I am converted!!

WOW! Okay, week 2 of 'weight loss' regime and I have woken up a) half an hour before my alarm, b) already done my sit ups and ballet stretches (feet, legs, back etc) and c) had brekkie with a cuppa tea and now blogging...

I also have woken up with clearer skin again (this has been going on all week- just one tiny lil spot this morning but man! that is nothing!!) and I have woken up with more energy.

So I have university today: "Behind the Veil": Victorian Culture. I haven't done all that much reading about social reality and "Observing the Victorians" as the class is called, but I am hoping a lot of my A-Level shiz will come back and get me going with some outrageous opinions. I have been focusing on my essay which I am thinking about basing on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and how they influenced art etc, if in fact they did, and the gender constructions behind who was in the art, who painted it, who bought it/commissioned it and all that jazz. Debasing art by using it as a historical source. Secretly I am very excited. I love the Pre-Raphaelites in a big way. Bless their fluffy naturalist and beautiful pictures *sighs* "L'art pour l'art" = Art for art's sake was their motto. I like it. Sometimes it is nice to be a little bit erring towards the side of shallow to have pretty paintings (but of course there is always a deeper message than that, but still.... you get me!!)

"Flaming June" by Frederic Leighton. This is making me think of summer coming and banishing away this cold weather. It really made me happy when I was flicking through one of my art books last night rooting around for ideas. I like Leighton anyway, I have his print on my wall of "The Accolade". The Pre-Raphs had a bit of a thing about medieval themed and styled paintings- they wanted to hark back to the chivalrous code and protect everything that was right, fight for honour and glory and most of all defend the fair maiden. They had a thing about Victorian double standards and hypocrisy. Like, for example, I found out that Mrs. Beeton- you know... THE Mrs. Beeton with all those cookbooks- had syphilis which her HUSBAND gave to her because of his naughty indiscretions!!! Shocking...

Anyway, a blog that was supposed to be about dieting and exercise has turned into an art bog then into a historical criticism of slimy bastard men in the Victorian times. Just a typical day for me.

Toodles!!