Random thoughts

No not mine - you lot!

I've been mostly absent from LJ the last two weeks and there's been a creativity explosion on my flist. Vids from Vividcon and Art and such. What a busy lot you've been. It'll take me a while to look at them all though.

Busy blowing up the washing machine with the holiday washing. My creativity will have to wait.

I've spent the entire day doing laundry in the wake of the holiday.  The kittehs were pleased to see us and there was little destruction which was a pleasant surprise.

We had a fab time. A little rain on one day in Paris (not cool when it's an open top bus) but a dry hot spell in Tuscany which involved much holding down of sun loungers around the pool.  I listened to part of an audio book read by you-know-who and loved every minute of it (like having your brain carressed by a velvet glove- damn he has a mighty fine voice).  Couldn't really keep up internet wise as the connection was too slow to tumbl

We caught some of the Olympic and tried to watch the closing ceremony with a very enthusiastic Italian commentary. I'm hoping to either iplayer some of it or get links somewhere. We did rather well.   Anyhoo whilst we were away Avengers 2 news was announced, and whilst I am pleased beyond measure about the Joss Marvel deal,  part of me now fears the demise of any of my favourite characters.  Fandom wise I'm in a real slump. I have art to do for a Con in about 4 weeks and a new Loki sketch that I want to finish. I also desperately want to start vidding but don't feel right. I actually started a vid back in July and stopped it after 10 seconds which is a first for me. Not sure I even want to continue with that project just yet, I feel distracted right now and can't see it changing any time soon which makes me a little sad.

It's amazing how much for granted I took living near London.  A 20 minute train ride and you'd be there. Now we have to jaunt to the rellies and stay over night. This Easter El nagged us to go to London - she's been several times before but remembers little of it, so we have to revisit some places.  Top of her list was Madame Tussauds. Then Science Museum and anything else we could fit in before we keeled over with exhaustion.


( Madame Tussauds  )

After lunch we staggered out and caught a River boat down to St Katherine's quay near Tower Bridge. I used to work near here many, many years ago, so I know this part of London quite well. Or did, more to the point. Of course in true British fashion the unseasonal warm weather ended just before the Easter break so it was a bit fresh.  Grabbed a pint at the Dickens Inn and walked back to the Tower Hill station.  That part was fairly enjoyable. A bit of sun would have made a world of difference.  Got a chance to see 'The Shard' near 'The Gherkin'  - just loving these names.


( Science Museum  )

The best trip of the whole holiday by quidditch pitch was the  Harry Potter Studio tour ! - I'd booked this the day the website opened last year and what a fantastic place. About the same price as Madame Tussauds but including a digital guide and Souvenir Book, it was far more enjoyable and none of the crush and hassle.  If you are a fan of the books/films and are interested in film making etc then I can highly recommend.  We're a family of HP geeks really. If we are passing a film location we'll stop and take photos and soak up the atmosphere. This place didn't disappoint.  My favourite sets were The Great Hall, Diagon Alley and Dumbledore's office but the others were charming too. So much detail and things to see. I could have really done with a two day pass and spread the experience, by the end of the day we were a little tired.  I wanted to spend so much more time just looking at every single tiny detail.  The scale model of Hogwarts is stunning and photos don't do it justice.






( Diagon Alley )


A nice touch at the end of the tour was the wand room (a bit like Ollivanders) Over 4000 wandboxes each labelled with the name of every single person who contributed to the 8 films.

I'm back.

Wonderful holiday, lots of lazing in the sun by the pool (melt! ) a sprinkling of wandering around medieval tuscan towns and cities,  and some much needed one on one time with my dear friend.   She really had an annus horribilus in 2008 and I found myself wishing that I wasn't so remote, so I could be more supportive. I think she has turned the corner now and have promised to keep in touch via email more often.

I did have limited internet access so I would briefly check emails but didn't have time to respond to lj things other than to scan posts briefly. I did notice that there are a whole swathe of new VVC vids from my flist that I want to watch.  I am looking forward to those  - One that I did manage to see when I was away and I can recommend to any vidder/fan/browncoat/ Firefly fan isbradcpu and laurashapiro  collaboration 'Hard Sun'.   This works on many levels as a statement on fandom/vidding and the show. It's is beautiful, touching and should not be missed.

I also  read some very insightful/interesting  posts from my  flist  on the 'vidding fandom/community/ Vividcon' late last night - perhaps not the best idea as I was tired and there was a touch of 'huh?' as if I'd missed something -  but that aside  some interesting observations were made and it was good for getting those thinky thoughts going.(sorry, but that is about as descriptive as I can manage right now). And as for vidding  I will go back to the next vid project I was tweaking before holiday, it's Firefly to a brief song and hopefully I can rediscover the vidding momentum I had a month or so ago.   

I think I threatened to post some pics last year and for whatever reason it never happened. This year, my flist, you get a sneaky peak at the delights of Tuscany :D

As it was unbelievably hot this year (43 deg C)  and in Florence twice as busy we limited the amount of sightseeing - We revisited Florence and the Uffizi, found a less busy  Medieval  Fortified Town of Anghiari  (peaceful and very picturesque)  Lucca - the birthplace of Puccini,  the Ducati Factory at Bologna (Mecca for John) and Viareggio on the coast.   The rest of the time was spent lolling about by the pool, eating, sleeping and drinking. 

    Well you would be miffed if the pidgeons kept sittng on your head.....

Busy busy busy. Two more down and possibly three or four to go. Next is Badger, then the optimist in me will probably do Zoe, Book and then maybe another Mal., just in case there are any extra guests (Ok so Gina Torres is a very long shot but she is missing from the BDH line up). I can't think Summer will be there although I'd like to do another perhaps from Serenity.

( kaylee )
( Simon )

The bad news is my eyesight is definitely getting worse. I think come October I will need to invest in a pair just for close work because I am really struggling with the fine detail *sigh* - on the upside though you can't see the wrinkles developing so clearly.

Art tales from Italy ( Mates on a Train )

I so need some 'art' icons.

( Read more... )

ETA I have reworked Simons skintones and 12oclock stubble - he looked like Desperate Dan about to launch into a cowpie. Slightly better I think.

Well I'm back after a wonderful holiday - there'll be copious pic spam and tales of Medieval Villages to bore you all later.  I did get almost one sketch finished but still have a fair few to get done in less than three weeks (eek)

I'm feeling the cold back home and there is a tower of laundry/ironing that is leaning very much like one I saw in Pisa, although probably far more unstable and less architectually interesting.  The cat miaowed himself hoarse and made strange purry gerbling noises for the entire  first day back - I think because it was more than a week he probably thought we weren't ever coming home. Aww bless. He has also picked up a huge scrape on his noble little nose and many scabs from the fights he has been getting into.  Funny I really missed him this holiday.

I am listing things here mainly for my benefit as I feel if they are written down I stand more chance of doing them.

1. Cut the lawn - it's a jungle out there.
2. Washing
3. Ironing
4. Upload photos & camcorder footage
5. Start on sketches of:
'Badger'
'Kaylee'
 'Simon'
 'YoSaffBridg'
 'Zoe'
6. start panicking about the convention
7. Think about the vid for Soundtrack Vidding Project -  Play song and study lyrics.
8.Make new layout for LJ
9.email acrazywench

Well that was a blast. Considering how dire the weather was when we left, we had no rain all week and the holiday was fantastic. My daughter caught her first real wave on the bodyboard (you should have heard the screams of delight) and we ate disgusting amounts of cornish pasties and ice cream, and of course did not use enough suncream. Sand appears to have infiltrated everthing.

The laundry is all washed, however the ironing pile is threatening to landslide and take out the neighbouring village. I managed a whole week without a computer (no, not even a trip to an internet cafe - GO me! ) did no drawing, painting or thinking about vidding at all.

Now I'm back though hmm.... what first?

The header photograph is of Polzeath beach, North Cornwall.