Christmas night

This is what the pavement looked like when we made our way home after Christmas dinner last night. This was not water but sheet ice covering all pavements due to the rain on top of the snow then freezing. Fortunately I had ordered ice grips for both Mr Duck and I at the beginning of the snowy weather and they had finally arrived. I was very impressed. We were both pretty secure on our pins.

We are now relaxing after having had a very pleasant Christmas with some of my family. I have a bit of a lurgy so I'm feeling a little sorry for myself but am overall content. Hope you had as nice a Christmas as we did.

The thaw begins

The thaw begins, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

Edinburgh was melting today. It was very slidey and all of the buildings were dribbling on passersby. It feels positively balmy compared to the -12 of last night.

Snowy Glasgow...

As you will have seen on the news, much of Scotland came to a halt yesterday with the wintry conditions. I was lucky enough to have nowhere I had to be, so I was able to cower at home for the entire day with the central heating on, and the oven on with the door open. Today there was no more snow but it was bitterly cold and beautifully sunny.

I ventured out today to meet a friend in a local cafe. I wish the snow would go away, especially as I need to get to Edinburgh tomorrow, but it still lifts my spirits being out in it on a sunny day. It was very beautiful and bright and to top it all, I had of a really nice lunch.

I took a couple of photos and may put others on Flickr later. This one just illustrates the state of the road with the hard packed ice. This is a main road in Glasgow. There are very few buses - I never saw any when I was out and there were none running between Glasgow and Edinburgh today. The highest temperature forecast for tomorrow during the day is -6. Keep your fingers crossed for me getting to Edinburgh tomorrow!

Still in the land of the living

I'm blogging from my phone so I'm not sure if this will work ok. Sorry I haven't been visiting my fellow bloggers or posting much here. I've been kept busy with my two jobs - especially since they spread me across three cities. I am not complaining though since I'm lucky enough to love my work.

I have fought all the way through the snow from Glasgow to Edinburgh today but I have no snowy pictures for you. This image is looking at my window through a little stick on optical filter on my phone. I forgot I had those and may playwith them a bit. I'm pining after my SLR but it's just too heavy with everything else I carry.

I hope you're all keeping cosy this weather. Bye for now...

Crossing...

Crossing..., originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

This photo was taken yesterday on Princes Street in Edinburgh. I liked the shadows and the colours. Notice the wonderful textured pavement so that blind and visually impaired people can find the crossing. Hm. Maybe that will make life too easy for them. I know! Let's put a heavy duty traffic cone in front of them for no particularly good reason. I get annoyed at things like this.

I posted a few other street shots on Flickr. I'm tending to blog from my iPad so it's limiting my to one picture at a time unless I fiddle with it. It's not a bad discipline though.

Hope your week is going well!

Autumn in Edinburgh

I'm really enjoying having part of my working week in Edinburgh and, yesterday, to top it all, it was the most beautiful autumn day. The autumn colours were gorgeous and the sky was an amazing clear blue. I love the long shadows too at this time of year. I'm blogging from my iPad so I could either show you the colours of the trees or these great shadows.

Now I'm having a quiet evening with the lovely man. Happy Thursday people!

A flower for you

photo, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

I rarely look up due to limitations in my neck but after work yesterday, I was in Costa's in Waverly station and leaned back. This is the magnificent skylight that was above me. I took a few photographs and may post some of the others to Flickr later.

I had a couple of very full days at work and was tired at the end of the week. I am fortunate to be doing something that I love. Between my two part-time jobs I will have a five day week next week which I'm very pleased about. My social life, photos and drawing are taking a back seat at the moment but life feels good - in spite of having caught a cold.

EDIT: I'm blogging from my iPad and have just spotted that the photo has been cropped and so is not the original composition but I still like it! You can see the original over on Flickr.

Now it is the weekend and the lovely man is here with me which is nice. Hope all is well with you all and I hope to pop in to your blogs this weekend. I've been missing all your photos.

Caledonian Hotel Edinburgh

Caledonian Hotel Edinburgh, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

This was taken last night when the lovely man and I were on our way to friends for a meal. It's an impressive building and I had passed it many times before I noticed all the figures on the front of it. I was enjoying the lights and colours of night-time Edinburgh last night.

We had a really lovely evening with our friends and excellent nosh! I want to try to blog a bit more often and focus on taking a picture a day again. I'm not carrying my SLR as much since I have a lot to carry when I'm going to Edinburgh these days but I have a perfectly good compact for just those occasions.

I hope you're having a nice weekend all.

Made it back to class

20 Minute pose, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

Last night was my first night at life drawing for a few weeks. I've just been busy with learning new things and travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow for work. I was pleased with this drawing as I thought I captured the lighting well in it. There are more drawings on Flickr if you want a look. I was quite pleased with my 5 minute sketches from last night too like the one below.

I'm still enjoying my work and getting more time to spend with the lovely man - not that either of us have much energy on "school nights" - but it is nice to see more of each other. Hope you're all well and I'll try to pop round to your blogs soon.

Quiet night in

Sorry I haven't been blogging or commenting lately but I've been pretty busy getting used to my new jobs. I haven't even been to my life drawing for a few weeks but I am enjoying myself nonetheless. In time I'll return to the life drawing and my photos and keep better touch with you all. In the meantime, here's a drawing I did on my iPad using my finger as the lovely man watched TV. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

What have I been up to?

Sorry for the lack of blogposts and comments but I've been pretty busy lately. What have I been up to? Well, I celebrated the first birthday of my great-niece. She is very big for her age. Here she is with her mum. 

I also went to visit friends and another youngster. This little girl is six months old and a lot of fun.

Life drawing was next. Another fine Tuesday was had.

Then I went to Edinburgh to visit Mr duck and get ready for work. I had my first day of work on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed it and my new colleagues were all very welcoming. I met my niece (not the one pictured above) and her partner after work for a blether before going home to babble in the ear of the lovely man.

I had no work on Friday and so, while sleepyduck was at work, I met friends and had a lovely meal. Thanks guys.

Today I met up with these three to visit the swans and have coffee and cake. It was great.

I also took a photograph of the Shelter shop window. I rather liked this mannequin wearing an octopus on her head.

It's been a fine week or so....

Who knows what's next?

I've been pretty busy with one thing and another lately and so am behind in uploading photos to Flickr. I have a lot from the weekend I'd like to sort through. The one above is from my wanderings a few weeks ago when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in full swing. I really liked it since, though it looks like selective colour, it's not. I also really liked the shadows. It also seemed to epitomise my feelings about my future at the moment. I have now got some part-time work in Edinburgh one or two days a week and will begin next week. I'm looking forward to it. I also have another interview on Friday for similar work which is in a field that I love. This represents movement where there has been none lately. Wish me luck!

You may have noticed missing Tuesday blogs the last couple of weeks. I was unwell and not fit to go to the life drawing classes but I returned last night. 

This was my favourite drawing in spite of some inaccuracy and distortion. Somehow I liked the feel of it. I did feel a little rusty from missing a few weeks. I had every intention to draw at home in the interim but never did.

Hope your week is going well. The weekend is getting closer people!

Sonic Soak at Govanhill Baths

I'm a little late in posting this. This event took place last weekend at Govanhill Baths in Glasgow - a disused swimming pool - two weeks ago. Sadly, I could only be there for the first couple of hours but I had great fun taking photos. It was a two day music festival with all sorts of contraptions, costumes and performances. This was my favourite photo, partly because I loved this woman's costume. 

Here you can see more of the old pool in all it's glory. You can learn a little more about the baths and about the group who organised the event from the links below. 

www.govanhillbaths.com/

www.85a.org.uk

Why are semi-derelict places so interesting? Here are couple of photos from my walkabout.

This place brought back so many memories!

You can see others in the set on Flickr if you want to see more of the place and of the event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/impoftheyard/sets/72157624700694135/with/4934012165/

I have many photographs to sort out - even a few from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which has been over for a week and then some more so I shall be blogging again soon. Sorry for my absence but a lot has been going on the week and I've not been very well. Still coughing but on the mend...

Quiet Night In

Quiet night in

What a week it's been people! I had a birthday, got the lovely man to keep me company for a whole week, got a nasty throat infection and had two interviews - one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. I squeaked all the way through both - one involved a presentation too - and I had practically no voice. I was offered one of the jobs I went for. It's part time and casual work but for a good wage doing something that I really love. I'm very much looking forward to starting it.

Now we are having a relaxing night in. I am still not very well at all but I'm very pleased with myself.

I was also thoroughly spoiled by a certain person on my birthday. I got an iPad for my birthday - what a lucky sod I am!!

This photo was taken with my iphone and using a camera app that links it wirelessly to the iPad so that I can actually compose self portraits. I kind of liked it.

Sent from my iPad

Yep... It was Tuesday last night...

I think this was my favourite drawing from last night. It was an unusual pose and interesting to draw. This one was a 30 minute pose. I was glad the model got up slowly as 30 minutes upside down is a long time!

I like this one too though the photograph is not as sharp as it could be. I don't know what I was doing but I couldn't change it easily as my camera battery is very low and I've misplaced the charger! Time to tidy up methinks.

This last one was a ten minute pose - again an unusual pose so quite interesting to draw.

You may remember last week's chalk pose of the woman hugging her knees. We had a journalist with us last week and here is the article: http://news.scotsman.com/news/A-pie-a-pint-and.6475782.jp There was another article from a media visit the week before in the Sun which you can imagine... http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/3096820/Glasgow-pub-offers-art-classes-with-naked-models.html

I haven't brought myself to reading all of the Sun one but I actually thought their take on it quite funny - a caricature of themselves. 

You can't see me in the Scotsman photo but my little bottle of beer is in evidence on the table on the left!

Next week I will miss life drawing as I will be with my lovely man for a whole week and we will be in Edinburgh on Tuesday evening. Looking forward to a whole week of hanging out!

Friday buskers

This is a lazy blogpost today from my phone. The photo was also taken and processed on the phone. It was a gorgeous sunny day here and I was in town buying birthday pressies which is always a fun activity.

I've been pretty stressed this week but today I got some good news. I have a job interview coming up. That's especially good news since I haven't had one for a while.

Have a great weekend folks.

Sent from my iPhone

Shy Piper

While the Edinburgh urban piper is easy to spot due to its bold and gregarious stance in the centre of the town - often on Princes Street or the High Street, the Glasgow urban piper is a much shyer creature. If you want to spot one of these you have to follow the sound and it may be found piping its tune from behind a bush in an urban garden.... 

This was taken near Charing Cross train station in Glasgow. He was, indeed hard to spot and it took some time to catch sight of him.

I love the light at dusk when it's not quite dark but not really day either. These photos were taken with my LX3 compact. This is Glasgow's Mitchell Library. I have taken many photos of it in passing.

This is The Beresford. It was a hotel at one point I think and now it's luxury self catering apartments for people on holiday. It's a very beautiful building and one of my favourites.

Breath of Fresh Air

That's what life drawing was for me last night. Do you ever have days when you're stressed for no reason? Yesterday was like that for me. Life drawing just took me out of the nasty fretful place. That's why I love it so much - I stop thinking and just look and draw. This top one was my favourite from the night.

I really liked the nice sepia colour that my photos came out. The sun was shining when I took them and pad is a nice yellowy tint. It's a lovely large moleskin notebook. It was a bit of an extravagance but I hope my drawings are doing it justice.

It's funny how when I look at my drawings just when I finish them, I don't always like them. I wasn't all that pleased with this one but I like it a lot more today.

This last one was a ten minute pose where the top two were 20 minutes and the third one here was a half hour pose. I find ten minutes a bit tough going but 20 minutes is fine for most of my drawings.

I hope your week got off to a good start. Mine started badly but is looking up!

Sunday wanderings

It's been a lovely weekend and it's a shame it's over. Today we went wandering with two of our favourite people - one of whom is pictured here - and went to feed the swans and ducks. I took loads of photos which was fun. This one was my favourite photo of the day.

We saw some police horses in Stockbridge. The little one calls them Nee-Naw horses so I will always think of them as that now.

Here's another photo I liked.

Lastly, a small person exploring... There are lots more on Flickr but these are my favourites...

I'm watching Sherlock tonight but it hasn't grabbed me as much as the first episode did. Still, it's refreshing to have something else to watch as the telly has been so dire lately - not a lot competing with it.

I forgot to welcome EzHighway to blogspot. You will find a link to his blog on the right here. He is another who has been suspended by the other place - a growing band of quality photographers. If you're not familiar with his work then you are in for a treat. He takes the most amazing wildlife shots.

Festival Shenanigans

The lovely man and I went for a walkabout in Edinburgh to have a look at what was going on in the street during the Festival. It was, in fact, very difficult to see much except for crowds so we didn't hang about long in the Royal Mile. We must go back on a weekday and see if there's breathing space. I didn't feel I got my most inspired pictures but it was good to be taking them again.

This one was taken in relative peace as we got away from the city centre. The large face is actually a chair. I liked this shot especially for the reflections as well as the strange chair and the man. I used to live a block away from here about a decade ago. 

There are a few more pictures over on Flickr. Here is one of the lovely man during the very serious activity of scoffing a chocolate cake. You can tell by the look in his eye that he means business!

Hope you're having a nice weekend. I am...

Tuesday night

Last night was another nice evening at the life drawing class. It was even nicer since my friend brought a friend of his along. The picture above was my favourite from the night. It was an interesting pose to draw.

I didn't forget the chalk this week but I was not all that pleased with the result. Here it is for what it's worth.

This drawing was of the same pose and I preferred it.

Here are another two poses for good measure - though I wasn't really happy with these ones due to some distortions.

Cafe with friends

Those of you who have followed my photographs for any time at all will have seen these two of my friends very many times. Having more than two of us present affords better opportunities for candid photographs as they interact with each other. These were all taken with my Lumix LX3 - a compact. I thought mono suited them.

I love shots of people expressing themselves with their hands.

Here's another I liked.

Here's one I took at the weekend of the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. It was the first time I had really seen the new extension which you can see to the right in this picture. I was very disappointed. It reminded me of the scaffolding that had surrounded it but kind of covered. It's such a lovely old, stone building that this seems a shame.