Painting – Page 34 – My Photo Blog

Windy Willie – 20 March 2017

Posted on March 20, 2017March 20, 2017 by Zogman

Windy Willie was Scamp’s explanation for strong winds when the weans were wee. No need then for Storm Agatha or Storm Benjamin. No, when the house was shaking in the gusts, Windy Willie was out there, that was enough explanation. Windy Willie was out today.

Scamp was singing again with Gems today. This time in Stepps. I had intended to go sketching in Glasgow to get back to more architectural subjects, but when I got there, the horizontal rain and hail put me off, so instead I drove to the Fort to get some cheap pens and not so cheap painting stuff. I say *painting stuff* because Inktense sticks are difficult to categorise. They are part pastel sticks and part aquarelle. Aquarelles are usually in the form of pencils and these are just sticks of pigment in a binder and are like pastels, except when you add water to them they turn into watercolour. Worth a few quid to try them out and see what kind of mess I can make with them.

I drove back past the old Gartloch Hospital, a scary looking ex asylum on the outskirts of Easterhouse. I kind of want to photograph it, but it comes into the same category as graveyards for me. I often feel uneasy about photographing graveyards and most times don’t get the camera out. It’s almost as if I have to ask permission to take photos there. I can’t really explain it. Some day I’ll make time to go to Gartloch and get some images. Whether or not I’ll keep them I can’t say. I might just format the card after they’re taken. I will say this though, it will be a bright sunny day I go there.

Only two photos worth showing today. One of contrasting textures between the grey sky and the grey aluminium of the M&S building at the Fort and another of an old knife with a couple of beads of jam on it (not blood!) sitting on the draining board at the sink at home. I just liked them both. PoD was the knife.

Before salsa tonight, I was enlisted to help with beginners Bachata which Cameron was teaching, and teaching quite well. He still needs to relax, but his voice control is much better and he also needs to realise that he doesn’t need to show off so much. It all looks like a lack of self-confidence to me, but I’d never tell him that. Enjoyed it. Salsa was fast and furious. New move tonight was Tresario Doble, I think. Interesting and counter intuitive at times. We need to practise it. Also Cubaa Se from last week. Good fun.

No plans for tomorrow. Snow and ice forecast with Windy Willie around too.

A Tramp – 18 March 2017

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Zogman

A Tramp, that’s what Scamp described me as today. Just because my Bergy jacket is a wee bit untidy and maybe needing a wash. Apparently it totally transforms me into a tramp. I wonder how many tramps today, real tramps that is, the ones who wander round the countryside, sleeping rough, not the beggars on the city streets, I wonder how many of them have given up the luxuries of home because somebody called them a tramp. I did consider doing it myself today, but who would drive Scamp home, because she can’t (won’t) drive my car, and besides it was raining.

The above conversation happened in the carpark in Stirling. We should have been going to Embra today, but Scotland were playing somebody Italian, I think, at Murrayfield so the trains would be packed. Also, we didn’t get to bed until after 1am last night (or this morning to be perjink), so we had a lazy morning after tidying up after last night’s meal with Crawford and Nancy, with June of course, eventually deciding to go to Stirling as a second choice. We wandered round the soulless Thistle Centre whose only redeeming feature, in my opinion, is Waterstones. Saw a couple of books worth adding to my ‘Must Read’ list.

When we got home, I messed around with a new painting before deciding that there was just enough light left to have a walk around St Mo’s. I didn’t really need the photo, I had one in the bag from the morning. Beautiful light on the stems of some carnations in a glass on the bedroom window sill. So, it was more a walk than a desperate attempt to get a PoD. Bumped into an FP on the boardwalk round St Mo’s. I don’t know who was more surprised, her or me. Got the other two shots in the failing light at St Mo’s and on the walk back.

Hopefully we’ll be earlier to bed tonight, especially if I get this blog posted.

Just Get Up Ya Lazy Sod – 3 March 2017

Posted on March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 by Zogman

I usually list my alarms on the iPhone by where we were when they were created, however, today’s alarm which was sandwiched between ‘Last Day Cruise 2011’ and ‘Dubrovnik’ and was called ‘Just Get Up Ya Lazy Sod’. It was for 6.15am!

Today, Scamp was to go to the hospital to be assessed by the plastic surgeon for a further operation on the site of the mole. Unfortunately, the hospital was in Greenock, just over 40 miles away and on the other side of Glasgow. Google estimated the time to get there for 9am was from 1 hour to 1 hour 40 minutes. At the worst estimate, that’s an average speed of 24mph, which is quite slow for, in fact illegal for, a motorway, but realistic for the M80/M8 at any peak time. So that explains the 6.15am alarm. I’d intended leaving at 7am and as the temperature last night was forecast to be below zero for most of the night, I knew I’d have to get out early to get the car warmed up and the windscreen scraped. Not like the lucky folk with their heated front screens 😉

As usual when I know I’ve an alarm set, I seem to sleep for two hours at a time before waking, then as the allotted time approaches I enter deep sleep, only to get a rude awakening with some awful chime from the phone. That’s what it was like today.

After prepping the car, we had a quick breakfast and were off, just after 7am. Cutting a long story short, we entered the quagmire of traffic of the M80 / M8 intersection. From there to the Kingston Bridge it was nose to tail and constantly changing to the lane that was moving fastest. Luckily all those Monday and Wednesday nights stood me in good stead and I found the fastest lane through. After the Kingston, it was good going for a while, until we reached Greenock, in fact. The scenery was beautiful all the way down the estuary, with pockets of fog and mist creating perfect photo opportunities. Unfortunately, you can’t use ‘Photo Opportunity’ as a reason for stopping on the hard shoulder of a motorway. Personally, I can’t understand why.

Almost at the hospital, we hit the ‘Road Closed – Follow Diversion’ sign. For once, I followed the diversion with Scamp acting as a navigator who was becoming more and more concerned that we seemed to be going in the wrong direction, then seeing where it was leading us and confirming that we were, indeed, heading in the right direction. Parked at the hospital with 10minutes to spare from the Google worst estimate. Impressive, Mr G!

In and out of the consultant’s office within about 30 minutes, then it was the simpler route back to Glasgow, but the good light and the good photo opportunities were gone by now, of course. Parked up on what will always be St James St. in Glasgow and went for a coffee in JL with Scamp before leaving her to meet up with ’The Witches’. After doing some window shopping, I drove back home to a cold, dreich, Cumbersheugh. I had thought I’d manage to get my bike out, but it was the cold east wind that put an end to that idea, so I did a bit of painting instead. I also made some bread dough and retained enough to make a pizza.

Went for a late afternoon walk around St Mo’s, but there was nothing of interest to photograph.

Scamp arrived back about 7.30pm after having had a ‘Day in the Toon’. It’s almost 11pm now and it’s been a long day, so I’m heading for the Land of Nod.

Good Night!

It Rained – 26 February 2017

Posted on February 26, 2017February 26, 2017 by Zogman

All day it rained. It rained heavy, it rained light, it rained sleet with an outside temperature of 9ºc (!), it pretended to stop, just to catch the unwary before launching another torrential downpour. We weren’t fooled. We live in Scotland. We have a hundred names for rain, just as the Inuits have a hundred names for snow. Most of the words for rain are suffixed with ‘AGAIN!’, or prefixed with ‘STILL’. Sometimes, in extreme cases, with both!

Lunch for me was last night’s curry reheated. I hope you’re impressed, N D’Ag. Not quite up to having it for breakfast – on toast, but getting there. Actually it was very good. Not as fiery as last night. After that I settled down to do a sketch for 28 Drawings Later … I wasn’t going outside to sketch. Watercolours or even ink pens and rain just mix too well, but not in a good way. In an experimental way, perhaps, but not a good way. Today I went back to Trinidad, at least in a photograph. The building is an old house at Mt St Benedict’s Monastery in Trinidad and it fair brightened up the day.

We had already decided on a Trinni dinner and that’s what we had. It’s Stewed Chicken with boiled rice, boiled cassava and fried plantain. Definitely a work in progress, but the fried plantain, although soft was the star of the show. Loser was cassava. Too much of a faff. We’ll take Madeleine’s advice and try frozen stuff next time. We were going to have coconut ice cream, but we’re leaving that for later in the week. The coconut has been drained, smashed, flesh peeled and blitzed and the pulp drained, so the hard work has been done.

The forecast is for a drier day tomorrow after a wet and cold start.

Russian around Glasgow – 24 February 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Zogman

We made a late decision to go to Glasgow today. The other option was Falkirk, but the finger finally fell (alliteration of ‘F’) on Glasgow because we wanted to buy some ‘Trinny’ stuff to make dinner on Sunday, and we didn’t think Morrison’s would have plantain, dasheen or cassava, but Solly’s African Shop in the West End probably did. Or two out of three as it turned out.

Got the bus in because that meant we could both have a drink with our lunch. I wanted some water based markers in Cass Art or Millers so we headed down Buchanan Street, then along Argyle Street. Scamp suggested we should have lunch in Charcoal’s cafe on Argyle Street and I thought that was a good choice. However, when we got there, it looked closed and although there was a sign outside, there was no lights on inside and no customers. I was ready to head back to Paesano pizza shop when Scamp said why didn’t we try the Russian place, Cossachok. I’ll admit that I wasn’t all that keen. The a la carte menu didn’t look very inspiring, but it was open and it was busy and we’d often passed it and said we must try it. Yes, we had to give it a chance. I had Borscht which I’d heard of, but never tasted and for a main I had Golubtzi which was cabbage roll stuffed with mince served in a spicy tomato sauce. Scamp had Olivie which was like vegetable salad which we both remembered having back in the ‘60s! Her main was Mama’s Blinis which was minced chicken in a thin pancake, served with a creamy spinach sauce. I’d have borscht again, definitely, but the golubtzi was really quite hot. Scamp didn’t like the spinach sauce because it had a caramel taste. That said, the lunch was cheap, filling and tasty. What else can you ask for. Next time I’ll have Russian coffee which is espresso with vodka and whipped cream. A strange mixture. There will be a next time!

Got the subway out to Kelvinbridge and investigated two Caribbean food shops. Both had most of our ingredients, but only one had the plantain we were looking for. Neither had dasheen. We came home with plantain, coconut and cassava. It looks like Sunday dinner will be Stewed Chicken with Fried Plantain and the possibility of Coconut Ice Cream. Subway back and coffee before we got the bus home. Only the advert above as a possible PoD. I thought it was exactly what you do on the subway and exactly what I was doing. I was avoiding catching the eye of the three Chinese (?), Japanese (?), Korean (?), yes, Korean girls sitting opposite. They looked like three little maids from school (yes, I know that’s Japanese) and seemed to find the adverts funny too! Good advert, well worded.

Tonight’s other picture was taken after I had finished today’s ’28 Drawings Later …’ sketch which is here. I wanted something simple to draw and paint and the two sheep worked well for that. I needed something to recreate the mottled finish on the salt & peppers and decided to try out the salt technique where you sprinkle salt on a wet wash and allow it to dry before dusting it off. According to the books, it works with sand too, but I’d never tried either. I did a quick test using salt from my mum’s old bakelite salt cellar and the result was exactly what I wanted. The photo shows the tools I used for the painting including the salt cellar. Remember it anyone?

Yesterday’s snow and this morning’s ice is nearly all gone now, so I think we’re going down to visit Dorothy tomorrow. Strong winds forecast for overnight, but hopefully they should have calmed down by tomorrow.

Programming for Nerds – 21 February 2017

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Zogman

Nothing to do with Elton John. Keyboard Maestro is a very powerful programming tool for the Mac. I’ve been struggling with it on and off for over a year now and have to tell you that with great power comes great complexity. I’ve programmed interesting stuff in Basic and Assembly Language along with simple stuff in C and in Pascal, and even used Visual Basic to write macros in Excel, but the programming syntax in Keyboard Maestro is back to the stone age. It makes assembly language look slick by comparison. All I wanted to do was add two numbers together. It shouldn’t be difficult, should it? It was. Mainly because of an almost total lack of tutorials using variables with this behemoth of an app. I eventually found a wiki for it and all became (almost) clear. I don’t think I’ll be coding very much in Keyboard Maestro, but my macro now works and I’m happy about that. Actually I’ve been using it in the background while I type this blog. I’ve got it set up to alter a few of my typos and also, if I type * KM without the space, it changes it to Keyboard Maestro – See? It did it there and you never even noticed. I know, lots of other apps do the same thing, but this is an app for nerds! I’m not afraid to say it: I AM A NERD!!

Scamp went to visit her Auntie, well, her dad’s cousin [that’s close enough to be an Auntie (or Uncle, depending on the version) in Larky]. Anyway, she was going for coffee with Isobel this morning and I was looking for something to do, so I copied yesterday’s sketch onto watercolour paper and made it into a painting. I was quite pleased with the result. I know it’s a bit gloomy, but the real thing is gloomy too. The house sits back among trees and there can’t be a lot of light getting in those windows.

When Scamp came home and after we had lunch we went searching for food in Waitrose which is where I found the group of Neds you see above. Who would have thought that Neds would be allowed in Waitrose. Either they’ve cleaned up their act or that supermarket is allowing its standard to slip.

It was such a dull day, we just drove home afterwards with our spoils. Lamb chops with potatoes and mushrooms for me. Salmon and potatoes for Scamp. Still on our self enforced diet, we didn’t even have a pudding! We did have a crayfish salad to start with though, but you can’t consider that, because it was healthy!

Played a game of my new addiction Upwords tonight, but I don’t think Scamp was impressed with this Scrabble look alike. I think it might be going in the next but one charity bag.

Nothing planned as yet for tomorrow because the weather may be taking a turn for the worse.

Oh, yes. If you’re in the need of someone to add two numbers together, I’m your man. Just give me a couple of hours to write the code and debug it and I should have it done!

No Dough – 20 February 2017

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Zogman

Scamp was at the physio this morning. I started a wee watercolour of the hills at the back, because the light was wonderful with wee floating cloud shadows drifting across them. It turned out better than I anticipated.

I’d taken a frozen chunk of dough out of the freezer last night and left it to defrost and rise overnight. It did defrost, but it didn’t rise. I tried to encourage the yeast to start working again by warming the loaf tin in some warm water, but it resisted my attentions. I eventually turned on the heating and put the embryonic bread on the radiator to warm up.

By then, Scamp had returned with her ankle strapped up and we had lunch before she went out to get Gems. I was swithering whether to go out on my bike, go to the gym or go for a walk. I’d a pain in my back and any of these would help. However, as the sun was still shining, I decided that the gym was out, and as there was a gusty wind, maybe cycling would be a bit difficult. So, by a process of elimination, a walk was the winner. I was looking for somewhere that would produce a photo and also a sketch. I finally settled on the railway again, because it’s near the hills and I quite fancied a photo of those cloud shapes on the land.

I got the photo, but saw nothing that encouraged the sketchbook out of my bag, then I saw the old house that I’d sketched before and that became my SoD (Sketch of the Day). It’s a strange house, with dormer windows, extensions and an old, old wall round it. There’s ivy too clinging to the gable end. The sketch is quite representative, but I think the chimney is a bit out of scale.

Salsa tonight was hard work. Hard work remembering the moves and hard work keeping going for a full hour after three weeks of lazing around. Still very enjoyable and although we only stayed for an hour tonight, we may go for two hours on Wednesday, all being well. Surprisingly, all the moves had names tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow, but we’re probably going food shopping. Oh what fun.

The bread? Oh, it rose perfectly, then it stuck to the loaf tin and just wouldn’t come out. I should have realised it had its own plans for the day when it took so long to rise.

He swims with the fishes – 07 February 2017

Posted on February 7, 2017February 8, 2017 by Zogman

This morning, Jaime said that he’d prefer to drive to Pigeon Point rather than take the hotel minibus. We’d already agreed that hiring a car would be good, so this just meant that the hire would be a day early and it would give us more flexibility with travel arrangements, so off he went to arrange the hire. When he came back, he told us there was one problem, his driving license was out of date and needed to be renewed. It could be done on Tobago, but with the present backlog in licensing, it would probably take a whole day. Since my paper license is no longer acceptable for hiring a car, the easy way was for Madeleine to hire the car. With that settled, they both went back to the hire firm to seal the deal and soon arrived with the car. Our bags were packed and we then went to Pigeon Point and parked ourselves under an almond tree on the edge of the glorious beach with that beautiful blue sea beyond. Pigeon Point hadn’t changed much since we were last there. The beach huts had been painted and had new roofs and there was now a new reception room for weddings and big parties, but apart from that it was the same.

Once we were settled, Scamp and I went for a paddle, but I couldn’t resist the pull of that blue water and the prospect of little brightly coloured fish in the reef just a few metres offshore. After all, for once I’d remembered to bring my snorkel and mask, so it would be a much closer look this time.

The water was much colder for swimming in than I had anticipated, but like always, you quickly become accustomed to it and are able to concentrate on looking for interesting things on the seabed. Unfortunately, the sea was rougher than it had been three years ago and the sand was being lifted from the floor by the waves, so my vision, even with the mask was limited. Further round the corner there is another smaller reef and it proved more interesting. At least there were some fish there. I didn’t want to stay there too long as I was out of visual contact from the shore and I thought Scamp would be worried I’d be swept out to sea or eaten by a giant crab. Actually it was Madeleine who was worried, not Scamp, but no matter, I’d snorkelled and I’d seen some fish. The next time we come back to Tobago – oh, yes, there will be a next time – I’ll bring flippers too. Ungainly on land, but so much more efficient for swimming.

Lunch was Bake and Shark from one of the booths on the beach, but three of us agreed it wasn’t a patch on the offering from Maracas. That and a couple of drinks kept us fed and watered until it was time to go home to Sandy Point. I got one sketch done in the interim and that’s this little doodle here. Not very impressive, but it fits the bill.

When we got home, Scamp and I went for a walk along the beach past the airport runway and passed a big poisonous tree. The sign said BEWARE of touching bark, leaves, fruit or anything to do with the tree as it poisonous and corrosive and can kill. Then at the bottom of the sign there’s a not to say ‘Don’t Panic’! Watched the pelicans fishing for a while. When we got back from the walk, we sat with our feet in a VERY hot tub. Then Scamp went back to the room while I did a sketch that I would fake as yesterday’s for the 28 Drawings Later page on Facebook. Just a slip of the pen really. I meant to write 7-2-2017, honest officer Winking smile

Dinner was a marvellous Stewed Chicken with Plantain and Macaroni Pie. Sorry Sim, yours was good, and it was a close run thing, but your mum’s had the edge this time.

Two rum ‘n’ coke’s while listening to the entertaining Calypso singer in the bar rounded the day off.

Just another Sunday – 05 February 2017

Posted on February 5, 2017February 6, 2017 by Zogman

Scamp went to church with M&J in the morning and I stayed home to clean up the blog and hopefully get some photos, but the rain came on. In fact, the rain came straight down. Ori (the dog) and I looked at one another and the silent message passed between us “I’m not going out in that!” So we waited and eventually the rain abated and became a drizzle, a warm drizzle that dried on you almost immediately. Also, the rain that had fallen had dried up too. Five minutes later the sun came out, but didn’t stay long because more heavy clouds came in. I gave up and sat watching the birds having their early morning bath. We really must get a bird bath for the garden at home.

When the promised rain failed to appear I changed into swimming trunks (they dry quicker than shorts) and went for a walk in the garden. Found an empty shell of a wasp’s nest and marvelled at the construction. Entrance / exit tunnel and all those little identical hexagonal cells, and all made from something as thin as paper. Amazing. I found a shield bug on a leaf looking like it was guarding its eggs. Even saw a little orange dragonfly, but it was far too quick for me. Gardens are wonderful places if you just have time to look.

Scamp returned with M&J bearing Doubles. Doubles are two squares of thin fried dough, wrapping up a paste of chickpeas, onions, pepper and spices. Apparently it used to be considered poor man’s food, but we all agreed it was delicious. By then the sun had come out and it was hot, so it was time to get some serious sketching done. So I put on my sketching hat, some sun cream and some insect repellent and went in search of a suitable subject. I finally settled on some plant pots hiding away at the back of the garden. I had a reasonable rendering of them when Scamp came to tell me it was lunch time. Lunch was a pork chop for the carnivores and salmon for Scamp the pescatarian with cassava root. We’d never had cassava before, but it was really tasty. Scamp described it well, as a nutty potato. We must search it out and try cooking it some time soon. Definitely on our to-do list. With lunch out of the way, I found a new subject. One that could be drawn from the comfort of the veranda. I chose Next Door’s Utility room with its big square plant pots on the roof. Both pots overflowing with roses. It was basically architectural with strong perspective, a happy marriage for me. I even added a wee touch of colour to add a wee bit of brightness. I liked it. Still do.

Remembered to take the photos of the wasp’s nest and got it done along with the flower photos before it got totally dark. Haven’t posted them on Flickr because it went into one of its ‘Bad Panda’ strunts again. Why do these things always happen on weekends? Because Yahoo don’t employ enough people to fix it. They want rid of Flickr which is becoming a money pit for them.

The remainder of the day was spent packing. Off on our travels again tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Goodbye 2016 – 31 December 2016

Posted on December 31, 2016December 31, 2016 by Zogman

Today we didn’t want to be bumbling around the house all day, so made a frail excuse and headed in to Glasgow on the bus. From there we got the subway to the west end, to be more exact Kelvin Hall station and went for lunch at Usha’s where food is served in tapas style. It used to be totally vegetarian, but now it feeds the carnivore too. I’m not going to have you salivating by repeating all our choices, but Scamp’s favourite was Aloo Gobi and mine was Patina Ghosht.

By the time we came out, it was bucketing down. It was teeming. We walked up Byres Road and while Scamp went to Waitrose – our frail reason for coming – I wandered round Waterstones. It was there I found my PoD. Hazy and I have been following Chris Riddell on Facebook for some time and this looked like an original. After getting the shot, I met up with Scamp and we walked across the road to Oran Mor and had a drink and a chance to get warm. Oran Mor is an old church that has been converted into a pub. It’s pretty old-fashioned inside with sanded floor boards and dark furnishings and it suited us perfectly today because it was warm with good beer and wine. Unfortunately, we had to get home today, so we restricted our drinking to one pint of Deuchars for Scamp and a large glass of Shiraz for me 😉

Outside the rain was still falling, so we decided to cut our west end visit short and get the subway home. When we got to the platform and the train arrived, it was absolutely ram-jam-full of Rangers supporters, all of them with very long faces. Today was the annual Old Firm match between bitter rivals Rangers and Celtic, and it didn’t take a genius to work out who had won. It must have been the quietest subway journey I’ve had. Every single one of the supporters was locked into his or her own little world, and it was colder in that world than the weather outside.

Got the bus home and that was the end of the Glasgow trips for 2016.

Now to the questions:

Best thing I’ve done this year?
Without doubt, it must be completing Inktober Not only did it make me sketch, but it made me sketch outside and that was a big challenge for me.

Best ‘Toy off the Rack’.
It must be the Linx 10.1″ 2-in-1 tablet/laptop. Very portable but very powerful too.

Worst thing I’ve done?
Technology again, but it’s installing El Capitan on the Mac. It’s the ‘Windows Vista’ of the Mac OS. The operating system that just didn’t operate. Wish I’d stuck to Mountain Lion.

Challenges for next year

Sketch more.
Paint again.
Gym and Swim at least once a week.
Talk to more people.
Smile more!

Let’s see how it pans out.