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

Morning (really afternoon now)...spent most of yesterday lounging on the sofa watching Netflix & enjoyed the whole day...so good not to be waiting on phone calls or being in virtual interviews making representations...happy to be working of course but even virtual work can be exhausting...a beautiful sunny day here another coffee then it's hair & eyebrow day... cats have been persuaded to go out for some fresh air...a little peace & quiet...woke to a 6.5...keep safe everyone.
 
Getting hot so glad I slipped out early for bike ride. Finished the Metal Bridge Painting, visited it again today on my bike it must have been impressive when it once also crossed the River Trent. The Anson family of Shugbourgh apparently built it so they could go to church in their Carriage, too high and mighty to walk over the Packhorse bridge. Still it leaves a good heritage of early Iron work and those amazing engineers of the past. Unlock my unamazing rushed attempt of the bridge railings the real ones are very uniformed.

Watercolour, A4 not as abstract as I would have liked but not unhappy with the final result, might try it again in oils which I can befreer with as I use a palate knife to apply them.

Daughter about to arrive so a afternoon of chatter, music making, laughter and coffee, maybe some wine for me out of tonic water so no Gin and Tonnics, disaster!

PS meant to say, I was very,very,very tempted to put one of @gennepher china men in a boat going under the bridge, took a lot of resisting, bizarre, I must be cracking up.
 

I like the final result with this painting. The ironwork is good. Those ironwork bridges are very detailed and regimented.

I can see a man in a punt with his lady friend with an umbrella coming into view round that bend....

 
Trying to paint butterflies in ZenBrush2 app.
I am watching their dances midair, around the Buddleia bush.
My first attempt is two heffalump butterflies...


My second attempt is not much better...

 
gennepher said:
Trying to paint butterflies in ZenBrush2 app.
I am watching their dances midair, around the Buddleia bush.
My first attempt is two heffalump butterflies...
View attachment 42626

My second attempt is not much better...

View attachment 42627
Click to expand...
The elusive ethereal beauty of a Butterfly, you were brave to attempt to capture that with the Zen app and fingers for your tools. Great effort even if you feel they are more like Jumbo which of course they are not, well done for having ago.
 
Think how the Anson's must have suffered through not walking to church. They would have been perished in church in the winters of the little ice age!

 
Muddy Cyclist said:
The elusive ethereal beauty of a Butterfly, you were brave to attempt to capture that with the Zen app and fingers for your tools. Great effort even if you feel they are more like Jumbo which of course they are not, well done for having ago.
Click to expand...
Thank you @Muddy Cyclist
They felt like the worst drawings I have done. I was watching delicate and ethereal butterflies. But I was unable to capture that.
 
good evening all

4.5 this morning

Well, the 'yorkshire' curdish tart pudding went down ok, though I cheated and added ice cream and fresh raspberries don't think I'll bother keeping the rest of the pot of cottage cheese though

it started off quite cool here today but by the time we got to mum's it had warmed up so we ate lunch in her garden very quiet and pleasant.

Hope your day is treating you kindly


@gennepher - I think your butterflies have a fluidity that works well, they must be a difficult subject to capture I imagine your Buddleia flowers have also a nice three dimensionality.

@Muddy Cyclist - I like the finished painting, though it is different in feel to the earlier stage you posted. The lacy ironwork is very effective as is the foreground foliage. I shall be interested to see the differences working with oil if you decide to go ahead It's always interesting to me to see the earlier and later stages as you work on a paiinting.

Today's arty bit -
still working on using the resist I have, I can see how it could be useful, I am worried about damaging the paper surface though, perhaps newer formulations would be less 'gluey'.
 
I envy the way you can keep those watercolour paints so transparent and the details in those hills,once again excellent.
I steer clear of resist fluid as much as possible. For sea and clouds I either miss the area when painting or quickly dab it out with a stiff wet brush and kitchen roll.
 
lindisfel said:
Think how the Anson's must have suffered through not walking to church. They would have been perished in church in the winters of the little ice age!
Click to expand...
They would have also been perished in Shugbourgh Hall I'm sure. Some years ago I did some work for a family who still live in their ancestral home of 800 years. They Lived in a very small room by the kitchen, their mansion had 33 bedrooms and sat in a Capability Brown Landscape, this room was the only place in the house that was warm. On winter afternoons the owners wife would drive around for hours in their car just to get warm the Ansons would certainly not have had heat in their carriage, home or church.
 
Seeing our daughter and youngest grandaughter was a pleasure, but social distancing certainly slipped as grandaughter wanted us to playtea parties, daughter was getting very stressed. These are difficult times with difficult decisions, I am 70 if very lucky may have 30 years, probably less. Virus is around for a long time, nothing is getting safer and I want to enjoy my life, spend time with family and friends, play music, do gigs, places to see and enjoy, live life. Don't get me wrong I respect the virus and wish to respect society but life needs to go on and so more and more risk assessing and living, what use a lot of years if I'm locked away, and yes I am terrified of getting the virus and being very ill or worse, what a mess.

I have a friend who did several gigs a week with his group before lockdown. Today he managed to do an afternoon gig in a pub gardens, ticket only event and only him and his bass player. He was so happy, brilliant, I just hope the audience were sensible and respectful of one another. There are ways we can move foreword but they must be different.
 

Thank you for the compliment @geefull
I am still practicing those elusive butterflies......

Your hills and their detail are amazing.

The masking fluid is working well. When I showed my art group how to use masking stuff, the first thing I tried with them (I hadn’t a clue what I was doing!) was masking tape torn into stone shaped pieces, to make a stone wall. Then with the masking fluid, I suggested using cocktail sticks to draw with it, or use those ‘rubber’ ended brushes you blend pastels with.

I personally found it messy work. But what I do use is those white correction pens (some are better than others) for the waves on a watercolour, or pastel. For a white ironwork gate (as in a couple of castles not far from here), I have done the background trees quite dark, then used the white correction pen to scribble an impression of the wrought iron gates.

There are different makes of masking fluid (or were last time a bought it), so each would be a bit different. Before lockdown I ordered a resist pen off Amazon. I might have bought more resist stuff, I think I did. It/they came, but where it/they went, I have no idea. If I find it/them in this Tardis, I will try it/them and let you know...
 
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