The locals

I like to indulge in animal photography when given the opportunity and wanted to share some pictures of some of the locals.

Escapism

This is the view from my sitting room window right now:

 

It looks pretty nice and normally it is but the rain and wind don't come out in the photo. For that and so many other reasons I could really do with a trip away. It is absolutely not an option right now but sometimes dreaming about where to go can be just as nice. So I reckon blogging a holiday wishlist will give me something to look forward to. So here goes, in order of achievability:

Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland. One of the few places in this country I have not even come close to visiting yet. I hear fantastic things about Dingle as well as its surrounding countryside. And I really want to see Fungi the dolphin while he is still within this plain of existence.

Castlefest, Lisse, The Netherlands. Or really any other medieval fantasy festival in my home country! The costumes, the music, the mead...magic. It is in August so gods willing, I might be able to go this year.

Dartmoor, Co. Devon, United Kingdom. Speaking of magic, look at this tree! Just one of the things the mysterious Dartmoor has to offer. Its zoo, its ponies, its plains, its forests...I wanna go there so bad.

The Black Forest, Germany. Forests are pretty much my favourite kind of place and I would love to again visit a large one. I have never paid my home land's biggest neighbour a proper visit and I think the Black Forest would be the perfect way to change that.

Scandinavia and Finland. Particularly an Ice Hotel in one of those places. It just looks so...cool!

Transylvania, Romania. North and East Europe are still decidedly undiscovered by me. Transylvania just looks so beautiful and it tickles my imagination. There is a place to stay that has an actual count for a host!

New Zealand. Middle-Earth itself. It's the dream. I don't even know that much about the place because I think too much research would make the want to go there unbearable. Typing it into Google Images speaks for itself.

So there we have it. The list I will turn to when I'm in the mood for daydreaming.

"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.

What am I eating?

I am unemployed at the moment so my husband and I try to be as frugal as possible without sacrificing our principles. We refuse to eat meat (or animal products like eggs) that has been raised in the terrible conditions of the intensive farming industry. Now living in Ireland, we have come to understand that the conditions of cows in this country are quite good so we feel fairly comfortable eating beef. Because of our financial condition we have bought packs of frozen beef burgers at Lidl the last two weeks, and we supplement this with fish and vegetarian meals. But yesterday it has come to light that in a lot of the burgers in a variety of Irish supermarkets including Lidl traces of horse and pig have been discovered.

I guess I have been naive to think that it would be safe to eat cheap burgers. Ignoring the warnings about processed meats for the sake of money was downright stupid. Reading this has only strengthened my resolve to increase my vegetarian intake and supplement this with occasional meat and poultry from actually reputable sources like the meat stall at the local market. Learn more here.

Knowing what you eat is important!

The Cliffs of Moher

I am taking this opportunity to put a face to the name. The hubby and I went out hiking at the beautiful Cliffs Of Moher yesterday and as usual I took a few photos.

Eating Out at Creole

For our 5 year anniversary Mr. Dutchess and I went to a grill place called Creole in our hometown of Galway, Ireland.  We had an absolutely gorgeous meal. But vegetarian it was not and at that time my cruelty free consciousness was not yet spreading as far as eating out. That has changed but I would still really love to go back to this restaurant. So when they put up their specials last night, I left a comment asking about where they source their meat, particularly their chicken and pork as cows and sheep are most often free range in Ireland.

Here’s their reply:

@Linda. Pork from collerans. Chicken usually from the friendly farmer. But he’s off for two weeks. Back to free range then. In six months Dan the chef will hopefully have the first of his own free range saddleback pigs for the restaurant. Lots of bbq pork then. 

I am reasonably impressed by their answer. The Friendly Farmer I know to be reputable and cruelty free in its animal rearing. Shame they’re not looking for free range alternatives while he isn’t working but to be fair, he is not exactly one of many. I am not familiar with Collerans, a quick Google search does not tell me much about their policies on cruelty free meat but they do seem to have a good name around here. The fact that the chef rears his down pigs at least inspires the notion that he is conscious of the issues surrounding meat rearing.

For now I am way too broke to go out to eat anywhere but hopefully by the time the chef’s pigs are all set I will be back in a job.