Month: January 2016

Face Painting – 31 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bThe last day in January and I was off to a sketching workshop at Cass Art. It was Ok, but no better than that. Most of the workshop was based on portraiture and I was interested in that as it’s one type of art I’m not confident about. His (and he is Jake Spicer) pitch was very gentle and believable and his tasks easily completed in the time given. I drew Fred and he drew me. Both were likenesses. However, I felt the whole workshop was quite two dimensional with very little depth. I also had a look at his book which was quite expensive for what it was with lots of space in it to practice your techniques. I’d like to see how big the book would be without that wasted space. To quote Dragon’s Den, “I’m not going to invest”, but Quote of the Day came from the woman who was drawing and being drawn by an older man “That doesn’t look like me at all …” Sorry missus, but it does bear a resemblance to you. “… and mine looks exactly like you!” Only if he lived in Picasso-land.

After we got home and I had had my lunch, I went for a walk to St Mo’s in the rain to investigate just how high I could push the ISO and still get an image. The answer appeared to be 12000 ISO. I fed the swans and the coots, then went for a walk through the woods to find some deer, but they were sheltering somewhere else from the rain. Came home and got ready to go to salsa.

Enjoyed the dancing at the Garage and came home to a dinner of soup and crab ravioli. Lovely.

Rained almost all day and it’s going to snow tomorrow according to the weather folk, and more high winds of course.

Deep and Crisp and Even – 30 January 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt snowed during the night. When we woke it was bright white sunshine that was coming in the windows. Such a nice difference. Yes, I knew it was going to cloud over and there was the chance that we’d have more snow during the day, but for a while it was sunny.

Had a relaxed start to the day, no need to rush on a Saturday now. Let the workers do the rushing to make the most of their weekend. Us retirees can take our time. Finished the book I was reading “Strange Loyalties” by Wm McIlvanney. It was a bit of struggle finishing it, rather like wading through treacle at times, but good use of language. Full review on Goodreads (3/5 stars).

Luckily we had planned on a bus journey to Glasgow because I didn’t fancy driving anywhere today with blizzards forecast for everywhere in Scotland. As it happened, we didn’t see any blizzards, but there was a bit of snow as we were driven in to the great metropolis that is Glasgow.

This being our anniversary, or the anniversary of the day we met, we went for lunch. Today’s choice was Charcoals. I had Rara Gosht and Scamp had Chicken Dopiaza. They were both lovely – not cheap, but lovely. We wandered round ‘The Toon’ for a while and then came home on the bus.

By the time we got back most of the snow had gone. It was a great day.

Today’s PoD, in fact the only one worth talking about, was taken outside the Apple building which is being ‘modernised’. A nice bit of business acumen there.

Galloping Gertie – 29 January 2016

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combo bStorm Gertrude gave us a glancing blow last night and early this morning.  Gusts approaching 80mph apparently and around 6.00 this morning it certainly felt like it.

The worst of the wind had abated by lunchtime and we went for a swim.  There wasn’t much pleasure in driving and with all the travel restrictions due to the wind, so a swim gave us a short run and a wee bit of gentle exercise too.

After we came back, I was tempted to go out and take some photos, but the wind was still there and it was pretty cold.  I decided to take some shots in the garden instead.  The viola is a pretty wee thing and is flowering well, even in this cold weather.  The birds were photographed through the kitchen window and turned out better than I expected.

Snow and more high winds predicted for tonight and most of tomorrow.  Should be interesting.

One day this weary winter will be gone – 28 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATitle comes from a Loudon Wainwright song and it sums up my feelings quite succinctly.  Another still life as evidence of the darkness outside from dawn to dusk.  Dusk being about 5 minutes after dawn.  After that, total darkness reigns.

Today we went to 1 Devonshire Gardens for lunch.  It was a retirement present from the Malleys for Sheila.  This was a full dress occasion – suit, shirt and tie.  I even got shaved.  It was worth it.  Food was really excellent.  Service was excellent too, just what you’d expect in a place like this.  Because we knew that “drink would be taken”, we went on the bus, in fact buses because we got the bus from the centre of town to the restaurant.  That was a first for us, travelling IN Glasgow by bus, but it was a necessity today because it was a 20 minute walk from the subway station and it was raining.

After our delicious lunch we went back in to the centre of town to pick up my beautiful artwork from Sunday’s class in Cass Art.  It’s still sitting in  the bag until I have the courage to look at it again.  I’m only glad that I didn’t buy the paint they were pushing at the class.

Now we are getting ready to batten down the hatches before Storm Gertrude arrives with its 80mph wind gusts.

A drive along Clydeside – 27 January 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAlthough it was raining very heavily when we woke up, the weather improved all through the morning, so we decided to go for a drive in the sunlight, rather than go to the pool today. I fancied going to Culross (sorry Hazy) and Scamp wanted to go the Clydeside. We settled on Clydeside.

Rather than go straight down the motorway and waste hours going through the miles of roadworks from the M8 flyover to Hamilton I went through Airdrie, Newmains and Waterloo. Don’t worry if you haven’t got the foggiest idea of where I am, it’s not motorway, that’s all you need to know. Weather hadn’t been brilliant, but when we got to Waterloo we had a view across the Clyde Valley to Stonehouse and Strathaven bathed in bright sunshine making the grass glow! So that’s what sunshine is like.

Drove along Clydeside to Dobbies, or Sandyholm as we used to know it and got the above photo there, looking across to the sunny side of the river. Had a pleasant enough lunch, but inside of the garden centre was a shambles as they were getting rid of the Christmas tat and preparing for Easter which as we all know is when garden centres make the most money. “Buy your plants at Easter to plant them in your garden. Buy the plants that will actually grow in May.” I was told that by a gardener years ago and it’s very true.

On the way home we stopped at Mauldslie to try to get some photos, but the sun had gone for the day and we were back to ISO 10000 again. Time to go home. Still, I walked in the sunshine today again. Things may be looking up.

Oh yes, and it took just over 10 minutes to get through the roadworks on the motorway. But if I’d gone that way to start with I wouldn’t have seen Stonehouse bathed in sunshine.

A grey day, lemonade scones and a still life – 26 January 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnother uninteresting day with nothing much to recommend it.  Windy and wet with occasional chances for the sun to burst through for a few minutes.  Driving rain from the south for a change.  It washes the windows if nothing else.  Every time the I decided to take a walk and get some photos in the bright spells, the rain would start again.  Scamp and I went to the gym instead and did a bit of exercising, but as she had a lunch appointment, we didn’t get a chance for a swim.

Did a bit of painting, but left it unfinished again.  Made some lemonade scones.  Simple recipe:

  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 150 ml double cream
  • 150 ml lemonade

Makes roughly 12 scones and they are as light as a feather.  Even Scamp agrees, it must be so.

Today’s photo is physalis 1 .  It was produced using a combination of different technologies.  The camera was mounted on a tripod, an old Bilora that I bought second hand for a couple of quid in a house clearing about forty years ago.  The other technology was the brand new Pixel remote trigger.  Old and new technologies managed to produce a good image when used together.  Hoping for good weather tomorrow, but more snow forecast.  We’ll see.

 

  1. Just keep repeating “Physalis, Physalis, Physalis”.  Then when someone asks you what they are, you don’t blurt out “SYPHILIS!” as someone I was sitting next to at a restaurant did.  A conversation stopper. ↩

Those who can, do … 26 January 2016

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combo bAnd those who can’t, teach.  And those who can’t teach?  Well, we met one tonight.  He thinks he’s a great dancer and now he thinks he’s a great teacher.  Oh dear, wrong on two counts.  We’d enjoyed our own salsa class and then I’d given in and said I’d go to a Bachata class afterwards.  Bit mistake.  The fat bloke wasn’t there tonight, instead we had to put up with the other Fat Bloke who appears to have been dancing for a year now and “thinks he’s god’s gift.”  Not my words, but those of one Scamp’s friends and someone who’s opinion I hold in the highest regard, as well as being a great dancer.  Anyway, I survived the hour although my tongue was really sore at the end from me biting it.  If FB2 is taking the class, I’ll be giving it a miss.  It looks as if AdS is on a downward slope.

That was this evening.  The day wasn’t much to write home about.  I went for a walk in the afternoon to avoid Scamp’s Gems group practise and it rained and the light was terrible as is the norm in January.

Previous to that I was to be found rolling around in the boot of Scamp’s car trying with part success to repair a broken boot lock.  Hopefully I’ll get a switch tomorrow and perform the open heart surgery on it to get it locking (and more importantly unlocking) to order again.

Overall, not the best Monday ever, but it will be better tomorrow – heavy rain forecast.

A Brush With Art – 24 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFred and I went to Cass Art today for a mixed media workshop.  For once, this was a workshop which would have benefited from the wearing of industrial protective clothing like a boiler suit.  However to contradict the title of today’s blog, no brushes were used in this art class.  We did use pipettes, painting knives, sandpaper and kitchen towel, but no brushes were harmed in any way.  It seemed to be an attempt at selling the Pebeo abstract paint products we were encouraged to use by a poorly prepared and inexperienced ‘tutor’ who admitted half way through the class that she hadn’t actually used these products very much.  Hmm, as an ex teacher, I’d have to say that there were times when I ‘winged it’ through a class, but I was so much better than this – most of the time!  I got the impression that the ‘sell’ was not very successful either, as very few of our peers bought any of the Pebeo products after the class.  This is by far the poorest presentation I’ve been to at Cass Art.  As far as the product goes, it seemed that there was very little creative artistry possible with it.  Strange effects, but not a lot of control available.  The paint looked like a thinned down version of Hammerite at a vastly inflated price.  Maybe I just don’t understand this abstract nonsense art.

Once we got back and I’d had my lunch I spent the afternoon searching out the tracks from the ’70s album ‘Rockbuster’ on YouTube.  It’s amazing the amount of music that’s available there.

Today’s photo solves two problems:

  1. I had no opportunity to take any pictures today.

  2. I’d recently bought a wireless remote for the E-PL5 and hadn’t managed to try it properly.

Problem solved. Picture taken and the remote works perfectly. In case you’re interested, it’s a Pixel RW-221/UC1 Wireless Shutter Remote.  Such a pity that Oly didn’t think to produce their own remote for this excellent camera, like Nikon did.

The Wild West – 23 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bAccording to the weather reports and the weather apps, today was to be a good weather day.  They lied.

We drove down to Troon to get some fresh air, a walk along the beach and lunch.  The thermometer in the car read 5ºc when we arrived, but it lied too.  That didn’t take into account the windchill from a cold south wind blowing across the beach.  The kite surfers didn’t seem to mind, in fact they were revelling in the windy conditions.  We stood and watched them for quite a while after walking along a very untidy beach.  Loads of debris from the recent storms, Frank being the most likely suspect.  Apparently there were whole trees washed up on the south beach.

After walking back to the town we wandered round the vast selection of shops Troon has to offer.  It’s like so many of Scotland’s, in fact Britain’s towns these days and seems that the charity shops outnumber the full price shops.  Lunch was in the Lido which was very busy, most of the background noise being contributed by the girls at a ten year old’s birthday party.  Food was good, although my burger was thicker but with a smaller diameter than previously.  Scamp had Churrasco barbacued chicken skewers which looked delicious, but she said they were “Ok”.  She’s a tough critic, I know from experience.

After stopping on the way for provisions in Waitrose, we drove home.  After we stopped near the house, Scamp found a wallet on the road next to the car.  I suggested we hand it over to the police and let them deal with it, so we turned tail and drove up to the police station.  Felt better for doing that.  It was our good Samaritan deed of the day.  Hope the poor bloke got his wallet.

Picture on the right is not as it was taken.  The kite the bloke, I’m guessing it was a bloke, was using was a dark blue and grey and it was not quite in the frame, so I clipped a nice orange one from a diffent shot and replaced the dull one with it.  There, that looks much better!

Rain predicted for tomorrow.  What a surprise.

A Different Sort of Day – 22 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bAfter a downer of a week, weatherwise and otherwise, we woke today to … rain. Woke up at around 6.00am to rain battering against the window. Turned over and went back to sleep. Next thing I knew it was 9.00am and it was still raining. Oh well, I’d decided to go in to Glasgow for a wander and the weather app on my phone said it would be sunny by midday – fat chance says I. By the time I’d got myself organised and finished just one more chapter of Strange Loyalties by the late William McIlvanney, a very introspective novel with wonderful use of language, by the time I finally put it down, it was getting on for 11.30. Scamp had declined my offer of a run into town, so I went myself on the train. Got parked easily for a change at the station.

When I was walking up to the station, the rain had stopped and wonder of wonders, there was blue sky up there. At 12.10, sitting in the Glasgow train, the clouds parted and the sun shone. It stayed that way for the rest of the day. The weather app was right, well, ten minutes late, but we can forgive it that. In Glasgow I went up to JL, but they had no bargains – well, they hardly ever do. Had a play around with one of the Oly 4/3 DSLRs I’ve been watching coming down in price. Second hand of course. Unfortunately I handled the posh V2 version first, so the viewfinder wasn’t as clear in the second, more affordable, one. That said, it has come EVFs have come a long way since the Sony F707, or even the removable EVF of the Oly E-PL5. Sorry for all that technospeak, Jic, it’s over now, you can open your eyes again.

Lots of lovely light in Bucky Street and interesting people too. I have to thank the community policeman who noticed I’d dropped the viewfinder from the E-PL5 in my rush to get a shot. Thank you very much whoever you are, I never really got a chance to thank you properly. I know it’s unlikely you will ever read this, but I feel better now. I walked all the way down past St Enoch’s to the Clyde walkway and found even more photo opportunities.

Back up to the station, back home and a piece ‘n’ cheese for a late lunch before Scamp came home from a “Witches” meeting.

What a difference a bit of sun makes.