I don't tan, I burn

Sorry I've been so absent here. I've been finishing some commissions for a friend that took me longer than anticipated. It was really great to be pushed out of my comfort zone though and I'm pretty happy with how they came out ^_^

Moving on, it's getting into summer now and I'm again being made painfully aware that I was born for much colder climates.. Antarctica perhaps... So to celebrate the completion of my first major commission and to welcome summer (even if its somewhat begrudgingly) I whipped this one up for you guys tonight. 

I'm white. I mean, I'm really white. When taking photos I need to be constantly aware of the skin tones around me in order to ensure I don't freak out the camera's white meter settings. 

Fact - when told that 15+ is better than nothing, I'm forced to respond with - It IS nothing.

Dark people don't understand. After a spell in the UV rays that ball of burning gasses above emits they merely frown at their darker complexion, frustrated at their "unsightly" tan lines. Meanwhile I'm being rushed to hospital with second degree burns and sun stroke, needing help later to remove the sheets of skin slowly peeling away from my body. 

Your a classic beauty, my mum would try reassuring me as I'd look enviously on my sister frolicking merrily in her Olive skin and bikini while I sat in the sand covered in sea shoes, boardies, a rashie, sun hat with a flap on the back and bright pink zinc stripes down my nose and cheeks resembling a sort of weird girly war paint. 

Classic beauty, you mean from the time they would put poison on their face to strip away layers of skin to reveal the pasty complexion expected of people that are too wealthy to ever venture into the sun. 

Thanks mum. 

Don't get me wrong, I've grown to like my colouring, and years of constant burning and peeling has yielded a slightly jaundice colour I fondly refer to as my 23 year tan. There's also been times of amusement. At about 6 or 7 mum had decided to start buying us nighties instead of the flannel we'd been picking from Target. Well, on more than one occasion when asking mum for a glass of water in the middle of the night I'd scare the living shit out of her as I floated silently into the room glowing white with my white laced nightie blowing eerily in the breeze. (not surprisingly it was back the the flannel the next year).

And although I'm still not entirely sure how I came to be the white sheep of the family in a collection of Mediterranean looking people I wouldn't want it any different. After all with the threat of Skin Cancer, the popularity of the milkybar kid and the invention of 90+ suncream.. White skin is on its way back in ^_^

Well, I can dream can't I 

*Note

Boardie - Board Shorts

Rashie - a water proof shirt

Bonjour ^_^

So as some of you know (unless your new to the blog - in that case, Welcome! ^_^), the other week I found myself biking through the insanely gorgeous countryside of Southern France. Caught in a postcard, we travelled around 30 to 40k's a day, through glades and corn fields, past towering historic Chateau's (French for castle), up mountains (and down, fortunately) as well as under overgrown canapies of fern trees . I was shouted the trip by my mum and her partner and was honestly counting my blessings every day - ok so maybe not when slugging up the 4k mountains... but getting to the top elation returned :) 

That part of the country is known for its beautiful scenery - honestly you can not take a bad photo - and amazing gastronomic flair! I'm sure it has something to do with using all their own produce, there were so many times we'd catch the chef ducking out the back door into the garden and picking the vegetables and herbs that would accompany our meals. 

It was one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on! two of the images I'm sharing with you guys are straight sketching from what I saw around me - the other is inspired by the ducks we saw. If you've never been you may be unaware that French ducks are freakishly huge.. I'm not entirely convinced they're ducks at all actually, more likely some type of goose or turkey and the name was lost in translation - they are also incredibly loud and travel in packs of about a hundred. Force fed corn (which is strangely unavailable for hunan consumption) they waddle around squaking at you waiting to be made into delicious confit de canard or a very popular starter called Foi gras (pronounced more like fogwah).

Hope you guys like them, and at the risk of sounding like the poster child for Southern France, if you get a chance I seriously recommend going ^_^ 

Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

EXTRA EXTRA!!

Hey gang - I'm back from France, what a great holiday! Delicious food, Beautiful scenery and the best company ^_^ Now its straight back to developing my portfolio and uploading plenty of new stories for you guys, can't wait to hear your thoughts and what you've all been up to! :D