Life Update

It is Friday afternoon and two hours ago I finished my first working week in over five months. As blogs are so public I will not go into what I do where, it's more to let my readers know my change in situation. I'm glad of it. It is nice to have an income again that I earned myself, rather than have one handed to me by the government. It also adds a structure to my life that I believe will force me to make more effective choices in my free time.

The drawback is that since last night, my back is once again very sore, and I must presume that all the longterm sitting at work is responsible for this. I contacted an osteopath I have seen before but due to a history with a herniated disc, he does not feel confident that whatever he can do will have a positive effect. And I would so love to get my back sorted out so I can do everything from sitting at work to an active day outdoors without having to worry when my pain is going to ruin my concentration or my fun.

Another effect of being back at work is that it really makes me think about the future. When I was on my own for most of the time, I did my own thing whenever I wanted, which allowed for much more living in the moment. Now I see people around me from all walks of life and it makes me thing about what I can do and what I want to do. I am very insecure: if I hear of one person failing at something I have not done before, I become convinced that I too will fail. It's a very irrational thought because although I have certainly failed where others have succeeded, I have more often succeeded where many have failed. I passed my driving test the first time, got my degree in the three years that are in it, roasted a perfect Turkey last Christmas and have many other achievements and talents under my belt. My husband says I can do anything I put my mind to and he may not be 100% right but when I really apply myself, I do not tend to fail. I also have to believe that when I do my best and I fail, the situation was not right for me, rather than me not being right for it. As Einstein said: "Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will spend its entire life thinking it is stupid". And I am still searching for that perfect fit, that water to my fish. Currently I am considering graphic design as I hope it could provide me with a career that combines the stability of working for a company with the creative outlet of art and design. I also like the idea of publishing: I love to edit, in fact I can't help but edit when I see a grammar or spelling error. Perhaps technical writing or translations (being bilingual helps here) are options to consider. Other things I love are art, animals and products. Hopefully the situation will present itself when I am ready. For now I can develop myself in my current job. I would just like to work toward something.

But the next best thing is looking forward toward something! This week my husband and I booked a B&B in Bath, a place we have been before, but this time will be different. Instead of flying, which I hate, we will be taking the car across the Irish sea by ferry which will provide us with unlimited freedom in what we want to see! Glastonbury town, Exmoor and Exmoor Zoo, the Cotswolds and many other sights are on the cards. There is something about the area of the UK I just love so I am convinced it is going to be fantastic.

  Our holiday is not until October though so there is a lot of time to fill in Ireland! There are a few festival I want to attend around the country and I'd really like to be a bit more social. My unemployment made me something of a hermit and made me intolerant towards people but being part of a team again has made me realise that I can enjoy the company of people and people enjoy my ocmpany in turn. I just need a bit of a push.

I expect that from next week I will want to go out and be seen and smelled because I have a Lush Cosmetics order on the way, courtesy of my dear husband! It includes mascara, lip colour, a shower gelly, and two bath items AND a bottle of shower gel for the mister himself. All the items I am getting will be my first time using them, so I will definitely review them here as part of my cruelty free lifestyle.

The last thing I want to talk about it my art. Spring has sprung in Ireland and I am feeling heavily inspired by bird song and flowers. I am thinking a brightly coloured Art Nouveau or stained glass style piece with snowdrops and long tailed tits.

But for now I am going to give myself a much needed manicure with a neutral polish by Elysambre. Hopefully I will update again soon with some images.

Thanks for reading!
Dutchess

Green Parrot

Another painting, digital this time. Done in Painter 11. I love pretty birds!

"Life" drawing in and around Galway

As someone who has lived in Galway City, Ireland for over 5 years and loves to draw, I thought it would be nice to make a list of the places I like to go to draw. I am hoping it will be useful for visiting artists or local artists looking for some new spots to be inspired by.
I like to draw that which lives, people, animals, plants and trees and drawing from life is good practise. Of course drawing people, plants and trees can be found all over so I am dedicating this post to good spots for drawing animals.

1. The zoology corridor, NUIG Galway.
Located on the university campus and free to visit, this is a great place to draw a variety of animals from "life". I use the word life loosely because all the animals here are dead and subjected to taxidermia. This is great for those less accustomed with life drawing as the animals clearly never move a muscle but you can still observe them from different angles, something you do not get with drawing from a single photo. There's a great variety of animals to choose from and I can spend hours there. The only disadvantage is that they are only open 9.30AM-5PM Mon-Fri so if you are otherwise occupied during office hours, you don't get much opportunity to go there.

2. Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland.
Overlooking the popular Galway Promenade in Salthill, the aquarium is a fantastic place to draw fish from life. The aquariums inside are filled with local sealife like fish, rays and sharks as well as some less local beings, including piranha fish. There are a good few chairs and benches to sit down with a sketchbook and the landscaping in the aquariums makes for a lovely complete picture to draw. It is not free but take a look at the website for the admission fees and membership deal.

3. The Burren Birds of Prey Centre.
Not in Galway but about an 50 minute drive away in the neighbouring county Clare, this is a wonderful place to visit with the purpose of drawing the animals. They are a zoo/sanctuary specifically for birds of prey, such as owls, hawks, falcons and eagles. These animals don't waste engery on needless moving around so while not sitting as still as my deceased friends at the university, you still get plenty of opportunity to capture a pose.

Another place worthy of note is the Natural History Museum in Dublin, this place is like the zoology corridor but bigger. It's a little eerie but I love it there.

Ireland also has a variety of zoos that are worth looking up but I have no experience drawing in them. I hope this short list is useful for people who love to portray animals that find themselves in the West of Ireland at any point.

Grumpy Phoenix

I am just taking some time to re upload stuff from my Tumblr as my blogs with photos did not exactly come through the best. Here's an oil painting I did of a phoenix recently. Taking photos of oil painting is hard!

Deserting Tumblr for Blogger

I just created this additional Blogspot page to separate my  more random posts from my portfolio blog. So far I have been using Tumblr for this but commenting on blogs doesn't always seem an option with them and I expect to find a slightly more mature crowd here.

I am passionate about animals and have recently started on the road to a cruelty free lifestyle in terms of what I eat and cosmetics so a lot of my posts will probably be about that. My other interests include art (mainly illustration), literature, film and TV, hiking and other outdoor pursuits, spirituality and a lot of other stuff that does not immediately come to mind. So this blog will probably be a bit of a mashup ranging from shouting principles from my imaginary soapbox to downright geeky fangirling but I will try to keep it as coherent and well written as possible with plenty of pics, or it didn't happen.

I would welcome some tips on the following:
- Who to follow on here with similar interests what I mention up here.
- Good video instructions on how to pimp your blogspot, as coding and anything of that nature is very far from my thing.

Now to see if this works to import my Tumblr posts to this blog. Good luck to me!