Merry Christmas

I wish  you all a Merry Christmas and  a Happy New Year.

Images of Lunar Eclipse

The local Astronomy Society of which I am member (South East Kent Astronomy Society – SEKAS) held it’s annual ‘bring and show’ evening recently. Lots of brilliant images were on display of various objects in the sky (galaxies, nebulae, moon, saturn etc). I have only been ‘into’ Astronomy for just over a year now so my images are not up to much good (not good enough to show off that is).

This is one of my better ones that is near enough in focus and I am pleased with it. It was taken on the night (3rd March 2007) of the full lunar eclipse with the camera set up on a tripod and just ‘snapping’ away on auto settings. (No motor drive to track the motion of the moon across the sky, hence the slight blurring).

The second image was taken at the roughly the same time (a bit earlier during the eclipse). The shadow on the lower part of the moon is the earth starting to cross the surface. A reasonable shutter speed was used as it was brighter and at a lower altitude in the sky meaning that the motion across the sky was less noticeable. I think it makes a pleasing image – and it is in focus!

Why am I showing these images you might ask?

Well, I have been invited to write an article for a local paper in Thanet entitled ‘Your Local Interview’ on my interest in Astronomy. I don’t know when it will be published but I am a bit ‘chuffed’ to have been asked to do it. More in due course.

I now find I can combine two of my hobbies – photography and astronomy. I could add a third, drawing, but I find when your fingers are cold holding a pencil is not easy and, as stated in an earlier blog, I am known as a ‘wimp’ so I take the easy, less uncomfortable route to recording what I see. Maybe one day I will be able to show my images off to the members of SEKAS but for the moment my limited readership of this blog will suffice!

Thanks for looking.

Tree in Autumn

The items that accompany me when out walking are – Camera, sketch book, pencil or pens (usually the graphic pens). My dear wife tags along as well!

I love doing little sketches and this tree is one of them. It was alone in a field and just needed to be sketched. Do you find that? Some fleeting scene catches the eye and needs to be recorded. Given the time I prefer to sketch but with my DW (Dear Wife) not sharing my joy of sketching I find the camera is the next best recording medium. I have loads, I mean loads, of these ‘fleeting moments’ recorded on film (I once went on holiday with 30 rolls of film……. but that is a story for another day) and I do mean to turn them into paintings, one day!

“Why do you take so many photos” DW says?

“Why not?” Says I!

‘Catch the moment’  by whatever means available because one day, as with this little tree, it will have it’s moment again when, although I might forget what I had for dinner last week, I recall totally the moment, the location and the pleasure I had sketching it.

Early Morning Frost

I woke up to a white world this morning. Frost everywhere.

So, as soon as I had got my dear wife to work, I headed into the garden to take some photographs. Here is one of them.

I just love a cold, frosty morning when everything is clean and crisp and the air is still and the vapour from your breath just hangs in the air.

Mind you, I was wrapped up in a really thick fleece jacket and hat, gloves and scarf. I like to be out in the cold but not be cold. My children would say I was a wimp, but as I always remind them “any fool can be uncomfortable”! (an adage from my military days).

Taken on a Canon 350D 800ISO 1/100 F8

“The Rash” Cartoon

As you know, by watching Police Dramas on television, a Police officer has to be fit and able to do his duty.

Early turn started at 0545am in my days as a patrol officer. As we sat round the briefing table and duties for the day were alloted the following conversation took place between the Sergeant and a fairly young PC (in age and service).

“PC…….. (name protected etc.)… you will walk the High Street”

“I can’t walk Sarge, I’ve got a rash”

“OK, go in the car with PC…….”

“I can’t sit with my rash Sarge”

“Right, stay in and do paper work”

“I’ll try but I can’t sit for long with my rash”

“You’re no good then, you may as well go home!”

Next morning I presented the young PC with this cartoon.

 I think he’s forgiven me – probably a Chief Constable by now!

I rediscovered this while looking for images for my revamped website (on it’s way I promise).

On an architectural note; The staircase in the cartoon is from Ramsgate Police Station. It is a rare example of a pinioned staircase (has no means of support other than being ‘pinioned’ into the wall’) and almost completes a full circle as it ascends. Lovely to see and the building is still in use today but, sadly, not as a Police Station.

Sunrise over Ramsgate

Looking out of my kitchen window this morning I saw this glorious sunrise. I had to rush out and take a photograph. I nearly missed it because my dear wife wanted to finish relating to me an event that happened where she works. I was in trouble for not listening (nothing new there really, it’s not that I don’t listen – I just forget to remember!).

These views do not last long but, oh, what a joy they are to see.

For the technically minded; this was taken on a Canon 350D at ISO 800 1/100sec at f7.1

OAP Sunbathers

The heading for my Blog is taken from a painting I did several years back.

I was out walking one fine summers day along Wellington Crescent in Ramsgate when I saw this old couple in their deckchairs, oblivious to the traffic in the road behind them, fast asleep with mouths wide open. The sun causing the old boy’s glasses to ‘white out’. I usually have my camera with me and I couldn’t resist taking a photograph of them. I later drew them, from the photograph, in pen and ink with watercolour washes. This the finished painting.

This is my favourite style of painting; art with a sense of humour.

I would like it to bring a smile to your face. I hope it does.

Little Piccolo Player Me

Pfizer Wind Orchestra played it’s Autumn concert at the Westgate Pavilion, Margate on Sunday 25 th November. I play the Piccolo and 2nd Flute. Pieces played varied from Excerpts from the ‘Lion King’, ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ (a nice piece for the piccolo as it has non-stop counter melody) to ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’. The images here (with grateful thanks to the photographer Peter Prosser) show the Orchestra and one of me blowing my heart out.

The Piccolo is a real solo instrument in an orchestra (you only need one as they pitch an octave higher than the Flute and ‘soar’ over the Orchestra).

A joke in Piccolo circles goes; ‘How do you get two Piccolo Players to play in tune’ ? – Answer ‘You shoot one of them’!

I’ll survive!!

This is Me

For my first proper entry in my blog I thought I would show visitors what I look like.

This Caricature was drawn by a colleague when I was on a Police Sketch Artist Course many years ago. I am sorry to say that I have forgotten his name but his initials are SW. I will find out his name in due course and give him his proper credit.

I enjoy drawing caricatures and hope to show my progression through the rough sketches to the finished painting in this blog. My other hobbies include Astronomy (which I only recently took up), photography and playing Croquet. Hopefully these pages will reflect my interests.

I am very grateful to my nephew for all his work in getting this blog ‘up and running’

Thanks Nathan!

Joseph, The Reluctant Sitter!

I spent Saturday looking after my daughter Janet’s two boys with the help of my wife.

I had promised Joseph, the eldest (6yrs), that we would do some painting. We chose a big leaf from the Horse-Chestnut Tree while out walking and eagerly set-up a still-life in the kitchen. Unfortunately I couldn’t find my daughter’s good quality watercolour paper (where do you keep it Janet?) so we had to use an A4 sheet of paper from the printer. It cockled on the application of water and was a disaster. So Joseph screwed his up and threw it in the bin. “What shall we do next Gramps” Says He. “I will draw you if you like” says I. “OK” So with my trusty HB pencil and sketch book I started. One minute of sketching, with Joseph looking all around him, he expressed the view “This is boring” and promptly left the kitchen to join his brother Henry and Nana watching TV. So I decided to finish the sketch, which is shown here, using my powers of recall. Janet looked at it later and kindly commented that ‘ he looks a bit older’. Well what can I say, my powers of recall evidently are not as good as I think they are!

A pleasant little sketch anyway – and I avoided half an hour of watching children’s television!