More Art

Help! In next week's class we are going to paint a landscape from a photograph. We can sketch it on A3 paper before the class but we've not to paint it yet. I had to take three photographs into class and the tutor picked one of them for me to paint. The one he picked is a picture of a small bay, shingle beach, drystone wall, a couple of houses and outbuildings and of course hills and sky. Oh and there are a couple of small boats pulled up onto the beach.


I knew the photograph was taken in Shetland a few years ago and I suspected it was Hillswick. I emailed the photo to my mother and she confirmed it is a picture of a house at the end of the beach and it is Hillswick.



I spent ages last night trying to sketch it. I just couldn't get it at all. I managed to sketch it on smaller A4 paper but my attempts to sketch it out on the larger sheet were absymal. I just couldn't get it right.

I suppose that's what the class is for - to learn how to do something!

New Pastime

It's not really a new year resolution but I'm trying to be a bit more active and join 'things'.

I've been going to a dance class for about 18 months and still enjoy it. I take every week as it comes - I don't believe in 'no pain, no gain' - but so far so good.


Towards the end of last year I signed up for a 10 week art class. (Learn to paint with acrylics). I hadn't painted since high school days but I thought I would give it a go. I loved it! I hadn't used acrylics before - we didn't have them in school in the olden days. The 10 weeks passed too quickly and the class finished just before Christmas.


After the new year break I signed up for another 10 week class. I've now been to three classes. I really feel I am learning something and I look forward to going to class. It's only a two hour class and the tutor talks for 20 - 30 mins so we don't get a lot of time to paint but it's amazing what we are all achieving.



That is the beauty of painting. . It's creative; it's subjective - does it really matter what someone else thinks - for me the main thing is the enjoyment of doing it; your focus is on the painting activity and other problems and worries just disappear for a while. You don't have to be a genius to enjoy it.


And you never know.... you could end up with a work of art to hang on the wall.

Went to the Danny Kyle Open Stage at Celtic connections last night. Being the first open stage of this year's festival it featured last year's winners. Really good show. It makes me wish I had stuck in at music lessons when I was younger - but alas I didn't.


I'm really looking forward to seeing a few open stages this year. It's always very enjoyable. If you can't make it in to the Concert Hall you can listen online at http://www.celticmusicradio.net/ between 5 and 7 pm every night.

Return to Normality

Well, it's the last night of the holidays. We are into the new year. Resolutions have been made and some broken already. I really should eat less chocolate. Too many truffles have passed these lips in the past fortnight.

There has been too much sitting about; too much snow, too much ice; too much sleeping.

After all the stress of the last minute Christmas shopping, Christmas Day has been and gone; presents exchanged; two weeks gone in a flash.

It has been so cold I feel I should hibernate. We have had snow and ice for more than two weeks and there's more to come if the weather forecasters are to be believed.

Footpaths and roads are still covered in snow and ungritted. The loch is frozen. The birds flock to our snow covered garden every day in search of food.

Back to work tomorrow.

Back to normality?