Ist day of letter-cutting course

So, Monday has arrived and I awoke early, mainly because of the squeaky floorboards above.
But.... a little yoga and a few bits of physio and almost ready for a lovely cooked breakfast.
Can't be bad ....eh?

Met the other three staying at the Brewery and Robbie downstairs, slight awkwardness as expected then, partly due to Lara, who is very open and lovely, we all got on fine. The other guys are Michael and Innes (who had been their tutor at Forth Valley).

Fab breakfast, real coffee - none of that instant stuff that I'm used to - and silly chat.

A wee walk up a fairly steep hill then a slow start as we got to know each other a little and sort out the stones and supports. The others (not staying at the Brewery) are Tim, Stephen, Allen and Jo - an older lady who had done no carving or lettering before but had done art.

We had a spiel then split into two groups of four. 4 downstairs with the stone and 4 upstairs with learning to draw the lettering. Me, I went for drawing first. Using Roman capitals because of the beautiful balance they have and, according to Robbie, they are also highly sophisticated.

Very basic rules and then we were left to get on with it. It was strange but it helped with the bonding. The idea behind this approach is so that we understand the font but also get a feel for it. Robbie corrected our tryouts and although difficult it did make the lettering come alive more.

There is no real formula for doing Roman Trajan lettering.

Then, a walk down the hill, back to the Brewery and more fabulous food by Gail and Kellianne. I can't keep on eating this much - too much for me and was feeling tired in afternoon. Just practising cuts after a small demo.

I seem to be better at at curves rather than straight lines but practise will help - Getting into all sorts of twisted shapes to get the angle of the cut correct. (45 degree angles)

Terminology learnt so far - 

Serifs / stem / bracket / counter / bowl / tail / x height / base line.

We're also using a mid-line. There is a correlation between the width of the stem and the height of the letter. 1-8 or 1-10 is supposed to be usual but we are using 1-9.

Confusing to begin with but does make sense. (I think?)

Pub for after and very lovely grub there too. A couple of pints and the talk was varied to say the least.
from stone letter-cutting to cannibalism - whew!
I left early, some work on the computer then bed and book.

The walk back to base had smelt of burning peat and log fires, something that brings me instant peace and tranquil thoughts.

The other side looked like this.

  

More Greece, more beauty

The first two images are me playing around on the beach with the stone. Gorgeous day and lovely to wander around by myself making wee sculptures. The large statue is situated outside a museum on the island.

Aegina Island, Greece

I was very lucky to be one of the artists attending an artist's residential on Aegina Island, Greece. What a fantastic place to visit and photograph and sketch and explore and I could go on and on........

The most beautiful blues that I used to gaze at and almost lose myself.

We did a lot of exploring and were taken to an exquisitely old olive grove. Some of these trees are said to be 2000 years old. Breathtaking.

I became completely enamoured with the texture of the wood itself as well as the shapes of the trees.

and there's more..... March

I am beginning to wonder how long I'll keep these going for because it feels strange when I can't complete a portrait one day and have to do two the next day.
Quite a habit I'm forming... a years worth perhaps?

Anyway.... here is March

first

second

third

fourth

fifth

sixth

seventh

eighth

ninth

tenth

eleventh

twelfth

thirteenth

fourteenth

fifteenth

sixteenth

Back from India

Before setting off to India I was absolutely decided that I would keep this blog going similarly as I did in Romania. Unfortunately it was much more difficult. One reason being that I couldn't sign on to my blogger account from my tablet because that has a different email. Irritating to say the least.

Anyway…. enough. I am Back!

The portraits though were something I managed to keep up with.

Here are January's.

first

second

third

fourth

fifth

sixth

seventh

eighth

ninth

tenth

    

eleventh

twelfth

thirteenth

fourteenth

That's enough for one post…. more in the next.

India

we are here!
It is now the 4th day and I'm starting to be here properly.
Takes a while.
The self portraits are happening but as yet I haven't figured out the best way to get the images onto here, but it will happen.
Chowpatty beach, Mumbai was visited on Thursday and wht a lovely beach to have in a city!, so we sat for a while in the shade after a very tasty masala dosa.
Watching the traffic go by, the "I'm Here! I'm Here!" of the cars, bikes and trucks, with pigeons smacking their wings as they take off.

Day 27 or last day

So, it's finally arrived, our last day. Well kind of because tomorrow we fly out but not until the evening so we get a wee wander around town for the medieval festival tomorrow too.
Today, it's off to pick up our glass, choose the mask we want to take home and say our goodbyes.
Off we trotted down to the pink house and I wish I'd worn shoes because my toes were cold, not liking that.
Photographed the paintings on the right side.

House pic

coloured pic

Here they are, drying out. We had to take them back to the flat which was interesting, walking back with two pieces of glass that couldn't be held properly because of the paint. Successful though.



Time to tidy up flat and start packing. Really hoping everything is going to fit. I have lots of breakable things but lots of bubble wrap.

A chilled out afternoon, partly waiting on the owner to visit with people to view the flat but no-one arrived, quite glad as I had a wee afternoon nap.

Off into town, to the Weinkeller, a lovely little restaurant (very romantic-but not that important to us), and we had a wonderful meal, wine and lots of chat. Ioana joined us for the dessert part which was one of the main reasons for going.
Then off to the medieval festival. Very crowded square but everyone having a good time. Little stalls selling the usual, leather goods (very good quality though), jewellery, sweets, food and beer.
The band sounded celtic which we did enjoy, spoke English to the crowd but not sure where they were from.

wizard float

They had a procession which went around the outer edges of the square with some of the performers waving and posing as they are supposed to do.

Before the procession

Not so easy to see but quite a spectacle.

We were waiting for the puppet to rise which we'd seen earlier today.




It did look odd as it lifted, partly because it showed quite a bit of bare thigh and as it lifted higher some people disappeared up between his legs.

in action

The puppet was amazing, I must admit though that I am spoiled for performances after having traveled with some of the best and seen them countless times. 

A guy did silks hanging from the forks and then a girl joined him for a little bit of doubles. It was a good show.

silks doubles

We had sat down earlier for a drink in one of the restaurants on the square and ended up in one of the best positions.

Tired now so home and getting comfy horizontally.