Category: Sketching

Old Bologna – 25 October 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Today was dull, really dull, so to brighten our day we went out to Italy.

I started the theme early by flying from Italy to Sicily. It was an uneventful flight until I allowed X-Plane to take control of the aircraft. It was supposed to fly it by AI, but I don’t know what the ‘I’ stood for. It certainly wasn’t Intelligence. It decided to take it away from the flight path and turn off the jet engine. After a bit of a struggle I got everything sorted out an performed a text book landing … at the designated airport, not in somebody’s garden as my brother used to do in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Back in the real world I struggled with getting email to work on the Samsung. Eventually I gave up or we wouldn’t have arrived at the restaurant in time for supper, let alone lunch. It must be at least three years since we’ve been in Vecchia Bologna, but the menu was quite familiar, the prices were a bit higher and the food was just as good as before. Next time, and I’m sure there will be a next time, we’ll book in advance to get a window seat.

Drove from there to Hobbycraft at The Fort to get some material to make a bow tie. I saw it earlier in the week and should have got it then, but the ‘fat quarter pack’ I was looking for was still there. Met Nancy when we left and made arrangements for lunch some time soon. Back via Aldi so that Scamp could test it out. That smell was still there, but again, it could have been because of the clientele although it did seem to be coming from the fruit and veg aisle.

Back home it was too dull to get an outside photo, so today’s PoD is of the last five apples from the James Grieve tree. Best year we’ve had so far.

Got a bit pissed off with the poor phone reception near the house. Can’t even get Spotify to play on the dire music system on the Juke. Eventually cooled down and accepted that EE is probably, overall the best of a bad bunch. O2 is better than all of them, but elsewhere its coverage is decidedly patchy. Vodafone is about the same as EE, but they really do make life difficult for you. I spent about an hour filling in the form to unlock my iPhone SE! O2 and EE unlock theirs after 18 months automatically. Three is just a joke – no coverage and a poor record. The moral of the tale is “Live with what you’ve got.”  What I did manage to do with the phone was finally get the email sorted.  It was the simplest thing.  The username was wrong, and that completely borked everything.  That’s not what the Samsung told me was wrong.  It told me that I hadn’t set up the PoP or the IMAP properly.  Misdirection is one of the greatest bugbears of the digital life.

Today’s Inktober topic was A Towel. This is how I spend my Friday nights now. Sitting on the toilet sketching an ink drawing of a pink towel. It’s things like this that give amateur artists a bad name!

Tomorrow we have no firm plans. It all depends on the weather fairies.

I thought I’d have a day in town today – 24 October 2019

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Just window shopping mainly, but with intent.

Drove up to the station to see if there were any spaces. There weren’t, there were cars everywhere. Cars parked up on two wheels on the verges, cars in the flower beds, cars double parked. This is just carnage from Tuesday to Thursday. I think a lot of folk either work from home or take a holiday on Mondays and Fridays, because I can usually get parked without a problem then. However, there is always the worry that when you come back some moron has parked in front of you. Maybe a ‘ten pence coach line’ would remind them that behaviour like that is not acceptable. Sooo I had to drive in to Glasgow.

I was give a list of shower gels to get for Scamp in Molton Brown. Of course they don’t call them ‘shower gels’, they call them Body Wash. Isn’t that what shower gels do, wash your body? Anyway, today was the start of their annual 20% off offer so that’s why I was given the list. With the job done I wandered my way back up Bucky Street to see what goodies Jessops had for me. My attention was a girl interrogating an older couple. Then I felt a hand on my chest. It was attached to a woman about my age and it was there to stop me walking into her! I hate folk that don’t look where they’re going, and here was I doing exactly that thing. I apologised and laughed and thankfully she did too. Never did find out what the girl was doing.

I hadn’t heard that Jessops were on the point of being put into administration – for the second time. It was only when another customer asked one of the assistants if the shop was closing. His reaction gave the lie to his explanation that nothing was certain yet. Another one bites the dust, I think.

I had another look at the Sony RX 100 camera and for once the salesman I was talking to didn’t push me to try the version 5 of the camera, but said the best bargain was the version 3. I’m still not sure if it’s what I’m looking for. It has a silly little pop up viewfinder that I’m sure I’d break within the first month and then regret shelling out my money for it for the rest of the ownership.

Back home via Tesco to get the makings of dinner. Then I just had to visit the new Aldi store. It was a bit smelly and that could have been the veg counter, or just the great unwashed. I’m not sure which.

Back home I was in the middle of making a pot of Scamp’s Just Soup when the lady herself returned from her gig. It seemed to be a resounding success as it always is in Abronhill.

I left her to cool down and talk to her sister on the phone while I went to get today’s PoD. It turned out to be a little bush which grows wild around here with white berries and pink flowers. It’s called a Snowberry Bush. I liked the flower and the composition.

Apart from fish and prawns, I ‘m not a great fan of seafood, especially shellfish. However, that was today’s topic and needs must … Most of the bits and pieces were cobbled together from various photos of shellfish on the Internet. A splash or two of paint and we’re done!

No plans for tomorrow.

Dancing and a screamer – 23 October 2019

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Wednesday is dancing day. Screamers are just nutters with a different name.

My new phone vibrated just after 12 noon to tell me it had changed numbers, back to the one I’ve had for the last eight(?) years. A result. Thank you to the bloke in EE who sorted it. Now I can go ahead and unlock the old phone.

Drove in to Glasgow and started again into the new routine, adding the subtly named Bump and Grind. After that is was a practise session for the Quickstep and the Waltz. I had problems with them both, but the room is simply too small to be able to go over these steps. Add two speaker stacks and a piano and it becomes more challenging. If you add the third complication of the thick couple Gary and Freda who will happily stop anywhere and discuss who was making the mistakes. Actually, like most couples both were at fault, but do they really need to block everyone else’s path while the blame each other? It appears they do.

Coffee afterwards and coming back from the toilet, I noticed an iPhone on the floor behind where a woman was sitting. I tapped her on the shoulder to tell her and she let out this cutting scream. Honest, I just tapped her on the shoulder. I didn’t think I was that scary, although years of S1 pupils at school might disagree. Some folk just want to be the centre of attention. Nutters by any other name.

Back home I went out for a walk with the “Big Dog”. Thinking that as it was really dull, the bigger sensor on the Nikon would handle it better than the Oly. I was wrong. Lots of grain showing on the images. I finally chose a shot of a swan as PoD.

When I got back it was time to get the sketch sorted out. The topic was “A Fried Egg”. Where do these people get their ideas from (it was an old list for EDIM actually)? It should have been fairly easy, but I’m not that good at getting eggs into the frying pan without breaking the yolk, (and that’s what I did with the first one.) Tomorrow I’m expected to continue the food theme!

I packed in early and that’s why this blog post is a catch up. Sorry!

Tomorrow Scamp has a gig and I may go in to Glasgow.

Meeting a man from the money trade – 22 October 2019

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Drove in to Falkirk this morning to find out about finances.

Went to meet Andrew, the man with the eye-catching sox and a finger on the pulse of the stock exchange. He told us that all was good and had figures to prove it. Filled us in on what was happening with investments and stuff worldwide and how the Chinese are trying to pull the wool over some folks eyes. He didn’t actually give us his opinion of Boris.

After that it was a short trip to The Fort to see what was up with the phones debacle. After a quick check on a slow computer the man from EE found the fault. The PAC code hadn’t been entered. It is now, or so he said, and who am I to argue with him. I was merely an interested bystander feeding him the information he asked for. The transaction should be completed just after lunchtime tomorrow.

Lunch for us was a coffee and a cake each in Costa, there being no better coffee shop in The Fort. There is a Starbucks, but they don’t sell coffee, only Starbucks. Not sure what that’s made from. I knew when I was eating the chocolate caramel crispy bar that it wasn’t going to do me or my sugar level any good, but it just tasted lovely at the time. An hour later I didn’t feel so great about it. Too much sugar and fat is not good for you. To work it off a bit I walked the half a mile or so round the walls of The Fort to get the last A4 Seawhite sketch book from Hobby Craft. I’m sure it’s gone up in price since the last time I bought one, midsummer.

Back home and the temperature seemed to be falling. After some bread and ham for ’real’ lunch I decided to take the Oly and the new phone (no nickname has been set for it yet, but it might be Sammy) to find out if it could control the mighty E-M1. I tested it out in St Mo’s on a couple of toadstools, because I know they’re patient and wouldn’t start messing about or running away. I couldn’t find out how to get the WiFi to work on the camera and then the bloody phone wouldn’t allow me to use it as a replacement for the back screen on the camera. I ended up just taking a couple of shots manually, actually having to press the shutter button. How ‘old school’ is that? When I got back to the house I found out what I’d done wrong. Or should that be “all that I’d done wrong”. Lots of mistakes and strangely it worked perfectly in the house. Maybe Sammy, if that’s its name, doesn’t like the cold either. Today the ‘old school’ photo of the toadstools made PoD.

Today’s topic was “A Hand”. My left hand again. The one that suffered in the first sketch of Inktober 2019 where the topic was “Ring”, well it would be, wouldn’t it. I’ve only got one left hand. This time the hand was the subject and the little Lamy pen was just a prop. While I didn’t sketch it with my left hand (obviously!), I did write “Hand” with it. Just for a bit of fun.

Tomorrow I intend to be checking the two phones, just to make sure they do as they’re told this time. Also we’re hoping to squeeze in some dancing.

A rather lazy day – 20 October 2019

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I only completed 4 out of 8 of my active hours, but I did complete my 10,000 steps.

Half my order from Amazon dropped through the letterbox in the morning. After a bit of a struggle and a cautious paring away of part of the SD card and SIM carrier, everything fitted and the storage memory was installed in the new Samsung. Then I spent most of the afternoon trying to find out how to download the default ringtones from the iPhone without any success. Finally gave up and went for a walk.

Walked around St Mo’s for an hour to clear my head. Took a few arty shots, but I liked them. Found the chestnut tree had disgorged it’s autumn load of chessies. You may call them Conkers if you’re English, or even Chestnuts if you’re not from the UK, but to me they will always be chessies, because that’s what we called them when I was wee. Playing chessies at school was a great way to keep warm, and to arrive in the classroom with bloody knuckles. The twelve I brought home were destined to be PoD. Later they will overwinter in the little greenhouse and then hopefully be planted in the spring when the world warms up again.

After much soul searching between us, we finally decided to go dancing tonight and although I was brain-dead as far as moves were concerned and I also had a sore back, I did enjoy the exercise. Walking back up Bucky Street my Fitbit buzzed to tell me the 10,000 had been completed. Always makes you feel good, that.

Got home to find another parcel waiting for me. The last two bits of yesterday’s order. The new phone now has a new jacket to keep it warm in the winter. After a late dinner, we spoke to JIC and it was during the phone call that he said when referring to the ringtones, “Somebody must know how to get them.” That set me thinking. Perhaps I’d been tackling this problem the wrong way. What if somebody else had had the same problem, but they had found the solution. And so it was that some smart American in 2010 had not only found the solution to downloading the standard iPhone ringtones, he or she had also gone and Zipped them into a neat little file and posted it on the Internet. Hooray! It was the work of about ten minutes to unzip them, upload the necessary ones to the new SD card in the phone and install them. Brilliant. An afternoon wasted, but a result!! Thank you JIC for the advice.

Today’s topic for sketching was “A Camera”. I think Scamp laughed out loud when I told her. “Which one will you choose” she asked. There’s a famous photogs saying :

The best camera in the world is the one in your pocket

In my case it’s got to be, either the TZ70 or the iPhone. Both immediately accessible but the TZ70 (Codename Teazer) just wins with its super zoom and the ability to shoot in RAW. That’s the sketch done.

Tomorrow is Gems day. Time for a sharp exit for me.

Some days are good. This one was – 18 October 2019

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Today started with some good news from Hazy. Well done you. I’m glad that it worked out for the best in the end. Saves a lot of hassle and neither of you need or deserve that.

Once Scamp had recovered from that and from the numbness from the jag she got so the dentist could fill her tooth, I cancelled my contract with the Vodies, requested my PAC code and asked for the iPhone to be unlocked. Free at last from Vodafone! Then we drove up to Tesco to see how much it would cost for a new phone. I already knew, but it made sense to ask an expert and to get a chance to look at and touch the new piece of plastic and glass. With that in mind, I could go in to Glasgow and see what the big three would offer.

First stop was going to be O2, but there was a climate protest going on outside the shop and I had to get some photos of that first. The girl in the shop was trying hard to push the Huawei and I didn’t really want that. I’ve already got a Samsung tablet that works really well and I thought I’d like a Samsung phone too. I hate being pushed into something, so I said thanks, but no thanks.

Next stop was EE. Nobody there was interested in speaking to us, so we left and I got today’s PoD which was a wee man playing the fiddle and walking the tightrope at the same time. Very clever. Got a few photos and dropped a quid or so in his hat.

No point in going in to Vodafone, so I dropped in to Carphone Warehouse instead where one bloke explained the difference between the Huawei and the Samsung. He seemed to come down on the side of Samsung, my side. I said I’d think about it and we went to Paesano to think about it.

With a number 1 (no garlic, extra rocket) for Scamp and a number 3 for me, we mulled over the options and I almost decided to go for the Tesco deal, using O2 masts. Walked back down the road and had a coffee in Nero to further digest the pizza and the technology overload. Came out and decided to try Carphone Warehouse. Spoke to a different bloke who explained the options in my price range and I settled on an EE Samsung A40 64GB. It looks like it will do everything I want. Hopefully it will do the business for the 24 months I’m booked for DV. Still need to use my iPhone for a while until the PAC code brings my number in to the new phone, hopefully on Monday.

Today’s Inktober called for “Nuts” I chose the edible variety. Of course I could have opted for the steel, brass or copper, hexagonal or square variety but you can’t eat your subject when you do that. Eating your subject removes the ability to compare the sketch with the posed subject. Something I try to do if at all possible.

No plans for tomorrow. It was to be Embra, but the weather in the east is to be worse than here in the almost west, so don’t know where we’ll go.

Another day not wasted – 17 October 2019

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Today we had decided we’d go out somewhere again. I chose where today.

Out fairly early and I thought I knew how to get to Rouken Glen in Glasgow, but I came off the M77 one slip road too early and ended up having to program the sat nav and drive through a cluster of roads I’d never been on before. Next time I’ll trust the sat nav and not my intuition. Got there after a grand tour of the South Side. Found a place to park, squeezing into a space in a car park that was designed for about 300 cars, with only about 20 actual cars in it.

Scamp wanted some crocus bulbs to plant in the front grass. It’s not a lawn, it’s not a green, it’s front grass. She planted some last year about this time and they looked lovely in little groups in the springtime. The first packet, in fact the only packet I saw on the rack was called Dorothy. Bright yellow crocuses. Very fitting in view of our visit to Ayrshire last week, so we took them. Also got a packet of loose crocus bulbs in what we hope were mixed colours. Scamp also got a pot of mixed, real, heather. They also had imitation heather which looked real, but wasn’t as interesting as the real, real heathers we got. I got a kit for growing chillies. Finally, we got an oval planter which was great for carrying all the other things. We put them in the Juke boot and went for a walk, because, although we had driven through a few rain showers on our way to the South Side of Glasgow, it was fine now and the sun was shining. Walked around the park and admired the trees in leaf. It was one of those trees, a Hornbeam that made PoD. Try as I might, I couldn’t get rid of the flare from the sun, so I just had to accept it and I now think it looks ok. I did manage to use my adaptable lens hood to good effect later in the walk.

Loads of folk had arrived while we were walking and there must have been about 30 cars now in that big car park. It seemed that most of them had disgorged weans and dogs, because they were everywhere. Many of the weans were gathered under big spreading Chestnut trees picking up chessies or conkers if you’re English. Anyway, great fun was being had by all.

We had a quick lunch in the garden centre. Soup was good. Cakes were excellent but coffee was dire. I think the espresso machine was only there for show. I’m certain my coffee came out of a jar, not a bean. There was certainly a degree of sleight of hand in its making.

Drove home and just as we were getting out of the car, the rain appeared and stayed on and off all afternoon. Scamp didn’t even get her heather planted, but I expect she will tomorrow.

Today’s topic from my Inktober list was “Crumpled Paper”. Crumpled paper may sound simple to draw, but it a difficult subject to draw in ink. With pencil you can add a bit of soft shading. That’s not really possible in ink, especially if you’re just using ink. I could have used a water brush to soften the edges of the lines and give a bit of tonality, but I decided not to and to draw with pen only for a change. This is the result. Parts are good, parts are not. That’s just the way it is sometimes.

Scamp had dentist in the morning tomorrow. We may go in to Glasgow later, depending on the weather and the denture situation.

Dancing – 16 October 2019

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Unlike yesterday, we woke to rain.

However, as the morning progressed, so the weather improved and by midday the sun was shining. Time to go out and do some dancing.

No Michael today, so we had Anne Marie. Today we went over Somewhere Over The Rainbow again, and again we wore away some of the rough edges of the routine. I think it’s about as good as it’s going to get. I just hope we can remember:

a. The sequence of the moves.
b. The little tweaks we learned today.

If we can do that, I think we can progress on to the moves we learned today. New moves for an, as yet unnamed, Jive routine. One of the moves we’d done before, but the name evades Scamp and I and the second one we’re calling Knee, 3 kicks, because that’s a basic description of it. That was all Jive. We didn’t have time to do any waltz, but we did cover a new routine we’re learning for Quickstep. As with all quickstep routines, it’s the combination of Slow and Quick that cause me the most of my problems. Scamp seems to have no difficulty with them at all. It ’s just the way her brain works I think. Wired differently from mine.

Back home there was just enough time for a quick walk over to St Mo’s to feed the ducks on the remains of my loaf and some other bread that was as dry as a bone in the kitchen. The ducks didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. I got today’s PoD walking in the woods. I’d have liked to have used the 9mm lens, but I hadn’t brought it. The 14mm did a fairly good job and I was happy with the result.

Today’s sketch task was “A Frog”. I tried a quick sketch in the morning of Kermit who holds some lavender in the back bedroom. It wasn’t very successful and Scamp told me the head was the wrong shape. This confirmed what I already thought. After dinner I had another go and took more time to get the proportions of the poor frog’s head a bit better. Yes, it worked better this time. The only problem is the poor soul looks a bit sad. It’s hard to get Kermit’s quizzical expression just the way he looks on TV. Never mind, it’s a fair likeness. Tomorrow it’s “Crumpled Paper”. Inktober brings loads of that!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to be up and out early because the weather looks better in the morning.

A Day at the Seaside – 15 October 2019

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Up and out we said. Up and out it was today.

Breakfast downstairs today and out for 10.30. Off to the seaside. I chose Troon as our destination. It began to look a bit dicey when we climbed up the M77 to the top of Fenwick Moor and drove into the low lying cloud. Fog lights on and we carried on. Thankfully after about 15 minutes we were back into sunshine with the cloud looking like a grey wall behind us. From there it was sunshine all the way to Troon.

Couldn’t get parked at the first car park, so we carried on to the one we used to go to round by the harbour. The place with the crashy waves. The waves weren’t crashing today, in fact the sea was very calm with only the slightest movement. Arran’s peaks were poking through some low cloud and made a great PoD. Taken by me, chosen from the sixty odd others by Scamp. We walked round the Ballast Bank by the low and now notifiably DANGEROUS path. Sat for a while on one of the seats by the path. Beautiful views over to Horse Island and Ailsa Craig in the distance. Listened to the hundreds of seabirds on the exposed rocks. It could have been summer, sitting in the sun with the high banking sheltering us from the sun.

Eventually we gave up our seat and walked on into town. Nearly at the town Scamp’s cousin appeared with her daughter and the two of them had a long catch up, nearly blocking the path for everyone else. Eventually we split up and went our separate ways. We walked as far as the wind surfers’ car park at the far end of town. There we turned and walked back in to town. I suggested we go to the Venice cafe for lunch. The best part of half an hour for a roll ’n’ sausage and a roll ’n’ scrambled egg. It’s not that they were busy. We were the only ones waiting to be served. No apologies, nothing. Scamp told them in no uncertain manner that we wouldn’t be back. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say that before. That will give you some idea of how angry she was. Now we know why it wasn’t busy.

Walked back to the car and who should we bump into again? Elspeth and her daughter. They had been to Scotts for lunch and that’s where we had been heading before we met them. Don’t see some folk for ages, then you see them twice in the same day.

Drove home through the usual 4pm traffic. No low cloud or fog this time, just loads and loads of cars on a busy road.

Sketch today was “A Dessert”. We had Meringue with Strawberries and Cream for tonight’s dessert and I attempted to draw that, but wasn’t impressed with the attempt, so I drew Strawberries and Cream instead. Three strawberries and a tub of Elmlea. I liked that one!

Maybe we should keep that Juke. Today we started out with 274 miles predicted in the tank. We arrived home with 295 miles predicted in the tank. It seems like the petrol tank is related to the Magic Porridge Pot that never emptied!

Tomorrow it’s dancing in the afternoon, hopefully.

Making the change – 14 October 2019

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Today there will be no lying around. Today I will be active.

That’s what I said anyway. Out fairly early to drop off another sample at the doc’s. Don’t know what they find so fascinating about my pee, but it seems to keep them amused. Back home and today’s work schedule included cleaning the downstairs toilet. It didn’t take long, certainly not nearly as long as the bathroom last week. Probably that’s partly due to the fact that it’s a tiny little space. However I did give it the full “big clean” as one of my cleaners used to call it.

After that it was lunchtime and Scamp suggested I have a couple of slices of my excellent bread with some Wiltshire ham between. What makes the bread extra excellent is that it’s made by Prince Chic (Charles to you, but Chic to his friends). I don’t suppose Chic actually mills the flour himself, but it comes from his estate and it makes very good bread. It was also cheap at Waitrose or I wouldn’t have bought it.

When Gems came in I sat and talked to Margie for a while and showed her my sketches for Inktober. Margie is always very complementary about my work, but she produces some startling paintings herself. Veronica slipped a copy of Wildlife Photographer of the Year onto the table. It seems her son-in-law is a keen wildlife photog. I wouldn’t say that what I take are wildlife photos, more landscapes and macros. I like looking at landscape photos, but find it hard to compose them properly when I’m out and about with a camera. There’s no such problems with macros. With them the big challenges are more technical, like getting the aperture right and trying to get the best use of light. Also there’s the stalking of the tiny wee insects. Great fun, but not really artistic. On first glance at the photos in the book, I’m amazed at the quality and detail. I’ll have a good look before I have to give it back next week.

To continue the ‘active’ theme, I went for a walk along the canal and then on to the railway and that’s where I saw today’s PoD. It’s an old oak tree and I just liked the way the light hit the trunk. It was good to be out in the fresh air under  a blue sky for a change. Took a few more shots, but you’ll have to visit Flickr to see them.   Walking back along the canal, I saw a goosander surface quite close to me with a fish in its beak.  Knew I didn’t have time to grab the camera from my bag and focus, so I just watched it for a while.  It looked quite pleased with it’s early dinner.  Back to M&S for the makings of our own dinner and while I was traipsing around, I got the signal that I’d completed my 10,000 steps. Happy.

Dinner tonight met with a mixed reception. I thought it was great, Scamp was more critical. It was Prawns with Spaghetti and Courgette Spaghetti. Scamp didn’t like the dill that was in it, I didn’t mind. Maybe needs a bit of work.

The topic for today was “A Rowing Boat”. There aren’t many rowing boats lying around waiting to be sketched in the Central Belt of Scotland, so this one came straight out of my head. I quite liked it.

The plan for tomorrow is to get up early and then go to the seaside. Not sure if that will be east or west coast, but the weather looks like it will be fairly dry.