Wreck This Journal Art Update!

         Sometimes, I do things that aren’t reading… Shocking, I know! As a book blogger should I not spend every waking hour spaced out and high on literature? You would think so, but this is not the case!

One of the things I love to do in my spare time is actually art. Art? I hear you say. Art is not a book! Picasso is not Rowling! This is a book blog - I came here for books! Well, art may not be a book, but Wreck This Journal by Kerri Smith is and a damn good book too!

I have always loved Wreck This Journal, giving them away left right and centre for various birthdays and celebrations… But sadly I’ve never owned one – until now!

Recently my craving for Wreck This Journal got so strong that I just had to bite the bullet and go out there and grab one for myself! I started filling it up straight away and let me tell you – it has been fun! I’ve worked quite slowly, because I wanted to really take my time making it lovely, but I thought I’d show you some of my work today… Because even though I’m not an artist and I don’t take art at school, I’m still quite chuffed with myself! Let’s get wreckin’!

Acknowledgements/Copyrights

They may not have been the first pages I did but it makes sense to start at the beginning, yes? The page on the left is my copyrights page and I went through all the magazines I own so I could cover it in clippings! The next page I decided not to plan so much, because I tend to over-plan my art, so I just kind of went for it and it turns out I quite like swirls… Who knew?!

This page is a sign, what do you want it to say?

This one was really fun to do! I was originally going to do just a regular old protest over something I really cared about, but I kind of realized that sometimes people get so caught up over really pointless stuff. SO - the obvious solution? A happy protest! I used newspaper in the background to be ironic ‘cause I’m artsy like that… J

Float This Page

I got a new set of watercolour paints for Christmas, and I’ve been practicing like mad with them through my wreck this journal. A word of warning, they do buckle the paper, and colours like black or navy tend to bleed through to the next page, but you are supposed to wreck the journal so I suppose that doesn’t really matter! This was another fun one – I never draw anything but people so it was cool to give myself new subject matter! 

Fill This Page With Circles

Can you see her? 

Cover This Page in Dirt

This guy right here is unfinished. He is supposed to be a soldier and I am going to rub the dirt on his cheeks. I decided to break out my old water-colour pencils and I find them just so frustrating as a medium… I have the basic outline of a little boy on the other page out of shot and I’ll put dirt on his cheeks too… They soldier and the boy were meant to be each other but art is hard so maybe not…

         That’s all from me for now folks! I hope you had fun reading this blog because I definitely had fun making all the art for it! Let me know if this is the kind of thing you might be interested in seeing again or on the other hand if you rather my art just got lost off my blog! Communication is key my little addicts…

I hope you all have a lovely day! This is Evie, over and out!

X

Rainbow List of Must-Reads: Green - How To Be a Woman

This is the Rainbow List of Must-Reads: Where I review a different one of my favourite books each week! Fourth on our list we have a green book with a green cover:

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

    

        I’ve finally worked out what I want to be when I get older. When I grow up I want to be Caitlin Moran. She is my idol; the woman is wonderfully witty with a wicked sense of humour; she’s met countless of my favourite musicians and celebrities; she had this brilliant outlook on life; and she is the author of my current favourite book – ‘How to Be a Woman’

   

         Having read everything Waterstones’ Teen Fiction section had to offer, I was wandering round the shop in search of something to fill my empty holiday hours with. I’m generally reluctant to pick up fiction from the main adult section as in previous experiences the books I have picked up have been heavy, complicated or rife with sex scenes, but after a good twenty minutes of dragging my family around every section in the shop I realise that if I don’t pick something soon they would physically remove me from the building with no book with whatsoever.

  

         Taking Caitlin Moran’s ‘How to be a Woman’ off of the shelves I was a little bit apprehensive. I don’t usually read non-fiction, it’s never been something I really enjoyed, but as I rushed for time I remembered all the people who had recommended the book to me and decided that it was going to have to do.

  

          I opened the book as soon as I got home and within the first few chapters had fallen head-over-heels in love with it. I’ll admit menstruation and pubic hair aren’t usually the kind of topics that float my boat, but when Caitlin Moran spoke of her own experiences with them I found myself actually laughing out loud at the wonderful honesty.  She somehow manages to speak about them without making the reader feel uncomfortable. Moran is rude – but she isn’t disgusting.

  

          The theme of the book is feminism and woman’s issues. Usually a heavy topic tackled by the more fierce women and in a slightly aggressive tone, Moran manages to use light-hearted chat and humour to teach us women that really we should all call ourselves feminists – whether we like it or not. Moran teaches us that feminism isn’t really anything to do with man-hating or aggression – as is the stereotype – but more just basic common sense. In fact, Moran was so persuasive in her argument that I suddenly found myself standing on a chair yelling ‘I AM A FEMINIST!’ at my poor mum as if in a Moran-induced trance.

           Her charming way of taking the piss out of everything managed to change my mind on quite a few things actually. I will admit that I used to be slightly wary of Lady Gaga and her extravagant outfits, but after reading about Moran’s time in a sex club with the lady in question, I was playing ‘Bad Romance’ on repeat and googling pictures of the infamous meat dress.

I have even drawn a picture of the woman in question

The book is brilliant; I loved every bit of it. I honestly cannot fault it. There’s something quite relatable about Caitlin Moran. She’s impossibly cool and she’s led this amazing life talking to amazing people, but when reading the book you kind of feel like she’s just down the road and you could pop round for a cup of tea. She just seems so genuine.

The book uncovered this womanly pride in me that I never really knew was there. After reading ‘How to Be a Woman’ a woman seemed the very best thing that one could possibly be. Feminism no longer seemed like the angry, un-attractive thing that its stereotype once presented it as. With Caitlin Moran, if you’re a feminist, you pretty damn kickass!

Caitlin Moran is the kind of author I want to be my best friend for life and her book, ‘How to Be a Woman’ gave me this new kind of self-confidence I never really knew I was missing. There were really no other comparable candidates for this spot on the list.

You can find out more about Caitlin Moran here!

You can read the other reviews in the Rainbow List of Must-Reads here: Red, Orange, Yellow