Great British Drawings

As I write this post, it's one of those typical moody, rainy days in Oxford where all I want to do is hide away and drink many cups of peppermint tea. But days like these are also perfect for whiling away a few hours in a museum or gallery and taking in a little culture!

I've been attempting to visit more local museums over the last few weeks, and decided to start with the beautiful Ashmolean. The Ashmolean belongs to the University of Oxford and is the world's first university museums. It all started with a cabinet of curiosities and now houses objects and artefacts spanning thousands of years.

Their main exhibition at the moment is Great British Drawings, a display of over 100 drawings by Britain's greatest artists including Turner, Rossetti, Millais, Ruskin, Hockney and Ravilious. Although my knowledge of fine art is very limited, I loved just walking around the gallery and taking it all in. I was most excited to see some of the Pre-Raphelite drawings, especially the image of Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (featured on the leaflet above), which shows the gorgeous red headed ideal of Victorian beauty. 

Another favourite of mine was the small drawing of a rabbit by Edward Lear which forms part of his famous Nonsense Book of Poetry, and would lovely framed up on a wall. I also enjoyed seeing some more modern pieces by the likes of David Hockney and the wonderful Eric Ravilious's drawings of the Sussex countryside. 

The Ashmolean is one of those places where you can simply wander around with a pencil and sketchbook and feel incredibly inspired. I'm trying to make more time for sketching and drawing and whilst my attempts will never make it beyond my ratty old notebook, a little bit of calm and creativity woven into daily life never goes amiss.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

The Extraordinary World of Tim Walker

Just over a week ago, I experienced my first ever Vogue Festival. I have long been intrigued by the concept since it was launched a few years ago, but had been a bit put off by the price of tickets, which are a little steep..! But, when I heard that this year Tim Walker would be attending, I knew I had to bite the bullet and be there.

I have followed Tim Walker's fashion photography ever since I got my hands on British Vogue. At Sixth Form college, the library had an enormous back catalogue of issues, and I spent many a lunch hour pouring over the fashion stories, always admiring Tim's work above any other. The brilliant colours, doll-like models and fairytale-inspired stories completed held my gaze and inspired me no end. In a world of minimalism and bright studio set ups, here was someone eccentric and extraordinary

Tim's talk was, aptly, held at the Royal Geographical society, where he was well placed to talk about travel and locations within his work. Walking to the lecture theatre, we passed walls lined with maps of far off places as well as dark wooden cases containing all sorts of Victorian travel memorabilia, reminding us of an era of travel not unlike those conjured up in Tim's images. Tim was joined in conversation with stylist Kate Phelan, as well the whole team of creatives that accompany him on location, from the hair and make up artists, to the fashion and photographic assistants. It was lovely to see what a close knit group they have formed over years of working together. Kate described Tim as "an adventurer" and talked about needing "to go with the person that's got that adventurous spirit" when shooting fashion in exotic places.

If you're a committed reader of Vogue, you'll know that Tim's most recent fashion story was shot in Bhutan and features a fiery-haired Karen Elson (see below). Tim described Karen as "a conduit for the fantasy in my head, she becomes the living thing!". It's clear that this really is a team effort with everyone mucking in and coming up with ideas to create the perfect image. Tim emphasised that need for spontaneity and freedom within his images, and although he plans the locations and proportions of images meticulously in his scrapbooks, he made it clear that some of the best photos are those filled with dancing or movement, or when the weather suddenly changes, or a butterfly comes in to shot.

What I loved most about the talk was hearing how down to Earth Tim was about the fashion industry. He admitted that "clothes can sometimes be boring". It's putting clothes into a fantastical location or embedded within a wild, imaginative story that "makes fashion come alive". Despite his reputation as a fashion photographer, it seems that Tim is not at all precious about clothing. This is a man that is all about the image, he thrives on what he calls a 'seeking out of beauty', to find that moment of magic that can only be captured on film.

I'm so glad I went along to this short talk, if only to be re-inspired by fashion imagery in a time were fast-fashion, selfies and the huge momentum of the industry can make it all seem a bit lacklustre. In his images, Tim Walker takes the slow and traditional approach to creating a photograph, using film cameras and natural lighting, and I'm excited to keep following his work and see what he comes up with next.