The Weather.

The weather plays a large part in influencing me as my mood tends to change along with the weather and as I also love using colour, the colours tend to reflect the seasonal weather as to when I've created it. The warmer the weather gets the brighter the colours I use.

Fashion Is a Large Influence On Me (Part 2 Mary Katrantzou)

Mary Katranztou's work has influenced my pattern design as it shows how a pattern can alter the whole shape of a dress for example her lampshade dresses in the first picture shows. Also I like that she has created patterns out of unconventional elements such as interior designs and perfume bottles.

The main way however her work has influenced my work is through the colour schemes she uses as from looking at her work it inspired me to use brighter colours.

Fashion influences my work (Part 1 Diane Von Furstenberg)

The way Diane Von Furstenberg's work has influenced me is it has shown me all the the different ways to be able to use patterns and how different patterns can evoke different emotions without having to necessarily having to use moody colours.

Places I Visit (Part 1 Prague)

Places I Visit (Part 2 Venice)

Angela Carter

Erl-King.

A young girl walks into the woods and is seduced by the Erl-King, a sinister personification of the forest itself. However, she realises that he plans on imprisoning her by turning her into a bird; as he's done many times before. On this realisation she murders the Erl-King keeping her freedom and freeing the 'birds'.

Bloody Chamber.

A young girl marries an older, wealthy French Marquis. When he takes her to his castle, she learns that he enjoys sadistic pornography and takes pleasure in others embarrassment. She is a talented pianist, and a blind piano tuner hears her play and falls in love with her. When her husband leaves on a business trip, and forbids her from entering a particular room, she does so and realises the full extend of his perverse and murderous tendencies upon finding the bodies of his previous wives. When he returns he knows she has entered 'his' room and tries to add her to his collection of dead wives, the tuner vows to stay with her knowing he won't be able to save her; yet at the last moment her mother arrives and murders the Marquis.

The Snow Child.

A Count & Countess go riding the middle of winder, and the Count sees the snow, a pool of blood & a raven and wishes for a child to match all the elements. As soon as he made his final wish a young woman of matching description appears at the side of the road. The Count pays her immediate attention which annoys the Countess, so she commands the girl to pick a rose but the thorn pricks her and she dies, after which the Count then rapes her corpse. After this, her cadaver melts into snow leaving a bloodstain on the snow, a black feather and the rose she picked.

Angela Carter's works in the Bloody Chamber have massively influenced my written work as I have transformed many of her works into different mediums including turning The Erl-King into a film script. I really enjoy doing this as it allows me to show my creativity whilst still having a strong starting point.

Greek Mythology.

Pandora's Box.

Pandora's Box is an artifact in Greek Mythology; The 'box' was given to Pandora and told not to open it; however the temptation became too strong and she opened it releasing all the evil in the world out into the open; there was however one item that didn't leave the 'box' and that was hope. Even now the phrase 'To open Pandora's box' means to create an evil that can't be undone.

Icarus.

Icarus is the son of the craftsman Daedalus; the tale is about how Icarus is attempting to escape from Crete by creating wings out of feathers and wax, he is warned by his father to not fly to close to the sun; however he ignores these instructions and the wax melts and caused him to fall into the sea where he drowned.

Arachne.

Arachne was the greatest mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom & Crafts, she also refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part, from Minerva. As the Goddess was so offended she challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. The Goddess was so envious of the tapestry and of her success, she destroyed her loom and eventually turned her into a spider.

The way I feel has influenced my work, both art and written is by trying to add an element of extraordinary drama to it.