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White Chocolate Coconut Cookies Recipe

Posted on by maya

hi-guys

I hope you’ve all been having a lovely week 🙂 . I’m in the middle of my mock exams at the moment in preparation for the Leaving Cert (ie. the final exams to get into college here in Ireland), which means I really should be dedicating all my spare time to studying. So naturally, I decided to do some baking instead. Because really, no study session is truly complete without an excessive amount of snack breaks, procrastination and regret.

Anyways, I thought with the weekend coming up it was the perfect time to share this super simple recipe with you guys. These soft, chewy cookies were deliciously addictive – it took all my self control to wait and take a few photos before eating them. I’ve always had a slight white chocolate obsession and, paired with coconut, the two truly make a perfect match! I also love that this recipe doesn’t involve chilling the dough, because really who has time for that sort of thing.

Of course, you can enjoy the cookies as they are or, if you want to put a little extra effort into presentation, drizzle some melted white chocolate over them and top with some more coconut.

Let me know in the comments below if you guys try them out and what your go-to study snack is!

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Ingredients
1 large Egg
2 cups Plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 cup Caster (Granulated) sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup White chocolate chips/ chopped White chocolate
1 cup Desiccated Coconut
1/2 cup Butter

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Step 1 In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

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Step 2 Add egg and vanilla essence to the mixture. Beat until light and fluffy.

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Step 3 Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Combine well until mixture forms a crumbly dough.

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Step 4 Roughly chop chocolate. Or alternatively buy chocolate chips, which is no doubt easier – I just didn’t have any on hand.

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Step 5 Add chopped chocolate and coconut. Mix until well combined.

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Step 6 Roll the dough into small balls and place them onto a lined baking tray.

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Step 7 Lightly press down on each ball with a fork.

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Step 8 Bake cookies at 180’C/350’C for 10-15 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown.

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Step 9 Leave to cool on a wire rack.

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Step 10 Enjoy!

 

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The Anti-Resolutions 2017

Posted on by maya

hi-guys

k

How have you all been? It’s been a while… You know, I only had one resolution for 2017 and that was to start posting regularly every week this year. Needless to say the whole ‘New Year, New Me’ thing hasn’t been working out too well.

But then, it is that time of the year again –  the last week in January when everyone’s given up on their unrealistic goals and are slowly reverting back to their original, lazy, unmotivated selves. Naturally, being the artistic person that I am – I drew inspiration from my surroundings and decided to combine all these sentiments of disappointment and regret into what I am calling the ‘Anti-Resolutions’. (Now admittedly, I haven’t exactly figured out what the exact definition of an ‘Anti-Resolution’ is, but it’s a working title.) Anyways, it’s just a bit of fun as always 😉 , so enough with my rambling and without further ado, here are The Anti-Resolutions 2017…

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I feel like the New Year hasn’t even officially begun until everyone you know has started some weird diet that involves fasting for 12 hours a day and drinking pureed salad. And quite frankly, I find the whole thing very upsetting. See, a diet just entails  removing something beautiful (ie. food) away from one’s life – why would any one want to start off their year with that kind of negativity? I think you should do just the opposite. Going to the gym? Bring some chocolate cake to work out those jaw muscles. (Alternatively, skip the gym altogether because why be fit, when you can be filled with regret instead.) Going to get a coffee? Bring another cup of coffee along with you to drink while you’re waiting for the coffee you ordered. Thinking about giving up on sugar? Well, how would you feel if sugar gave up on you?

style-3

What better way to ring in the new year than changing up your style, right? Wrong. You’re already broke after treating yourself over the holidays and then society tries to tempt you to buy more stuff with “January sales”? Don’t just go giving into consumerism. In fact, stand up for your rights. Don’t buy anything ever again. Find a nice bin bag, cut a few arm holes in it and then wear it for the rest of your life. It’s unique, water proof and black works for every occasion. Problem solved.

travel-4

You guys know I love to travel, so I would definitely encourage everyone else to do some travelling this year. When it comes to travel, there are only two things to consider. 1) How are you going to pay for it? 2) What are you going to wear? The first question can be easily resolved by either winning the lottery or marrying rich, and the second can be answered if you follow the steps outlined in my last point. You’re welcome.

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I know what you’re thinking. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to start all those projects you’ve been dreaming about. Write a novel, start a blog, learn how to dance the flamenco… But the thing is, that’s what everyone is going to be aiming to do this year. You really want to be creative? Embrace your laziness. Motivate yourself to stay in bed just one hour longer. Actively ignore any responsibilities or opportunities that come your way. Make an inspiration board with pictures of all the things you want to achieve, instead of actually achieving them. Trust me, it offers a totally new perspective on life. I’ve tried it.

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Finally, are you tired of the same old routine, day in, day out? Do you wince when your alarm goes off in the morning? Have your weeks begun to blur into one? Fear not! You can fix this – just be incredibly impulsive and disregard any of the consequences it may have on your future! That’s right, quit your job, pack up your stuff, move to Peru and become a llama whisperer. Life will never be boring again!

. . .

Well, that’s all I have for you guys today! Let me know what your resolutions/ anti resolutions are in the comments below :). All jokes aside, I do hope you all have an amazing 2017 and achieve all your goals this year!

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How to Make Snowball Cookies

Posted on by maya

hi-guys

So I’m not going to lie, I’ve been wanting to share this recipe with you guys for months but have been patiently waiting for it to be socially acceptable to post Christmas recipes (which according to my mother would be the 1st of August)! Anyways, now that I’ve heard every single Christmas song ever written being played about a hundred times over in the last week, I figured it’s a perfectly acceptable time for making snowball cookies.

Personally, there’s nothing I love more on a cold winter’s day (or any day, really – weather’s pretty irrelevant) than to snuggle up in bed, briefly consider the possibility of being productive and ultimately end up just eating cookies for a couple of hours. And what with Christmas break coming up, I thought I’d spread some Christmas cheer and encourage you all to do the same 🙂 – because I’m such a great influence. And trust me, these little icing-covered, melt-in-your-mouth balls of deliciousness make the perfect snack to share with your family (or enjoy by yourself – I don’t judge) over the holidays!

I hope you get a chance to try them out over the weekend – if you do, make sure to let me know in the comments below!

ingredients

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1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing / powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
plus additional icing sugar for rolling

method

Preheat the oven to 250°C/400°F. Combine butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl.

Add the flour and salt. Mix well until a crumbly dough forms.

Shape the dough into balls. Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake for about 9 minutes until set (don’t let them brown 🙂 ).

Leave the cookies to cool slightly, then roll them in icing sugar while they’re still warm. Enjoy!

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10 Things I HATE About Winter

Posted on by maya

hi-guys

How have you all been? I’ve really missed chatting with you guys! I know, it’s been awhile…I’m sorry :/. I wish I could say it was because I have a crazy social life and super busy schedule, but we all know I only have like 3.4 friends, so that’s a lie(and no, I’m not going to explain the oddly accurate decimal) . Unfortunately, my only excuse is that I’ve been suffering from this terrible illness called procrastination. (In case you don’t know what a procrastinator is, it’s basically someone who sits down to write a post and then three weeks later finds that they still haven’t posted anything because they were too busy organising their desk and scrolling through pinterest and avoiding basic liferesponsibilities.)

Anyways, because it’s been so long since my last post, I wanted to write something really fun for you guys this week. I was looking back at my blog stats the other day and I saw that one of my most popular posts is ‘10 Things I HATE About Travelling‘. Naturally, I’m all about spreading positivity and all that, but if pessimism is what the people want – who am I to deny them of it? And since winter happens to be just around the corner, I thought I’d use it as inspiration! (Plus my radiator’s not working at the moment and my room’s like -40 degrees, so if ever there was a time I felt motivated to write a list of winter-related complaints, it’s today.)

So without further ado, here are 10 Things I Hate About Winter, in no particular order of importance because I’m too indecisive to prioritize anything.

1

The Weather

I thought I’d start off by addressing the obvious. Winter weather, and by that I mean constant rain, icy wind and dreary grey skies. Now I’d just love to see that on a Christmas  card, instead of this “winter wonderland” rumour that’s been going around spreading false hope.

Admittedly, I do live in Ireland where we have this kind of weather all year round – but it definitely gets even worse during the winter months so I’m allowed to give out about it. And if you actually happen to be one of those people who lives in a cute chalet somewhere in the Swiss Alps, well good for you. I hope you’re enjoying yourself while the rest of us try to convince ourselves that our snowy landscape screen savers are real.

2

Getting out of bed

Is it just me or does the cold make it significantly harder to get out of bed in the morning? I mean, I’m not the biggest fan of leaving my comfy quilt and pillows to go face reality in the first place. However, when I wake up and my blanket is the only thing shielding me from the arctic winds of my bedroom, the idea of dropping out of school and moving to the Caribbean suddenly becomes extremely appealing.

3

The Outfit Dilemma

Some people call winter a “time of festive cheer”, personally I call it the “time to decide between fashion and not dying of pneumonia”. Is there even such a thing as fashionable warm clothing? If there is please let me know what it is! Because let me tell you, if I had a euro for every time a perfectly constructed outfit was ruined by an ugly jumper or horrible winter coat, I’d be rich by now.

4

Shorter Days

This may just be me, but as soon as the days start getting shorter, my productivity just plummets. It’s like my life becomes a maths test, the formula is ‘hours of daylight are proportional to levels of motivation’, and I’m failing miserably. Honestly this is why I’ll never be a great writer because I could be on the last page of my masterpiece and then as soon as  it gets dark outside, that’s it – game over. I’d just drop everything and watch Netflix for six hours.

5

No Heating

I think it’s safe to say that I relate to this issue on an emotional level. First off, my school’s heating system works so that 75% of the classrooms are freezing, and the other 25% are like the fires of hell (which I’ve never been to personally, but I’m just assuming that accounting class and hell are more or less the same). This basically means I’ll be sitting in maths wearing a hat, scarf and fifteen layers of clothing, and then walk into Spanish class and have to change into a bikini.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, when I get home I then have to enter into a four-month-long argument with my Dad about turning on the heating, because he’s one of those vampire people who just don’t feel the cold. Not to mention that on top of all that, the heating in my car’s broken. Really at this point, as soon as Halloween’s over I’ve just learnt to accept that that I’ll be in a constant state of frantic shivering for the rest of the year.

6

Christmas Exams

You know what I just love? When the Christmas holidays are around the corner, everyone’s acting uncharacteristically sweet because they want to get presents and there’s just a generally festive and joyous atmosphere. Oh, and you can’t take part in any of it because the education system decided that this was a great time to test you on everything you learnt in the past 6 years.

7

Getting Sick

You hear a lot of phrases tossed around during the winter months. “Happy Holidays”, “Merry Christmas”, “Can you turn the heating on?” (yeah, the heat issue’s really gotten to me). But you know which one you hear the most often? “There’s a bug going around”. I swear as soon as the clocks go back, life just turns into a countdown waiting for who’s going to get sick first. And you know there’s no avoiding it, because as soon as one person has it in the family then it’s just a domino effect of doom from then. Plus everywhere you go, everyone’s sniffling and coughing and asking you for tissues (needless to say I wasn’t destined for a medical career).

8

Using Your Phone Whilst Wearing Gloves

Perhaps not the most serious problem of all time, but I just think in today’s day and age, touchscreen devices should be able to handle my wearing gloves. I mean lack of technological advancement here is basically forcing me to choose between frost bite and listening to music (because I’m not one of those normal people who can just put on a playlist, I have to choose each individual song).

9

Burning Your Tongue 

Cold weather means hot chocolates and spiced coffees and herbal teas… oh and SETTING FIRE TO YOUR MOUTH. Now this could just be me, because I have the patience of a five year old and can’t wait for my drink to cool down before drinking it, but I thought I’d complain about it anyway.

10

Struggling to Find Socks

Okay so I have this theory that my washing machine consumes socks. Seriously, that seems to be the only logical explanation for my socks’ random disappearances. And the worst part is that during the summer months, I always seem to have an abundance of them, but come November I’d be lucky to find even one pair of mismatched socks.

. . .

Well that’s all I have for you guys today! I hope you all have an amazing week. Make sure to comment down below letting me know if you can relate to anything on the list or if you have any other winter complaints you want to share and we can be pessimistic together:) Talk to you guys soon...signature

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DIY Halloween Eyeball Necklace

Posted on by maya

It’s almost October 31st and so in celebration of All Hallow’s Eve, I thought I’d share this fun necklace tutorial with you guys. Because nothing screams “Halloween” like an eyeball hanging off your neck, am I right?

The other day I was trying to think of something Halloween-related that I could post (I’m a pretty big Halloween fan – like the annoying type who plans their costumes a year in advance), when suddenly the idea of making eyeball jewelry just popped in to my head. I know what you’re thinking, these are the kind of innovative ideas our generation needs. What can I say, I’m just destined for greatness.

So once I got this idea (or should I say eye-dea 😉 ) in my head, I searched my house for any bits and pieces lying around that might be useful. I ended up with an old keyring, a chain from one of my many broken necklaces, a few nail polishes, a marble that I stole from my brother and, of course, my faithful glue gun. (Oh and on a side note, I really think I should give my glue gun a name…leave any suggestions in the comments below!)

Anyway, several glue gun burns and nail polish spills later (I don’t know why I choose to do so much crafting when clearly my coordination skills were not meant for DIYs), I managed to come up with a pendant that was relatively eyeball-resemblant if I do say so myself.

And I don’t want you guys to feel like you have to limit yourself to wearing this necklace only on Halloween by the way. A class presentation, a wedding, a job interview…I mean I’m pretty confident that eyeballs are appropriate for any situation. So, without further ado, I’ll get on with this tutorial. Make sure to like, share and comment below letting me know what plans you guys have for Halloween! Are you the kind of person who goes to a bunch of wild costume parties, or are you the type that stays home and eats the trick-or-treater’s candy? (I think we all know which category I fall into 😉 ) I hope you all have a great weekend and get a chance to try out this DIY!signature

 

 

What you need

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a keyring, with a jump ring attached to it

a large white marble (that’s slightly bigger than your keyring)

blue, red and black nail polish

a glue gun

a chain

Method

  1. Carefully glue the marble onto the rim of the keyring, making sure that the jump ring is sticking out at the top.
  2. Next, use red nail polish to paint little squiggly lines around the marble to look like veins. To make sure the lines were really precise, I dipped a needle into the nail polish and used that to make the designs.
  3. On the top of marble, paint a blue circle for the iris and a smaller black circle for the pupil.
  4. Once the polish has dried, slip your chain through the jump ring on the eyeball pendant and you’re done!

 

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DIY Modern Geometric Wall Art

Posted on by maya

hey

How are you guys doing? I know, I know…I haven’t posted in two weeks. I’m a mess. An embarrassment to bloggers around the world. But honestly, I actually have a valid(ish) excuse this time! See, on top of schoolwork, piano practice and not going to the gym, I’ve been spending most of my free time working on putting together a portfolio to go to design college next year. I’ve also been spending a lot of time watching  cookery videos on Youtube, but we can just ignore that part. Seriously though, on a side note, if any of you guys are putting together an art porfolio or have done so in the past  please comment below and let me know if you have any tips/advice to share!

Anyways, now that I’ve wasted one paragraph defending my inability to stick to a blogging schedule, let’s get back to the DIY, shall we? A few weeks back I made this cool geometric wall art but never got around to editing the photos and writing down the tutorial. It’s just been hanging on my bedroom wall staring at me accusingly ever since, so today I finally got around to finishing the post and sharing it with you guys! It’s such an easy and inexpensive way to add a modern, trendy touch to your room. Plus, you guys can personalise it by experimenting with different coloured crepe paper and triangle sizes to suit your own style! I’m so happy with how this one turned out – I think the the colour scheme is perfect for autumn and the combination of PVA glue and crepe paper creates a really interesting texture and visual effect on top of the card.

Oh and by the way, if you guys enjoy my DIYs and want to see more of them make sure to check out my Instructables account  where I have a bunch of other tutorials that haven’t been posted on my blog! And now, without furder ado, let’s make some Triangle Wall Art!

What you need

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PVA Glue

A3 sheet of thick Card paper

Crepe paper in 3 different colours

Scissors

Gold Paint *optional

Steps

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  1. Cut out three large triangles from the crepe paper (one in each colour).
  2. Arrange paper triangles onto the card in an overlapping vertical pattern.
  3. Carefully glue down the triangles with the PVA glue.
  4. Leave to dry and you’re done! I also painted on a few gold designs  to make the wall art a little more exciting.

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Guest Post: Art, How I See It

Posted on by Elm

 

Hi, everyone! My name’s Elm, and I blog over at Just Call me Elm or Something. I’m collaborating with the lovely Maya, which honestly makes my day!

Before anything, I want to tell you what I can see – or rather, what I can’t see. Far be it for me to define myself by this, but I’m blind. I can see nothing out of my right eye, and only light, contrasts and a few shapes out of my left. I couldn’t see faces, beautiful landscapes or anything of the sort. I despise getting pity for it; I’ve always been blind and have never seen anything different from what I do now, and so I view it as normal. To set the scene, I needed to tell you, so that you understand.

Because of my lack of vision, it may be surprising to you that art is actually quite important to me. There are beautiful paintings, filled with life and sweeping brushstrokes; there are natural landscapes, intricately carved with the path of water and faces of rock that hold swirling patterns. Captured in ink, paint or photography, it is ever present and unchanging, an image that could be interpreted in a thousand different ways.

That is art to you. Doesn’t it appear beautiful? To me, it is; I’m always fascinated by what people can do to make a picture come alive, to their eyes, to make it appear striking, stunning or just real.

What many people don’t see is that art isn’t just visual. A blast of trumpets, an angelic voice singing or buskers on the street is what I consider to be my paint, my canvas, my pencil. It may seem stereotypical, that a blind person talks about music as if it’s the only thing that they appreciate, but I still have ears.

If you pick up a book with glorious writing, you think, “I wish I could be there, though the author has done an amazing job of helping me visualise it.” The same could be said for me: I’ve never seen a stream tumbling over the rocks, but I can almost imagine the sound, the way it would feel. Now I think on it, THAT is another form of art. To take the written word and to transform it into something else, for even only a few people, helps people to know what something out of their understanding would be like.

They tell me, “Isn’t it a shame that you can’t see the amazing art work she’s done?” I say yes, and then no. I’ll never experience it, but I can be told how beautiful it is. I can be transported into the world of colours and sight, only for a second: a bystander, but still there.

Everything is a form of art, when you look deep enough. To a deaf person, a drawing may be appreciated so much more: who knows? I have never been told, not by someone who could show me the world of what it’s like to not hear sound that I take for granted. That’s why I’m telling you my version, so that you can at least see one perspective.

What I want to show you is that every single person’s version of art is different. Perhaps you suspected that I would talk about music, or writing, but if you think that’s the stereotypical blind notion of what art is, you’d be wrong. I’m different, you’re different and the closest person to you is different.

Even if you don’t get a single thing out of this post, I want you to remember that some people don’t have the things you have. Be that vision, hearing, an arm or a house. This isn’t just about art; it’s about realising that even when someone has a disability, or has something “lacking”, they still continue on with their life. It’s not the end. I may get upset sometimes that I can’t see the stars, or pictures on somebody’s blog, but it doesn’t stop me from finding creativity in other places.

What do you think art is?

I’d like to thank Maya for having me on her blog. She’s a truly wonderful person, and for her to ask me to collaborate put a smile on my face. I really hoped you enjoyed reading, because whilst I was writing, it helped me to think about my own perceptions and judgements.

From Elm 🙂

Pros and Cons of Having NO Social Life

Posted on by maya

  hey

I’ve been on Summer Break for the past couple of weeks enjoying the lack of homework and remaining in denial of the fact that next year is my last year of school. But you know one thing that holidays tend to do is emphasise the fact that I really have no social life. I mean, of course when I’m at school I socialise, but when I’m at home there are just so many other important things I have to do. Like eating…and blogging…and eating…

Anyway it got me thinking, maybe this whole social life thing is overrated. Maybe being antisocial is where it’s at. So, like the logically minded person that I am, I decided to figure this out by putting together a list of the Pros and Cons of Having No Social Life.

Let me know in the comments below if you can relate, or if you actually have friends and just feel sorry for me ;). Also, comment if you have any suggestions for future ‘Pros and Cons of…’ Posts.

I hope you guys like it, as always it’s just a bit of fun! Now without further ado, here are the Pros and Cons of having No Social Life…k

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Pro Your phone isn’t buzzing all the time with notifications.

Con That feeling of disappointment when you finally get a text and it’s from the phone company.

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Pro You don’t have to waste money buying new clothes because you’re always at home

Con You literally wear the same three pieces of clothing over and over again.

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Pro You don’t have to deal with all the drama that comes with socialising.

Con The most exciting part of your day is finding out what the latest google doodle is.

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Pro Your parents don’t have to drive you everywhere.

Con Your parents start worrying as to why they don’t have to drive you anywhere.

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Pro You can take part in marathons…reading and movie marathons that is.

Con The lines between reality and fiction begin to blur…

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Pro You don’t have to share your food with other people.

Con This results in a pretty unhealthy diet, but you’re OK with that.

2000 followers

Pro You have more time to be creative.

Con There are none! Okay so maybe I’m not a social butterfly, but if I was I probably wouldn’t have this blog and all my amazing readers! And on that note (awesome segue),  Artsy Teen just reached 2000 followers so I wanted to take a second thank all of you guys so much for reading my posts every week, and encouraging me to keep up my creativity!

. . .

Enjoy the rest of your week 🙂

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10 Things I HATE about Traveling

Posted on by maya

hey

I hope you’ve all been enjoying your weekend! I’ve actually just come back from a ten-day holiday in la belle France which was a lot of fun (comment down below if you’d like me to do a post about my stay there 🙂 ). I love visiting new places, but let’s be honest… there are some things about traveling that everyone hates. So, without further ado, here’s my list of 10 things I hate about traveling. Enjoy!

  1. Packing

Now I don’t know about you, but every single time I travel I wait until the night before my flight to pack my suitcase. And we both know that’s it’s not just a simple matter of packing my suitcase. Oh no. First I have to google the weather forecast to make sure that I’m bringing appropriate clothing, then I have to spend ages coordinating outfits because for some reason whenever I go abroad I turn into some big fashionista. After that, I have to put all my stupid little toiletries into little zip log bags and make sure I still have enough place in my  bag to bring souvenirs back with me.

  1. Security

I think it’s safe to say that I’m one of the least rebellious people in the world. I follow rules, I do my homework, I don’t even play those violent video games that my brother loves so much. So why is it that whenever I’m going through airport security I’m convinced that I’ve magically turned into a convicted criminal? Everyone else is calmly putting their electronics and shampoo on the conveyor-belt-thing and I’m over here freaking out that they’re going to find a load of explosives in my backpack.

  1. Blocked ears

There are three things that really annoy me in life; empty toothpaste tubes, mosquito bites and blocked ears. And I don’t care what people say – ‘eat chewing gum’ or ‘hold your breath’ – because as soon as that plane takes off, my ears will get blocked and I will be half deaf for the next three days.

  1. Showers

It’s my firm belief that the UN should come up with some sort of universal shower regulations because I just give up. Every time I use a new shower it takes me 5-6 working days to figure out how to turn the thing on and then another week to learn how to adjust the damn temperature.

  1. Time zones

Ah… time zones a.k.a. the reason I’m waking up at 2 a.m. every morning. But really jet lag doesn’t even bother me that much. What bother’s me is that for my entire vacation I have no clue what time of the day it is because half of my electronic devices have changed time automatically while the other half’s still 4 hours behind. And as for my watch, I would rather calculate what time it is for my entire holiday because I’m just too lazy to manually change the hour.

  1. Wi-Fi

It’s a well known scientific fact that today’s generation of living organisms need Wi-Fi to survive (and yes, nowadays plants do have laptops). So believe me when I say the struggle to connect to wi-fi in a new place is a serious one. How else can I send photos to my friends and make them jealous? I mean I could be camping in the middle of the Sahara desert and I would still be asking the camels for the Wi-Fi code.

  1. Google

You know that thing when you go abroad, look something up on the internet and discover that you can no longer read English? But then you realise that google does that annoying thing where it automatically switches to the countries google and everything’s in Mandarin Chinese? Actually, I’ve never been to China so that might not even be true, but you know what I mean!

  1. Family Road Trips

I come from a pretty big family, so any kind of travel is a bit of an ordeal. But a few years ago, my family decided to drive 15 hours from France to Italy and can I just say memories of that road trip still haunt me at night. Seriously, I have no idea how we didn’t all kill each other.

  1. Different Currencies

Despite the fact that I’ve spent a pretty high percentage of my life studying maths, I still suck at currency conversion. I went to London on a school trip one year and I still have no idea how much money I spent over there. Actually, thinking back on it every single shop keeper I met probably ripped me off and I didn’t realise it.

  1. Plane food

You know in Harry Potter 4 when they have the Triwizard Tournament and the champions have to compete in three deadly challenges? Yeah, well one of those challenges should have been who can eat the most plane food because I swear that stuff is lethal. Forget dragons, try finishing a plate of congealed stew and cold rice Harry!

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Well, that’s it for today! Can you guys relate or am I just insanely negative? Let me know in the comments if I forgot any other irritating aspects of travel and have a great week!

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#ArtKnowItAll: Cubism

Posted on by maya

In one of the comments on my earlier #ArtKnowItAll posts, someone suggested that I feature Cubism next. I had a vague idea of the movement, associating it with abstract, geometrical art that seemed to almost resemble optical illusions. As always, I loved learning about the revolutionary art of the past… imagining the rebellious artists inventing new styles of art and defying tradition makes me slightly jealous that I missed out on all the excitement 😉 .signature

 

What is Cubism?

Cubism is an avant garde art movement that developed during the 1910s and 1920s, predominantly in Paris. This new, modern style of painting and sculpture both revolutionized European art and inspired the music, architecture and literature of the time. In fact, it is often regarded as the 20th century’s most influential art movement.

Main Features:

  • For the first time in centuries, perspective with a single viewpoint was abandoned. Instead, cubist painters used numerous and sometimes contrasting vantage points, showing objects from different angles and interweaving the background and foreground of the painting.
  • In fact, cubist artists turned away from depicting figures ‘realistically’, rejecting the idea that art should copy nature. Instead, they decided to emphasize the flat, two-demensionality of their canvases and reduce objects into geometric forms.
  • The early phase of the movement was called Analytic Cubism, characterised by the pronounced use of geometric shapes and use of monochrome colours.
  • The second phase was Synthetic Cubism, where artists experimented with ‘non-art’ materials such as newspaper.

Three Key Cubist Artists

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  1. Pablo Picasso (1881 -1973) : Regardless of whether you’re interested in art or not, every one has heard of Picasso. The charismatic Spanish painter was a pioneer of Cubism, along with Geaorges Braque, and considered to be the most influential artist of the first half of the 20th century. He invented collage and was primarily a painter though he had an eclectic style and also worked with sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.
  2. Georges Braque (1882-1963) : After meeting Pablo Picasso, Braque went on to become another leader in the development of Cubism. He focused on depicting abstract still lifes, exploring different viewpoints, colours and textures to achieve dimension in his work.
  3. Jean Metzinger (1883 – 1956) : Though at first Metzinger was inspired by Fauvism and Impressionism, the french painter later turned to Cubism and became one of the principal theorists of the movement. In 1912, he created ‘Du Cubisme’, the first major treatise on Cubism, along with fellow french artist Albert Gleizes.

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A revolutionary art movement

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At first glance, Cubism may seem somewhat simplistic compared to more ‘classical’ art that strove to capture scenes completely realistically. But really, it’s just another way of representing the world around us and exploring different point of views. Plus, imagine living in a world where these abstract, geometrical paintings were virtually unheard of. Cubist artists weren’t just painters, they were innovators; inventing new styles of painting, as well as being acutely aware of and responding to current events (particularly World War I). Throughout Europe, offshoots of Cubism developed including Orphism, Futerism and Abstract Art.  And that’s only a few!

There are so, so many art movements – old and new – left to explore, comment down below or tweet me with the hashtag #ArtKnowItAll to let me know what you want to see next month.

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I hope you enjoyed the third installment of my #ArtKnowItAll series. As usual, you can see my cubism-inspired artwork above, which I first sketched out in pencil and then coloured in digitally with  the aid of my graphics tablet. What do you think?

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