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Walking through the Toon – 16 April 2016

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We got the bus into Glasgow and went for a curry at Cafe India, where I’d gone to have my Indian cooking lesson back in February. The food wasn’t spectacular, but they were decent curries. Too much incense burning in the place and we both had the feeling that it was to cover up something. I don’t think we’ll be back.

Walked down to Glasgow Green via Parnie Street (Merchant City Cameras, but nothing inspired me). It was cold down The Green, but some Indian blokes were playing cricket. Cricket in Glasgow? Whatever next? Walked back through the town along Argyle Street taking in the sights. One bloke dancing and singing with his top off in a north wind that would cut the face off you. One bloke dressed as Superman, blowing hundreds of bubbles for the wee weans. One bloke dressed as a monster in Buchanan Street. Thankfully we missed The Bastard Drummers who were setting up when we walked down Bucky Street and having a rest when we walked back up. Sometimes we’re just lucky.

Bus home and that was our Saturday afternoon. I quite enjoyed our wee walk round the toon.

Dickheads, Dobbies and Dough – 15 April 2016

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comboToday was compressed into the afternoon.  We didn’t do much in the morning, but after lunch we went to the pool to test our theory that Friday afternoons are the best for swimming.

It would have been apart from a family of dickheads (isn’t it nice to be able to say what you feel without some censor redacting part of your prose).  The Dickhead family seemed to think that they owned the pool and freely ignored the signs that said ‘No Jumping’ and ‘No Diving’.  Still, the pool was big enough to accommodate us all, especially after I ‘accidentally’ swam right into Dickhead Junior when he stood right in front of me.  I could have avoided him, but why bother.  That’s what he expected me to do.  You must expect the unexpected.  I did smile and say “sorry”.  After that the Dickheads were no more trouble.

Went to Dobbies for a coffee and a browse round.  Scamp wanted compost and some more pots for hers and stuff.  We had our coffee and after discussion, decided that it was too wet to get the compost, better to wait for a dry day.  The pots were no use without the compost, so we crossed them off the list too.  Did get some seed potatoes and nasturtium seeds.  Plenty of time for compost since low temperatures are predicted for the weekend and I don’t think we’d be planting anything out in cold weather

Made some dough for pizzas for dinner and went for a walk to St Mo’s while the dough proved (rising process).  Got there and found I’d brought the wrong lens.  Not to worry, I’d just use what I had and change my subjects accordingly.  What I got were more shots of the leaves on 13th April which I now think are Dogwood leaves, thanks to The Beechgrove Garden. The other shots are of blackened rosehips and green shaving brushes from Larch trees.

After a miserable day with on and off rain, the sky cleared when I got back and blue sky moved in.  To be expected really as the forecast is for frost and ice overnight and a clear sky would pave the way for that.

Green Fingers – 14 April 2016

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CROWN- flickr--105Turned to my gardening side today and planted onions and peas, two rows of each. That and a coffee with Fred was my lot for today. Another uninspiring day that started well, then fell away.

Today’s photo kind of sums up the day, uninspired. I decided to use Comic Life to add some text to the Weemen picture. I’d forgotten just how awkward this app is to use. Clumsy isn’t the word for it, it’s just a nightmare. I got mine for free from work, but I see it’s on the App Store for £22.99. For £2.99 it might be worth the money, but it’s not worth any more than that. Version 1 was good, but version 2 became unwieldy and simply too much trouble for what it produces. I think it goes back in the box again and I’ll forget it for another year or so.

Brightest lights today were a phone call from Hazy, coffee with Fred and dinner from Sheila. Even today’s sudoku was a nightmare. Tomorrow will be better.

Just walking in the rain – 13 April 2016

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combo bIt’s been a bit of a mixed up day. It started off dry then it rained then it was dry for a while then it rained again. We had both decided to go to the gym in the morning. It turned out to be early afternoon, but who cares. Pool was busy when we got there, so we agreed to do a bit of gym work first. It looks like about 1pm is the optimum time for a swim. The “brown towels” (the spa folk) go for their lunch then and the pool empties. At least it did today.

After our lunch the sky cleared and the rain stopped and I went out to St Mo’s to get some photos, armed with both Olys in my new bag. I hardly got out the door when the rain started. However, I plodded on and got some shots of coots’ nests. I don’t remember ever seeing them before. Saw a deer, but it was off too quickly for me. There were lots of snails and slugs about, so that may be a sign that the worst of the frosts are past. Finally got some decent shots of bursting buds. Impressed with the sharpness from the Panasonic lens if I switch off the vibration control and rely on the in-camera anti-shake. Another lesson learned.

Queen for a Day – 12 April 2016

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P4120083- flickr--103A dismal day. Rain and more rain. Almost as if I’d predicted it yesterday, the cloud was low and milky white. Not dark grey, because that would have allowed some texture and I could have worked with that, just milky white and white clouds don’t hold a lot of rain, so that is why it drizzled all day.

I decided to use the flat lighting as illumination only and planned a table top photo. It was also a chance to introduce the minifig I got from Hazy to the rest of my “Weemen”. Although the Queen (or Mrs McQueen to give her her proper title) was the main subject, I thought it would be good to take the photo from behind her podium and leave Dennis to take the official photo from the press gallery. Just a little bit of nonsense for a dull day.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now – 11 April 2016

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combo bYesterday was a long day and a long drive, so today was just about relaxing and coming to terms with this urban environment again after the wide open spaces of Skye.

Didn’t do much this morning apart from my daily sudoku, but today’s game was an “Easy”, so not to much of a challenge.

While the “Gems” were practising I went for a walk along the Luggie, but under a milky sky, everything was dull.  I did find a new piece of graffiti under the road bridge.  Good bright colours, but poor shading and highlights which left it pretty 2D looking.  It looks like one critic has already tried to burn it off.  Difficult on a concrete wall, but that’s the Cumbernauld mentality for you.  Totally brainless.  The other shot was a couple of daffodils that looked like they were talking to each other.  Unfortunately, under the flat lighting, there was very little modelling.

I hadn’t realised until recently just how much the clouds and sky contribute to landscapes whether they are paintings or photographs.  The Indian bloke with the umbrella from a couple of days ago needed a plain, textureless sky to focus attention on the main subject, the man.  Contrast that with yesterday’s monochrome landscape.  A flat toned sky would have dragged that image down.  The wild sky in it – it wasn’t faked by the way – was in harmony with the wild land underneath it.  These are the extremes and there are degrees of cloud detail within those extremes and the sky must be in sympathy with the land and the subject.  Sometimes the land is simply a backdrop and then the sky too should be a supporting player, but if the landscape is the subject then the sky should play a more leading role.  After all is said and done, it’s the light from the sky that creates the modelling on the land.  Maybe I should think more about the effects of the sky light on the subject and if the light isn’t good or is too flat, I should re-assess my subject.

After all somebody said that it’s all about the light.

All Good Things … 10 April 2016

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combo bAfter breakfast we packed up the car and pointed it south. Made fairly good time all the way down the road. Stopped off at Spean Bridge for lunch which for me was a mega breakfast of bacon, link sausage, lorne sausage, haggis, black pudding, fried egg, beans, tattie scone, toast and tea all for £7.95. Scamp had a chicken burger which was uninspiring. Should have had the mega breakfast, even if as a semi-veggy you’d have had to donate your sausages and bacon to me.

Back on the road we continued south and stopped just past the Clachaig Inn so I could take some photos. The first of the day. I wanted some shots looking back at Loch Achtriachtan – bottom right. I also got a decent shot looking the other way up the glen towards the Pass of Glencoe. That’s the mono shot. Just got back into the car when a people carrier arrived and out spilled half a dozen Chinese tourists each with a smartphone on a selfie stick and I thought of Murd!

Found a slot in the never ending stream of traffic heading up the glen and drove on to Rannoch Moor. I was watching the cloudscape that was forming above the snow covered mountains and trying to figure out where would be best to park to grab the shot I could imaging was being created for me. I’ve been caught out before by ignoring the first parking place, trying for the optimum viewpoint and finding there’s nowhere there for parking – Scotland’s terrible for providing parking where there is nothing worth seeing and no parking where there is. This time I chose the first place that presented itself almost empty too – just a white van in it, and decided I’d walk until I found the best VP. As it turned out, there was a beautiful clear shot of the mountains and clouds right across form the parking place (top two shots). Took the shot (or 10) and then realised there was a tripod with a camera but without a photog, just to my right. Then I turned round and saw the driver of the white van watching me. It turned out he was doing a time lapse of the changing cloudscape. I asked him how long he’d run it for and after some thought he said “about 30 minutes should be enough”. He said he was driving down from Skye and really should be in a hurry, but the landscape was just too pretty to ignore. I told him we were doing the same and took my leave, wishing him luck with his time lapse.

Our next stop was between Crianlarich and Lix Toll for a coffee and to stretch my legs. Then it was on through Callander and Doune to the M9 and home. It took us just over six hours.

Thanks Murd and Jackie for the hospitality again and hope to see you soon.

Over the five days we clocked up around 660 miles and I took 335 photos, most of which were rubbish, but some of which I’m really proud of. That’s what photography is all about. A 10% success rate is pretty good. My success rate was about half of that, but then, you can’t quantify art 😉

Stunning Sligachan – 9 April 2016

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combo bDrove over Quiraing to reach Uig, then down the west side of the island to Portree. Stopped for a while at the top to take in the view and to grab some photos. I liked the style of the Indian bloke with his pink umbrella striding off across the footpath round the edge of Quiraing.

Had lunch at Jan’s Vans new café and also took on some petrol further down the road. Then we made our leisurely way to Sligachan to photograph the Cuillins which were looking quite dramatic after some overnight snow. Snow in April. Not unheard of, but after the fairly temperate winter we’ve had, it was not really expected. I got another painting done and was quite pleased with it. Just a medium sized sketch, but not timed this time. We made a really relaxed afternoon of it sitting in a lay-by off the main road with just the beautiful mountains and hills around us. Weather was kind with lovely sunshine and very little wind.

When we got back to Staffin I dropped Scamp off at the house and then headed down the slip. The place was quiet so I got to walk across the bog and on to the limestone pavement section and got a few shots, but not many. It was nice to sit there in the quiet and listen to the waves crashing and the birds singing. Sometimes that’s worth more than the dramatic scenery, but the drama helps too.

Remember, the mosaic at the top sometimes shows only part of today’s images and always at a reduced scale.  Click on the mosaic to be transported to my Flickr page.

Off home tomorrow.

Birthday Boy – 8 April 2016

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comboToday is my birthday and the kitchen didn’t switch on the extractor fans at 6.00AM or crash bang the aluminium trays to celebrate that fact.

We drove round the top of the island and over to Waternish. Rather than go on to Trumpan, we dropped down to Stein. Stein is a tiny wee village of about half a dozen houses and the famous Stein Inn. Google it.

We sat and watched the world go by for a while and the Queen sat and watched too. The Queen was a Lego minifig and was a birthday prezzy from Hazy. She had sat on our dashboard, taking in the sights from Staffin to Stein. The Queen is probably the cutest birthday prezzy, but the strangest must be JIC’s solid tapered lump of cocoa for making hot chocolate, carefully described by him as “Not a suppository” on its label!

I went for a walk down to the slip and saw the scene that I’d painted three times in different media. The actual picture. It’s a whitewashed cottage on a spit of land sticking out into the sea. On the day I first photographed it, it had a line of washing blowing in the wind. Today there was no washing, but what I noticed was that the building was two storey. I’d always painted it as a single storey building. Sometimes imagination is better than fact. The two storey building just didn’t look right. On the way back to the car, I spotted the snail. It was making a bee line (should that be a snail line?) for the other side of the footpath. It was travelling straight as a die and moving at a fast snail’s pace. However I was worried that he would get crushed under someone’s feet once I’d gone, so the least I could do was give him an airlift to the other side and placed him carefully in the undergrowth.

We drove back to Portree, the capital of Skye. There we went to Cafe Arriba for lunch. Macaroni for Scamp and Lamb and Chorizo burger for me. Brilliant! Drove back up the single track and double track road to Staffin and went down to the beach and watched the tide come in before we went for a walk on the beach.

Back to Jackie and Murd for dinner, then a dram or two in front of a coal fire. Brilliant end to a Brilliant day.

An early rise (unplanned) – 7 April 2016

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ComboThe kitchen started work again at 6.00AM and so did the noise.  It was so loud, and it woke both Scamp and me and we just couldn’t get back to sleep, so I suggested we make an early start and get on the road.  Breakfast was very good – the food IS good.  Shower in the room had an air-lock in it and squealed when you turned the flow up above a trickle.  Scamp made sure she complained about this and the abominable kitchen when we were booking out and got a small amount removed from the bill after the receptionist had gone to speak to the manager.  The manager chose not to meet his irate customer face to face.  I wonder why.

The rest of the run up north passed without incident until we were on the single track section out of Portree when a diddy of a woman decided that we should reverse back a couple of hundred yards to a passing place and allow her through, even though she had just driven past a passing place.  I’m afraid that wasn’t going to happen and I was pleased to see her go incandescent when I made silly faces at her through the window.  Some people think they own the road.  They don’t, I do.

Went for a drive later as we’d arrived far earlier than expected.  Drove to Aird and I got two paintings done – TWO!  Ok, one was a small sketch, but the other was a full watercolour, both of the same scene.  I think the small one is better than the bigger one.  I’ll maybe post them some time to garner opinion.

After dinner I went down the slip and got some possible photos.  Will know better when I process them, but that may be a problem as it looks like the battery on the Mac is dying.  Down to 37% of its designed capacity.