MY NEW TATTOO!

Hiya! This post is going to be a little different from the previous ones! I want to talk about something really means a lot me which is my new tattoo!

Now, I am not the kind of girl that just gets a tattoo just becasue… I really thought about it for a LONG time, I would say I waited a year to get it, just to make sure that I really wanted it. So the 7th of February I went straigth to the tattoo studio and got it. It took roughly 10 minutes and it was a little painful because it was on the ribs.

Getting ready!

Done!!

I decided to get an airplane because for me it’s the symbol of travel. Travel for me means everything. My life as a travel of growth but not only. It’s the symbol of my life in America and in Edinburgh away from my home-town. Travel as personal growth and around the planet. It really has a deep meaning to me, that’s why I decided to get it inked to my skin forever.

Ask me questions about my new tattoo! –> https://ask.fm/ElenaPederiva

Love it!

I really love it and I will never regret it! xx

BARCELONA, SPAIN!

Hola! As you know, I am really passionate about travelling. So last week since I am currently in spring break I decided to go for a little adventure with one of my friends. We decided to go to Barcelona since neither of us ever saw it before. I always wanted to visit it but I never had the occasion before and finally here it is!!

We left Edinburgh April 12th at 6am from the airport and in almost 3 hours we were in the sunny Barcelona! After getting a little bit lost and all we finally found our hostel and lest there our bags and stuff we went straight to see Casa Batllò, La Pedrera and La Sagrada Familia. Since I studied these masterpieces last year I was pretty excited to see them finally live, not gonna lie! 😉 Loved them!! ❤

La Pedrera!

JAckie and I in front of Casa Batllò!

In front of La Sagrada Familia!

On the roof of La Pedrera!

After that we went to spend the evening on the beach. It was sooo nice, everyone was enjoying the sun and relaxing. Then we went to have dinner to a nice restaurant and we went to sleep pretty early because we were pretty tired from te flight.

On Thursday we had a booking to see La Pedrera inside so we had all this tour inside which took us a hour and a half. It was soooo beautiful!! After that we decided we wanted to spend the rest of the day on the Barceloneta beach where I got pretty burnt I gotta say haha worth it! 😉

Barceloneta beach!

The water was really cold!

On the beach we got to know some guys which invited us to join them to a pub crawl that night! So we went back and had dinner and prepared for the night. During the night, with a group of 50 people from all around the world (mostly americans), we went to 3 bars and 1 nightclub. It was pretty fun and at the end we were sooo tired that we left at 2am to go to sleep because we had a long day!!

The day after our original plan was to see Parc Guell and its surroundings but we found out that the tickets for it were sold out so we changed plans adn went to the Arc de Triomf and the near Parc de la Ciutadella which we found out it ws huuuuge and it also had the Zoo attached.  We liked it so much that we didn’t wanna leave haha we had a long walk through all the park and then sat on a bench for few hours.

During the evening I really wanted to have a typical spanish dinner so we found this amazing place where they made paellas. OMG best paella EVER. It was huge, I couldn’t even finish it but I really enjoyed it. After that we went to Plaza de Espana to see a cool show with lights and a fountain. We soon got back to the hostel because we had to get up at 4am to go to the airport.

At the end, we managed to reach the airport and flight back to Edinburgh.

Ask me questions about my trip to Barcelona! -> https://ask.fm/ElenaPederiva

Overall I REALLY loved this city and I will go back to visit more for sure!! If you ever plan to go to Spain I really recommed to visit Barcelona, you will fall in love with it.

Hasta la fiesta siempre! xx

 

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND!

Hey all! Instead of just writing an article about Edinburgh and saying how much is beautiful and blabla I decided to write the TOP things to do in Edinburgh that I think are worth trying while you’re here. I lived here foe almost 9 months now, so everything is based on my own experience! 🙂

TOP things to do in Edinburgh:

Edinburgh Castle

Situated at the top of the Royal Mile on top of Castle Rock, Edinburgh Castle is the most beautiful and touristy attraction in my opinion, and the most iconic building in the city.

The castle is situated in top of an hill which offers you a view of all Edinburgh. Inside you can explore some of the oldest and most important buildings of the city, including St Margaret’s Chapel, The National War Memorial and the Half Moon Battery. The regal Crown Square is a real highlight, where you will find the magnificent Grand Hall and Scotland’s Crown Jewels – including the famous Stone of Destiny. Don’t try to steal it, since there are always two guards on the big reinforced door! 😉

https://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/

 

 

National Galleries of Scotland

Edinburgh is home to three of the National Galleries of Scotland: the National Gallery on the Mound, the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street and the Gallery of Modern Art on Belford Road. Offering a mixture of permanent art collections and exciting visiting exhibitions, a visit to the galleries is a great day out for art lovers.

The Scottish National Gallery

In the heart of Edinburgh, the Scottish National Gallery hosts some of the world’s finest art by the likes of Rembrandt, Monet and Raphael.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

This beautiful red sandstone building can be found in the New Town, and is home to over 3,000 portraits of men, women and children from Scotland and beyond.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Just a short taxi ride from the city centre, the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art has three main spaces: Modern One hosts the gallery’s permanent collection, Modern Two has ever-changing exhibitions and displays, and an expansive park full of fascinating sculptures. It’s a must for any modern art fan in the city. This is the gallery I liked the most (just because I studied most of the art inside in the last years), there are a lot of rooms to visit and some of the art could be surprisingly interesting! 🙂

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/

 

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Enjoy a gentle stroll through Edinburgh’s stunning botanic gardens and enjoy the sights, sounds and scents throughout the changing seasons. Have a stroll through the charming outdoor gardens, or journey through a warmer climate and discover exotic plants in the Glasshouse.

You can also enjoy a light bite in the gardens restaurant, cafeteria or coffee shop and purchase plants and gifts in the modern gift shop.  A top tourist attraction for all ages.

http://www.rbge.org.uk/

 

Edinburgh Zoo

A fantastic day out for all the family, Edinburgh Zoo is only  a short bus ride from the city center and home to over 1,000 fabulous animals, including the UK’s only giant pandas. The Zoo is situated in beautiful parkland settings and includes fabulous flamingos, cute koalas and cheeky chimpanzees.

There is a jammed packed schedule of talks every day, given by expert keepers. I went there with my best friends, and even if the weather was cloudy and foggy, and half of the animals where not visible for this reason we really enjoyed the zoo!

http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/

 

Camera Obscura

This is the oldest visitor attraction in Edinburgh, delighting visitors since 1835.

Serve your own head up on a silver platter, visit the room where little and large become interchangable, and pick the people of Edinburgh up in your hand in the city’s 150 year old Camera Obsura show.

I REALLY liked this attraction here in Edinburgh. Is real fun and there are a lot of activities to do. If you have a family and have a little of spare time I really suggest to go here!

Get involved, play and touch everything! Will you find your way out of the magical mirror maze? Will you manage to stay on your feet in the Vortex Tunnel?

http://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/

 

Edinburgh is the most beautiful city, you don’t believe me? Come and visit! 😉

 

VAL DI FASSA TOTEM

Our teachers asked us to design a “totem” that would be something that introduces people to our valley. This totem has to be simple but at the same time has to mean something so people can understand more about our colture, language and territory.

I started this project by drawing a tree and reducing it in just few simple lines. The shape of my totem is a triangular pyramid. Two of the sides are the same while the third one is different with a particular interactive window. This window can be opened and people can trow dolomia rocks in it that are prepared for this mean.

So, with wood and rock I created a design that resembles our territory and colture, including specific informations of the 7 town located in the valley.

I built the model in the carpentry and it took me about 10 hours.

I am really satisfied of this project because I really think it could be used to introduce people that don’t know our valley and wish to know a little bit more.

At the end I created a digital picture that can show how the structure would look like in reality.

Hope you like it!

xx

“Idee per un paese”

My class began this project last year while I was in the USA. For this reason I joyned the project called “Idee per una paese” (literally “Ideas for a town”) but with a slightly different task. While my classmates were designing a building’s wall, I had the job to create a decoration for the river that passes through the town.

So I started to make some sketches and try to find a shape that could fit with the sorroundings. My job was to find a perfect shape that could decorate the stream of the river but at the same time to have a function.

This was my result:

At the end, I chose to try to insert triangular shapes along the sides of the river. These shapes are made of cement and have the function of slowing down the water of the river and have a particular angolation that can stop rocks on the edges so people can see the different rocks of the river.

Finally, I made a model with cardboard and little rocks painted in white. I think this really looks good and gives a new point of view where to admire the beauties of nature!

This project took about 2 years but we could say that it was worth it!! At the end we even made a book with all of our projects in it! Making this project was really fun and helped us to improve our imagination and art skills.

xoxo

PARMESAN CONTAINER

During my third year of school, our teachers asked us to pick one design object to reproduce by ourselves. They gave us some magazines where we could find our object.

I decided to reproduce a parmesan container made by a famous designer.

This project was made by the actual bowl and its cover. The project took about 5 months and it was made all with wood.

This project took so long because I had to create different pieces divided and just at the end glue them together. For example, I had to create the handle by itself with the CNC machine  because its difficulty.

Even though this project was a little difficult to make I really enjoyed doing it because it helped me to try myself on new tasks and new experiences.

This is my final object! Hope you like it! xx

Tree houses!

Three years ago I started a school project about tree houses. Everyone had to start picking a natural object and develop some drawings from it. I started from a pine cone and tried to get some ideas from it!

Some of my first ideas!

Then, I had the idea to split my pine cone in two and this is what happened!

It actually started to look like a tree house! 🙂

 

This is how my final drawings looked like!

After I finished all my drawings I started to think about how to developed a feasible project and I went in carpentry to build my little model with actual wood and glue!

My final project! 🙂

Now it waits just to be built for real!

Hope you enjoyed to know more about my project! xoxo

Art is my life! ✎

As you know, I’m currently attending an art school, in Italy. Being in an art school is always what I wanted to do, so in 5 months or so I am ready to finish this long journey that made me grow as a person but also as a student.

After high school I would like to attend a foreign university, pursuing an art course, but only time will be able to tell me if this will happen! 🙂

Some of my art made 4 years ago!

During this 5 years I had a lot of opportunities to develop my art skills with so many projects which undoubtedly helped all of us understand what we like and our possible future career.

In this section I would like to share with you my works, not only my school projects but even my own art that I like to make at home.

xoxo