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.