Tribute to Flann O'Brien

I went with my friends to see The Third Policeman at the Tron Theatre. Some thirty odd years ago, all four of us pictured here read the novel by Flann O'Brien. It is very funny and very surreal. He discussed atomic theory where everything is made up of atoms which move about. When things come into contact with each other the atoms get all mixed up. Cyclists become more bike than human and bikes become more human than bike. How can you tell that someone is more bike than human - they stand at the bar with their elbow sticking out... You gotta read it as I don't do it justice but I had to explain what we're all doing. We also all cycled to the theatre tonight. It was a fun night. 

I really liked this one. I love how people express themselves with their hands.

It was harder to catch who I was sitting beside!

Here's a macro thrown in for good measure. See if you can guess what it is.

It was good to be going out tonight as I had had yet another job rejection today. I'm told repeatedly that I interview well and am a good candidate but there was just someone who had a little bit of something I hadn't. Back to the drawing board...

It's past my bedtime and I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow to see the lovely man. 

More life drawing

Tuesday night has become a regular life drawing slot for my friend D and I. This was my first drawing of the evening and probably one of the best. I have been trying other mediums and this was drawn using a graphite stick. It was the size of a large crayon and I enjoyed drawing with it. I've not used them before.

This was another with the graphite stick - pity my composition slid off the page!

I use to love drawing on black paper and found a nice sketch pad online so I had a go at drawing with chalk. Here are some of the results. 

What a shame I've neglected doing something that I derive so much pleasure from - it's a decade since I've done any drawing. I particularly enjoy life drawing and the opportunity has not always been available but it's still possible to keep up with drawing other stuff. 

I hope you've enjoyed a little glimpse of tonight's efforts. I certainly enjoyed drawing them. 

Day trip to meet the family

I'm lucky enough to live so close to Arran that a day trip is possible. Since my cousins were on holiday there and live in England, I took the opportunity to visit. Here is a shot of Lochranza Castle. I liked the dramatic effect of the shadows of the clouds. This one is worth looking at bigger. Though some showers were forecast none materialised. It was, for me, a more beautiful day than the one before as it was one for no coat but it was a bit cooler. 

This oyster catcher was in some distress and came close to us. It took some time to realise we were close to its nest and even more time to know which direction to walk in to get away from the nest as we couldn't see it. What brave little creatures to take on three giants to protect an egg. There are some more photos on Flickr including one of it sitting down on what I presume to be its nest.

Here are my lovely cousins.

I hadn't seen them for many years and our contact with each other began recently. One of them I had not seen since childhood. In spite of that there are many similarities in our pasts and our interests. We have had Facebook contact for a while and found ourselves sharing the same daft sense of humour. There would appear to be a particular strand of this among the women in our familiy and those of you who have been following my blog will know that this is a very silly sense of humour! It was a wonderful day and passed all too quickly. 

I'll return later to pictures of places I've not been before. I think rather than consecutive days, I shall just keep that series going till I have ten of them and then I'll come up with something else to keep me posting. I'd better get myself organised as I have an interview today. Hope you're all getting some chance to enjoy the nice weather.

Somewhere I'd never been before #4

Mr Duck and I went to the South Side Festival today in Queen's Park in Glasgow. It was held in a bit of the park I'd never been in before. We met up with our friend P and wandered around taking photos. What we saw of the events were not terribly exciting though it would have been a great event to take children too. The above image is of the a woman doing henna painting - with more time I think I would have enjoyed having this done. 

Some events seemed a bit lame - like this tyre flipping race. I'm of the age that I couldn't help thinking that they were going to hurt their backs!

It was a gloriously sunny day, as you can see here. 

This image is of a part of the facade of the new Victoria Infirmary building that I'd never seen before. I like the colours. 

Last but not least, you can see all three of us here if you look closely!

It's been a lovely day - warm and sunny but it's looking like a very hot and humid night. My window has been open since yesterday and it's 24 degrees C in here at almost 11pm!

Hope you've been having a good weekend. My jobhunt goes on and I learned today that I have an interview on Tuesday. Time for bed soon methinks. Night night all.

Somewhere I'd never been before #3

I've never been up this lane. Actually, I've still never walked through it but this image caught my eye as I passed. I snapped it quickly with all the wrong settings in place and kind of liked the slightly over-exposed look. 

I have a few photos from places I'd never been before today. The one below is of bags hanging up in a shop that sells a lot of retro clothes and accessories. It's called Tatty Bon and you can find out more about it at http://www.tattybon.co.uk/ if you're in Glasgow and might fancy a visit. It was a really nice shop with some amazing stuff. The two women were really nice and if you're looking in, thanks for letting me take photos.

Another place I went to in my wanders with my friend was another retro shop/bookshop on the High Street in Glasgow. There are two near each other and we went into both. Sadly I didn't get the name of the shop. The man in there took his bakelite Viewmaster out of the window so that I could photograph it. 

What a trip back in time that was! These are from the 1950s and we had one identical to this one in our house. My dad was at sea and we also had some relatives in the US. I think ours came from there either via my father or a relative. I loved it. If you don't know what they are, you get these discs for them with a circle of slide type images around them. When you look through the eye-pieces you can see the images in 3D. I hadn't looked through one of these for years - many thanks to the man who brought it out for me.

What a great day it's been. I cycled into town to meet my friend and visited cafes and shops. I'm pleased with myself for getting out on the bike again. According to my cyclethingy on my iPhone, I cycled 5 miles today and climbed 500 feet. Only a week of cycling three or four times a week has really improved my stamina and how far I'm managing to get up the hills without getting off and pushing it. Now for a quiet evening in and a rest. 

Oh, and I thought I'd post a pic of a flower that was on the table in a cafe we visited - just for good measure - especially since it was yet another place I'd never been before.

Somewhere I'd never been before #2

Ok, this is pushing the theme (of a place I've never been) a little but it was a bit of footpath I hadn't walked on - at least I didn't think I had. I think the local kids going by thought I was nuts. I had my bike and hi vis vest along with hi vis cycle clips (really cool look here) and I was pointing a camera at the ground. Then I put my camera down and carefully picked up the little snail and moved it off the path out of the way of the young people heading my way. This does not give you street cred in the East end of Glasgow. In fact, I don't think it gives you street cred anywhere.... 

I've had a nice evening watching a film with a friend and having some food. I cycled to her house and back so I'm quite pleased with myself. I've cycled somewhere every day this week. Will I keep it up if it's raining tomorrow? I wonder. I'm off into town to take some photos and I hope to be on my trusty wheels then...

Life drawing

I'm afraid I never went anywhere I hadn't been before today but I did go to life drawing with my friend. The sketch above was one done during a series of two minute poses and was one of my favourites. I'll give you a few more samples below.

The one below was a very quick study of a pose that I'd done another drawing of which you can see on Flickr if you're so inclined.

I had charcoal with me today which is my medium of choice. I find it far easier to be less fussy than with a pencil.

Until discovering this place where I go for life drawing, it had been a decade since I had done any and I'm loving it. I felt a bit stressed and down earlier but life drawing takes me out of that. It totally absorbs me. 

Bedtime for me now...