David Shepherd eat your heart out.

Wednesday 14th March 2012
Surprise, surprise, the copy of the chicken painting that I was attempting has come out not to bad at all. At least not to bad when compared to my normal standard of drawing.

OK so it may be cheating to just copy somebody else's picture and it does seem to me to be more like technical drawing than art but I am still pleased with myself because I can recognise what it is suppossed to be.

I suppose that copying other people's work or photographs at least gives me a chance to learn different techniques.
For next weeks task though, I have to do a watercolour of the ring of Brodgar. So far I have been able to do some drawings that are vaguely recogniseable but every time I try to use any colour then they resemble a childs daubings and a particularly ham fisted child at that. Still, we shall see.

I went to the singing group tonight but I think that this will be the last time. I was not over enthusiastic last time I went. They seemed to just concentrate on bits of harmony, one group singing a line or two and then another group singing some. I though that I had better give it a second chance though just in case I had hit a bad week. This week was really just more of the same though so I think that I will abandon it. I prefer to sing songs all the way through or at least in decent sized chunks. Basically just have a "hoot and roar" for fun and not so much technical, clever stuff.

On the good news front (and relating to the David Shepherd "the man who loved giants" title),I bought a little N gauge shunting engine off ebay last week and had it delivered directly to a man in Dumfries who installs DCC chips in locomotives (technical stuff about computer controlled train sets). It must have been a hell of a fiddly job. The complete engine is only about 1.5 inches long and the chips are quite big so getting them to fit and soldering them in with all their wires seems a very daunting task.
OK so maybe a 1.5 inch engine is not a giant and my drawing may not be art so the reference to David Shepherd is fanciful but we all need targets.
Maybe it would be easier to just buy an elephant.

I now have my first DCC chipped locomotive and having DCC will make the train set much easier to build an operate when I eventually get round to it as all the electrics are much less complicated and I can run lots of trains at the same time, even on the same track. (I knew that you would be impressed). I am not sure that Pam is totally in favour of the "lots of trains" idea as she knows how much this one cost but I am sure that it is a better way to spend money than making expensive teddy bears.
All I need now is a railway layout to play with it on. At the moment it is sat on some bits of track on a spare bit of chipboard in a spare bedroom just so I can test it. Another thing that Pam is not impressed by and it will have to be put back in the shed soon.

I will put a photo up on the blog next time so that you can all get jealous, (or just think "sad bastard".)

Aurora ????

Friday 9th March 2012
As you will probably have heard, there has been a very large solar storm that is supposed to lead to massive and very dramatic aurora displays. Indeed the aurora is supposed to be so powerful that we may be able to see it to the south of us, not just to the north.
This is of course assuming that the sky is nice and dark and is not covered in clouds.

Last night was a beautiful night, pleasantly warm and fairly calm with a huge, very bright moon. So bright in fact that therewas no chance of seeing any aurora. Tonight however is different. There is no visible moon because of the almost complete cloud cover. No aurora again then.
I will keep looking though just in case there is a break in the clouds. If there is then I will have to get up somewhere a bit higher.

Last Tuesday I went to my drawing class again and I rather foolishly took along a copy of Tim Wooton's painting, thinking that I could suggest that I try and draw the cockerel from the painting.
Sheen, the teacher (Perhaps I should call her the "art mistress" but that seems to have very shady overtones. Come to think of it though, she is not bad to look at.)
Anyway, back to the plot. Sheena decided that instead of just trying to draw the cockerel, I should try and draw a copy of the whole painting.
Rather surprisingly, the drawing is coming along OK, although it is taking a long time. I shall be very pleased with myself and big headed if it ends up anything like decent.
If it is OK when I have finished it, I will put up a photo on the blog so that you can heap praise on me.

Well, I will leave it now and go to have another look at the probably cloudy sky.

The sun is shining and all is well with the world.

Wednesday 29th February 2012
At long last it feels as though spring may not be far away. The rain seems to be much reduced, the wind has dropped, the sun is shining and the days are getting longer.
Even the chickens have started coming back into lay and I have got some eggs from my andalusians into the incubator. No doubt we shall soon be snide out with eggs and either Pam will have to bake a lot more cakes, or I will have to wander round Burray, randomly leaving boxes of eggs on the doorsteps of the unsuspecting.

On the subject of chickens, I don't remember if I said before but Pam commissioned Tim Wooton to do a painting of some of my chickens for my 65th birthday last December. I chose to have some of my andalusians as the subject for the painting and Tim has now finished it.

I am very pleased with it. It is away being framed at the moment but when it returns it will have pride of place in the lounge. (This is Pam's lounge up the other end of the house so I am truly honoured as normally none of my stuff is allowed up there.)

I decided that I have not been doing much since I had the operation on my hand. In my defence, it has been very sensitive to the cold and even in a mitten it has been giving me a bit of gip. Anyway it is getting a bit better now and the weather is a bit warmer so hopefully I should be able to get out and about a bit more.

Since having the Op on my hand I have had to temporarily give up the keyboard lessons that I was having (no great loss to the music world there then) so I decided that I would use the time for other things. Consequently I have enrolled in a painting and drawing class and joined a local singing group/ choir.
The first art class was last night in "the Hope" and after an initial feeling of trepidation after seeing the work of some others in the class, I really enjoyed it. The lady running the class is very good and can help and encourage people with different abilities and requirements.
When I first went into the room where the class is held, I was just going to introduce myself to the tutor when a voice from one side said "hello Dave", I looked over to see Angus from the village. I was round at his house the other week and he showed me some of his drawings which are brilliant, everything from highly detailed drawings of buildings to superb line drawn portraits. Instead of thinking, "Oh it's nice to see a friendly face in the group", my immediate thought was , "Oh shit, if all the others are of a similar standard to Angus, then I am in the wrong place.
The tutor reckons however, that she can teach me to draw reasonably well in the 8 weeks of the course. I personally think that it will be as much as a challenge for her as it is for me.

While at the art group, I overheard one of the ladies talking to Angus. I only caught a bit of the conversation (It not being in my nature to listen into other people's conversations) but she mentioned to Angus that they had another man from Burray coming to the singing group on Wednesday. It transpires that I am the above mysterious "other man from Burray". Angus immediately accused me of stalking him but in my defence, I did not have a clue that he was in either of the groups and If I had known that he was in the art group, I may have got frightened off.

The singing group is on tonight at the Cromarty Hall in "the Hope", so we will wait and see if i am allowed to sing or am told never to darken their class again. I don't think that my voice is too bad but then when you see all those people on X Factor and similar programmes, who obviously think that they can sing, it makes you realise that probably what you hear when you are singing, is not necessarily what others hear.
Anyway, I have to go off and make some chicken runs now for a change or Pam will accuse me of lazing about again.