About me
Pictures uploaded
18/05/2008 19:34
I've recently uploaded photos taken on
our recent long weekend, plus a
watercolour I'm working on. The photos
are in the Photography section under
Latest and Current Favourites, the
painting is under Arts and Craft,
Paintings
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Indecisive and uncertain
13/05/2008 22:55
Testing paper
11/05/2008 19:02
Having got a field box of watercolours
recently, and just ordered some artist
quality ones to replace some of my Winsor
and Newton Cotman ones, I thought I'd
check on my stocks of paper - in
particular watercolour sketch books. I
have a block of paper, and an envelope of
loose, both too large to use in the
field. I also have a small sketch book
with about 10 sheets left.
So I decided to test a sheet from each of the acrylic pads I have - a Daler Rowney Cryla one and a Winsor and Newton Galeria one. I just did two washes on each, Now flat washes are not my strong point, but I can do a reasonable job on watercolour paper. The paint sat on top of both sheets - it didn't pool especially, but it wasn't absorbed much by the paper either. This was more noticeable on the Cryla. They dried a lot quicker, too, making harder to get a good wash. Again, this was most noticeable on the Cryla. When the second wash went on it was obvious that it was easier than normal to lift the layer underneath. The Winsor and Newton Galeria paper didn't look too bad, and I may use it in future occasionally. The Daler-Rowney Cryla sheet looks awful though - individual brush strokes are still very recognisable in places, and it looks dull. In both cases, the canvas texture looks a little odd, but the looser effect on the Galeria sheet looks better.
I think I will be getting myself a pad of proper watercolour paper at some point soon though!
So I decided to test a sheet from each of the acrylic pads I have - a Daler Rowney Cryla one and a Winsor and Newton Galeria one. I just did two washes on each, Now flat washes are not my strong point, but I can do a reasonable job on watercolour paper. The paint sat on top of both sheets - it didn't pool especially, but it wasn't absorbed much by the paper either. This was more noticeable on the Cryla. They dried a lot quicker, too, making harder to get a good wash. Again, this was most noticeable on the Cryla. When the second wash went on it was obvious that it was easier than normal to lift the layer underneath. The Winsor and Newton Galeria paper didn't look too bad, and I may use it in future occasionally. The Daler-Rowney Cryla sheet looks awful though - individual brush strokes are still very recognisable in places, and it looks dull. In both cases, the canvas texture looks a little odd, but the looser effect on the Galeria sheet looks better.
I think I will be getting myself a pad of proper watercolour paper at some point soon though!
So howexactly does this work, then?
19/04/2008 00:20
Ever since I sprained my foot at the end
of last year, I've had pain in the arch
of that foot. For the last month or so,
my ankle has also been incredibly sore.
I've been wearing flat shoes with arch
support, and it's not helped that much.
So today I wore heels. Low (about 2"),
clumpy heels; but heels nonetheless.
My foot hardly hurt at all, and I had no ankle pain.
I suspect the muscles/tendons/ligaments that run up the back of my ankle are very tense, hence the pain, and the lack of it in heels. Must do my leg stretches again.
My foot hardly hurt at all, and I had no ankle pain.
I suspect the muscles/tendons/ligaments that run up the back of my ankle are very tense, hence the pain, and the lack of it in heels. Must do my leg stretches again.
Umm, seem to have forgotten something!
17/04/2008 21:16
Oh yes, I have a blog
31/12/2007 19:21
Much needed break
03/11/2007 18:10
Last week we had a much needed week off
work. We took off down to the New Forest
and spent a pleasant week not doing much
at all. There was wanderings by the sea
and in the forest, there were attempts
successful and otherwise at night
photography, and some glorious sunsets.
It was quiet, peaceful and very relaxing.
My mind is working creatively again, and I've started on the NaNoWriMo novella (only up to about 1000 words so far!!), I have ideas for and the bits to make cards this winter, plus ideas for ATCs, scrap pages, drawings and so on.
I'm sure I have more to say, but I can't remember what!
My mind is working creatively again, and I've started on the NaNoWriMo novella (only up to about 1000 words so far!!), I have ideas for and the bits to make cards this winter, plus ideas for ATCs, scrap pages, drawings and so on.
I'm sure I have more to say, but I can't remember what!
Credit Card Fraud - it COULD happen to you
27/10/2007 12:29
It almost happened to me.
Thankfully, the bank concerned are very much on the ball; and even more thankfully it wasn't any form of identity theft. The chances are it was an auto-generated card number.
What happened was a small purchase had been attempted against my card - a £1 transaction to basically check if it was a valid card. This has become such a common prelude to large-scale credit card fraud that the bank concerned block any such transactions, puts your card into "referral" (so any merchant who tries to take payment from the card will be asked to call the bank) and sends you a letter.
On phoning the bank I was reassured that no transactions had been allowed on my card, told to cut my card up and destroy any documents that might have the card details or the pin number on, advised that the existing card had now been deleted and that all access to the account had been suspended until I received the new one.
Thankfully, the bank concerned are very much on the ball; and even more thankfully it wasn't any form of identity theft. The chances are it was an auto-generated card number.
What happened was a small purchase had been attempted against my card - a £1 transaction to basically check if it was a valid card. This has become such a common prelude to large-scale credit card fraud that the bank concerned block any such transactions, puts your card into "referral" (so any merchant who tries to take payment from the card will be asked to call the bank) and sends you a letter.
On phoning the bank I was reassured that no transactions had been allowed on my card, told to cut my card up and destroy any documents that might have the card details or the pin number on, advised that the existing card had now been deleted and that all access to the account had been suspended until I received the new one.
My mind is slowly being taken over by novel ideas
15/10/2007 21:55
Which is why at 2 am this morning I was
quizzing my rather sleepy husband about
how efficiently a steam engine could run
in reverse. This has led me to start
redesigning the London underground as it
was in Victorian times. Various
characters from previous stories have
poked their heads out and asked to be
reincarnated in this, and a plot line is
reworking itself in my head to fit the
genre and the format (making me feel a
bit like an author or script writer Front
Row were talking about recently, who
basically writes variations of one
theme)...
NaNoWriMo
14/10/2007 21:27
Honest spammers
09/10/2007 21:21
A public apology to Michael Palin(*)
06/10/2007 16:56
As the apology I made in person came out
rather mumbled, I'm going to apologise in
print for clobbering Michael Palin(*)
with my bag on Friday.
(*)He certainly looked identical to Michael Palin
(as an aside, this isn't the first time I've done something like that. I once elbowed (accidentally) Bill Oddie in a bookshop)
(*)He certainly looked identical to Michael Palin
(as an aside, this isn't the first time I've done something like that. I once elbowed (accidentally) Bill Oddie in a bookshop)
Fashion faux-pas
04/10/2007 22:55
I wore a sort of crochet style dress
today. It needs a petticoat under it as
it has rather large holey bits. It
actually came with a slip in it, but I
cut it out a while ago because it
actually spoilt the line of the dress.
Normally I wear a black petticoat under
it. Today, for unknown reasons, I wore a
neutral coloured one.
Which made me look like I wasn't wearing ANYTHING under it.
Oops!
Which made me look like I wasn't wearing ANYTHING under it.
Oops!
A new look
22/09/2007 23:28
A new look for Sea and Sky. It's almost
too much fun creating this... web
development tools have come a long way -
especially for the hobbiest/enthusiast.
Have a look under Home then About this
site to find out what I created it with.
There is still an awful lot of content to go up, which will happen, in due course.
Oh, and if you don't like Haloscan for comments... terribly sorry!
There is still an awful lot of content to go up, which will happen, in due course.
Oh, and if you don't like Haloscan for comments... terribly sorry!