Jessie Ware at The Brixton Academy

One of my new years resolutions was to use London more, living in London is something I take very much for granted. When I first moved to London I was all about exploring, always checking Time out for the latest batch of things to do in the city, but the last few months things have slipped - I increased my hours at work, the nights drew in and I find myself sitting in front of Netflix far to often!! 

I've not done amazingly well in January, I guess you could say I'm easing myself in gently, this has involved; Borough Market wandering's, Balham charity shops (love, love, love), Soho burgers and most recently Jessie Ware at the Brixton Academy. 

I must be one of the few people who had never been to the Brixton Academy before, it was such an amazing venue and one I'll certainly be going back to. The floor is sloped so wherever you choose to stand you get a view of the stage, perfect for those who like me can't cope with squishing towards the front and the stage itself has an almost theatre like feel, featuring balconies and turrets. 

Jessie was of corse amazing, I was lucky enough to see her a few years ago at Latitude festival and we were determined to see her again, especially since her new album was released last year, and she did not disappoint. 

February I'm determined to rack up my London outings - watch this space!

Southbank: Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden

The Thames is one of my favourite things about London, I love it in the day, the night, even in the rain, so obviously South Bank ranks pretty highly among my favourite London places. I hadn't been in a while, so it seemed like the perfect location to enjoy a saturday night, I love how every summer so many cute locations pop up along the river. 

We had been craving a roof top bar, the perfect way to spend a summers evening, and South Bank did not disappoint, watching the sun go down looking over the thames from The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden. The roof is open till September from 10am-10pm, complete with grass, flowers and wooden mushrooms the perfect relaxing location, one which I'd certainly recommend visiting at some point this summer. The Mango Mojito was my drink of choice for the rooftop, and that alone is enough to bring me back time and time again, a definate must have. 

Polo in the Park and the Kia Oval

The world cup seems to well and truly be upon us now, with England's first game having taken place last saturday, and with it, my interest in sports remains at pretty non-existant. That being said I surprised myself recently by attending not one, but two sporting events last week: Essex V. Surrey 20/20 at the Kia Oval and Polo in the Park. 

The Oval is just a few stops down the northern line for me, so off I went with my Dad to watch the cricket, and it was totally not what I had in mind, I was expecting a quiet evening with the occasional bit of panic as a ball heads toward the crowd. What I got was a wonderfully buzzing atmosphere, everyone surrounding me seemed in great spirits. Gleefully welcoming in the weekend with a pimm's and a spot of cricket, a great way to spend a summers evening - either has a pre night out warm up or the main event. Definantly worth going to if your at a loss for something different to do on a friday night, especially now the summer seems to have arrived.

My next sporting event of the weekend was Chestertons Polo in the Park, at Hurlingham park, Putney. With it came the tough of decision of what to wear, one must make an effort for polo! The park had been transformed into somewhat of a posh festival with the Polo taking place in the centre, the usual greasy burger and chips of a festival were replaced with wonderful food vendors selling pealla, mac 'n' cheese as well as bread flavour ice-cream! I opted for a delicious lamp wrap from French and Grace and would certainly recommend a visit to their premises in Brixton. 

The two areas which most caught my attention were the giant Makhiki tent and a double decker Pimms bus, perfect! Having never watched Polo before I have to admit I didn't really know what was going on, but it was certainly an interesting sport to watch.

Who knows maybe I'll be transformed this Summer and become a major sporting fan, with Wimbledon around the corner you never know!

Wimbledon Art Studios: Jaysen Lilley

These are my three favs from my visit to the studios, the first being Jaysen Lilley who creates bold, colourful screen prints with London themes.  I'm a sucker for bright colours so was immediately drawn to these, as well as his use of screen printing - I love thinking about all the layers which must have gone into each print to create the overall effect. 

Arts thread

With new designers coming up next week I've been spending my time attempting to make my arts thread, I think its just about done. Check it out here - emily chapman arts thread

taking down the postcards

Today, worryingly I think might be the last time I head into LCC, well at least for now. Our show closed on Saturday so it was time to take down our work, pack it up and trek home,  slightly resembling a pack horse. It felt really sad taking down my postcard wall, so naturally I took loads of pictures, and thankfully it was a lot quicker taking them down than it was putting them up. 

Despite this show coming down, I got some lovely news in getting the opportunity to show at new designers. Alongside not only some of my course mates but other university's from across the country. My course is taking part in part 1 of new designers,  from the 26th- 29th June, for more information check out their website - new designers. eeee i'm hoping this will be a fun couple of days. 

bye-bye lcc, i'll miss you <3

bye-bye postcard wall, i shall miss you too

Blank Inside design

Freya Cumming

Ketchup on everything

Another discovery made at pulse, I was drawn to the work mainly because I too like to put ketchup on everything, and its nice to know someone else feels the same way. 

yes, lets put ketchup on everything...

Home Slice

I saw Home Slice at pulse yesterday and really liked their work, this is some of their stuff, its lovely. 

 Their studio is on a boat, amazing.