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Nurse again – 30 October 2016

Posted on October 30, 2016November 2, 2016 by Zogman

Not a bad day, plenty of sunshine and no wind to speak of. Not exactly blistering heat, but good for the time of year.

Scamp took to her bed in the afternoon feeling sick. It was the sensible thing to do and now she’s back downstairs watching another exciting F1 GP, this one from Mexico. Well, actually she’s playing Gummy drop – it’s definitely more exciting than the race. She can’t pin the sickness down to anything she’s eaten, it could just be the tail end of the cold she’s working out of her system.

That gave me the opportunity to practise my nursing skills again, but it was mainly restricted to making her ’white tea’ as Sim’s dad called it when he was here – hot water to you. I did think I could take her pulse or her blood pressure, but decide it was best to leave her be. I could be taking this nursie thing too far.

Later in the afternoon, the patient declared herself feeling better and suggested I go out and get some photos in what was left of the good light. That’s what got me the three photos above. I liked the shot of the beads of water on the spider web and also the spines on the thin branch. Mr Grey is always there, he’s just too far away to get a decent sharp shot. He knows he’s safe there and I presume there is a good food source near that rock.

Today’s Inktober sketch is probably the weakest so far. It started out in Isometric projection (Google it), very unrealistic, but at least the proportions were right. Then I changed it to put in some perspective and that looked a bit better. Shading was rushed and very untidy as a result. Tomorrow is the last one for this year in Inktober, but I’m definitely going to continue as long as my nerve and the pens hold out! I can always buy more pens, of course.

The Ba’s Burst – 29 October 2016

Posted on October 29, 2016October 30, 2016 by Zogman

I heard that today in the congested and now quite tacky shopping centre in Dunfermline. While Scamp was off looking for bargains in Debenhams, I was trying to get my iPhone to burst into life with no success and I overheard a snippet of conversation between two blokes. One asked the other why he was in town today and his pal replied that he’d offered to take his wife for a walk in the country, but ; “If there’s no shops then the ba’s burst.” I liked that way of saying that there was no point in taking the conversation any further.

Previous to this we had walked through Pittencrieff Park which for once was almost empty of people. Loads of squirrels though and a few dogs intent on chasing them, but not too many people. It was very dull and damp and not conducive to a walk in the park, so I don’t really blame the folk for staying in the warm. We went into the warm of the glasshouse and I got a few flower photos. Now flooers used to be a sign of failure to get a decent photo, but these flooers were beautiful living blooms and gave the possibility of creating a shot. I notice a lot of American photogs talk about ‘making’ a photo rather than ‘taking’ a photo. I think it was Ansel Adams who started using that term many years ago and to be honest, how many times do we simply ‘take’ a shot? More often than not we ‘make’ or ‘create’ the shot either by post-processing or by posing the subject the way we want them or it to be seen. These were ‘made’ photos of flowers.

Previous again, we had chosen to bus to Dunfermline today after yesterday’s long drive out west. It’s a relaxing run across country to the middle east and out into Fife and one I don’t mind doing on the bus, especially as this is a real express with very few stops. However, the driver had forgotten to switch off his microphone and we were treated to all the squeaks and rumbles from the springs in his seat, at least I hope it was from his seat. We were also given a chance to hear the bloke behind’s choice of music through his less than effective noise cancelling headphones. Worst two things about Public Transport are the Public and the Transport. I know I’ve said that before, but I thought it sounded so good, it was worth repeating 🙂

Today is day 29 in Inktober and today’s sketch of Pittencrieff House was done in the open air again. The house was built by Sir Alexander Clerk of Pittencrieff as a simple laird’s house with two stories and an attic around 1635.
Drawing the windows was a nightmare as no two windows are the same size and no two windows line up with each other. Only the attic windows share a top line. Not surprising given the age of the building.

I did get the iPhone started again while we were having a cup of tea each before heading for the bus home. After holding down the home and power button for about 10 seconds, it grumbled into life. I still don’t know why it went in the huff. Maybe “the ba’ was burst”.

My web host apologises for the later arrival of this blog. Apparently there were issues with the server last night and the admins were looking into it. It’s a bit like when there’s a hole in the road and the council are looking into it. They’re looking into it, they’re not doing anything about it, just looking. Well, I’m looking too. I’m looking for a new web host.

The Wild West – 28 October 2016

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Zogman

Today we drove in to Glasgow.

We couldn’t get parked and it was such a great day, we drove out of Glasgow again and headed west along the M8. We just kept heading west until we reached Gourock. Along the way I took a wrong turning and that’s how we reached Largs. (Confused yet? You should be)

Largs is the gateway to Millport across the wild ocean, well, across the Clyde estuary, but that’s not where we parked. We parked in Largs and wandered around this metropolis. It didn’t take long. Largs has a great butchers, a great fishmongers and a couple of good restaurants. Not that we’re foodies or anything! It also is the gateway to Millport, but I’ve covered that. We had lunch at the restaurant we went to last time Bean & Leaf. Neither of us could remember what we had last time, but we agreed that it had been excellent. This time Scamp had a Cajun Chicken Burger. Served with hand cut chips. I had a burger with everything. Everything in this context was a Handmade Scotch meat burger with Barwhey’s cheddar, crispy Ayrshire bacon, fried onion, pickled gherkins & salsa. Served with hand cut chips. Now that’s a mouthful and no mistake. The food took a while to come, but I remember being told on one of the Royal Caribbean ships that it takes 20mins to cook a real burger properly. Tell that to Micky D’s.

After lunch Scamp went to investigate a couple of shops and I started my sketch which was to be Nardini’s Cafe. Nardini’s is one of the places you must go to when you’re in Largs. The other is the ferry to Millport, but I think I mentioned that earlier. We didn’t go to Nardini’s this time, but we have been there a few times. The frontage is pure Art Deco. All rectangular columns with rebates in a colour scheme of black on white. Very stylish and any changes that have been made to it over the years have been in that same Art Deco vein. An icon.
I think I did it justice in the sketch and was quite pleased with it. I’m beginning to like drawing with the Derwent Graphik 0.1mm pen. I’m thinking about buying a 0.05mm pen too – SuperFine.

The rest of the day’s pictures were taken around the front at Largs.

The Ice Cream shop sign was a phone-grab.
The car was a superb Lotus, tweaked with a custom curve in Lightroom, then dunked in Photoshop to block out the numberplate.
The Hotel was another grab shot, this time with the camera. This run-down building was on the front, and looked as if it was ready for the bulldozers. The woman hurrying by was a lucky.
The sailingboat and the windmill was another custom curve in Lightroom.

Then we went to pay for our parking. Put in the ticket and Scamp plopped in two 50p coins and a pound coin, but the pound coin didn’t register. Pressed the cancel button and the card came back, but no refund. Foolishly we put the card in again and loaded some more coins in with the same result. A bloke came along while I was phoning the help number and he tried the same thing, but with the same result. Now there were six people waiting for the engineer to come and sort the problem. Luckily he wasn’t long and solved the problem. It looks like a couple of Scamp’s home made 50p coins had jammed in the machine borking it. She really must be more careful with her quality control. Anyway, problem solved and we were on our way.

We headed north and passed through Gourock (see, we did go there) and crossed the Erskine bridge to avoid the inevitable queues on the M8, into the biggest traffic jam I’ve seen in a long time. Drove at an average of 20mph all the way home. All in all, a lovely day. The weather was simply superb. Not wall to wall sunshine, but lots of sun and some blue sky. There was a great sunset forming behind us as we were heading home, but I knew the traffic would only get worse if we lingered to see it and to be honest, we’d had the best of the day. Only one thing was missing. We didn’t go to Millport. Maybe next time.

A better planned Monday – 24 October 2016

Posted on October 24, 2016October 24, 2016 by Zogman

Mondays are busy days, frantic sometimes and the only way to get everything done and keep sane it to plan the day beforehand.

Morning was bright and colourful with the sun shining through the leaves. I imagine leaves get thinner and more translucent in autumn. I’d guess it’s because the sugars and starches are being drawn away from them into the trunk of the tree. Anyway, the colours were really striking this morning. I had my usual coffee while I finished today’s ‘Easy’ Sudoku. For once, it was easy. They’re not always like that.

After lunch, and while Scamp’s ‘Gems’ group were in practising, I went out to get some photos and hopefully a sketch too. I’d planned to go to Auchinstarry and sketch some of the barges in the marina, but instead I went to Colzium park in Kilsyth. Scamp and I used to go there for a walk on Sunday mornings. We haven’t been there for a long time, maybe it’s time we went back again. I didn’t come for the walk this time, just to sketch the house. It’s an old house, dating from the early 19th century. It’s owned by NLC now which means it’s closed most of the time, a great shame as it has great potential.

I settled on a seat to start the sketch and was getting to grips with it and also getting used to sketching in public. Then a wee man who had been sitting admiring the view over Kilsyth and also keeping an eye on me came over and asked if I was ‘Doin’ a picture” I told him I was and he asked if I he could have a look. This is the first time anyone has spoken to me when I was drawing and it was a bit disconcerting, but the sketch wasn’t looking too bad, so I said “Of course you can.” After casting his critical eye over it he asked me if I was going to make it bigger. I suppose he thought this was just a ‘rough sketch’ and here was me thinking it was looking quite good. I told him that this was the finished article. He seemed bemused by this and asked why I was doing it. Now, how do you explain Inktober to a stranger, especially to someone who doesn’t draw? Luckily I didn’t have to explain because he started a new tack. “You’re no’ fae Kilsyth are you?” He said. I told him no, I was from distant Cumbersheugh. He dismissed that great New Town with a “Hmmph” and after a few other bits of small talk he was off home and I’d survived my first unasked for critique.

I liked the slo-mo shot of the burn coming down the wee falls. I also liked the swanhead on the old curling pond. Most of all I was quite happy with my finished sketch of Colzium House. Were will tomorrow’s sketch be from? I don’t know, but tonight before going to Kizomba and Salsa, I had processed the pictures and loaded the successful ones to Flickr. I’d also posted today’s Inktober sketch. All that was left after dancing was to write the blog. That’s almost done and it’s just 11pm. That’s what happens when you plan your day.

Clicking the Coconuts again – 23 October 2016

Posted on October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 by Zogman

The day started with a bright sunny morning and we decided to go out somewhere interesting. No wandering around the shops and no long bus journeys. Somewhere I might get some foties and a sketch done and where Scamp could get tea and a scone.

We settled on either Castle Campbell or Doune Castle. Both would fit the specification, I thought. As driver, I chose Doune. We’d been there a few weeks ago and I like the building.

Unfortunately, the weather was deteriorating the nearer we got to Doune and there was a bit of drizzle in the wind when we got to the castle. However, we were there and it looked like we were sharing the drizzle with the whole of the Forth valley, which meant that Castle Campbell would be suffering in the rain too.

While I set up my sketching position in the corner of the courtyard to draw the entrance at the diagonally opposite corner, Scamp went for a walk through the inside of the castle. My first attempt wasn’t all I’d hoped for, so I changed position and started again and that is what you see for today’s Inktober. Perspective is a bit ropey in places and the proportions aren’t totally correct, but it was much better than the first attempt – you’ll have to take my word for it.

By the time I was finished, Scamp had returned from her investigation of the inner rooms of the castle and it was getting a bit cold. That’s when I realised that Doune Castle didn’t have a tea room. Bummer. Not to worry, we settled on a quick trip to Dobbies at Stirling and coffee and a scone there. As it happened, Dobbies was mobbed. All the Sunday Drivers were there, ’Grey Hairs’ one and all. “Do you want a meringue or a scone, oh look at the size of the sausage rolls, is that lemon drizzle cake, make up your mind, it that a jam doughnut … “ All without taking a breath. Every one of them was the same and every one of them was in the queue in front of me. However, I found the scones, loaded my tray. Got the tea and coffee, paid and then found Scamps table while the Living Dead were still choosing which of the cakes they’d have. They’re probably still there.

I’d grabbed a couple of ‘banker’ shots earlier in the morning. Just photos of Stuckies (Starlings to you) squabbling over the peanuts hanging on the rowan tree outside the kitchen window. I also got some shots of the Wallace Monument from Dobbies by poking the lens of my camera through the chainlink fence. The tower had looked beautiful as we were driving down from Doune, but by the time we got the Dobbies, the light on the building had gone and the outlook was far more gloomy, almost sinister. I still took the shot, thinking it would look good in mono.

That was it for the day. More rain on the way home, so perhaps yesterday’s rain had come down the road from Perth after all. Oh well, the morning had been good.

Tomorrow’s Monday. The busy day. My intention is to be better organized and get things done early. We’ll see.

A day of two halves – 22 October 2016

Posted on October 22, 2016October 22, 2016 by Zogman

Left home on a bright sunny morning heading for Perth to get essential supplies of tea and coffee. Scamp was going to a Christmas musical with her aunt. A Christmas musical in October? Really, that’s just a wee bit ridiculous. Yesterday at the Art Galleries I saw my first Christmas tree this year. Too early, people!

Most of the journey to Perth was fine with great visibility but about ten minutes out of the city the mist came down. After that the heavens opened up to dump gallons of rain on me. Well, it felt like it was all just on me, but I suppose others were getting wet too. It stayed like that for the two hours I stayed in the Fair City. I’d had enough. I had my coffee beans, my tea leaves and a piece of cheese as a bonus. Home was calling. When I drove back down the road, at exactly the same place where the rain had started, the rain almost stopped. The rest of the drive was in the dry and when I got home, I got out of the car into sunshine. I presume the gardens in Perth need the rain.

A roll ’n’ sausage improved my state of mind as it always does. Went for a walk to St Mo’s with the Nikon to get some photos. There wasn’t much to see, but lots of little fungi and those big ones too. The flowers in the wildflower garden are a joy to behold. Thankfully the gardeners haven’t cut them down with their usual unthinking efficiency. At least, not yet.

Dinner tonight, once Scamp arrived back was courtesy of Golden Bowl. Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice times two. Delicious as usual.

I couldn’t settle on a subject for tonight’s Inktober drawing and then I found it, sitting right in front of me. What better subject on a Saturday night than a bottle of beer? Difficult because of the symmetry of the bottle and also because glass is difficult to render in pen, I find. I did use a bit of brushwork to even out the glaze, but other than that it was just pen work. Quite happy with it.

Tomorrow? Who knows. Possibly a walk if the rain stays away in Perth and doesn’t travel down south, but other than that I’m open to suggestions. Hoping to get some sketching done outside.

Write and Post the same day – 20 October 2016

Posted on October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 by Zogman

That is today’s target.

Yesterday, or to be more exact, early this morning I was still writing the blog just before 1am. That’s what happens when you try to cram in 1 hour’s driving 2 hours of Salsa, a pen sketch, photo processing, posting to the now despicable Flickr and blog writing into six hours. It just doesn’t work. I must try to clean up my workflow on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thursdays? They’re not so bad. Still bad, just not so bad as Mon and Wed.

Today we went to the leisure centre in the early afternoon. Me to gym and swim, Scamp to swim. It was very pleasant. Gym wasn’t busy and neither was the pool. That’s because we are in the middle of half-term week, so loads of families are off grabbing some last minute foreign sun. I’m not complaining, just explaining. After a late lunch I went to find some photos and if possible find something to sketch. “Nights are fair drawing in now” as Billy Connolly said and it’s true. The sun is setting sooner these evenings, so although it provided me with some lovely sunset shots, it also cancelled out any opportunity for sketching in the wild.

Earlier in my driving around I spotted some strange looking clouds. I thought it was the end of the world, such strange shapes. It turned out to be Cumulonimbus incus. Google it. It’s a classic anvil shaped thundercloud. Luckily they sidled off westward before they could drop their thunderbolts and the inevitable rain. The sunset really was lovely. I don’t usually shoot sunsets because you get suckered in by the colour contrasts and just shoot wildly, but this time I planned the shot with the old tree and fencepost in the middle distance to hold the viewer’s eye while allowing them to appreciate the colours in the sunset.

I was stuck for an Inktober shot tonight and it defaulted to my glasses on the coffee table. That meant I couldn’t wear them and that’s my excuse for poor proportions. That coffee table is almost forty years old, an antique. It was my second year project at college and it’s still standing.

Well, that’s it. I’m hoping to get to bed the same day I woke up. It may happen.

Fish – 18 October 2016

Posted on October 18, 2016October 20, 2016 by Zogman

This morning we drove to Linlithgow to get some fish. It was either Linlithgow (which has an actual fishmongers) or Morrisons in Falkirk (which has a good fish counter – no, he doesn’t actually count the little fishes, it’s not that sort of counter). We opted for Linlithgow because it’s quite scenic, if a little twee and I might just find something to photograph. It was a bad move.

I’d forgotten that Linlithgow actually welcomes people to park cars, vans and lorries at the side of the narrow road. It also encourages farmers to drive their massive pumped up tractors and slurry tanks at full legal tilt down the congested main street. Today, just to confuse the unwary and annoy me in particular, they also decided to start roadworks at the three way roundabout at the end of the town with three way traffic lights to raise the blood pressure of all and sundry. This meant a crawl behind a snaking caterpillar (is that mixed metaphors?) of cars, vans and buses through this historic town. We did eventually get to the carpark and the fishmongers and get the fish, but I couldn’t be bothered going to get some photos and end up getting mired in more traffic chaos to get back out of the town. I wanted to get the dinner on by about 5pm and it was already after 1pm. I wasn’t sure we’d get out of the congestion by 5. As it happened, the traffic heading west was easy peasy and we scooted home in double quick time.

When I took the shopping bag with the fish out of the boot there was a decidedly fishy smell coming from it, but hey, there WERE fish in the bag, what do you expect. It wasn’t until we were unloading the shopping bag that we noticed a few of the individual bags were leaking fishy juices into the shopper. Oops, straight into the washing machine with that then.

Since we’d made such good time coming home, I thought I’d take myself off for a walk before dinner and I’d drive down to Auchinstarry for a change. Dumped my camera bag in the boot – fishy smell still there, and off I went. Got to Auchinstarry and while retrieving my camera bag I spied the culprit. The lining of my lightweight rainproof jacket was soaked with fishy goodness. That explained the smell. Hmm, straight into the washing machine with that too when I get back.

Today’s photos:

Young deer hiding in dried reeds. It didn’t run because it knew there was a 3m drop and a 5m wide torrent to cross before I’d be anywhere near.
Two young horsewomen riding through the trees. Incongruously, one of them was smoking a fag (cigarette to any American readers who may be conjuring up very strange images 🙂 )
Bramble leaves soaked with sugar (that’s what makes the colour). I promised myself that I wouldn’t photograph leaves this autumn. That didn’t last long.
Abandoned farmhouse on the Campsie Fells. Lovely warm textures from the glancing sunlight attracted me.
Crows and pigeons rising from their late afternoon feed in the corn field. A bit of fakery in this shot to lighten the corn without lightening the trees too much in the background.

Today’s Inktober is an old house near the railway walk. In real life, it’s gloomier than this sketch shows, but it’s a fair representation of this old and rather sinister looking house. It sits behind a wood and from the path you are looking through the trees at it. I only managed a quick, twenty minute max, sketch before the midgies really got to me and I had to move on.

So, back to the house and dump that waterproof jacket in the washing machine. Thankfully it’s made of nylon, so I’m hoping:

It will still be waterproof
The smell won’t he stuck in the fibres

I’ll find out tomorrow when it’s dry again.

Tonight’s dinner was Simple Fish Stew which came from BBC Good Food. Recipe here.

More sunny spells expected tomorrow. Viva the Jet Stream!

PS To those who didn’t get the photos, but presumably have them now, the WiFi died last night and didn’t come on again until this morning. Virgin Media apologises for the lack of connectivity – Aye Right!

Back in harness – 17 October 2016

Posted on October 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by Zogman

Today I returned to the gym for the first time in months. I took it easy, not wanting to undo all the good the physio had done. I did my 10 mins on the recumbent bike and 10 mins on the treadmill, although I did up the incline and the speed to get my heart rate up a bit. I also did one of the arm machines and one of the leg machines, so not too much yet. I even managed a swim as the pool was nearly empty. Unfortunately, Mondays are busy days and I had to get back home to get the dinner made. Then it was off to Kizomba and Salsa.

Kizomba was quite stressful for me as we had to work on foot moves and arm moves too on Saida and Cross Step. If I continue with the class, as seems likely just now, and if I look back at these posts (DV), the Saida and Cross Step will seem very tame, I’m sure, but tonight they were tough. Salsa was frantic as usual and also very enjoyable. Nice to see Catherine Mc back.

Today’s photo was of the peanut thief caught raiding the bird feeder again this morning. The Inktober sketch is of Scamp’s Venetian mask. It was a bit out of my comfort zone because of the amount of curves in it and the fact that there was light and shade to deal with on those curved surfaces. Still, it’s a fair representation of the article. What will tomorrow’s be?

Don’t know what the weather is going to do tomorrow. The majority of the votes are for some sunny periods but with the chance of rain and some strong winds. That about sums up any day in Scotland.

The Weather Fairies Lied – 16 October 2016

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Zogman

They promised us sunshine. I think they must have had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

It started off dull, but we were expecting that. We knew it would brighten up around midday. However, when the wee hand was at 12 and the big hand was also at 12, the weather was much the same. It stayed that way with the occasional bright spell through the afternoon. I risked a half hour walk later in the afternoon and got a fairly decent portrait of a swan and a shot of a ‘Black Panther’ salute from a bush before the rain put an end to play.

Drove in to Glasgow in bright sunshine, but the sun was low and distracting. One of those days where you wish it was dull like in the morning. It might be boring, but at least there’s nothing to blind you. Salsa was very energetic and very, very enjoyable. I think Scamp was wondering what was coming next a few times when I started to string two or even three half moves together in a sequence. It must be really hard being a follower at times.

Tonight’s Inktober sketch is of some Lisianthus flowers in a vase on the table. I keep wanting to call them Lissajous which are a totally different kettle of fish. As far as I can remember, they were produced on an oscilloscope when we were studying AC current at college, back last century some time. Google it, that’s the best idea. Anyway ‘flooers’ as I call them are sometimes a picture of last resort, but these ones were quite a challenge. Pen was a blue Linc Saffron from the Pound Shop. Quite high quality rollerball pen, made in India. It has a tendency to smudge when wet, but dries to a water resisting finish, at least the black does. I’ve been using them for years now. If you see them on sale, buy a pack. A pound well spent. Paper was my favourite Pink Pig sketching book.

Not sure what to expect from the weather tomorrow, but hopefully it will be better than today.