Edinburgh Zoo

  

Just pictures from a little trip to Edinburgh Zoo. We struck lucky and got a perfect sunny day, the weather has been so unpredictable it’s crazy. Unfortunately the heat made most of the animals seek shade, all except Mr leopard who was a right show off! I stayed in someone else’s flat the night before so these boots were the only footwear I had that day. Not ideal.

   

    

Nailed it

I’m certainly no manicure pro. My lack of patience normally results in nail varnish being smudged everywhere and anywhere. But on a whim I decided I wanted funky nails, so out came my collection of bottles, all of which came free with magazines over the years. I was happy with the result though.

For the love of Agassi

  

One man’s trash

 Someone introduced me to this gem of an antique house, Abernyte Antiques, earlier this year. However, with it being in the middle of nowhere really, without a car it’s impossible to frequent. Amongst the vast quantities of fur was an amazing 1960′s Channel mink stole. I dithered over purchasing this for some time but inevitably came to the conclusion that £285 was beyond an art student’s budget. Maybe one day…

The crackle of fire, a dusting of ashes

 Isn’t this just amazingly bizarre? A friend of mine told me about this and I had to photograph it. I’ve heard an old couple lived here and that they’re both thankfully alive and well, having escaped with a couple of possessions. Apparently this has been lying like this for around two months, I can only assume for insurance purposes. And yet, not a single book has moved! I’m surprised the wind hasn’t blown them all out. Strange to think that only a brief time ago this eerie spectacle was somebody’s home.

Neigh bother

I had the night off work on an unusually warm Scottish evening so I persuaded my youngest brother that a walk to the farm where we keep our two horses was in order. Being my absolute favourite place, the fields and their various inhabitants will feature in so many of my photographs. This blog may end up resembling that of Dr Doolittle! Below is the farm’s resident alpacas Garcia (left) and Clyde (right).

   

Only when posing for these photos did it occur to me that my hair wreath is from Primark, my jeans are Primark, as is my cardigan and my brogues are, you guessed it…Primark. The only exception here is my shirt which I purchased when I worked in Next four years ago. I wish I had the time and patience like other bloggers to thrift unique vintage pieces, in any case, it looks like I need to change my shopping habits.

Incase you’re wondering, this wee fellow is my 21 year old appaloosa pony Agassi I’ve been lucky enough to have on loan these past 5 years.

All the good souls

Sometime ago, I was digging around in the bottom of my mum’s wardrobe for something or other and came across an old shoe box which contained hundreds of frail, decades old photographs. The cherubic face below belongs to my dear Nanna and it seems all of these family snaps were hers originally. I don’t recognise any of the young married couples, perhaps they were friends of hers or maybe relatives? It’s a strange thought that photographs of myself might be found in a long forgotten shoe box someday by a future generation who doesn’t have a clue who I am. Someone wise said: “Nowadays we die twice: first when we pass away, and the second time when no-one recognises us in a photograph.”

House of the rising sun

  

Where has the past two years disappeared? Hurtling through my fine art degree at a rate of knots! These photos were taken during the last week I was present. Unfortunetly I suddenly took ill with appendicitis and returned home and all of my above paintings were thrown in the skip after assessment because of my absence. Talk about crummy luck!

These photographs were taken behind the second year studios where there are quite a lot of empty old buildings owned by the university. There’s something so romantic about abandoned buildings. I don’t understand why there are hideous new buildings springing up in every available space when there are so many lovely old pieces of architecture crumbling to ruin after years of neglect. top: Next, maxi dress: ASOS, shoes: Next