the pilot episode of on the flight over). They were setting up equipment at the top of our road but we didn't manage to see any of the actors. Still very exciting!

On our last full day in Nashville we saw the Kings of Leon!

They were being awarded a star of the Music City Walk of Fame.

We only found out about the event the day before.

Check it out; it's Caleb!

In the evening my sister and I watched to local news to see the coverage of the event and to our surprise there was a shot of us!!

Check out this clip and see if you can spot us.

(Here's a clue - we're both wearing hats!)

So that means we're pretty much famous now.

And then it was on to New York, but I'll leave that for another day

When I Grow Up

On Monday to celebrate handing in our dissertations (yessss!) there was a 'What I Want To Be When I Grow Up' themed party at the SU bar.

Since I go to a university that specialises in art there was a danger that everyone would just turn up as an artist.

But people really got imaginative.

The winner of the best dressed award was a scuba diver. 

I went as a country singer, which was really an excuse to wear this lovely vintage dress.

My friends went as Mrs Motivator, the President of America and Miss World.

The night was also a fine art fundraiser as we need money for our degree show publication.

This meant there was a raffle and I won a voucher for Prim, a vintage shop here in Norwich.

Exciting times.

Bonus photo; reading up about my favourite country stars before we went out.

So what do you want to be when you're older?

Yeehaw!

At the weekend I went to the Hillbilly Hoedown at the SU. I was channelling my inner country star rather than hillbilly but I still won a prize! A can of beer and a tin of spam! Yeehaw! Thanks Natalie

 Let's peruse the craftyart world for more things on the country theme;

First up is a copper etching made by yours truly. It was part of my print induction back in January and I think it's safe to say that painting is my true calling, but it was good to learn a new skill.

A cowboy boot cake! Kudos to Piece of Cake for this delight.

Check out these tiny hillbillies from GourdgeousGourdsPa on etsy.

And who can forget the Queen of Country; Dolly Parton. You can make your own black velvet Dolly painting with Jennifer Perkins on I Love To Create

Yeehaw y'all!