Witches and Wicked Bodies

October is coming to a close, and I have hardly done anything Halloween-ish but that is now remedied. I have wanted to go to the Witches and Wicked Bodies Exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art since before it came out and what could have been a more appropriate day than seeing it on Halloween. The Exhibit was beautiful and everything I expected and more.  I loved seeing the works of Goya and learning new artists like Salvator Rosa and Frans Francken II.  It was also fun, and perhaps a bit childish on my part to giggle when the family who came in just before us quickly rushed each of their kids in and out of the exhibit. For some reason the painters penchant for drawing and painting witches with there bosom exposed seemed to make them zip right through. Plus it was a beautiful day at the start and the grounds of the Modern Art Gallery were beautiful. The only thing I wish I would have come earlier for is the book for the exhibit, it was unfortunately sold out, and it seems to be sold out everywhere.

I could add more paintings and sketches that I loved, that would probably meant the whole catalog, but here are some I took of the gallery.

And along the Water of Leith, just up from the gallery. 

From there we headed up to the Union of Genius, for some amazing soup and salads. I need to learn to make more kinds of soup, cause theirs was awesome!! And afterwards we nipped into the Greyfriars Churchyard because it has been recently found out that Tom Riddle (AKA Lord Voldemort) has his grave there. I had heard before that J K Rowling used to look at names in the graveyards around Edinburgh, but this is the first one I have seen with a full name.

I know I am pretty cool, but graveyards are always interesting to take pictures in and Greyfriars is particularly beautiful.

Photography, Comedy and Walking

Its been another pretty busy week, which is exciting because I haven't just been working, I have been out doing stuff. So its going to be a long one again, luckily it is mostly pictures and not loads of me talking. 

So yes doing stuff! A lot of that has to do with Hayley, she has been inviting me out for a lot of things. So its been a lot of fun. First things first Hayley and I went to the Stand again, and it was really good, even though there was no seats left, so it was just standing room. We got to see some really great comedians and were surprised because John Bishop from telly turned up and did a wee set! We were a bit disappointing with Brendon Burns, pretty well all of his material I had heard before so it wasn't very exciting. He was still funny but still dissapointing.

We came home pretty early after that, Dixon had a gig but Hayley and I just missed out seeing them play. But since Darren and Mhairi were in town from Troon, we went for a walk with them and their daughter Brody and Jura their dog (she's a Norwegian Elkhound, not a husky as many people tried to point out, much to the dismay of Darren and Mhairi.). Dixon needed convincing since his hangover wanted him to stay home, but walking down Cramond way is always lovely and hopefully that will have made him feel a bit better. 

More exciting things? I know I have been up to a lot! The Stills Gallery I mentioned in a previous post had another great workshop on. Technically it was for the Luminate festival which celebrate creativity while aging and has exhibits and events for all ages. Which was lucky for me because I was really excited about this one. They showed you how to develop and enlarge a negative that you have in black and white. The course was for up to three people, and it turned out that today I was all by myself which meant that I got to learn loads. The instructor showed me not only how to develop a print but also a roll of film and a tour of the rest of the facility. I am hopefully going to be doing a lot more of that!

The first photos are the final prints and the graduated ones are the tests for how long they should be exposed.

And the day out today ended with a rainbow!

House Update

So I was trying to show someone the other day some of the things Daniel had built for the house, and I realized I didn't have any pictures of them, and of course that means that I haven't updated anything on here for the house in quite some time. The house is coming along great, I can't wait until we have sofas, but thats a whole other story but, sitting on the wee chairs we do have isn't all that terrible. It could be much worse. 

So in the alcove in the livingroom, he built a this up into it. There used to be a fireplace in the wall next to it and that's where the pipes and stuff ran into, since we didn't have the money to replace the old fireplace and it was deemed unsafe, we decided to wall it up and perhaps at a later date we can get a fireplace again.

An in the bedroom we had a small closet, but considering the amount of clothes and shoes we both have, it would have been relatively useless as a closet. So Dixon built up a vaniety into the space and it works really well, when we had the electricians in, we had them put a light in there so its basically perfect. I am still looking for the right mirror. I saw one in a coffee shop, but they didn't seem like they were going to part with it. Something like this or this. I will have to keep my eyes peeled.

So that is most of the improvements, I have already shown you my camera shelves so other than that I can't think of too much new stuff for the house.

In the parcel Camille and Caryn sent me, Caryn also included this wee guy! Ever since I found the cubedudes online, I wanted to make the Boba Fett one. Now I might have to visit my pal and get some of the lego I gave her family and build Batman! 

So that about wraps up what I have been up to lately, since it has been so cold lately and it is October and my application is in the post I thought I would treat myself with some Lush. A Pumpkin bubble bar, it doesn't get much better than that.

Packages

Its been an exciting couple of days for parcels! I got one yesterday and I was supposed to get one two days ago too but we weren't in, so in fact I got one today! Both of them are really exciting! From Camille and Caryn, Daniel and I got a bit of kitchen stuff, a timer, set of tea towel, and an apron. We have already used the timer, he works perfectly! And then loads of sweets we can't get here which even though Daniel doesn't have a sweet tooth, properly munch a bunch of the coffee crisp bites. I will have to try to eat all of this in moderation, though my Halloween spirit does usually have me eating coffee crisps for breakfast!

And from Sarah, Coffin Crisps! How cool are they. Also another brilliant postcard from Sarah, she always finds the most weird and interesting ones.

So needless to say, it has been a pretty excellent day off.

Part of my day was spent watching Hocus Pocus an October must, and so while watching it I sketched up the Sanderson Sisters, it was a lot of fun and not too serious just good fun drawing them, might be nice to one day do a proper proper drawing. But I managed to draw all three of them within the movie! Maybe not quite as much detail on Mary though. Unfortunately this picture doesn't show her hair, perhaps I will work on the sketch a bit more and show ya the whole think.

Red Raw

So Dixon has been off for the past couple weeks, his one site finished so it was a brilliant time to get some more wee things done in the house. So on my days off we did a bit of that too and finally after having these cameras for almost a year they are out on display! Its pretty excellent. I will definitely need to get out taking more pictures again now, especially since my application has been sent I will have a wee bit of spending money rather than all saving money. So hopefully more on that soon. 

Speaking of the application, I just got word that I will be getting a letter to go and do my biometrics again, so that means stuff is moving forward. It is pretty nerve racking not knowing what is happening but I am glad I have heard something. So I will continue with updates on that as soon as I can.

Hayley and I went out to the Stand Comedy Club on Monday night for Red Raw, and it was pretty brilliant. Its a mixture of newbies and people trying out new material. If you watch a bit of British stand up comedy you might have seen Tom Stade on telly and would you believe he was there trying out new stuff. It was really cool! Even without someone who I wanted to see at the Fringe, it was a really great night out, so I hope we will be doing more of that!

Photograms

Its been a wee while now, and you know what, I am still walking. Its been pretty great, I feel a lot brighter through the day, though I am hungrier and sleepier at night, but that might be a good thing. It sure does get you up in the morning, now I have a hard time sleeping in on my days off.  Which have also been pretty nice, I haven't been up to too much but when I have been it's been good. I finished off the pages for Payton last month, and they have now been sent away. James and Tina should be getting them any time now so that is exciting. My application is all sent away safe and sound, and I know they got it because the money for it has been withdrawn. I am a bit stressed about it, but just trying to keep positive. So that is also good.

Last weekend it was Doors Open Day here in Edinburgh and I made sure I went to something! I went to Stills which has been something I have wanted to do for a while now and I got to make photograms which also meant I got to go into a dark room and develop film. Which I have wanted to do for a while now! So I am really excited with the results and I am hoping to go on another one of their workshops soon! There are a couple taster sessions I have been looking at that look excellent, but I do not know if I have the days off for it yet so I will have to double check.

So we will have to check back in more especially to see if I am still walking.