So the Coca-cola advert and the multitude of merry Christmas elves in the form of fellow undergraduates have alerted me to the imminent arrival of the yuletide period. I have been painting and designing like a machine because the untimely decision to buy a £900 graphics and gaming laptop a week before the end of term has left me inconveniently impoverished. Hence everyone is getting handmade presents this year. The above is for my Grandmother. Been inspired a lot by religious art and Mannerism, which was what inspired the Madonna pose. Renaissance vs. Medieval English this term has lead me to the realisation that as far as art is concerned the Catholics pwn Protestants. A few people (George Herbert, the entirety of the Netherlands) somehow managed to come out of Puritanism culturally unscathed but I just think most things are improved by a healthy portion of gold leaf applied (see above for said liberal use of gold ... it isn't entirely evident in the photo but you'll have to take my word for it). So this was project number one.