New York 2

Loved all the different fire (?) hydrants I saw on my trip. Don't know what all the different colours meant, but I especially loved what looked like gold ones on Park Avenue. How decadent.

 Went to a Korean restaurant as we used to live in South Korea when I was a kid, so we wanted to try all the food we used to adore, and it was far better than I remembered. I'm afraid the oil pastels didn't even remotely capture the delicacy and beauty of the food we were served, but great tasting bulgogi and kimchi again. Yum.

 Drew these collection of people from our breakfast table one morning all walking past in their own little worlds getting ready for their day ahead.

Loved all the reflections in the glass. You would see hidden buildings reflected but you could never find the actual original building that made it.

This little piggie

So that's the pigs gone. Great to have them, and learn all about them, not so great having to go out and feed them through 3 feet of snow over Christmas, but glad we did it. Thought I'd try and capture them, but all I  mostly managed to get was their backsides as most of the time they had their heads down in a trough or the mud rooting around. They did like the occasional scratch behind their ears where they went off in a kind of trance and leant into my hand. Only found out last week though that they were males. Sorry guys for calling you girlies the last 6 or so months, you'd think it'd be obvious...

Dr Sketchy's Anti art School

Finally after a year or two of wanting to and never being at the right place/time or state of mind, I've made it to a Dr Sketchy Anti-Art School. Its life drawing with a difference, putting the fun back into the human form, ranging from the mad, bad and generally slightly kooky to the curious. This time it was out in the middle of the park in Edinburgh, and we got a chance to draw various acts from the festival, from burlesque dancers and their booty, to sword fighters and tea ladies. Great fun, and 3 hours passed in what felt like 10 minutes. A perfect antidote to a crazy week before.

But unfortunately I had to go before the half naked muscly man came on. Not that that was all I was waiting for, just purely wanting to stay for research purposes...

Happy as a pig in the proverbial smelly stuff

So, this is the reason I've not blogged in a while. We've been building, sawing, hammering, and running around like a blue ***** fly trying to get the houses ready for the various new  additions to the 'good life'. So the new chooks, 6 hens from an organic farm up the road, and one very young black cockerel who's been henpecked like mad by the others ever since he arrived. We've called the hen in charge Maureen, and the cock Giuseppe as we thought he needed a bit of an Italian stallion sounding name to encourage him and give him a bit more confidence. He's got one hen who he perches next to, like a pair of little love birds, so we think she may be a Juliet in the making. Perhaps he should be Romeo? We've put them in an old garden hut we raised 6 feet of the ground, and made a wee ladder for them to climb up so they can shut themselves in a night. They all quite happily go up, minus one who gets kicked out by the others so we have to put her in ourselves to deter the foxes.

In addition to this little family, we also acquired a share in three little Tamworth pigs. They're for the chop come end of the year, which is a bit unfortunate as I think we've all fallen for them. (Well I have anyway) We spent ages building the electric fence and mending the arc, and thought all was solid, when within 2 minutes of the weaners arriving they escaped, like the fence was never on. I fell about laughing, so much for our craftsmanship skills. An hour later we finally got them back, three little sows, all stuck together like glue.

They're slowly getting used to us, but still very jumpy, so the only chance I can get to draw them is when they're chomping. So, I imagine there will be many more sketches on their way, next time in colour. As for their names? Bacon, Chorizo and Salami....