Canal du Midi

We drove up to the Canal du Midi on a couple of occasions, and found it beautiful, very peaceful, with the constant noise of the cicadas in the plane trees drowning out any man-made sound.

You may see us on a boat in a few years - it looked relaxing and fun (even the Spanish kids who had no clue when going through the locks on the Canal de Jonction - and they were at their 6th lock, I think - seemed to be doing OK, with no damage to the boat or themselves). I'd better start watching a few YouTube instruction videos!

3 Tomatoes on a Plate

I did read a couple of books during our holiday, but I also found time for a bit of drawing and painting. Nothing much to write home about, but I like my "3 Tomatoes on a Plate", although they are a little bit paler than I would like.


As always, I brought my favourite holiday watercolours, a small box of Derwent Aquatone watercolour pencils (and a deep scarlet red from Faber Castell). I find they're all I need - the blues and yellows are perfect for holiday colours. And the pure red complements the set perfectly. I also bring a small block of watercolour paper, so I don't have to worry about stretching, a few brushes and a small palette.


I drew the tomatoes free-hand, and I painted them first (I generally paint the background first), adding shading and highlights before I tackled the plate and background. When it came to choosing the background colour, all I had to do was look at the tablecloth on the table - it was such a sunny colour, it was perfect for the job. We ate those lovely tomatoes the next day, so I had to be quick. It was all done in a few hours.

Photos from l'Auberge Côté Jardin

The problems with Eircom Broadband seem to be resolved (I just found out from our neighbours that they lost their Internet access last night too), so I'll post the pictures before it goes down again.

Pool area

Me in the bathroom (notice nice Boden skirt)

Me on the terrace (notice other nice Boden skirt)

Auberge Côté Jardin, Conilhac

As the flights and house rental dates didn't quite match, we spent the last 2 nights of our holiday in a little hotel in Conilhac-Corbières, called "Auberge Côté Jardin". Brendan had found it on the web, and we were not sure what to expect. We had gone for a rekkie a few days before leaving our house in Montséret (without actually going into the hotel). It was on the main road going through Conilhac, a small village just outside Lézignan-Corbières, and we were a bit concerned about the noise, but decided to go ahead with it, as our stay was over the weekend, and there would be no trucks on the roads (thanks to French laws!).


There is nothing much to do in Conilhac, and it's cut in two by the main road, but it's quite pretty once you get away from the D6113. There are a few walks up towards the hills, and a few pretty spots around the town itself, but I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days there (I personally think that Montséret is a lot nicer as there is hardly any traffic through it). It's close enough to the Canal du Midi, where you will find plenty of scenic little towns for lunch or just a stroll, which is what we did (more about that some other time).


We were very pleasantly surprised by the hotel- small (8 rooms), bijou hotel with good staff and delicious food. The whole hotel looks away from the road, towards the vineyards and the hills of the Corbières, and you forget about the road the moment you walk in. Our room was very quiet, had a good bed, nicely-designed bathroom and all the mod-cons. There was a modern pool area within the old walls, and a lovely terrace for pre-dinner drinks. We enjoyed our food both nights - the menu "Saveurs" in particular, and the Maylandie rosé from Ferrals-les-Corbières, a small town nearby. We drove by the Maylandie domain more or less every day - that's why I chose it on the wine list. (Interesting fact from the website: their vines are between 3 and 80 years old!). Service was excellent, very professional and warm at the same time. L'Auberge Côté Jardin is a small family business and it shows. Great attention to detail and I highly recommend the chocolate muffins for breakfast!


PS: I've just found out why 2 men were measuring a wall on the side of the road in Conilhac last weekend, a behaviour that I thought was a bit strange. There is an outside art exhibition starting soon, "L'art dand le ruisseau" taking place on the walls lining the small river going through the town - no water going through at this time of the year, and the river bed is one of these man-made ones you see going through towns prone to flooding. They must have been measuring how much space they had for putting up their paintings!

(PS PS: no pictures for now - I can't get Blogger to bring up the "Add Image" page)

Happy Birthday to Me

It was my birthday earlier this week, and I had a wonderful day, full of surprises, thanks to Brendan who made sure it was all perfect. We had dinner in Bistro One. Food and service were excellent as always. Brendan found his prawn risotto particularly tasty, as was his saddleback stuffed pork (there was a hint of lemon in the stuffing, which gave it a real summery feel). My salad caprese (tomatoes, mozarella and basil) was to die for. It looked just as good as the one on the website. And the Amalfi Lemoncello Creams with raspberry sorbet was the perfect summer dessert. But I couldn't resist the chocolate fondant!

Merrell flip-flops

The best walking shoes!

Peyrepertuse - Brendan's photos

Let's face it, Brendan takes better pictures than me (most of the time!). You see, I like my little one-button-does-everything Sony camera, and he uses a more sophisticated one. And he has a good eye for detail and strong composition.

And Again...

While I'm at it, here is another pictures of Peyrepertuse (I've got a good few to choose from):

Peyrepertuse

Another view of Peyrepertuse:

Peyrepertuse

Last year, we visited the Cathar castle of Quéribus. This year, we went just a little bit further to Peyrepertuse. I was mentally prepared for a scary road, but it wasn't too bad, despite the few loopback bends in the last kilometer or so before we reached the castle. While Quéribus is quite compact, Peyrepertuse rambles on over the top of the mountain, following its contour, up and down. It feels more remote, bleaker, more sinister. Have a look at the 360 view from the top - quite dizzying! Also the pictures from the air- scary - I don't think I'd have the stomach for that, although €58 sounds like very good value for a double paragliding jump with such views! Though it all goes so quickly that you don't really get a chance to see it that well (I'd have my eyes closed probably, so it would make no difference where I am)



The castle embraces the contours of the landscape so closely that you don't see it at all until you get quite near it. When you go through the entrance (€5 per adult), you walk through a wooded area for quite a while, wondering if you took a wrong turn somewhere, or walked through the back of a wardrobe, as you can't see the castle at all. And when you see it, it's only the lower castle. It takes quite a while before you get to the higher one, from where you get a good overview of the site. It was slightly hazy on the day we went, but the view was fantastic, well worth the trip. Be warned, though: you need good legs and steady shoes (or, like me, a pair of Merrell flip flops!)

Holidays

Hello again. There were a few of you who were wondering where I had disappeared to! We were on our holidays - down in the Corbières in the South of France, in exactly the same spot as we were 2 years ago, in the same town, the same house, the same bed even (with a new mattress - a lot firmer than the previous one!) - no link for the bed. We did not take a picture of it!

You'll see in the links above mentions of the hotel Le Relais de Montséret. Tragically, this lovely hotel is no more. There was a fire last winter, and the restaurant burned down, taking the hotel's owner, Thierry, with it - very sad. According to our landlady, the rest of the hotel was completely untouched, but Thierry's apartment was above the restaurant and it must have burned down very quickly. Apparently, the fire was triggered by an electrical fault. It is such a sad story.

Pissenlits

The weather wasn't great this weekend. Non-stop rain and 12 degrees yesterday. Today was dry, but still cold. So, a good weekend for watercolours. I've already finished my "Pissenlits" painting.

I should have gone for stronger value contrast by darkening the background more (more like it is to the right), but it's not bad all the same.

I masked all the white bits first, but found that when I removed the masking fluid, the white wasn't strong enough - there was too much background showing, so I had to go back over with white acrylics (which I applied with a fine brush, having mixed it first with pouring medium to make it easier to apply).

I'm quite happy with my wood. It is not really purple, but the colour matches the photo quite well and it is such an attractive colour.

Here is a redder version of it (colour variation courtesy of Photoshop Elements) which I think works better:

Pissenlit

That's the French word for Dandelion, and, yes, it means "piss in bed".

And I'm not sure if the fluff that blew onto our decking a couple of weeks back was dandelion or not, but it was so pretty that I had to take a dozen pictures of it. And now, it's my next project. I think it's going to be a watercolour, with lots of masking fluid, and I think it's going to have to be larger than my usual, or the masking fluid marks will look too clunky.

In the meantime, here is my first drawing of it. I love my Helix auto eraser. I got it a few years ago, and I should use it more. It makes drawing more like magic!

Collage

I have a collage project in progress, using scanned photographs, acrylics and kitchen paper. I'm not 100% sure where to take it from here - I think it will need a deep frame, without glass, and I'd like to add a few objects to it - a thimble, and some dried camomille flowers.

Here you can see the various papers I've used. Using kitchen roll paper was great fun - paint it with acrylics, then press it down on acrylic paper to apply the pattern. I'm not sure how it will do over time. Hopefully it won't warp or sag.
Here I played around with the various shapes, deciding how to arrange the overall composition.

Maybe I should glue it to a harder background (it's just glued and painted on acrylic canvas-textured paper)? Or I can ask the framer if they can put a rigid backing onto it.

Here is where I am now (the French flag effect was unintentional, by the way!):

Red flowers over cliffs

This is a mixed media project - watercolours and acrylics. 

It started as an experimental watercolour, following guidance from Nita Engle's How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself. An experiment gone wrong, I have to admit, as I didn't use the right kind of paper (I used heavy, highly-absorbent, watercolour paper, where the author recommended illustration board, which lets the paint and water flow more freely) and the right kind of tools (I used recycled hair colour bottles instead of the recommended "oiler boilers" from Cheap Joes)

But there was something nice about the freedom of it all the same, so I decided to build on it - first by creating a shaft of light hitting the water (with a simple eraser - that's in the picture above already), then creating a horizon on the sea (with a ruler and the same eraser), drawing flowers from pictures I found on Flickr, removing the watercolour from those areas, and finally painting these exotic flowers with acrylics (there was too much pigment left in the paper to paint over with watercolours).

For those of you with a sharp eye or a mystical bend, there is what looks like a white candle in the lower center of the picture. That's a pure accident, or the hand of God, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, it's been erased from the final painting!

Step 4

Sorry, no picture today. I forgot to take my camera to class last night. 

We covered quite a lot - Moya helped me fix the banana, softening the sharp line, and Des helped me with the satsuma - he gave the satsuma peel a nice rounded feel, which I tried to reproduce on the smaller part of peel, but not quite as successfully. What I found the hardest was mixing the right colour for the shadow part of the peel and I felt that my brush was too big for the detailed work.

Next week - we'll put highlights on everything, then we'll finish the shadows and background, and we'll be all done!

After that, I think I'll try to do another still life at home, without any help from my 2 teachers!

Bloom

We went to Bloom on Monday (it was a bank holiday). The weather was perfect all through the weekend for a garden show, and there were big crowds throughout the day. We arrived early enough, at 10:30, but it was already busy then. 

It was all well organised - we did

n't encounter any traffic issues (though we didn't like having to pay €5 for parking in a field), there were all sorts of things to look at - cookery demonstrations, food market, hanging baskets, garden furniture and accessories, a walled Victorian garden, a "White House" vegetable garden, a concert area, and plenty of activities for children. I enjoyed looking at all the display gardens, and I got some useful advice on how to keep my basil alive (put it in the window, and water only when the pot feels light, more or less every 3 days - I had been watering it every day and was wondering why it was dying!)

We're looking for a garden table and chairs, and anything we had seen so far in the usual shops was too big, too rickety or too expensive (and in some cases, all three together). So we were hoping that some of the exhibitors would be garden furniture companies, and we did find one company, based in Carlow, that seemed to have what we were looking for. The products look well finished (they are Swedish), and the prices were keener than what we'd seen previously. We'll have to take a trip down to Carlow to investigate further, as they had limited display items at the show.

And we found a new poppy colour - such a delicate pink - I'll have to paint this some time!

Bamboo

We got 3 bamboos and large pots a few weeks ago, to give a bit more privacy on the decking to the side of the house.

We nearly lost one of them, as we hadn't watered them, thinking that the rain we got through May would have been enough to keep them going. Once we realised that they needed a lot more water than we had thought, I've been watering them every evening - one full watering can for the 1st one, which gets a lot of sun, and half a can each for the other 2.

They seem to like their new regime, and they are sprouting lots of new shoots - one of the pots now has 8 new stalks growing out of the ground at an amazing pace - the warm weather of the last few days certainly helped them along the way.

Banana

I'm trying to get as much as possible out of my art classes, and there is no better way than to put what I've learned into practise as soon as possible. Just like when I'm giving training, I tell my customers that they should go through what I've taught them within the next few days, or they'll forget it.

So, I decided to draw a banana, using shading to highlight its planes. I could have added a few other fruit, but it was the banana we had focused on last Wednesday, so I thought it best to stick to it. At first, I thought I would never get the shape right, but I went back over it until I was happy that it looked like a real banana - maybe not exactly the banana I was looking at, but close enough.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Mary loaned me half a dozen books the last time I saw her - I've only just finished the first one, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. It's actually a French book, but I read it in its English translation.

I won't tell you the story, just let you know that I shed a few tears at the end.

A lovely book, well written, and well translated.

Step 3

At the class on Wednesday, we focused on the banana. When I say "we", I really mean Des. He did most of the hard work this week, while I happily watched the banana take shape. He gave it a three-dimensional feel, shaping it carefully, then adding shading to the various planes. Very nice. I went back over it myself, to try and learn something from the experience, but I went a bit heavy on the yellow-green, so there is a bit too much contrast now. He even mixed some of the shadow blue-grey for me. I would have been quite happy to do this myself, but Des got a bit carried away I think. I'll ask him to co-sign the painting when it's finished!

Gripes

I get very frustrated when I see bad driving and bad parking - here is the best one I've seen recently. 

There are playing fields on the side of the road that leads up to Grange Road, near Marley Park - the road that ends in a T junction with Lidl on the right-hand side. I drive up that road on a Tuesday evening to go to yoga. There are always lots of cars parked on the cycle path on the side of the road, forcing traffic over the line. That's bad enough, but last week must have been a particularly busy evening - maybe it was the last night before the little darlings go on their holidays. One car was double parked - yes, double parked so that cars had to drive completely on the wrong side of the road to get by him, and another car was parked at such an angle that she was sticking out onto the road, just before the roundabout. In both cases, the drivers were in their cars - the woman was actually reading her newspaper. She obviously wasn't that interested in Little Johnny's game. 

But the worst bit, wait for it, there is a small car park on the other side of the road, just beyond the roundabout - and it was half empty. These 2 drivers could not be bothered driving another 50 meters to park safely. I should have called the guards in Dundrum, but I know they would not have come out for this. The last time I complained to a guard from Dundrum station about people parking on the footpath, he did absolutely nothing about it.

Waste of Money

It's the biggest recession since I don't know when. Our Health care system is in bits. We still don't have a motorway the whole way from Dublin to Cork or Galway.

But there is money to paint lampposts! Yes, I can confirm that the lampposts in our estate were given a fresh coat of paint last week. Since our estate was recently turned over to the County council, I have to assume that this work was funded by tax payers. 

On the other hand, the three street lights at the top of the estate are still not working - it's a big dark area when you walk into the estate at night. And I know that some of the residents rang the County council months ago to report these - after being bounced around from department to department, they were told that it would get done in due course!

The powers that be clearly know how to prioritise!

Bistro One

With the weekend in Belgium and everything, I forgot to tell you about our evening out with Padraig and Mary a few weeks back. 

We went out to Bistro One, and had a lovely lovely meal. We were welcomed with a glass of pink champagne, followed by foie gras and toast (Mark, Bistro One's owner, ever attentive, made sure I got wheat-free bread for mine!). Everybody was happy with their starters - Mary had the soup, Padraig had an asparagus special (the season for asparagus is so short that I now feel I should have gone for the same myself), Brendan chose the prawn risotto, and I went for the liver and bacon (maybe a bit too wintery for this time of the year, but I do love liver)

Main courses were enjoyed by all - Brendan: fish & chips, Mary: steak, Padraig & myself: smoked fish haddock and mash with a poached egg on top.

And of course we had to have desert - Mary and Brendan chose the chocolate fondant (which is to die for, trust me), Padraig had rice pudding and rhubarb (if I remember correctly) and I went for the pavlova (but avoided the cream).

There was a good atmostphere around the place and we ate our food at a leisurely pace. We then drove down (at or below the speed limit, it will be noted) to the Millhouse for a drink (of orange juice in my case, of course).

Really enjoyed the food and the company. Must do it again before the summer is over.  (By the way - we are enjoying a few days of sunshine - there is a big high pressure over Ireland, and it looks like we will have sunny and warm weather for the bank holiday weekend. Though I have to admit I'm not that gone on sitting out in the sun - I got carried away last weekend, and got my back badly burnt. 5 days later, and it's still red in places. I'll probably start peeling soon. It is a pity to stay indoors when the weather is so glorious, but I find it hard to read in the sun, and I can't paint either. Maybe I should take my pencils out and do a bit of drawing.)

Music for Museums - Dawn Upshaw and The Knights

Well, not as much Dawn Upshaw as advertised, but a very good night of music all the same.

Brendan had found a small article in the Sunday papers a few weeks back, announcing a performance by Dawn Upshaw at the National Gallery, as part of the "Music for Museums" series. I managed to get tickets without difficulty - it seems that the concert was not widely advertised. So, last night, Susanne and I were treated to an evening of music, with Dawn Upshaw and The Knights (a New York ensemble) in the first hour, and The Knights alone for the 2nd half.

There was no mention in the ads I saw that Dawn Upshaw would only be singing for the first half of the programme (6 songs in total!), and it was only when the conductor introduced the last songs before the interval that it became clear she had done her night's work. She actually sat through the 2nd half - I wonder why really, as there seemed to have been no plan for an encore, even! I think it was a bit disingenuous to have used her name to advertise the evening, but, hey, for €60, including program and free drink at the interval, it was pretty good value all the same.

And I was so happy to see and hear her live anyway - she was exactly like I imagined (well, I have seen her on DVD and YouTube after all): warm, smiling, down to earth and with a gorgeous powerful voice, and an obvious love of music. The acoustics were poor for vocal work - the concert was held in the first big room to the left in the National Gallery - a huge rectangular hall with high ceilings and pillars that seemed to reverberate her high notes to infinity, and not carry the low notes very far. We were lucky to get seats close enough to the stage - her low notes barely carried over the sound of the orchestra, and I felt that she belted out "What More Do I Need" more than she should have, just to make sure that people at the back could hear her voice! That said, I really enjoyed her interpretation of two songs by Osvaldo Golijov, one in Yiddish, and one in Galician.

And The Knights were excellent performers - I enjoyed the Philip Glass piece - Company, and the singing by Christina Courtin - a bit folksy, but she had a lovely voice, and the orchestra accompaniment was excellent. I'm not sure about the guy on the steel guitar - maybe the microphone wasn't strong enough - I felt the sound coming out of the guitar wasn't in proportion to his facial expressions!

Step 2

At class last night, I added plenty more layers to the apple (after reducing its size to a more harmonious proportion), going really dark, and I cut the end of the banana (it was too pointy).

And after an hour and a half, all there was time to do was paint the background and shadow really quickly.

Next week, we're tackling the banana, and I hope to add the highlights to the apple too. This is taking longer than I thought, but it's starting to take shape.

Namur

We were in Namur last weekend. The glorious spring weather that's been blessing the region for the last couple of months had decided to take a break while we were there. There were thunderstorms over Charleroi and Brussels when we landed (the plane went around a long circuitous route to avoid the thunder clouds as we were making our approach - at some point we even flew over the Atomium - nowhere near Charleroi!), followed by major flooding South of Brussels. The temperatures were a cool 15 or 16, nothing like the 20s I had been hoping for (and that are making their way back to the country).

There were some heavy showers while we were there, but we didn't do too badly. We managed to fit in a few walks around the place, including one to the Military cemetery in Champion and a stroll up to the Citadelle in Namur, where you can catch beautiful views of the town. Next time, I must go up to the open-air theatre and maybe go on a tour of the tunnels. There are a lot of lovely spots there and I'm looking forward to exploring them some more.

We stopped at the Musée archéologique for a quick look at the relief model of the town (made between 1747 and 1751 for Louis XIV). It's got amazing detail in it. It would be great if there was a camera over it and if you could zoom in on specific streets or buildings. One thing I discovered there is that there was a moat at the back of the town, where the railway line now lies. If you're interested in these relief models, you can find more at the Musée des plans-reliefs.

Art Class

After my failed attempt at painting my crystal vase with blue pebbles at the first class I went to, the 2 teachers and I decided we would be better off moving to something easier for me, so I could learn the techniques on subjects that were within my reach.

So, Moya brought an apple, banana and satsuma from her kitchen, and got me started. Des decided I should just turn over the illustration board I had used for the crystal vase. Moya did the broad outlines of the drawing for me, and told me to start painting the general colours. I did a bit of yellow for the banana, but it was too bright for my liking and I moved on to the satsuma, and got the colour spot on. I felt encouraged by this and moved back to the banana, then the apple. It's only a first layer, but I was much happier with the result. I felt I was getting the colours I wanted, and the 2 hours went really quickly

The only thing that's not right is the size of the apple. I think it's way too big. So I've manipulated it in Photoshop Elements and I'll bring a printout with me to the next class. I hope that Moya and Des agree with reducing the size of the apple, rather than making everything else bigger, because that would be a lot more work. I also made the banana thicker. I thought it looked too skinny.

What I'm interested in learning now is how to add to the original layer to bring the painting to life.

Brittas Bay

We took a drive down to Brittas Bay last Bank Holiday Monday. It was a grey day, but we got no rain for our walk. It was a long time since either of us had been to Brittas, which is a gorgeous beach on a good day, but was just dull and windy last week. We enjoyed the brisk walk all the same. There really isn't much to talk about - it's a big long beach behind the dunes. The waves were not dramatic.

There is no parking on the road - it's too narrow. And the council have a pay car park - it's €2 to get in, I assume for as long as you want, as you pay on the way in. We were more or less the only ones in the car park - there were a few cars parked just outside - typically Irish! And I'm glad the car wasn't vandalised or broken into while we were walking. It's that kind of a place when it's not busy!

The website above could be good if the pages were updated. I found a lot of dead links, and, despite my extreme patience, the pictures never loaded! You'll find a few more pictures on Wikipedia.

Ellipses - still lives

After my disastrous drawing experience last week, I decided to practise drawing ellipses. Well, I did put my good intentions into deeds last weekend. But I haven't touched pencils since. I should really have a sketchpad with me all the time, and do little doodles whenever I want a break from work (rather than playing solitaire on my computer!)

I'm quite happy with my drawing of my teapot and favourite mug. All done without tracing. I just need a bit of patience, and I actually enjoy it!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Not me. I'm the opposite of a shopaholic, I'd say. I can go for weeks without entering a shop. I do most of my shopping online (http://www.boden.co.uk/ has everything I need), and I take more pleasure out of looking at a catalogue (see Boden above!) or compiling a wishlist on Amazon than from browsing in a real shop.

But the heroin of Confessions of a Shopaholic is in trouble. She's maxed out her credit card, she's ignoring letters from the bank, her life is running out of control, and she spends 3 quarters of the book burying her head in the sand. And then, all of a sudden, when she is hiding from her bank manager, telling her parents that he is a stalker, things start getting better. All because, despite being completely ditsy, she is a very bright girl after all.

If it sounds just like the plot of The Undomestic Goddess,... it's because it is. But a very enjoyable read all the same. I'll probably enjoy the movie too.

Hey - forgot to mention the most important fact - I didn't read this book on paper, but on my iPod Touch. Very tiring on the eyes if I tried to read more than 4 or 5 pages at a time, but it was so handy to be able to whip up my iPod Touch at any time, and read a few pages while waiting for Brendan in the car, or while watching the news on the telly. I have downloaded the full works of William Shakespeare (for free), so I'll never be stuck for something to read!

Bob Dylan

Brendan and I went to the Bob Dylan concert at the O2 on Wednesday night. Brendan is a fan. I'm not, but I did enjoy the concert. It was definitely better than the last time we saw Dylan in the Point Theatre a few years ago, when he sat at his piano with his head down the whole time. The O2 is the same location as the Point Theatre by the way, except it's all been rebuilt and made bigger.


This time, he had a standy-upy harmonium-type keyboard, and he was standing the whole time, moving with the music. And he even played the guitar on a song or two, and plenty of harmonica, which the audience loved, of course.


And he did turn towards the audience on a couple of occasions and acnowledged us with a kind of wave.


The music was good, very bluesy. According to Brendan, a lot of the songs were nearly unrecognisable. I did recognise 3, so I'm doing pretty good there - one was Like a Rolling Stone, and the other 2 were from a recent album (I think it's Modern Times), which Brendan plays at home quite a bit (and it's very listenable too - I never thought I'd hear myself say that!).

I was concerned that my cough would disturb the mood - but of course, I had no idea how large the O2 is. It's like a big American stadium (or what I imagine a big American stadium to be). And the sound was so loud that a thousand coughs would go unheard. The O2 is really big, but we managed to get in and out with no major crush. All well organised, with plenty of ushers at all major junctions. And also the Carlsberg Backpack Girls. I've never seen this before. Young women (mostly Eastern Europeans) carrying big backpacks with Carlsberg bottles, going up and down the aisles and the steps, selling beer to the punters, at the cost of ... €7 per bottle. Not cheap. But it beats having to go down to the bar, I guess. Not that we availed of the service anyway, because if you drink, then you need to go to the loo, and when you're sitting in the middle of a row, a lot of people have to get up to let you out. I would not like to have a heart attack there!

Both of us still have colds - Brendan wasn't in great shape, but we managed to survive the night. We got the Luas into town, then the shuttle bus from Stephen's Green. The shuttle bus was very good, very efficient - got us there quickly, and got us back even quicker. It beats walking the whole way down the quays.

So overall, a good night out, though we're still paying the price, with lingering colds and chesty coughs.

By the way, I've read somewhere that Dylan has beaten Neil Diamond's record as the oldest artist touring (by a few months). They are 67 or 68. I don't know how they can stick touring for so long (check out all the dates on Dylan's website).

By the way, did you know that Bob Dylan also draws and paints? Check out www.bobdylanart.com. I might not be a big fan of his music but there is no denying that the man's got talent!

Emer Martin

A good few weeks back, Brendan saw a painting he liked in a newspaper. It was only a tiny photograph, but it looked like a spiral of colour. I scanned it and printed it bigger and it looked really nice. Brendan said he wanted me to do a painting in a similar style, for somewhere over our stairs. I agreed it was beautiful, but I wasn't sure how to tackle it.


And then, last Thursday, I was at Pink Beauty in Dundrum, and picked up a magazine, and what did I find in it? There it was, with vibrant colours. So beautiful. I just had time to write down the details of the artist's website before I was called for my treatment. Her name is Emer Martin, and I love not only the spiral painting (it's called "She Followed Her Love Into The Underworld"), but also her series of little faces. Check them out- they appear so human (and a bit weird too) the way they're looking straight at you.

I don't want to do a straight copy of it, even if it's just for the top of our stairs and nobody will ever see it. I read in the magazine that it was to do with a narrative, so I want to paint something in a similar style that will be our narrative. Mmm. I'll need to ponder that for a while, I think.

Art Class

On Wednesday last, I took a big step, and joined an art class. And boy, am I at the deep end!

As you know, I've been taking shortcuts, the main one being taking a photograph of my subject and tracing the photograph as the basis for my painting. I was told by one of the teachers that I would learn a lot more by not tracing. I did learn how to draw a good ellipse all right, but, after a 2-hour class, I felt the teachers had spent a lot of time correcting my drawing, and there was not much left of my own tentative efforts. It's just as well, as it wasn't good, and I think they were anxious to get me started on the painting rather than staying stuck at the drawing phase.

The class focuses on acrylics, and I am keen to learn how to apply acrylics well. So far, all I've done is apply the first base layer on illustration board (rather than canvas, which apparently is harder to work with. I think illustration board is cheaper too, so a good way to get started without spending huge amounts of money), and it really doesn't look like much.

The other students in the class all have been working with these teachers for a good while, and all already had projects in progress, although I thought this was the start of a class cycle. All of them seemed to be working from photographs and are doing a variety of things, not just still lives, and they got stuck straight in, while I needed a lot of attention from the teachers. So I felt very much like the new kid on the block. And very inadequate! Maybe I should have picked a simple landscape rather than my little crystal vase with blue glass pebbles and pink ribbons.

Anyways, for what it's worth, here are 2 versions of my efforts - the first one is as is; the second is after applying a bit of Adobe Photoshop Elements to correct what looks to me like completely wrong perspective! A world apart from the one that's proudly hanging in our bedroom. That said, even that one didn't look so good at the start, so I have no doubt that this ugly little duckling will turn into a beautiful swan. Looking at the other students' paintings, there is hope for me yet. Or these ladies are all extremely talented!

Heroes

We started watching Heroes last night. I think we saw a bit of an episode a while back and we thought we might like it. So we've started. We watched the 73-minute 1st episode and episode 2. It has some things that we'll probably find a bit irritating, like the "handsome Indian professor", the"intelligent rich black woman" and the "cute kid". But there is enough humour, with the Hiro character, to keep me hooked.

Scary - there is a Heroes Wiki, with all you ever wanted to know about Heroes.

And there is also an associated graphic novel available on the NBC website. It's currently at episode 135. We've got a bit of catching up to do!

Kevin McAleer?

Brendan was planning to go and see Kevin McAleer at the Olympia on Thursday evening with Padraig. Padraig had to cancel a few weeks ago, so I agreed to accompany my husband. Not that I'm a big fan of stand-up comedy. Apparently, I have no sense of humour. Whether it's a national trait (or failing rather) or not is open for debate. But I won't argue with it. Most of the time, I just don't get it.

Well, I was all ready on Thursday evening. Brendan had cooked us a nice early dinner of fish (was it sea bream? I don't know my fishes - no surprise there) and pak choi and fried rice. And I put on one of my nice Boden shirts and a long cardigan, and we headed into town on the Luas.

When we got to the Olympia, the shutters were down, and there was a note in the window saying that the Kevin McAleer show would now be on the 12th of September. No explanation, no email from TicketMaster, no management at the door. Not even an apology on the note in the window!
And no mention of it on the Kevin McAleer website. I found a vague something in the google search for the MCD website about filming commitments. But when I follow the link, I can't find anything about it. Anyway, whose filming commitments are they talking about? Kevin McAleer's? The Olympia's? Mine? Well, I felt our commitments were the least of the promoters' concerns.

The good thing about this now is that Padraig will hopefully be available to go on the 12th of September!

Lake Tekapo

I have now applied more slow-dri blending medium with white paint, and applied over the existing snow. It looks much more convincing, and I think I'm done with this painting.

Although the mountains are a lot darker in the acrylic version than in the watercolour one, they don't dominate the landscape as much, as I have a much bigger sky, which balances the composition better, I think. And I like my strong colours, if I may say so myself.

The only problem with the Liquitex slow-dri blending medium I'm using is that it's glossy, so the painting is quite shiny. Not good enough for framing, but a very useful exercise all the same. I must find out if they do a medium that's not quite as glossy.

I'm tempted to have another go at this painting, using watercolours again, and trying out some pouring techniques I'm reading about in "How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself", by Nita Engle (quite an inspirational book, with very clear explanations)

Sky

Ok, we have resolved one of the problems. I used a blending medium for my sky (the one I used is Liquitex Slow-Dri Blending Medium, which I bought as part of a set of 6 different acrylics mediums, which I really like. It's a very good set to try out the various types of mediums available. I haven't tried them all yet. It's called Intro Six, and it includes clear gesso, slow-dri blending medium, flexible modeling paste, gloss super heavy gel, pouring medium and high gloss varnish).

I did a first layer with a delicate lavender, then I added a layer with plenty of white, then with Process Cyan, and then more white again. I mix the medium and the paint in a little plastic jar (it's an empty Lush Dream Cream jar - perfect for mixing acrylic medium, as it has a good lid, and the paint doesn't go dry). I did not let each layer dry out before applying the next, but I didn't apply it all in one go, as I wasn't sure what I was doing. I worked on an incline, so that the paint would go down the page smoothly, and then I turned the page around to send the paint back up towards the top of the sky. Pure stroke of luck, the paint and medium was just at the right consistency to create a subtle marbling effect, which looks like clouds hit by a very low sun, with a blue sky under them.

Still need to figure out the snow. The white paint I have on right now looks far too rough.

Note that the acrylic paper has buckled quite a bit. I should really do this on acrylic board, but that's too expensive. When I have more experience with acrylics maybe!

Tempus Fugit

Amazing, as you get past your twenties (and then some), how time seems to go so fast. Weekends in particular. There are so many things on my mental to-do list, and it's already 5:30 on Sunday evening, so I'm going to have to make choices - will I write a few more posts for my blog, watch an episode of Brother and Sisters, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will I do a bit of painting, will I go for a walk? OK, the walk is out - it's starting to rain, and it's cool enough.

I read somewhere that the reason why time goes quicker as you get older is because it's all relative to how many years you've lived. A set period of time is a bigger fraction of your life when you're ten than when you're 40, so it feels longer. Say, a year is a tenth of your life when you're 10, but only a fortieth when you're 40. And it's half you're life when you're 2, and that's why it would feel like a very long time if you're 2.

At least, I don't suffer from Sunday evening blues any more. Come 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, I used to get into work mode, getting things organised, trying a bit of yoga to soothe the nerves, preparing my clothes for the morning, and starting to think about what I would have to face on the Monday - Susan and Malcolm being the two dreaded individuals, with their unrealistic expectations, mad plans, and sarcastic comments. Now, my main worry is whether to get up before 7 to go to the gym or not!

Mmm, I think I'll pick up my paint brushes and see what I can do to fix my problems with Lake Tekapo 2.

Lake Tekapo - collage and acrylics

My last watercolour attempt was a bit too wishy washy, so I decided to try out the same subject in acrylics.

And since I've just finished reading a book on collage, I've incorporated some collage elements into it. I printed a black and white version of the photo and cut out the mountains, and painted over them with acrylics. I've used a slow-dri medium so I could gouge some of the relief with a wooden stick. And I printed a colour version of it and cut out the trees in the middle ground, and painted over them, with a dry-brush technique.

I'm very happy with my water in the foreground (it also uses a retardant, which gives it a lovely gloss) and how the colours are vibrant, but what the photo doesn't show is the mess I've made of the snow and the sky since then. If you never hear about this painting, well, you'll know why!

Herbs

We bought a few herbs (5 for €20) at the Powerscourt garden centre this morning and, after cleaning my old pots, I've planted them. Brendan has seeded two small pots with coriander, and we have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (Scarborough fair!), and rocket (doesn't rhyme), and I also have a basil indoors (the lady in the shop said to keep it in - I'm not sure if she meant keep it in until the weather is better or all the time).

I didn't plant anything last year, as we had the builders in, and I had forgotten how satisfying it is to be getting my hands dirty and watch my plants grow.

Looking forward to enjoying all these fresh herbs in our food over the summer.

The Perfect Storm

Not so perfect!

We watched The Perfect Storm last night. I had a rather good memory of it from the last time I'd seen it. But I had obviously blocked the worst bits out - far too much drama at the start, with the wifes, mothers and girlfriends greeting their sailors coming home as if they were ancient heroes, and watching them going out to sea every week as if they're never coming back. And too many cute kids who love their daddies! And heavy music. Once they're out at sea battling the storm, it's not bad, and George Clooney is as good-looking as ever. But I don't think I'll be watching it again.

China Sichuan

Easter Monday was dull and wet, so we decided to treat ourselves to lunch in the China Sichuan restaurant in Sandyford.

We had rung ahead of ourselves and Kevin told us that it was à la carte, i.e. not the standard Lunch menu. We decided to go ahead anyway. We were the only customers in the restaurant. A man on his own arrived about 10 minutes before we left. I know it was Easter Monday, but I had expected a bit more buzz. I guess if they had had the lunch menu (and the lunch prices), the place would have been busier.

The food was very good. Brendan was disappointed with his hot and sour soup, which he found flat, lacking in bite and flavour. But everything else was excellent. I had the hake that Kevin recommended, with crushed pepper and a chilli sauce I think - simple and full of flavour, and Brendan chose a few dishes from the dim sum menu, including the Loh Bak Gou, a really tasty radish - it sounds like an oxymoron but it's not, it was very nice. I had the scallop Har Kow, which I really enjoyed.

And we had a smoked black tea that Kevin recommended - really strange - it smells smoky, but the flavour is not.

Now, the bill - €65.50. We had no wine, just tap water (it wasn't filtered), and only 1 rice. Far too much for lunch. I enjoyed the food, but we both found that it was too expensive. The hake was €28. It was good, but I would pay €16 or €18 for it, not €28!

I really like China Sichuan, but I will only be going for special occasions in future - it's just too expensive -, or to try out their lunch during the week, which is supposed to be much better value.

The Bourne Trilogy

Brendan got a value DVD with the Bourne Trilogy a few weeks ago, and we've watched the 3 of them over the last 3 weeks. The second viewing was as good as the first. And I'll probably watch it again in a few years time. It's the perfect film for a couple - an intelligent action movie that appeals to both men and women. Matt Damon carries the whole thing of course, but the secondary characters are strong too. Perfect for a rainy day.


According to Wikipedia, there is a fourth movie in the pipeline.

Nineteen Minutes

I've just read Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes. I don't think I ever went through 579 pages so quickly in my life. I read through Wednesday afternoon and evening, and again on Thursday morning, until I was finished. I did answer the phone when it rang, but I didn't do much else!

Like all Picoult's books I've read so far, this is centered around a family, with some traumatic events, the involvement of the law, and a good (but not totally unpredictable) twist at the end. It was a very interesting subject, how a bullied teenager ends up going into school one day and killing 10 people. I found the depiction of his parents very insightful. Peter, the killer, is chilling in parts, but human in others. I would hate to be a teenager in this day and age - the expectation that you have to conform, the bullying, the in-crowd. There was none of that when I grew up. In secondary school, I wasn't part of the in-crowd for the first 3 years, but then I changed class (I gave up Latin) and got on great with everybody - we were all very different, style-wise and in academic ability, but we had a great time together. I don't think anybody was left out or bullied. The girls in Latin-Maths and Latin-Greek were a bit more posh, but we just ignored them, by and large.

There are lots of gems in the book, that make it feel real - for instance, one of the characters is an economics professor who has developed the "happiness equation": happiness equals reality divided by expectations. So, if you earn €50,000 a year when you only expected to earn €25,000, your happiness level is pretty good. Reality - 50,000; Expectation - 25,000. Result = 2. If you expected to earn €100,000, the result of the equation is 0.5. Not so good. Or if you expect a perfect sunny day, and it's partially cloudy, your happiness level is not great. On the other hand, if you were expecting a downpour, and the rain clears to give a cloudy - but dry - day, you're all happy! It's quite neat, isn't it? And the best part is that, apparently, it's all real.

Oh, and My Sister's Keeper is coming out in movie format in June. Definitely one to go and see with Lucinda - the two of us will need plenty of tissues! There is a trailer on the website - it looks just like I expected it, except Alec Baldwin is a bit too old to play the lawyer, well not the handsome one I had imagined anyway!

Lake Tekapo

Today, I brought 5 of my paintings to the framers. It took me a long time to pick the ones I wanted done. I've already got 3 watercolours framed - a poppy, a lilly and my "When Philip Met Isabella" abstract. These go back a couple of years now. So it was time to get some of my newer ones framed. I can't believe it's more than 2 years since I painted my red poppy! I haven't painted that many good ones since then, really.

I've just finished a watercolour of Lake Tekapo, one of the places we visited in New Zealand. I don't think it will make it to my gallery of framed works. But I've learned plenty in the process. For instance how to use a white candle to apply a white resist that looks just like snow. And how to paint little fir trees with a dry brush technique. And I'm quite happy with my sky, though it looks nothing like the photograph. The mountains and golden hill are not so good. I'm now going to try a collage + acrylic version of the same subject, and maybe come back to watercolours again after that.

Tate Modern

On our trip to London, we visited a lot of museums. Much more satisfying than shopping, though I have to admit I loved the shop in the Victoria & Albert Museum, with all its little knick-knacks, bags and jewellry.

I have already told you about the V&A and the Science Museum. Let me now tell you all about the Tate Modern. Since we had seen a program on the telly a few years ago about the re-designing of it as a museum, it was one of these iconic buildings I really wanted to see, for the architecture of it, more so than for the art on display. As one of the tube stations was closed, it was quite a long walk along the Thames to get to it, but it was a lovely sunny morning, so we didn't mind. (I did mind on the way back, when my legs could hardly carry me any more!)

There is a new pedestrian bridge leading to it, the Millenium Bridge. It links it to just across St Paul's Cathedral, perfect photo opportunities, of couse. And it's just beside the Globe theatre (we didn't have time to go in - maybe next time). As you walk across the bridge, step by step you realise how big the Tate Modern is, a fabulous building, an old power station, transformed into its new life as a museum with fabulous high spaces that can accommodate all sorts of things. Mind you, some of the exhibits seemed to have been chosen for their height rather than for their beauty.

The main highlights were the Roy Lichtenstein, Picasso's Nude Woman with Necklace and Francis Bacon's Study for Portrait on Folding Bed, as well as an installation that consisted of hundreds of pieces of silver hanging from the ceiling (it's actually called Thirty Pieces of Silver). We also liked a piece called Hip Hip Hoorah (pictured here), as it was so full of fun and joie de vivre, and it also made me feel that, some day, I could have my paintings in a museum too! There was also a big painting of a blond woman's head - she had fabulous eyes - but I can't find it on the website.

Don't forget to click on Explore Tate on the website if you want to view the paintings in each room.

And here is a piece of trivia before I leave you for today: I found in the Explore Tate section a painting by Francis Bacon called Figures in a Garden. There isn't much information about it on the website, except this note: "Accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of Inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2007" I kid you not! It's on Level 3, Room 2!

Bakelite

Do you know who was the inventor of bakelite, this early plastic that revolutionized the world?

Well, on our visit to the Science Museum in London, we went to the exhibition on Plastics, and I discovered that it was a Belgian man by the name of Leo Baekeland!

Your parents' old telephone was probably made of bakelite! So, think of Belgium next time you pick up the phone!

Chisou

Today being a bank holiday, I'm catching up on my posts. We did so much in London over our St Patrick's day break that I haven't had a chance to write about everything yet!

On our 2nd day there, we had lunch in Chisou, a Japanese restaurant on Princes Street (just off Regent Street). It was fairly quiet when we were there, and service wasn't great (the waitresses were better than the Maître d'), but the food was lovely. We had an assortment of sashimi, miso soup and green tea. My kind of food.

And with the great exchange rate, it was excellent value too.

Apple Shop, London

On our recent trip to London, we went in to the Apple shop on Regent Street. What a treat! It's spread out on two floors - downstairs is the main retail area and upstairs is the training floor. Apple have got this fabulous training program, with free lectures (you can sign up in advance or just drop in) and one-to-one training (to be booked in advance on the web, if you have an annual subscription with them).

When we were there, there was a general OS session starting, and about a dozen one-on-ones in progress. And there was lots of staff on hand for general retail questions too.

You can see the whole schedule of workshops on the website. They also offer training for the iPod and the iPhone! And they even have summer camps for the children (3 hours - free!)

JK Ensemble Session

Last week, we went to the 2nd JK Ensemble Session. This time, it was held in The Village on Wexford Street. As a venue, I felt that the Button Factory was better. We didn't get seats, despite being there in good time (the ticket collection system isn't great at these events - I would prefer to get my tickets sent to me or to get an online ticket I can print myself), and my legs (my right hip, in particular) were tired and sore after an evening leaning against a high table.

The music was exciting, though, and we had a good night. We had a drink in the front bar when we arrived, and that was very nice, quite modern and warm. And my britvic orange was fine! The music place is upstairs, with the entrance at the back - not particularly nice, and they must have run out of money when it came to decorating this part - very spartan, with a big area to stand up and a sofa at the back (for those who are more interested in smooching than the music). There were chairs at the front, but they were all taken when we got there.

It was a long evening, starting around 7:30 and we got home on the last Luas at 11:30. We found that the changing over between the various artists was slower than the last time. Another contributor to the late night was that one of the acts, Julie Feeney, stayed on stage for a very long time. This was a preview of her upcoming album, and I get the feeling she played every single song from the album, one of them twice - it was a catchy little tune so I didn't mind that one, but there were some songs that I could have done without. It took me a little while to warm to her, but some of the songs were very good. On her website, she looks really alternative, but on stage, she was much more down to earth.

The first act was Matt turner, an improvising cellist. One of the pieces he played was inspired by Northern Indian tunes, and it was fantastic. Some of his other stuff wasn't "jointed" enough for my taste, though I admired the virtuosity. What I mean is that I like a tune to build up on a theme, and I felt he was jumping around from genre to genre, maybe to show us what he can do, but all these jumps broke the unity of the piece. The cello is my favourite instrument, and his cello playing was magnificent, so I won't complain! Some gorgeous samples of his music on his website, by the way. I'm listening to "darn that dream" right now - a nice little classic jazz number.

He was followed by Ensemble Avalon - a piano, cello and violin trio. They were good. They were more of a straight classical group, compared to what we've grown used to with John Kelly. I found on their website that "Ioana plays on an Italian violin, built by Goffredo Cappa in 1695". 1695! It's totally amazing, I think that an instrument built so long ago not only is still in one piece (or whatever number of pieces there are in a violin) but still plays beautifully!

I think after that, we had Julie Feeney.

After quite a long break, Caoimhin O Raghallaigh came on. Well actually it was himself who was setting things up on stage, not a stagehand, and that may be why it took so long, between a laptop and a 3 or 4 violins, it seemed to take him a long time to get it all ready. You get the feeling that time is a relative concept for Caoimhin, a complete virtuoso fiddle player, in the Irish traditional vein, well, traditional with many twists is the best way I can describe it. The first tune he played was one where he laid a rythm track first, using two violins on his knees (Castor and Polux), before playing the actual tune. He was completely engrossed in his music, sometimes spending a considerable amount of time tuning his violin and fiddling with his computer (what had he been doing beforehand?) before starting to play. It mustn't have been easy for the singer who accompanied him for his last piece!

The last act of the night was Yurodny, the biggest sound of the night. A large group of musicians playing music with an Eastern European flavour. Plenty of violins, accordion, trombone, saxophone, cello. Big sound, great rythm. I really enjoyed their music. It was amazing to watch how quickly the violinists and cellist moved their fingers. By the time they came on, a good few people had left already and we got seats. It felt so good to sit down after all that time on my pins!

Overall impression of the concert? Maybe not as good as the first JK Ensemble Session. I think the first one felt so good because of the element of surprise (and because Chequerboard and Ensemble ICC were so magnificent). But still a great night out, and I'm enjoying listening to the various artists again, through their websites. Will I go to the next session? You bet I will!

Il Fornaio

We had lunch in Il Fornaio in the IFC area today. It's a little Italian place and it was delicious. I had a mixed salad and rosemary potatoes, and Brendan had a mixed meat platter (pictured to the right, courtesy of Brendan and his camera-phone) and soup, and lots of lovely bread. It didn't look like much, but it was busy enough, so we decided to try it out and were not disappointed. All the staff sounded Italian and the food was authentic. If I worked in that area, I would certainly treat myself to lunch there on a regular basis. 

There are a lot of eateries in the IFC area - Milanos, Kudos, a Malaysian restaurant on the quays, and a few Italian places. Most of them were closed today, so it was an extra bonus that Il Fornaio, one of the few places open, turned out to serve excellent Italian food.

According to Babelfish, Il Fornaio means The Baker. Well, they did have nice breads, and also plenty of gorgeous-looking little pastries - the kind of little treats you'd take back to the office after lunch to keep you going for the afternoon!

Bowl with Blue Pebbles - Take Two

I decided to have another go at painting my crystal vase in acrylics. I started last weekend, and only got a chance to finish it yesterday. I changed the background colour and I tried to be more precise and delicate. Still not quite there yet, but at least the bowl reflection is the right shape now. (I managed to keep track of the tracing I had taken).

Here is the end result:















And pictures taken at different stages:

Experimentation

I guess this is the equivalent of doodling. I found on the web a site with lots of ideas for textures in acrylics. Great fun in terms of trying out colours that go together, but I'm not sure how I would incorporate this into a painting. You could make them into nice squares and have 3 or 4 of them together in a nice frame. But it's not really art, is it?


I did these ones with bird seeds, Pencil shavings, and Hole punch

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

On the way back from Australia last year, we watched Le Scaphandre et le Papillon, a French film about Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of Elle, who suffered from Locked In Syndrome after a massive stroke. The movie really touched my heart. So I was delighted when Mary gave me the loan of the book, in its English translation. It's not a long book, but it gripped me from start to finish. Although it is very sad, the whole philosophy behind it is that as long as your brain is working, you can get a lot out of life. Your imagination can carry you through the warm skies, just like a butterfly, and you should make the most out of life, even if all you can do is blink one eyelid. A good one to read whenever you're feeling sorry for yourself!

The next book I'm going to read now is a book on the art of collage that Brendan got me for Christmas. I need a bit of inspiration. I have started another version of the crystal vase with blue pebbles, but I feel I'm a bit stuck for ideas as to how to take it into another direction.

Revolutionary Road

I occasionally watch The View on the RTE website, and they were reviewing Revolutionary Road, the movie with Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio. They didn't give it a great review, but they said "Read the book". So I did. And I wasn't disappointed. Revolutionary Road is a story of suburbia, life ambitions that got killed by - well - normal life. It's set in the mid fifties, and it has a feel of Mad Men, the constant smoking and drinking, the man working in the city while the wife stays at home to look after the house and the children. But that life is not enough, at least not for her. He says he wants more, but really he doesn't. He works in a large company, that sounds like an early IBM, where he does as little as possible. He is full of pompous ideas, but doesn't put any of them into action. He goes along with her plans for a more meaningful life, but drops the idea at the first opportunity. It's quite a serious and intense book, and a very good story.

I have to say I wouldn't mind seeing the movie now, and I can really pictures Winslet and DiCaprio as April and Frank Wheeler.

Bowl with Blue Pebbles

I guess I've never completed a painting so quickly. Well, that's acrylics for you. I started applying paint yesterday afternoon, and my Waterford Crystal vase is all done already. I've called it Bowl with Blue Pebbles. Unlike watercolours, acrylics dries really quickly, which means you don't need to wait for hours before you can paint the next section. There were times last night and this afternoon when I thought it would be a disaster - the green was too green and dull, the blue pebbles didn't shine, the ribbons looked too solid, the vase reflection was the wrong shape (it still is!).

But I love the colours of it. And it does look like a crystal vase with light shining through. I need to learn how to to put in details more accurately. I'm a bit slapdash, really. It's the same with my drawings - I don't do neat precise drawings. I don't have the patience. Maybe the good thing about watercolours is that the waiting forces me to think things through, plan the next step, choose the right colour, draw an exact shape... But it was fun to run with my instincts, even if it looked completely dull at times. The result is warm and dynamic, if I may say so myself!

Next Project

I've signed up for an art class starting at the end of April - we're going to do a still life in acrylics. Panic! I've done a bit of acrylics all right, and I know how to mix my paints, and I've done a few abstract projects, but I really don't know where to start when it comes to a proper painting.

With watercolours, I do my photograph, then I trace it, then I mask the main shape and do the background, then I do the small details, etc. I have a formula that works. With acrylics, I don't know if I should start with the background, the foreground, is it best to layer or not... I'll be the new kid on the block in the class, and I want to get the most out of it. So, I'd better start practise.
I've picked my subject - a lovely little Waterford vase that Kelly and Jim gave me the last time they were in Ireland, filled with blue glass pebbles, with a few ribbons in the background. I'm interested in learning how to paint glass and I love the multiple reflections from the pebbles. And it's small enough to transport easily.

So I'm going to try it out for the next few weeks. See if I can figure out an approach that works. I've already looked up on the web, but I haven't found anything of real use. There are some interesting video classes, but the painting seems to emerge as if by magic, not much use to me.

I took lots of pictures, and chose one.
















Then I started with a sketch (not a tracing!), to get a feel for the lights and darks.


















Then I did a tracing. And now, I must look for inspiration as to what colours to pick and how to apply them!