Fierce Kate Moss

I decided to break up my Kate Moss blog posts into two parts so I could really cover the chosen photo shoot photographs well and really get a feel about her with my commentary. There's images new and old and this soft focus still is an old when of Moss in her younger days when she had naturally brown hair- some of the images she stars in are so beautiful and simplistic when she's not really advertising a product or brand. She seems a little more innocent when fully clad in clothing and without her trademark blond hair, but maybe it's a also a generational thing for advertisement and photography.

This is more like the Kate Moss people my age are most familiar with seeing- barely any clothes on and staring down the barrel of a camera with a smouldering and fierce look in her eyes. While I may never have the bravery to bare all in a photo shoots, I can appreciate the comfortable feeling of walking around the house with minimal clothing and shrouded by either a blanket or the doona cover and walking around the house with bleary eyes.

There's nothing like getting back to the basics and abandoning colour photography in favour of black and white- it always accentuates the shading of the contours of the human body as well as covers up any unusual tan lines. Although, when you live in London, I can't imagine any tans originating from there that would be so noticeable. There's a lot of beautiful but terribly obscure photographs of Moss and I can't work out what's being advertised in the shoots other than herself and her body.

 

I love the thick layered crucifix necklaces as well as ornate chains and the sun talisman all hanging from the shoulders and neck of Kate Moss but I'm not sure how I feel about the thick eye makeup; I personally hate seeing thick lines around eyes to accentuate then. It makes it look as if eye make up is running and also the curls over her right shoulder must belong to thick hair extensions.

One of the first images I collected of Kate Moss on my computer was her posing as pop star David Bowie complete with orange hair for Vogue Paris andit really opened my eyes to the professional side of a model and the similarity between their role and that of a model. On occasion they will be asked to portray some else or be something that lies outside their comfort zone so when they step up to that and take on such a role the results can really be fascinating and fantastic.

For someone who's aged thirty-eight and a career that spans two decades, it's rather impressive to still see Kate Moss relevant in the world of fashion today and collaborating with Topshop as well. I can only hope that I look as beautiful as well as rested as she does but knowing my stressful habits and tendencies that will never happen for me.

I love seeing mesmerising art deco and antique jewellery and this is definitely as decadent as it gets- that's the only aspect I'm in love with in terms of the model lifestyle: getting decked out in gorgeous clothing. All though it's not all glamour and grace there are tumbles on runway stages and demanding schedules but they're the most gorgeous people in the world with the best parties too, know the best labels and clothing for the seasons and have the money to back it all up too. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to join them and become one of the beautiful people?

Kate Moss

I never really considered Kate Moss to be anything special before I saw a few images of her here and there on Tumblr and I really do see a versatility in her facial expressions as well as a range of different characters for photo shoots. There's nothing extraordinary about her face and beauty but I suppose since she has the model's body and isn't border-line anorexic that's sort of beautiful too. I love the pictures from when she was young though, you can sort of tell the difference by the styles of backdrops behind her as well as the colour of her hair.

Her willingness to bare all sort of reminds me of photo shoots undertaken by Australians own, dear Abbey Lee Kershaw but there's really nothing as racy as this shot shown above. From watching Top Model I know they will wear skin tight bikini bottoms to save their grace but you have to admire Moss' tenacity and bravery to really bare all in this shot. She's got a body to die for in this photograph- it gives me a little something to aspire towards myself.

I don't even care that it might be a photo shop edit- I love wild colours for hair especially pink , and if I had the guts I would try it for myself right after my next trim or when I finally tidy up my ends myself. I was sitting in the auditorium for a little information session about the science faculty of my university and I released everyone has just varying shades of brown hair and it's so boring! I love the contrast of the woolly coat of pure white/ bone and Kate's hair. There's a lot of great vintage pieces made of the same material as her coat including a great handbag I've got my eye on, if only I had the money...

Snakes have never alarmed me, although my contact with them has always been in a controlled environment so they never posed a real threat to me- if I had a pet snake I'd love to try this little trick myself except with a bra on of course. The lighting is just perfect to curve around the contours of Kate's body and the bitten apple flesh matches the skin and colour of the snake perfectly. I guess the real trick is getting the snake to coil in just the right places and also flicker it's tongue- unless it's a fake one of course. You can see the ripples of muscle at the coiled ends near Kate's stomach though so it looks pretty real to me.

I've been aware of this photograph and it's cheeky sensuality for quite some time now, but it's only now that I appreciate the placement of a fully-clothed Jonny Depp on top of a naked Kate Moss. I suppose her disregard for clothing in some shoots is what has given her a name in modelling as well as the confidence she has in her own skin which every girl should have but when faced with a picture of a skinny model can make them feel subconscious instead.

It's the wild suggestion of a American Indian tribal headdress that reminds me a lot of shoots in which Australian model Abbey Lee has featured in- also the fantastically skinny bodies, lighting and bare chests help create the comparative illusion as well. These older photographs of Moss in her youth in which she's smiling and looks like she's laughing and carefree are some of the more beautiful modelling images in my opinion- while she's not staring down the barrel of the camera and looking fierce, for this shoot I think a more natural approach and facial expression was called for and needed.

Without the focus on her body, you can see an appreciable quality in Moss' face and those shiny white teeth and freckles across the bridge of her nose. If I can't have a perfectly stick thin body, I at least owe it to myself to have white and healthy teeth and look after that small aspect of my body.

Artist: Sashiko Yuen

Yet again I find myself admiring the illustrative qualities and imagination lying behind such works which feature girls with wildly coloured hair as well as neatly penned and sketched bodies. Sashiko Yuen is yet another artist whose style I admire but there's definitely a bit more edge and malice about their work compared to that of Ann Muddy, another artist I have recently discussed on this blog. The main difference in their styles is that Yuen seems to favour portrait shots of cute and colourful girls with an innate darkness about them and there's a softer type of pastel shading and blending between colours in these drawings.

Anything that features a Disneyland souvenir cap in their work or online store wins a lot of acclaim with me, especially at this time of year when in 2011 I had just returned from a twenty day exchange to America and bought my own Mickey Mouse cap. Similarities between Muddy and Yuen is their knack for capturing luscious curves and also their prowess for drawing women with fantastically coloured hair as well as dress sense.

I'm not a large fan of rockabilly style myself, but I do like the curls tinted with pink hues for this girls hair as well as her rose bustier top. A lot of the drawn women feature wild tattoos full of colour that are added for decoration and colour such as the skulls and hearts but I think that without them and keeping the ribbon scripture tattoo would be a little more powerful in terms of design and colour. I love the whimsy of the hair and how unrealistic it is- if you ever did try to create such a look for yourself in real life I think that it would fail abysmally unless you had a runway class hairdresser controlling the colour and style of your hair. That's what's great about drawing and imagination though, you can create unrealistic things and make them beautiful.

I love the control of the lines for the eyebrows as well as the different texture of the hair drawn for Sashiko Yuen's work- it makes me want to fill my 2012 personal diary full of whimsical drawings in a similar manner. Also the oriental style of the eyes makes me want to go out a little more and perfect the use of my new liquid eyeliner, although it will be quite a long time before you catch my using pastel colours for eyeshadow. While I'm still discussing the face, I've always had a personal struggle when drawing noses from the front-on profile but Yuen's really nailed it for this drawing with carefully placed lines that aren't too fussy. I love the eyeball collar of her outfit, I wonder if it was inspired from a real collared shirt...

Artist: Ann Muddy

You wouldn't be able to tell now by my horrible illustrations, but when I was a child I loved nothing more than having time on my hands as well as large stacks of paper and anything to draw with including pencils, textas and crayons. I still have a few pencil cases full of my old tools in my room including those Korean crayons that are much like mechanical pencils. So it's been a while since I've been up to drawing but I wish I could still draw the same way I used to; or in the style of artist Ann Muddy!

 

I came across one of her images and just had to find more and dig up a little bit about her; all the images shown in this post can be found on her Flickr where you can also find the means to contact her should you be interested in presenting her work. While laying about in bed this morning I got to think about what I need to get back doing; i.e. playing guitar, drawing and reading. I read a little bit this morning and yesterday broke the proverbial drought between guitar playing but I feel somewhat intimidated by a blank page. As a perfectionist I thrive on doing something 100% correct and hate mistakes- I know that if I begin to draw I'll hate what I see but without practice, I will never improve!

The technique of this self-portrait of Ann Muddy absolutely took my breath away- I couldn't believe the movement of the small lines contributing to something greater than themselves as well as the tinted texture and shading on the face and hair. Realistically I will never achieve anything this awe-inspiring in art but if I could maybe achieve something equally as great in my chosen field I would feel a little satisfied. This is the type of thing I would love to fill my diary pages with but without formal training, how can I hope to fill an empty page with so much colour as well as spiritual depth?

I know it's morally wrong to imitate someone else's work, presenting something you don't own as your own and the like but I find it hard to find my own voice and expression when it comes to drawing. When I read a book, I absorb some of the words used in the passages with unconscious effort and my style of writing changes too; isn't it normal to try to imitate something you admire? They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and I wouldn't mind being able to master curvaceous lines like the figure above. Although the hips of the woman above are small, something has to be said about those sizable thighs. I do like the way the face is drawn, those are what I struggle with the most and the lines and design are simple but also feminine.

I mainly stick to using pencils and shading- that's my main squeeze at the moment but I've also been tyring to create movement with lines. I've never worked with proper artistic markers but I would love to see the process undertaken to create this piece. I admire the stick thin and bony figures of the lady above, as well as the red and white polka dot dress reminiscent of Minnie Mouse in contrast with blue hair. I love the way the face is done, the lines around the eyes as well as nose and shading in water colour.

Here we can see Beauty on the left and her sister Envy with adequately coloured green hair breathing in her fume like hair with sunburnt shoulders (something I suffered yesterday). One thing that's great about art and drawing is that you can colour things the way you choose as well as constructing images from your own imagination onto paper and letting other people see your vision. I have a rather large love affair with hair in unnatural shades so that's probably a contributing factor into my love for Ann Muddy's work. Perhaps it's healthier that I love drawing weird coloured hair than turning myself into a girl with extraordinarily coloured hair.

Occasionally you'll see something unlike any of Ann Muddy's other work, like this piece simply named 'Watermelon'. I've drawn with rainbow coloured pencils before and things turned out sick and vomit looking but maybe there's something about Muddy's technique that I have yet to gain an insight into. 

For a shape that in real-life may be labelled as 'unattractive', for some strange reason I find the colour pallet used including the mint green hair as well as nude skin and blossoming pink cheeks to be somehow satisfying. I think it reminds me of gelati and ice-cream and the hot weather is frying my brain a little.

Last, but certainly not least is the drawing that led me to discover this artist! It was a drawing done to express the artist's wishes to own these pieces of clothing and I strongly identified with her style including the heart framed glasses, bone bow tie, alphabet skirt and cat tights. The handbag with the cover 'Lolitta' looks like something from Olympia Le-Tan who I have a mild obsession with so I'm more than happy to see a drawing combining so many trendy things all at once. This is the beginning of yet another brilliant fascination and obsession of mine.

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