As a freelance content writer for hire I write for a number of different businesses on a number of different topics. I have hundreds of examples but here are just four for you to look at. If you need a regular blog for your website and do not have the time or inclination to do it yourself, why not let me do it for you? We can sort out a schedule that suits you, pinpoint the keywords and create a plan that will help boost your website on Google and other search engines. Contact me today for an no obligation quote.
This links to my health and fitness magazine that I produce by myself for my local area.
Space Invader
Shorditch in London seems to be a mecca for street artists and it is one of over 60 cities in 30 different countries around the world that has been ‘invaded’ by the prolific urban artist Space Invader. By far one of the best ways to make sure you don’t miss any of Space Invaders 20 to 30 unique and distinctive mosaic art pieces scattered inconspicuously around the streets of Shorditch is to take a London street art tour with londongraffititours.com.
He calls his pieces invasions and his Invaders come in all different sizes, some are huge and easy to spot but the majority are very small and often found lurking low down in corners or high up above a street signs, hiding in plain sight and London Graffiti Tours knows where in Shorditch they all are.
Space Invader is the very apt pseudonym taken by a French street artist whose work is inspired by the arcade game graphics of the same name. His art is created using square ceramic tiles to produce mosaic designs that mimic the style of the 8-bit video games of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Every Invader is completely unique and while most are infused with a cultural message, such as a dig at today’s Big Brother CCTV society, some are purely for fun using iconic images like Super Mario or Star Wars.
A self-professed hacker of public spaces, Invader uses the streets as his canvas as he believes that art galleries and museums are not easily accessible to everybody. This way he is deliberately making his work as public as possible for ordinary people to enjoy on a daily basis and although it may seem like it to the casual observer, the sites for his Invaders are not random. Each site is actually carefully researched (very often with local support) and is chosen for its aesthetic and conceptual positioning. Space Invader does not always go for the highest visibility options either, many of his Invaders are on less prominent sites which makes the ‘hunt’ for them even more challenging. He believes that "A spot is like a revelation... it jumps out at you”
For the past 10 years or so Space Invader has also been working on another project that he calls “Rubikcubism” which exclusively uses Rubik’s Cubes to create portraits and other images from popular culture. Invader first does a sketch, then manipulates each individual Rubik’s Cube to display the coloured squares that he needs before gluing them all together on to a backing board. His method has since been profusely copied but he was the first and arguably the best.
Space Invader has certainly invaded the world with his ideas, originality and talent. His Invaders sometimes fun, sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes blatant commentary on the world we live in, but always a pleasure to find. Why not take a London Graffiti Tour and see some of his amazing Invaders for yourself? www.londongraffititours.com
Secret Santa Is a Vaper
It's Christmas – unless you lock yourself in your house, cut off your electric and don’t answer the door, there is no escaping it. For many of us it also means the inevitable horrors of the office or family Secret Santa game.
But, if your Secret Santa is a vaper then your life just got a little easier!
TheVapeShop.co.uk has a wide range of vaping gift ideas that won’t push your Secret Santa price limit and will delight and impress your lucky Secret Santa recipient.
If you yourself are not a vaper then it can get a little overwhelming but a vaping device is simply a battery-powered machine that converts liquid into a mist, or vapor, that the user inhales. It has a couple of interchangeable bits such as the mouthpiece, the e-liquids, the clearomizers or tanks – even the battery pack - which make perfect Secret Santa gifts.
Mouthpieces
The mouthpieces are the pieces you put in your mouth! They are also called tips and they come as standard as part of any vape kit but you can get varying different styles, shapes, colours and efficiencies separately for anywhere between £1 to £5. Believe it or not but a vape mouthpiece can make a fashion statement from simple coloured, shiny, glazed ceramic drip tips to designer shaped steel drip tips in a variety of different forms, such as skulls.
E-Liquids
E-liquids give the vape its flavour and there is an endless choice from ordinary tobacco flavour to Blueberry Cinnamon Crumble and everything in-between. TheVapeShop.co.uk make all their E-Liquids from 100% natural ingredients sourced in the UK and 100% pure to ensure we provide top quality, flavour-full, inexpensive, e-liquids which any vaper would be happy to receive in their Secret Santa gift.
Clearomizers
These are a relatively new step forward in the evolution of electronic cigarettes and are not to be confused with cartomizers. Clearomizers and cartomizers do the same job of holding and suppling the e-liquid but Clearomizers have a clear plastic or glass body allowing the user to see the level of e-liquid at all times and refill them when it gets too low and a lot of vapers seem to prefer them because they offer what is known as a “cleaner vape”.
The Vape Shop has a full range of clearomizers and tanks for your electronic cigarettes, choose from disposable CE4’s, Mini Pro Tanks V2’s, CE6 Re-buildable and lots more but we only stock popular models that have been tried and tested to provide quality vaping experiences without any headaches so you can be sure your Secret Santa vaper will appreciate the gift.
Battery
Throw away your notion of a battery. The battery in a vape device is not necessarily a small cell hidden away under a panel. Vape batteries come in all shapes, sizes and colours and can be just as much a part of the overall look of the E-cig as the mouthpiece or clearomizers. They are called Ego style batteries.
Regardless of the style choice, having top quality batteries will give more power to the e-cig providing your Secret Santa with a better taste, more vapour and longer usage that they will love.
Culture Shock in Children
Culture Shock in Children
What is Culture Shock?
Culture is made up of all the little things that we learn from our family, our friends, the media, literature, and even strangers to a degree. Not just how we speak or what we eat but also basic things like how we look, act, and communicate. Very often when you move to a new country, that culture can be vastly different from the one you know and you can find yourself getting very homesick – not only for family and friends left behind, but for things as simple as being able to have a glass of water from the tap or buy your favourite brand of cereal. This is no different for our children but they may have fewer means of expressing it and understanding it.
Culture shock is a highly disorientating feeling that comes from being submerged into something completely different from what they are used to. It is not a medical or clinical condition that can be treated with a course of pills unfortunately. It can hit your children as soon as they arrive at your new life or it can sneak up on them when you least expect it, either way it can knock them quite hard and leave them feeling depressed, anxious and make you feel like you have made a hideous mistake.
Things that have always felt familiar to them; sounds, smells and even the weather, are all now completely different and it can be hard to prepare a young child for these changes in advance. Small things can help keep your child’s equilibrium as they adjust to their new lifestyle. Favourite toys, familiar books, the same lampshade or bedspread will help give them an anchor as things around them change. Ease them into the changes gradually. However tempting it might be to take them to see all the new wonderful sights that there are to see in the first week, hold off, baby steps, one thing at a time.
Language and friends are always going to be the way to help your child, and you, feel less disorientated. Children don’t seem to need language to make friends but not being able to understand what people are saying and not knowing how to make people understand what you are saying can be frustrating. Learning the language of your new home is a must and helping your child learn to count to ten or say simple phrases like ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’ can be a fun way to help your child get over the language barrier and get excited about this particular difference.
Even if the basic language doesn’t change from what you are used to, the chances are you don't know a lot of the slang and local words for things, even in the UK – is it a cob, a bap, a roll? This is one of the many reasons why it's a good idea to make some local friends as soon as you can. Your children will learn more in one afternoon with local kids than a week listening to you.
Communication and friendships will help both you and your child feel more settled – even if you can’t find that hair dye you have always used – but every child reacts differently to moving to a new place and even if your child starts off being really excited and enthusiastic about their new environment, keep a close eye on them. As the cultural changes become more apparent they may begin to feel overwhelmed and signs that culture shock has hit them can include things like being extra sleepy, irritable, depressed or generally disinterested in things around them. Time and patience is the only cure for this I am afraid. As they begin to deal with the changes they will learn to integrate what they know from their old culture to their new culture.
Most places you go will already have an expat community, make use of them, they can be a wealth of help and understanding for your child especially if they are starting school and lastly, don’t panic – children are far more resilient than us grown-ups, everything around them could change but as long as they know your love for them isn’t going anywhere, they will cope with all the rest of it.
Fashion as an Art Form
Is fashion an art form?
As much artistic expression goes into designing an item of clothing as into a piece of pottery or a painting and fashion designers have been directly and indirectly influenced by fine art for better or worse for centuries. The form, colours, patterns and even materials used to create some of the worlds most desirable clothing fashions imitated the trends and movements prevalent in the art world at the time. Corset design that created the S-curved silhouettes of the Art Nouveau movement; the loose, un-corseted, simpler silhouette of the 1920s, creating a perfect canvas for surface design; the body hugging dresses of the 1930s – the fashions reflected the culture of the era and were hand in hand with the artists of the day.
The Changing Times of Fashionable Art
At the turn of the twentieth century artists did not see the difference between creating a painting, and designing a textile pattern that would be reproduced many times over. Each was a valid creative act in their eyes and fashion design tended to track and echo trends in modern art. Although this has changed somewhat over the years there is still a lot that a fashion designer can learn from artists and sculptors.
Yves Saint Laurent produced the Mondrian Collection of iconic cocktail dresses in 1965 after being inspired by Piet Mondrian’s abstract, cubist paintings. Salvador Dali, famous for his meticulously painted dream-like scenes, created bright, loud and whimsical outfits, with Schiaparelli, one of the most famous fashion designers between the two world wars.
Who will forget the lobster dress or the shoe hat? Gianni Versace's Spring 1991 collection featured outfits printed with Andy Warhol's brightly coloured, silk-screened portraits of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and other famous icons. Louis Vuitton’s multi-coloured monogrammed bags covered in cherries or flowers lightened up a once-stuffy label to appeal to a whole new generation with a little help from artist Takashi Murakami’s whimsical, adorable designs. They followed that up with the mesmerising polka dot prints of artist Yayoi Kusama and then Rodarte's Spring 2012 collection was full of the blues, yellows, painted flowers and pretty chiffons, indicative of the famed post-impressionist painter Van Gogh.
Still Continues To This Day
In todays fashion world Erdem tips his hat to Jackson Pollocks British art and watercolour. The comic artist Roy Liechtenstein’s colourful paintings inspired Lisa Perry’s collection of dresses, entirely devoted to his designs. This in turn inspired Karla Spetic and Markus Lupfer to release a series of cashmere sweaters with sequin embroidered pictures of his work. Keith Harings bold graffiti work grabbed the attention of Vivienne Westwood who created an entire collection with his art printed on each piece and shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood also created a unique collection of shoes based on his work.
The examples are countless, but there is no denying that art plays a special role in fashion design and each garment has a particular relationship to the art that was part and parcel of its time. Take a look at our artists section and see if you get inspired.