Category: Sketching

Started early – Didn’t take my dog – 19 April 2017

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Woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Eventually I gave up and went out for a walk to St Mo’s to see if the deer were awake.  Of course they were and they were way ahead of me on this dull drizzly morning.  Actually it wasn’t a drizzle, it was a smir.  That typically Scottish word that describes what rain is when it isn’t actually raining.  It was as if the rain thought it should be doing its work, but just couldn’t be bothered.  I couldn’t see much worth photographing, so I headed for home and breakfast, then I saw the yellow flowers.  I couldn’t remember their name, but the colours were interesting.  Took a few shots using the spot metering again on  the Nikon.  Almost home, I remembered they were Cowslips.

The plan for today was to buy the materials for the duckboarding we were going to use to replace the old flower box at the back door.  After breakfast, I was just thinking I should get going to B&Q when it appeared the rain had decided to fulfil its task and started to move from smir to drizzle with the possibility of actually raining some time soon.  No point in getting the materials and then having to leave them out in the garden, so I left it until later and went to finish a sketch I’d started down at JIC’s.  Finished the sketch and didn’t like what I saw, but the rain had stopped, so I drove to B&Q and got the wood.  Even sawed it to size and realised I didn’t have nearly enough, so it’s back to B&Q tomorrow for more decking timber.  It’s a work in progress, that’s all.  Not a big deal.  Now, years ago I’d have drawn the whole thing out in AutoCad or Inventor and modelled it and that would have taken a couple of days getting it just right.  Much quicker and easier to cut a mock up and decide if that will do the job.  Maybe I’m learning, but I doubt it.

We both went to salsa tonight and thankfully it was Jamie Gal and not Colin.  The class was interesting and full of humour, as it should be.  Unfortunately there were quite a few missing because of Colin’s Cha-Cha class last week.  Such a pity.

I’ve been trying out Spotify, finding lots of music I’d forgotten about.  It might be a strong contender to replace iTunes, especially if Apple really are phasing out iTunes.  It wouldn’t be a bad thing in my opinion because that bloat monster is becoming worse with every new version.

Tomorrow the mini greenhouse is due to land on our doorstep.  Let’s hope Scamp can put her jigsaw solving skills to the test in building it.

Blog title refers to a book by Kate Atkinson

Around and about – 15 April 2017

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Today we started out being driven to Hitchen for lunch and a walk around the shops.  It seemed like a plan as the sun was out and it was fairly warm.

It seems a pleasant wee town with a busy market in the centre.  Had lunch in a Greek restaurant.  I had lamb casserole as my main after a starter of Borek which is filo pastry filled with Greek feta cheese & spinach.  Afterwards we went for a walk around the main part of the town where a Sikh group were giving out free food and cans of juice to anyone who wanted it, free of charge as part of their Vaisakhi festival.  We had just had lunch, but there were big queues at the stall, happy to make the most of the food on offer.  It appears that there is such a thing as a free lunch!

It being Easter, there were a few others stalls dotted around, a town crier shouting the odds and even a couple of Imperial Stormtroopers searching for those droids, I presume.  We were looking for Just Desserts, a dessert restaurant, but it when we found it, it was closed, not just for Easter, but for good.   It had had its just desserts.  Instead of a dessert, we settled for a posh, artisan coffee shop.  Coffee was lovely, if  a bit sharp and there were loads of cakes on display.  JIC and I had Yoghurt and Cranberry slice.  Best laugh of the day was when I went to the toilet and found the toilet brush was stuck in a Starbucks mug!  Someone with a sense of humour and an opinion of Starbucks much like my own.

Back in the town the Vaisakhi procession was in full swing with drummers and marchers who were preceded by two men spraying water on the road in front of the markers, presumably to ritually clean it for them.  It was all quite a jolly and colourful affair in the sunshine.  However, our parking time was nearly up, so we made our way past and old church back to the car with a few minutes to spare.

Went out later to see the new Mill House and it’s quite a revelation although there is still a fair bit of scaffolding enclosing it.  Sketched it, but I’m not impressed with the sketch.  May redo it later.

Dinner should have been in the Benington Bell which is a traditional British pub serving traditional Trinidad food!  I had Aloo Pies to start with, but everybody else had Salt Fish and Tomato.  Main for me was Lamb Curry for me and for everyone else was Chicken Curry.  I just like to be different.  Unfortuntely, Sim wasn’t feeling too good, so we just ate and left. (Since I’m writing this on Sunday, I can tell you that she was fine after a night’s sleep.) The food was really, and I mean really excellent.  Thank you JIC and Sim for that.

When we got home, Sim went for a snooze while we watched Black Mirror on Netflix.  Interesting programme.  Must search for it when we get back home.

Tomorrow (or to be truthful, today 😉 we’re hoping to visit a garden centre.)

Quart into a pint pot – 12 April 2017

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Trying to cram too much into today.  I got up fairly early and drove to Perth to get some coffee (for JIC) and tea (Scamp was off into town to meet up with Annette).  Got the coffee and tea and also got myself a book.   Another book.  My final purchase was some mounting board to frame up a few of my masterpieces.  Oh, yes, and I finally handed in some books and DVDs to a charity shop.  See Hazy, I’m doing it, almost like the book says a little at a time.  “Start with your sock drawer”.

Perth was beautiful in the morning light.  Cold and windy, but clear blue sky.  It matched my new blue jacket, worn for the first time in public.  Like all things, it’s a compromise.  There are some things I like about it and some I’m not so sure about, but the labels have been cut off and it’s been worn now, so it’s a ‘keeper’.
The book I bought was about sketching, especially portraiture which is one of my big stumbling blocks at the moment.  I’m taking Fred’s advice and trying to build the face from the bone and muscle structure, because that makes sense.  Rules, it’s all about rules.  If you’re good, you can ignore them and just draw.  I need those supporting scaffolding lines.

Drove home, but unfortunately left the brilliant blue skies behind and gathered more cloud and showers as I drove south.  Went to B&Q to look for materials and prices for Scamp’s idea of duckboard to put some of the myriad of plant pots on.  Saw some decking that might provide the surface and some treated square timber that will be the support.  Meant to get some beetroot seeds to plant in the raised bed, oh yes, and some peas too.  See what I mean?  That’s what happens when you try to cram too much in.

Lunch was a grabbed roll ’n’ sausage and a cup of tea, before measuring the space in the back garden that the duckboard would have to go on and found that indeed one length of decking and one length of square support would provide one square plant support 800mm x 800mm.  Perfect.

Did a wee bit of painting and then Scamp sent me a text to say that she was on the way home.  Where did the afternoon go?

Went out to salsa tonight but met Colin in the carpark.  Oh no, It looked like Jamie wasn’t taking the class and it would be another of Colin’s “Slow – Quick – Quick” Salsa/Ballroom classes.  It was worse, it was a Cha-Cha class.  Some of the women weren’t too pleased.  I just grabbed my jacket and left.  The man needs to realise that salsa is totally different from cha-cha.  He’s a good teacher and very inventive, he’s simply on the wrong track these days.  We don’t want ballroom.  That’s not what we signed up for and that’s why the company is called Academia de SALSA.

Beautiful sky on the way home, but I didn’t have a camera, so this morning’s shot of a lane in Perth is my PoD.

The Wee Boy – 2 April 2017

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Another day of wall to wall sunshine, well, it was sunny for most of the day, but there were a few April showers too, but much shorter and less sharp than of late.

Today we had planned to go to the Art Galleries in Kelvinside to hear one of our friends from salsa, singing in her choir.  Scamp was going to hear …. , I was going to sketch.  We walked down through Kelvingrove Park from Kelvinbridge Underground station and it really did feel like spring, with blossom on the trees and families having picnics on the grass.  After a quick coffee in the Galleries cafe, Scamp got settled in the audience and I headed off to find a subject.  I chose a knight’s helmet and got stuck in.  I wasn’t all that impressed with it until a wee boy and his mum came along.  He asked me if I was an artist, but when I said, “No, I just like drawing.”  He didn’t seem disappointed and said “You’re really good”.  I thanked him, but I don’t think he realised how much that meant to me.  Wherever you are, wee boy, you made my day!

After that, I messed up the sketch completely, trying to render it with a marker pen, so went looking for other subjects.  I’ve always liked the rear entrance to the Galleries and preferred it to the entrance from Argyle Street.  Allegedly, the architect had agreed with me and also preferred that entrance.  A man of taste, obviously.  Anyway, I chose the rear entrance stairs as my sketch of the day.  It was a difficult one with angles, arches and lots of Victorian embellishments.  I’m not all that keen on the finished sketch, but I will certainly go back and try it again.

I took some photos of the choir and our friend in particular.  I also enjoyed some of the singing.  I didn’t enjoy the organ recital.  I hate organ music, but Scamp likes it and I was quite happy that she enjoyed it while I sketched today.

So, that was March – 31 March 2017

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Fred requested a coffee meeting today.  Scamp and I had already planned to go out for lunch, but she convinced me to go and meet Fred instead, too readily for my liking.  She then declared that she was going shopping for some clothes and that was why she was foregoing lunch, we could always do lunch tomorrow.

While she was out I layered on some washes on a sketch I’d done last night.  It looked reasonable and I managed, what for me was a decent graduated sky.  It seemed no time until she was back and it was time for me to go meet Fred.

His real reason for meeting was because I had offered him a loan of a book on perspective, his new pet project.  Not easy perspective either, but the awkward Curvilinear Perspective as loved by M. C. Escher, although my own efforts are much more grounded in mundane reality than his were.  We sat and talked a while although he seemed a lot more politically motivated than usual.  He did however give me a quick tutorial on drawing noses. He’s really good at sketching faces, especially good at quick sketches and getting a decent likeness too.  I’ve just finished putting his ideas into practice and they seem to work.

After putting the Tories and Labour firmly in their place and decrying the traitors among the Greens we went our separate ways.  Him to Tesco for shopping, me to Lidl for shopping (and beer).  On the way back, I stopped at The Boathouse at Auchinstarry to go for a walk along the south bank of the canal out in the direction of Falkirk.  The path didn’t go anywhere near Falkirk, but turned off after a hundred yards and headed up towards Croy to an area called Nethercroy, through some old tall trees swaying in a strong wind.  I followed the path until I came to a gate where the notice warned that cattle would be grazing on the hill from the beginning of April.  I didn’t fancy meeting early arrivals and anyway, I wasn’t really dressed for hillwalking, so I turned round and went in search of interesting photos.

I’d already taken some pics as information for preparatory sketches with the aim of developing a larger piece.  It might work, it might not.  Saw some moss growing on some old stonework and got a few shots of that and caught some nice light with the 20mm lens on the M5 too.

When I looked at the photos back home in Lightroom, the moss shots were all disappointing.  Very unsharp and blurry.  The common factor in them all was an aperture of f7.1 which is pretty wide at the long end <Ignore this, everyone, it’s for my own benefit, so I don’t do it again!> I usually set f9 minimum for the 45-200 lens and that would have sharpened up the images so much better than f7.  Moral of the story, check your settings BEFORE taking the shot.  The M5 shots were fine.  Prime 20mm lens at f10 can’t fail!

Came home and found that Scamp had been very busy preparing an Un-Birthday dinner.  Portobello mushrooms with spinach and cheese topped with Parma ham, roasted under the grill.  Gammon steak with potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and roast parsnips.  Same for Scamp, but without the gammon steak (obviously).  Pineapple snow with chilli sauce for pudding!  Absolutely perfect.  Now I know why she was so happy for me to go and meet Fred.

Tomorrow we may go and have the lunch we missed today.

Sun Day Three – 27 March 2017

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Today the sun shone from a big blue sky for the third day in a row, confirming that this is indeed summer.

Scamp had invited an old friend to the Monday Gems practise and I was nominated driver. It was a great run through to Denny. Not the most scenic area, but everywhere is scenic when the sun shines!  After I’d delivered Netta, I went for a drive down to Auchinstarry, not for a walk this time, but for a chance to sketch because I only had an hour to spare. Not the best place for a subject. The buildings were new-builds designed to look old and not really managing it. The longboats don’t interest me all that much, but are a lot better than the faux canal buildings. I finally settled on the boats after a half hearted attempt at the building. It’ll do. It’s late, but it’s completed.

Got back in time to run Netta home. Then it time to make the dinner and drive to salsa. Salsa was a bit boring, going over some old moves, but I did get a chance to help out at the intermediate class before our own.

Weather to be cloudy tomorrow which won’t bother us too much as the car is going in to have its front brakes and trackrod replaced.  More money, but at least it did get through its MOT a few weeks ago, so shouldn’t complain.

Macros – 19 March 2017

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Now, before I get started on macros and stuff, I have to make one thing clear.  My skin is old, I’m comfortable in it, and most of all it is, like me, quite thick.  So the the ‘Tramp’ comment by Scamp yesterday was like water aff a juck’s back.  If you don’t understand that, then sorry, life is too short for me to teach everyone the meaning of everything I say.  I accepted that the ‘Tramp’ comment was made in jest and although it might have appeared that I took offence, that wasn’t the case. Ok.  Can we move on now?

The photos above were the best I got today.  If I’d realised that the weather would stay clear and sunny all day, I might have been encouraged to travel further afield to make more of the conditions, but the weather men and women assured us that it was going to be torrential rain all day.  Give them their due, it did rain heavily during the night, but hardly a drop fell all day and for that I give thanks.  I went for a walk along the Luggie which was a raging brown torrent after the overnight rain.  It was treacherous underfoot.  Very slippy and slimy with mud moving about under my sole pair of boots.  Unfortunately, the old boots had developed a hole in the upper, just where it met (or in this case, didn’t meet) the sole, so after six years of exceptional service they had to go in the bin.  The new ones, just over a year old now are great for waterproofing, but not so good on grip.  My bargain walking trainers are great for grip and waterproofing, but are only trainers.  They don’t give support or keep you ankles dry.  I expect they’ll be fine in  the summer when that day comes.  I liked the detail in the green blobs (moss fruiting bodies) and the desiccated rose hip.  Both were taken with the Sigma 105mm Macro.  Such a good lens.  Never lets you down, always bitingly sharp.  Slow to focus, but I can put up with that.  Doesn’t have anti-shake, but doesn’t seem to need it either.  Comes into its own when focusing closer than about 150mm from the front element.  Truly a gem.

The sketch is an edited view of the bathroom window ledge.  I’ve removed half the junk and obviously a bathroom window wouldn’t have clear glass, but artistic license is a wonderful thing.  It’s not the best sketch I’ve done for my one-a-week, but it’s done and on time (must be done by Sunday).  We were both a bit clumsy to start with, but by the end we were getting much slicker.  Must go and practise our moves for tomorrow’s class.

Dull Day – 16 March 2017

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Macros, that’s what saved the day.  Macros.  Macros, technically, are extreme close-ups where the subject is recorded life size or larger on the film.  At least, that was the definition when everyone used film.  Now that so few photogs use film and the ones that don’t, use a recording element that varies from less than the size of your little finger nail to about 65mm by 45mm, the old definition is worthless.  Let’s just say that it’s an ultra-closeup.  That’s what I went out to photograph today with my trusty D7000 and a Sigma 105mm Macro lens.  The results are above and constitute about 45 minutes of shooting. I was quite pleased with them.

Earlier, Scamp was out singing with Gems and, as predicted yesterday, I slipped the leash for a couple of hours to sketch for a while before going in search of ice cream for pudding tonight.  Other than that, it was the dull day of today’s title.

After dinner (paella, since you’ve asked) I started preparing for tomorrow’s main which is venison casserole with roast root vegetables.  Thank you JIC for giving me the method and timings for that.  They’ve been in for an hour now at gas 5 and are beginning to smell nice.  In fact, I’m just going to check ……… Ok, back now and yes they are done.  Nice and tasty, even the celeriac.  I recommend it to you.  And that’s about all I can say about today.  I should have gone to the gym with a swim afterwards, but I didn’t.  I enjoyed the sketching and so the gym can wait for another day.

I imagine we’ll be busy all day tomorrow preparing the feast and it’s unlikely that the blog will be done on time, so Saturday may be catch-up day DV.

A walk down The Green – 12 March 2017

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We decided, well I suggested, last night that we go for a walk down Glasgow Green today.  It fitted with the new regime of getting up that wee bit earlier, especially if we were to miss the hoards of ‘Billys’ and ‘Dans’ who would be heading for Celtic park for a local derby, AKA a punchup, because that’s what usually happens.  Actually, although Celtic park is close to Glasgow Green, I’d rather drive there than Ibrox which is the Rangers park.  Both Scamp and I know lots of short-cuts we can take to avoid most of the Parkhead traffic, but if Rangers are playing at home, the motorway becomes one big car park with all the maddies desperate to get there before anyone else.  I imagine living near Ibrox must be a nightmare, no matter which team you support.  I can just imagine all those cars parked everywhere.

So we drove through the green and white hoards to The Green and got parked without any problem.  Walked down to the McLennan Arch at the far end, then back along the side of the Clyde past the rowing clubhouse.  The high flats on the far side of the Clyde always impress me.  They seem to catch the light so well, especially in the winter and spring.  I took some pictures of them, but preferred the shot of the washing drying behind the perspex screens.  Lots of rowers out today and an unusually large number of ‘8s’ with the self-important looking coaches cycling along beside them shouting through tannoys.  Stood on the suspension bridge watching the coming and going of the different boats with their varying skill sets.  Then went up the hill to the People’s Palace.

Went for the usual lunch of Roll ’n’ Sausage for me and two rounds of Toast for Scamp.  My sausage was inedible.  That’s the first time that’s happened to me.  I think it must have been left over from New Year’s Day and had been ‘nuked’ in the microwave once a week since then to heat it up and kill of the bacteria.  I left it on the plate.  I value the few teeth I’ve got left and wasn’t going to risk damage to the expensive crowns.  Maybe I should have complained, but, like I said, this is the first time it’s happened, so I’ll cut them some slack.  Did a quick sketch of the inside of the Wintergarden.  It’s still got its emergency sheeting in place to prevent any further risk of falling glass panels.  I expect that sheeting will become a permanent feature, which is a shame, because it does detract from the look of the wrought iron trusses, but safety before beauty, I suppose.  I am quite pleased with the sketch because the perspective is fairly correct, but also I managed to include a couple of people, something I must practise.  Walked round the plants and took a few shots.  Smiled when I saw a wee girl with her wee sister and a point-n-shoot camera. Talking into it as if she was conducting an interview, finishing with “… and that’s it for this visit to Glasgow.  Handing you back to the BBC in London.”  Imagination.  That’s what it’s all about.  The camera wasn’t even switched on.

Came home and dumped my photos, then the sun came out.  It had been raining on and off all morning, but now the clouds had rolled away and the sun was coming out.  Scamp was ‘Tidying Up’ and I didn’t want to get involved in that, so I too the ‘Big Dog’ out to St Mo’s to see if there was anything interesting there.  Some coots building nests, but they were too far away to make anything of.  A cormorant, but it flew away.  No deer to be seen, but load of frogs.  Spent a wee while watching them, watching me.  I took some photos of some of them, but didn’t notice them photographing me.  Maybe they did and have posted them on FrogFlickr.  Maybe they’re writing in their blog about the BigBloke with the BigCamera who they saw today.  Who knows.  We are not alone in this world.  Might go back for some more photos tomorrow.

Dinner tonight should have been Tuna steak, but neither of us were impressed with it.  It just didn’t taste right, so we ditched it.  It looked so nice too.  Last time we’ll go to that fishmonger – it wasn’t even Tesco!

Hoping to go in to Salsa early tomorrow to get some ‘messages’.

Happy Birthday Netta – 4 March 2017

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Today centred around Scamp and her ladies singing at a friend’s birthday party.  A special birthday party, the friend was 90 today.  She used to be a senior member of Gems and that’s why the ladies were singing at her party.  Me?  I was chauffeur and roadie again.  I didn’t really mind, because it gave me a couple of hours free to do as I pleased.

I first set out to do some beer shopping in Lidl and then went looking for a subject.  I settled on the Falkirk Wheel where I knew I could find some longboats tied up.  By the time I got there the best of the day’s light had gone and a cold easterly wind was getting up, but there were plenty of boats to photograph and with the canal as smooth as a millpond, the reflections were good.  They would have been even better if the water hadn’t been so dirty.  Not as dirty as the Falkirk Wheel.  According to the notice near the entrance, its annual maintenance takes place towards the end of December.  I don’t know if they didn’t do it this year or maybe they are still trying to source the cleaning materials, but the wheel is manky.  There’s no other word for it.  The site itself is cordoned off with loads of miles of security fencing and signs saying its a construction site.  That wouldn’t be so bad if there was any evidence of construction taking place, but there was none.  I got there at 4pm and the entire place was closed.  Again, giving the benefit of the doubt, maybe they are still working on the winter timetable.  Being more realistic, maybe Central Region just don’t care, or don’t have the funds to maintain this massive structure.  It certainly is a sad sight just now.

Beer bought, photos taken, I was heading back to the car when I got the call from Scamp to go pick her up.  The birthday girl was looking great and if I hadn’t know her age, I’d never have guessed.

Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day.

One last thing, I finally got round to adding a gallery of my 28 Drawings Later … sketches.  Do go and have a look when you have time.  They are accessed from Galleries (duh!) from the blue bar at the top of the page.  I don’t have a clue where you find them on a phone or a tablet.  Seek and ye shall find!
Remember when you’re viewing that it’s not the skill or the artifice you are admiring, it’s the dedication to put pen, pencil and brush to paper, one day after another for a month.