new camera

Hiya folks.
I really will get around to looking at my summer pictures and choosing some to post to show you my busy season - we did have a good time with family.

In the meantime, I have bought a new camera - mainly pushed by the fact that my daughter is studying Photography as one of her options and has to have a reasonable sized camera. My little snapper wasn't enough, so I have bought something recommended by Which magazine for the two of us to share. I guess if she decides to carry on with this she will need her own, but for the time being we can only just afford one... LOL
So I am learning how to use it. I was in a hurry with these, because this is another first for me, the first time an orchid has come back into bloom for me. Normally they sit and look like ugly discoloured and flower-free things. So I am trying to get some pictures while the flowers open. I think the pictures are improving, and am a bit sad that the photos of the bud are not so good.

oh dear

I got an emailed comment from John, which made me laugh and reminded me I should post something - and do you know what, I couldn't remember anything about how to log into my blog. I finally recognised the name of my original blog in my Bookmarks and luckily found I was logged in.... so got in here through the tradesman's entrance.... sorry I haven't blogged at all. I just haven't had the inclination. Nothing to say. I feel vaguely sorry about it, because I miss the other bloggers like Rima and Bobby who have given up and am glad that Debi and Bev have started again, but I am finding it hard to think of anything to say. I took pics in the summer and did interesting things, but .... so what? Who didn't have a good summer? I did some more lessons, but that is a while back now - I will try and get inspired, but no promises.  Here is a joke though.... it is  a long joke to make you glad I haven't been blogging... LOL

A Blonde was sent on her way to Heaven. Upon her arrival, a concerned St Peter met her at the Pearly Gates.
 
"I'm sorry," St Peter said; "But Heaven is suffering from an overload of goodly souls and we have been forced to put up an Entrance Exam for new arrivals to ease the burden of Heavenly Arrivals." 
  
"That's cool" said the blonde, "What does the Entrance Exam consist of?" 
  
"Just three questions" said St Peter. 
  
"Which are?' asked the blonde. 
  
"The first," said St Peter, "is, which two days of the week start with the letter 'T' "? 
  
The second is "How many seconds are there in a year?" 
  
The third is "What was the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?" 
  
"Now," said St Peter, "Go away and think about those questions and when I call upon you, I shall expect you to have those answers for me." 
  
So the blonde went away and gave those three questions some considerable thought (I expect you to do the same). 
  
The following morning, St Peter called upon the blonde and asked if she had considered the questions, to which she replied, "I have." 
  
"Well then," said St Peter, "Which two days of the week start with the letter T?" 
  
The blonde said, "Today and Tomorrow." 
  
St Peter pondered this answer for some time, and decided that indeed the answer could be applied to the question. 
  
"Well then, could I have your answer to the second of the three questions?" 
St Peter went on, "how many seconds in a year?" 
  
The Blonde replied, "Twelve!" 
  
"Only twelve?" exclaimed St Peter, "How did you arrive at that figure?" 
  
"Easy," said the blonde, "there's the second of January, the second of February, right through to the second of December, giving a total of twelve seconds." 
  
St Peter looked at the blonde and said, "I need some time to consider your answer before I can give you a decision." And he walked away shaking his head. 
  
A short time later, St Peter returned to the Blonde. "I'll allow the answer to stand, but you need to get the third and final question absolutely correct to be allowed into Heaven. Now, can you tell me the answer to the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?" 
  
The blonde replied: "Of the three questions, I found this the easiest to answer." 
  
"Really!" exclaimed St Peter, "And what is the answer?" 
  
"It's Andy." 
  
"Andy??" 
  
"Yes, Andy," said the blonde. 
  
This totally floored St Peter, and he paced this way and that, deliberating the answer. Finally, he could not stand the suspense any longer, and turning to the blonde, asked "How in God's name did you arrive at THAT answer?" 
  
"Easy" said the blonde, "Andy sat, Andy watched, Andy waited til his billy boiled." 
  
And the blonde entered Heaven... 

drawing lessons

This was my homework, to practise sketching an orange for light and shade and texture.


This was lesson 2. Drawing a non-organic object. I apologise for the quality of the photos. The sketch book doesn't really fit in my scanner, so I had to use the camera and couldn't focus properly.
My homework is to practise. For anyone who doesn't know, my teacher is my daughter. I get one-to-one tuition and to spend extra special quality time with her and she gets to tell me what to do and earns some money. It is serious and I think I will really be able to learn a lot from her. She seems to be an excellent teacher.

South Devon

some more pictures of Dartmoor and South Devon from Haytor.

first drawing lesson

I had my first drawing lesson today.
This is a scan of my first drawing. I am very pleased with it and hope to improve over the summer holiday - my teacher is pleased with me too.... so I am being brave and posting it for you to see.
I will post each time and hope you will see something develop...

chicken shack. i'd rather go blind

sooooo English - I love it

What is normal?

I was looking up some information for a friend of mine, whose child has just been diagnosed with autism and I came across this site.
Depending on your sense of humour, try the test "could I be NT" to see if you are - the answers you can choose from are funny and really enlightening.

Round and Square - early entry

Each week I realise I haven't done an entry for the 2 things challenge when I see Bev's on her non-blog blog. So here is my entry for Sunday, as early as possible, almost. I wanted to take more pictures in Bristol as it is a fascinating place, but ran out of time so here are some rounds and squares.
I am not happy with the picture through the gate, hurry is not a good thing, because I didn't get a clear image of the strange house I was aiming for - but I like the gate shape reflecting the windows behind. And I think it is a picture of an aspect of Bristol, its mixture of old and new and its strange topography. Postscript. Strange, the picture comes out better on blogger... you can see the funny tall thin house with its odd round window when you click to enlarge. Yippee!

busy busy busy

Hello there
I am swamped with work at the moment and it's removed any kind of creative desire or thought, so no blogging.
However, my sister-in-law sent me a link to her brother-in-law's new art website. I like his stuff and I think the web-site is good and uncluttered. Take a look.
It is here

See you around. I haven't taken any pics recently and the roses are just going over, so I am sorry - they have been particularly lovely this spring. Maybe the next flush...

Tom Waits

I have loved Tom Waits for years. If you like this, there is lots of his stuff on You Tube. I love to see him performing - he is so drunk and so surreal and at the same time so artistic and intelligent.

Salvatore Adamo - La nuit -1964

I put him on yesterday pictures. but here is Adamo. Reminds me so much of teenage fumblings at the disco! LOL This one went on being played for ages.

Les Négresses Vertes - Zobi La Mouche (The Fly)

I loved Les Negresses Vertes - they were unusually outrageous for a French band. Can I say that without sounding racist? I have always loved a lot of French music, but not much of the popular stuff has been on the wild side.

SPLASH AND BURN

I'm not so sure if this will work. I did paint this collage/painting at the time I was doing those swimming-pool photoshop things. I wasn't happy with it but decided to be brave and share - so that when I finally really get to grips with paint, you will be able to see that I have made progress. Hur hur. I scanned it in and was really pleased to see all the thick paint and blobs showing... but too huge - around 100MB - I reduced the size of the picture via the scanner and Photoshop but it was still too large to upload to Blogger. I have had to save it as four smaller pieces and then reduce quality to Medium... and not sure how this will work on here. Ah me. So here it is, mixed media, printout of photoshopped photo, collage painted over in acrylics (I think the paints are almost as old as the photograph was! )

New address

After umming and aaring I decided the best thing to do would be to have a new blog - open to the public and to try and remember not to put anything personal on it. After all if John can have all those interesting blogs and keep track of them - I should be able to do that. I will get round to inviting people to the other one just in case I do post photos of my home and family or want to explore the past again. Maybe this can be for 'Art' hur hur - as if... now I have checked it out, I think the header is somewhat enormous.. will have to try and sort it out. sometime....