Into the Highlands

Last week I went to an informal job interview at Braemar Castle. Not sure if anything will come of it, but an amazing drive out into the Highlands through wild, lonely countryside. 

This is the castle which sits just outside the village. It is an astonishing, gaunt, fortified structure backed by weather torn hills. Inside it is a maze of spiral stairs, tiny dark rooms, and unexpectedly domestic spaces, quite liveable until you look out to the hills. An unforgettable and evocative place.

I tried to capture all that with lots of wet on wet ink here. I think my art class is really helping with loosening up my work and making me more experimental.

Beautiful Blairs

I have recently started volunteering at Blairs Museum. The museum is just south of Aberdeen set in rolling countryside. The buildings include the remains of a C18th mansion, a stunning chapel and a Victorian Seminary School, pictured here. It is a fascinating place to work with a little known but hugely important collection of art, religious relics and historical objects. 

2018 Projects

So we are back in Aberdeen after our big London adventure. And I am currently unemployed so need to structure my life with some projects:

Trying different work: I am currently volunteering at a museum of Catholic history, working on an art exhibition. I'm really enjoying it and learning about working with images, structuring an exhibition etc.

Reading projects: I am missing the art in London so will be doing lots of art reading. Also trying to see as many arty things as possible, I am currently finding and photographing urban art. I also got to love walking in London and here there is the bonus of the countryside so will be reading about landscapes, the countryside, walking and will be illustrating landscapes. I have recently got back into knitting so will be reading on that. Suggestions needed for a fiction or history reading project!

Fashion projects: I did not buy anything in the sales! And I got rid of two binbags of clothes to Oxfam. In 2018 I will be spending less on clothes and trying to assemble an intelligent and high quality wardrobe, rather than impulse buying weird stuff all the time.

Social projects: we have joined a gaming club, which meets in a gothic themed pub on tuesday nights, and will be using shopping money saved to eat out more. This week in our favourite local restaurant, Maggie's Grill.

Food projects: Inspired by me and Leen's themed dinners I am working through my cookbooks. First up Gastronomy of Italy by Anna del Conte. So far beef stew with spices, lamb and potato stewand spaghetti with tomato and bacon have all been delicious. I also plan to do foods of Poland and Ukraine later.

Architectural Dundee

A lot of people seem to think that Dundee is an ugly and unappealling city. Having lived there for many years I can definitely refute that. I was in Dundee for a few days over the holidays and spotted one of my favourite buildings; the Tower Pharmacy on Perth Road. 

This is an extremely interesting circular building which dates in its details from the C18th, but due to it's strategic site and unusual shape I think may be much older and possibly based on the early fortifications of the city. Huge blocks of masonry survive at the back of the tower. Skeletons have been discovered under the tower from the medieval hospital that stood here.

There is a crescent moon on the top, This is a muslim or Saracen symbol installed by a sea captain, Morgan, who lived here.

January Birds

I spotted these two little birds in a lovely shrub which was flowering without leaves. The one on the left is a robin and on the right a coal tit maybe? I looked at them for a bit as a break from heaving some boxes of crockery down the stairs to take to the charity shop. Unpacking includes clearing out of so far: three binbags of clothes, four boxes of kitchen equipment and two boxes of books. The flat is so weirdly clean and tidy and newly decorated I am trying to not cram it like a junk shop.