This and That day

 I could have done without going out from home today ..but needs must. 

The vase necks and bowl rims got cling filmed...packed lunch made....and out!!

Shopping...I'm glad that I can do that at the most once a week ....then eat lunch sitting in the car. Drive two miles and park in a convenient place..that is also free and unrestricted and pointing in the right direction !

Enquire at the bank about my travel insurance as I haven't been able to phone or go online...no, I don't need to say that I'm going....no change in health and it is less than a month. No extra payment needed!

Waterstones bookshop for a hot chocolate...relax!!!

Then French Conversation..discussing such words as Bah! Alors! Du coup!...en  fait ! Bof!

words that sound similar..but aren't..

Boeuf....Bof....Beauf.....how to learn a language...have fun!!

I had to leave half an hour early to travel to the Artists Collective AGM...which was relatively painless and was over in an hour and a half!! Aided by homemade cake of course!!

I came out of the glass artist's home..an old school..and the sky was dark and the stars shining brightly...it is dry tonight and will get down to freezing. Over to the East it will get to about -5⁰

The vases and bowls are totally wrapped now as I wont get to them before Sunday.

Getting on with it

 Back to cold and wet..so I wasn't exactly enthusiastic to get out there!!

One wee moon vase and six bud vases thrown this morning..and after a decent lunch, I increased the weight of clay to two pounds (normally I'd work in metric ..but these scales are imperial measure!) and threw five bowls.

Thinking of the shapes I'd like to make, practicing techniques. Getting used to this clay again if nothing else.

I'll have to watch that they don't get to the right stage of drying when I have to be busy doing other things!!

Day out

 Another day of warmer Springlike weather ..it wont last....so I went down to Lauriston to see the first day of the season at the Gallery. New artists there too...as well as good coffee and cake and Phil singing!!

He found it hard to believe that it is nearly two years since Pirate died...so do I.

He really liked him..and Phil is a good judge of character. His word was "genuine"...

Down to Castle Douglas..I'd tried to phone a friend...but only had an old phone number.

She is a busy person...so that visit will have to wait until I can check first!

A leg stretch along the high street...but nothing inspired me to stop for lunch. On the road again..such a beautiful sunny day.

Along to Dumfries and back north again on the usual route.

Lunch at home, and the first half of homework. Better than I'd hoped...as was the correction for last week's submitted task.

I must remember to change language on the laptop when I submit work...to get the accents..and proofread it properly....

In the evening a gallery preview at the Grain Exchange in Ayr. A small old market building refurbished by the council, on the high street which has a fairly well used gallery space. Three artists, two of them from the Carrick Artists Collective.

I look forward to the time that I'll have enough decent work to do this!

Bumble!!!!

 Not a lot done today..housework..meh! It is ok when you can share the jobs...but needs must do it, even though it takes away from doing interesting things!!

I do like ironing though...the smell ..and the results!

So, I didn't get out to my studio until after lunch. I was nicely warm from the sun...and on the way down the garden I had a flypast..the first bumblebee this year!!

The soap dishes...became candle plates.

I've started using my collection of stamps, mainly made from clay, but some found objects too. These make a feature impression,...which helps to attach a handle soundly. 

I'm working on irregular verbs...you just have to learn them! But I look at the lists...and I realise ..I don't really understand what the verb tense names mean..

Look, I had to re-sit English Language "O" level...and only just passed it.  I succeeded in French with higher marks, especially spoken..

Which is odd...as I never have done much talking....

Bright and breezy

 We have sun again!! Domesticity started the day. Sheets wash, clothes wash, bread machine on...that was enough!!

Before lunch came turning and finishing pots made previously

Then after lunch a short throwing session. Six soap dishes...or are they for holding candles?!!

Wet and Windy

 And chilly....pots were wrapped in clingfilm to slow drying....time out to be social!

Via Prestwick and Sainsbugs to "feed" the car...and the son of Nan over the road was working in the garage kiosk. She is itching to get out in the garden too...at 88!!

Nice to see friends and others at the Womens Track Fund session. I am tempted to get a WTF T-shirt ......

Then IKEA to get a box....not exactly what I need. ..it is a box to go on a wall...but will give a double height display on a cupboard between two glass cases...I still need a small plinth to go on a bigger plinth....but there are plans!!

It was really windy on the way home after 4pm..now at 10pm it is fierce.

Glasgow in sunshine!

 Lesson day again! 

Food truck with art 

I was early so took a walk around the block and along the back lane. This is looking up at the back of Park Circus.

I was lucky to meet a man who lives in the house in the lower photo, walking his dogs...that, and the white house above are the originals....not the big fancy houses

To be learnt....

LOVE is part of the artwork...

I found a chip shop...opposite the Travelodge . The Oxford. Proper chips...proper mushy peas...perfectly fried egg...bread and butter and proper coffee, all in the price.  I was tempted by the Italian ice cream...but resisted ...this time!

contrast...new cinema, old theatre

more contrasts

and reflections....just before the bus gets on the motorway, over the Kingston Bridge and homeward bound