50 Shades of Grey.

No celebration of Black Friday here.  I am not shuffling along with hordes of germ riddled shoppers fighting in lumps in over heated, overcrowded shops.

First I went where there were no crowds, hopefully no germs, to my framers.  

Not only do I get a cup of coffee but words of wisdom.....


Two lighthouses to mount plus the penguin.

 
 Rattray Head Lighthouse at dawn - appropriately from a photo by the Dawn Patroller.

The words of wisdom led to the lighthouse being moved to the right a bit more .  Apparently there is some sort of mathematic equation one applies to draw the viewers eye in.
Well as soon as anyone mentions mathematics my brain shuts down.  So I cannot remember what it is called.  It may well be to do with thirds...... There were a lot of hand waving during this lesson.  So I just said, "Get on with it."

Not a lot of possibilities to apply the mathematical theorem to this one, so it will remain in the middle.

After a visit to my favourite place after the shed.

 Preliminary sketch of..... from the best seat in the cafe at Kinnaird Head.

I returned home through 50 shades of grey.

At 2.15p.m. this was the sky.  

 It has been like this for two days now.  From dawn til dusk.  We still have not had a frost. Hence the multitude of bugs and viruses,  unseasonably warm.  

Good job I have a daylight bulb in the shedudio as otherwise I would not be able to draw or paint.

Fortunately my hairdresser has the solution for 50 shades of grey.

 

 
Cut it off.

 

The Time has Come -

- to admit defeat.

 Border at the side of the house.  Completely out of control, although you cannot see the weeds ha!

That is supposed to be a new woodland.  There are baby trees in there.  And wildflowers.  Really.

I could go on.  

The Dawn Patroller now does the cleaning, cooking, washing, hangs it out, brings it in, cleans out the stove, re-sets it, well just about everything.  He also cuts the grass which he reckons he can still fit in.....But the rest of the gardening has always been my job.  Planting, tweaking, weeding, pruning, tying up, training, moving, ,,,,,,,,

My lung disease progresses so I do less and less that involves physical activity.  Watching my garden get like this is not good.  When you get to the stage that you do a bit of weeding and then have to spend some time getting control of your breathing after one dandelion leaf, well, there's no fun in that is there!  And most definitely no fun in watching the weeds grow and strangle the plants I want to be there.

Now look at this.

The lovely Lydia and Aileen , my saviours.  (The tractor drivers are taking a very long time to drive past now as the gardeners wear short shorts and tight t shirts!  )

Yes, I am now employing a firm of gardeners .  For me it is worth it to see my beloved plants allowed to breathe and show off their beauty once more.

The DP also has more time and less worry to do the stuff he enjoys.

 

Ostensibly taking photos!  

 

Art - Camera and Brush.

Allelulia.  Pleurisy banished.  Thanks to my GP who had prescribed antibiotics for me to have at home ready for it.  PLUS my pulmonary physio reckons the fact that all my efforts (listening to Abba doh) in exercising has increased my oxygen levels, decreased heart rate, and generally fitter all over meant I could fight the .... I will not swear.

So the enforced rest has been not unpleasant.  

Eral the Great Horned Owl number 2.  Her' horns' are flattened behind her head.

 

Bit of fun in betweenst the serious stuff.  A Friesian Coo .  When finished it should look as if it is looking through a window, or over a fence, havent decided yet.

 

And finally Whooper Swans coming in to land.  I have had quite a few goes at this from a photo by the Dawn Patroller.  Perhaps this time I will be happy with the end result!  Not there yet.

More on the arty front.  The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses has the wonderful photographs by Ian Cowe.  His aim in life is to photograph every lighthouse up here.  Only a few left which tend to be inaccessible unless you have either a boat, helicopter or parachute.  How the Stevensons managed to build the damn things is a fascinating story.

Rattray Head Lighthouse above.

Kinnaird below, when the light was lit for the Queens jubilee.
 

Exhibiting at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses for the next two months.

In September it is the North East Open Studios.  My Wednesday morning art group take over.

Better crack on with the paintings.

Aroond and aboot.

The Dawn Patroller went off on one of his jaunts with fellow photographers.  Not too far today.

Rattray Head Lighthouse.
 

 Most of the time it is surrounded by the sea.  In this second picture you can see the tide coming in.

Nearby there are wrecks from long ago.  The plan had been to photograph them for the challenge in the local photographic society on decay.  On the landward side of the lughthouse are sand dunes, which have moved considerably in the strong winds and storms we have had.  So much movement, the wrecks were nowhere to be seen.

Yesterday I met Ian Cowe.  Photographer.    His aim is to photograph all the lighthouses that are/were under the jurisdiction of the Northern Lighthouse Board.

His take on Rattraay.

 Kinnaird Head.

 

Nearby is the Loch of Strathbeg, our local RSPB Bird Reserve.  Which has a visitor.

 The Little Egret is a small, white heron which feeds on small fish and crustaceans. Once a very rare visitor from the Mediterranean, Little Egrets are now a common sight around the coasts of southern England and Wales as they expand their range, possibly due to climate change. It first bred in the UK on Brownsea Island, Dorset, in 1996, and has been moving northwards ever since; it was recorded as breeding in Berkshire for the first time in 2007.  So this one moved Northwards to visit us.

I finished off removing all the Christmas decorations.  

Then carried on, and almost finished my boxing/dancing hares.

 
 I take photographs of work in progress.  As I look at the photograph the glaring mistakes are obvious.  Hopefully tomorrow all will be good!

Hope yours is too.

Sunny Sunday.

My second favourite lighthouse, Rattray.

This photograph and the following were taken by my friend John Watt.  Who is also an artist.  A very good artist.

The reason for the pictures is that, in the above, you can just make out a wee bird on the right.

And the above is the bird, a Desert Wheatear.  As its name indicates there is no way it should be sitting on a snowy beach in the North East of Scotland.  

It came before Christmas blown by the winds.  It really should have gone back to the desert now.  But..... one of our extremely keen bird watchers is feeding it!  I think they are on first name terms now.  Presumably when the sap starts to rise there may be some hormonal tug and off it will go!

Our other migrant visitors are still with us for a few more months.  Pink footed geese descend in their thousands every year.  Their calls, when going off to feed and then returning to the roost at the Loch of Strathbeg bird reserve, are magical.  

In amongst them we get Whooper Swans.

The ones below are mute swans.

And this hazy chap, excitement too much for the DP, is a Bittern.  

Bittern are appearing more and more now the bird reserve has stabilised the reed beds.

Today in Britain it was the Great British Garden Bird Watch.

As always the birds seem to be fully aware of this and the hour set aside to watch and ones count ends up with a pathetic number and variety.  As soon as the hour is up ...... you cant move for 'em.

Exhibiting - a Tutorial.

S - o - m -e of the day WAS spent on chores, cleaning, dusting, wiping, mopping, usual hanging up of clothes cast over the bedroom chair..... just a slut really.

But then twas a rush to get stuff sorted for the exhibition on Monday.  This is not just gathering up ones works of art rubbish .  But some of those works of art have to be photographed, printed off, and stuck onto card, that has been folded, and making labels for the back of cards, and placing envelopes and putting all in a sealed plastic see through effort to present it for sale!  Never count your labour costs, no one would ever be able to afford you.

Then there are the 'Prints'.  Take picture of work of art (rubbish)  print out, frame with mount place on piece of very expensive backing paper , and put into large clear plastic envelope, equally expensive.

Work out cost of backing paper, frame, envelope, take no account of hours involved  - and price.

 Framed original art work.  Ensure pricing takes into account cost of framing. (ignore hours labouring)

Make labels, title, media, price, print off, laminate, cut, not forgetting ones biography.

"I live in a rural part of this North East Corner.  But only minutes away from the sea.

My inspiration comes from what I see around me.

Struggling to portray what I see keeps me quiet – a blessing to many.

Most of my painting are in water colour, but I do love pen an and ink, which does tend to creep in, the purists will say far too much.

I hope you enjoy my pictures.

Just remember there is a lot to be said for Artistic Licence, though to date, I have not got one.

JUST JILL."

Pack into bags, distributing weight so one can carry from car park to exhibition.  Ensure inhaler packed.

Then go down shed/studio/drinking den/opera theatre/bird hide.

And PLAY with Christmas Gifts.  Daughter number 3 gave me a set of inks, all different colours, eight of them.  Had to wait until today for the nibs to arrive for me to play.

Whooooo.  

Guess what I am doing now?  Cheers.