What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

[Muddy Cyclist]

Good Morning and 6 for me today. Probably the Five Bean Salad had some hand in this.

A Muddy Cycle rIde calls, then I know not what the rest of day will offer.

Keep safe and make time yours.

 

[dunelm]

6.8 this morning. Perhaps due to the Montezumas 100% consumed before bed.

Rhododendrons were stunning at Sheringham Park and we had a lovely 4 mile walk through the woodland. They have just started stocking Mr K 's favourite sausage rolls but I didn't find out until after I had bought him a cheese and red onion marmalade sandwich.

Instead of relaxing when we got back we tackled a heap of admin stuff - so were really tired which is probably why I secumbed to the Montezuma 100% later that evening.

Oh! Poor Mr K - nothing worse than close proximity of favourite titbits and being presented with something else.

 

[gennepher]

A mighty fine Willow you have drawn, so good on such small devices.

Thank you for that lovely compliment @Muddy Cyclist

 

[karen8967]

5.5 for me have a good day everyone

 

[ianpspurs]

Good morning all on Bob Dylan's 80th - I hope today is May 24th. May I join those being pleased you are back home @SlimLizzy not withstanding the mice and grass issues. How public spirited of Mr Slim to step up during the COVID struggle and hopefully now he will enjoy retirement. @geefull I'm glad the plumbing and meal went well. Another fine example of your artistic skills for us to enjoy. @dunelm the catch up with your granddaughter must have been good. I hope her exams go well and the next phase of her journey is all she hopes for. @Krystyna23040 the walk around Sherringham Park sounds wonderful, we really must go as I like Sherringham. Pity about missing the sausage roll on initial scan but the sandwich sounds lovely. He is a lucky man. Oh, my fbg on Swipey was 5.1 @ 5.58 rising to 5.6 by 7.26 after a hearty breakfast of Assam. Two days of oddish meals and timings thereof due to downsizing declutter. Probably two more skips and a good deal of discussion to go then settle and look around for the next downshift. TTFN sorry @alf_Josiah.

 

[lindisfel]

Good morning everyone from a bright and sunn stat to the day here in the dark and dangerous north.
The wonder wheel of a late lunch of mussels came in at 4.6 this am

Late catch up lunch with our eldest Granddaughter. It’s her last day at school this week - she has three exams to complete and then this forgotten year will be leaving. She will be back after half term to do prep work for college but then as a civilian.

Invites are going out this week for the number 10 wedding so board up your letter boxes. MP’s quizzing the quisling - the not to miss saga written by those nice folk at Spitting Image in collaboration with Sir Humphrey. The whole thing will be shown as a cartoon by Disney featuring Road Runner, Wyle E, Coyote and Elmer Fudd.

Another little landscape today. Took my eye off the ball a bit so just stopped. Hope everyone has a very pleasant Monday. I now need some koffy.

View attachment 49568

Very funny! Rasputin's back, he really likes the lady pm.

 

[dunelm]

Fbg 6.5

A very pink dawn and sunrise this morning.

I watched it for about an hour just drinking coffee. I couldn't get on with my painting on my pixel phone because I had forgotten to recharge it and it was dead as a doornail this morning.

Oh, by the way, Mrs Blackbird is now in the process of making nest number 5. And it is in the clematis on top of my willow arbour. She has obviously got the first lot of twigs, for this new nest, from somewhere else other than my thatch, because that is now covered with army camouflage material. And she is obviously lining the nest number 5 now, because she is taking out the mud and leaves out of the round holes in my horse rubber mats (the ground in front of my camouflaged thatch swing is always damp and the sun rarely reaches it and consequently I have slipped frequently, so at the equestrian store I saw these rubber mats for horses stables so I got some, they have a very good grip for my feet).

So, Mrs Blackbird is doing a very good job of cleaning out all the gunge that has gathered over the winter in these holes, so these rubber mats will now have a good grip again for my feet.

Finally my Pixel phone recharged, so I was able to do this morning's painting in ZenBrush3. It took me over an hour to do do. I have to be honest, I thought by doing digital paintings on my tiny pixel phone screen (2 inches by 3 inches ish), would be quicker to do than on my large iPad screen. But that's not the case. It takes pretty much the same amount of time on each device whether the screen is small or large.

Have a good day.

View attachment 49569

EDIT: I have just viewed this painting on my large iPad, and I have to say I'm much prefer viewing this painting, on my small tiny pixel screen, the same size as it was painted in. I am assuming that a lot of us are probably looking at these posts on our smaller phone screens first thing in the morning. So this is making me wonder if I should paint on the small tiny phone screen in future. Because I'm guessing that a lot of us do not use laptops anymore. We probably still have them but we don't use them all that often. Maybe I'm wrong. My old netbook is still Windows 8, and I haven't used that in years, I don't know if it will charge up anymore. But I keep it just in case I need to use it. So perhaps I ought to dig it out from wherever it is....

Splendid. Drifting by the willows - I am viewing it on my IPad and it looks great. the colours and how they are blended works very well. Love the detail in the willow tree. Note: just looked at it on my phone. The colours are more compacted but it looks pretty much the same - mind you my phone has a large screen.

 

[ianpspurs]

@gennepher lovely blackbird story and amazing skill to produce that artwork on a small device. @Muddy Cyclist 5 bean salad - a thing of beauty and sorely missed by myself. @karen8967 you too enjoy today and another great fbg - no jelly babies for a while must be a relief. Who have I missed this time?

 

[alf_Josiah]

Good Morening Ladies and Gentlemen and all who skipped the light fandango.

A 6.3 this morning on that scheming meter of deception and plotting.

Nice paintings, pictures and tales of adventure today.
I'm not sure what today has planned for me and me's, but Mrs J will have an input.
Hmm just for a change I might dress up as a traffic warden and issue fake parking tickets at all the bus stops in town, then maybe not, who knows and who cares me and me's don't.
Remember the stays and a special mention for @ianpspurs BFN, he knows I hate TLA's and also FLA's. TTFN .

 

[gennepher]

Splendid. Drifting by the willows - I am viewing it on my IPad and it looks great. the colours and how they are blended works very well. Love the detail in the willow tree. Note: just looked at it on my phone. The colours are more compacted but it looks pretty much the same - mind you my phone has a large screen.

Thank you @dunelm

I have noticed in the past when I have done a painting on the iPad, and it looks good on the iPad, when I view it on my small phone screen, it looks awful.

 

[gennepher]

@gennepher lovely blackbird story and amazing skill to produce that artwork on a small device. @Muddy Cyclist 5 bean salad - a thing of beauty and sorely missed by myself. @karen8967 you too enjoy today and another great fbg - no jelly babies for a while must be a relief. Who have I missed this time?

Thanks @ianpspurs

 

[Krystyna23040]

Two days of oddish meals and timings thereof due to downsizing declutter. Probably two more skips

Doesn't it feel good to get rid of the clutter.

 

[Muddy Cyclist]

@Muddy Cyclist 5 bean salad - a thing of beauty and sorely missed by myself.

Indeed it is, but sadly I was only allowed one table spoon full.

 

[Muddy Cyclist]

Good morning everyone from a bright and sunn stat to the day here in the dark and dangerous north.
The wonder wheel of a late lunch of mussels came in at 4.6 this am

Late catch up lunch with our eldest Granddaughter. It’s her last day at school this week - she has three exams to complete and then this forgotten year will be leaving. She will be back after half term to do prep work for college but then as a civilian.

Invites are going out this week for the number 10 wedding so board up your letter boxes. MP’s quizzing the quisling - the not to miss saga written by those nice folk at Spitting Image in collaboration with Sir Humphrey. The whole thing will be shown as a cartoon by Disney featuring Road Runner, Wyle E, Coyote and Elmer Fudd.

Another little landscape today. Took my eye off the ball a bit so just stopped. Hope everyone has a very pleasant Monday. I now need some koffy.

View attachment 49568

Good you caught up with grandaughter, treasures indeed.

There are some many great unfinished masterpieces in this world, paintings, music, books and poetry. Oils your painting today become one of them, looks good to me.

 

[Muddy Cyclist]

Two art things from me on this strange wet day indoors. Never got out on bike got bogged down with letters and emails to MP about Choirs singing indoors.
Started another Tryfan Painting as the friends requesting it want it more moody and atmospheric like my Cader Idris in the mist. Have not got far as I was listening to a YouTube lecture at the same time, brain didn't multitask so well.
I have also started the A1 layout of my Mountain Bike Rider Commission. Did lots of small sketches of a Mountain Biker, I had to grid it up and draw a larger grid on the canvas to get the lines in the correct position.

A moodier Tryfan in the mist, I hope...

Pencilled in A1 acrylic painting....

The bumps you can see are because I have overpainted an existing painting on this canvas.

 

[gennepher]

Two art things from me on this strange wet day indoors. Never got out on bike got bogged down with letters and emails to MP about Choirs singing indoors.
Started another Tryfan Painting as the friends requesting it want it more moody and atmospheric like my Cader Idris in the mist. Have not got far as I was listening to a YouTube lecture at the same time, brain didn't multitask so well.
I have also started the A1 layout of my Mountain Bike Rider Commission. Did lots of small sketches of a Mountain Biker, I had to grid it up and draw a larger grid on the canvas to get the lines in the correct position.

A moodier Tryfan in the mist, I hope...
View attachment 49581
Pencilled in A1 acrylic painting....
View attachment 49580
The bumps you can see are because I have overpainted an existing painting on this canvas.

A moody beginning for Tryfan @Muddy Cyclist
It is going well...

 

[Muddy Cyclist]

A moody beginning for Tryfan @Muddy Cyclist
It is going well...

Thanks, not totally sure about the sky, dark enough yes but I feel it needs a stronger burst of light, maybe mist will provide it.

 

[ianpspurs]

Doesn't it feel good to get rid of the clutter.

I always have mixed feelings and we - my good lady and myself- find it hard to agree on what is clutter and what is indispensable. Skip rage is a thing.

 

[SlimLizzy]

Thanks Slim lizzy,
Ah, so that exposed surface with a beam exposed is part of the external render?

I thought my house walls were thick with c.2 feet of sandstone.
D.

The wall shown is internal in original condition, granite with a concrete rendering. MrSlim plans to panel over it. The floor tiles are new. The rodents apparently gained access through the small gap between the two. Bucket of concrete should fix that.
However Errant has no interest in these visible holes, he wants to investigate behind the cooker and a tiny gap behind a kitchen unit...

 

[geefull]

good evening all

4.6 today

it chucked it down with rain again this morning, mr gee is fed up of all the rain this month. the grass just starts to dry up and it rains again

We got a village walk in between the showers this afternoon though trying out a lc coating for frying chicken today. It was quite tasty but pretty messy to get it ready, don't know if I could be bothered with the faffing very often

Hope your day is treating you well

@SlimLizzy - glad you're back safely though it looks like a lot of work. I agree that owls are messy, there was one roosting in the shed at mum's last year for a couple of weeks.

@dunelm - interesting composition, it works well whether you think it's finished or not I especially like the tree in the foreground

@gennepher - fine boatman picture, I like the colours and the tree foliage is lovely, very effective. Well done even though you were working so small

@Muddy Cyclist - Paper prices (and sizes!), are a thing aren't they I didn't get much in A4 size (just the Bockingford), some is quarter imperial and I usually cut it in half (so 11 inches by 7.5 inches), the Hahnemuhle Britannia I got is 10 by 12 in. ( so 10 by 6 inches cut in half), but I think I would get 16 x 12 in. if I reorder.
Does A4 carry a premium because it's not a good match for the manufactured sizes? Where I usually order my paints Arches 300gsm is £26.70 for 5 full sheets (cut to 20 quarter imperial sheets) with possible discount for ordering more than 1 pack.

I'm liking that moody sky for Tryphan 2 very much, a good start and the sketch for that A1 acrylic looks interesting, I look forward to seeing the progression, I haven't ever used acrylic myself

art bit -
based on a rather glowering photo I saw on the internet, lots of low cloud painted on Fabriano studio paper.