People I Like part III (LADIES' EDITION)

Hey. So a lot has happened recently. One of the things that has happened is, I have changed the way my blog looks, you may have noticed that Nic is smiling at you all over the place and the header is LOADS worse than the old one. Do you like it? I really DO. I was trying to get it to look more in sync with my website, with the blue and everything, but my blog is essentially like a scrapbook where I sling everything, so I thought it'd be good if it looked a bit scrappy, too. Luckily, I am very good at making things look scrappy. Result! Also, look over to the right. If you get stuck on here, and you want to go to my website but you've forgotten how, you can click on my fringe there and you'll be transported magically. Hooray! You can just go back and forth all day. But don't, because I don't want you to get the sack because of me.

Another thing that has happened is, I made some stuff. I will get right into this because I think it's going to be a long one. So make yourself a brew NOW, or you might regret it in about three hours.

So all the People I Like so far have been men, that is all right, I like men. I do have a load of women though, that inspire and delight me and make me feel happy.

First up is Merrill Garbus. If you don't recognise her name, she's the singer from tUnEyArDs. This is her, lookit:



I only got wind of tUnEyArDs' music earlier this year, and I was INSTANTLY obsessed with it. It was like, 'this is EXACTLY what I want, it's PERFECT for me, I am so pleased yes'. I went to see them in June and it was fantastic, oh my lord. One of the best things I have ever, ever seen in my life. Merrill looks amazing on stage, she belts out these powerful, crazy, mental noises and loops them and layers them and bangs drums and it's so primal and animal, it blew my mind to bits. I stood there for the whole show practically shaking because I was so overwhelmed, and on the way home I nearly cried because I know that I'll never exude such confidence and power, she is clearly having a great time and she whips the crowd into a right frenzy as well. It's wicked. Argh! I am such a loser.



So I tried to dress the monster like Merrill was dressed when I saw her live, but I couldn't remember really. I know she had face paint like that, and I think she had huge frilly sleeves made out of, like, tulle. Or whatever that stuff is that you make petticoats out of. I used a hyperbolic crochet technique to make big fat sleeves, which turns out to be kind of hard to photograph:



Hmm. It's a cool technique and a really easy way to make something which looks pretty great. You can see what I'm talking about a bit better here. You get a lot of people making coral reefs this way. I think I was also thinking of Bjork's dress at the Biophilia show, which made her look a bit like a coral reef. There aren't any photos of it on the internet, apparently. Oh well!

Also I only made one sleeve, because it took me about three hours. I think it looks pretty good balancing the cascade of hair on the other side.

Okay so that's her. She's wicked.

Another Person I Like is Kimya Dawson. She's an old school girlcrush of mine.



I don't know what I was going to write about Kimya Dawson because I made this monster ages ago. I've been listening to her for years and reading her blogs and stuff on the internet for slightly fewer years. She seems like a nice person and she does a lot to champion people with problems, addicts, shy people, people who don't fit in very much. I find her tremendously inspiring. She looks amazing as well. I think I'm drawn to women who find their own style and who embrace this sort of colourful DIY, punk aesthetic, because that's what I like as well (says the woman who wears the same hoodie every day).

This is how I chose to represent her tattoos:





What a copout, eh? This is supposed to represent an inner lip tattoo: it says '2 LEGIT'.



Thundercats T-shirt:



Uh huh. Aaaand, these are the ears from my Superted costume that I wore once. I doubt I will wear it again, so Kimya can have them.



Anyway so I guess I will post those monsters off, to frighten and confuse some people who I have a great deal of respect for. Yesssss!

Aaahh. The third thing that happened was that I finished my job at the Arts Council. I was absolutely gutted to leave and I was really touched by all the lovely comments from everyone there. I never realised I had made any kind of impression on anyone, I hardly ever even spoke to anybody. So that's the end of that chapter, I will be looking for a job from now on, AGAIN. I feel pretty okay at the moment. Hopefully I will stay like it.

All right guys, phew! My mega-post has come to an abrupt end. Hope you weren't too bored. Take it easy and see you again soon, x