Review of 2005

This is a Caroline-centred review of 2005

• January - the whole world was reeling after the Boxing Day tsunami. The Macaroni Penguins did a charity gig. I got the Dream Oracle and also some Dream cards - this stimulated more recall of dreams than usual.


• February - we went to a murder mystery supper - Jim turned out to be the murderer and I was the only one to solve it! But the best part was dressing up for it in '60s clothes.


• March - there was a police chase through our garden - the chap they were chasing dropped a disposable camera in our rhubarb patch - the police took this away - later some more people came looking for the camera - we never did find out what was on it!


• April - the Pope's funeral was followed next day by Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla; exactly a week later I was at a funeral one day and at a wedding the next... (the only funeral and wedding of 2006 that I went to).


• May - one morning I was in Bristol and up early - a double decker bus was charging along the bus lane and hit the lamp post next to me - I was showered with glass! Uncut but very shocked.


• June - we discover a lovely, but expensive, farm shop - Daylesford Organics


• July - London bombs, plus the police execution in cold blood of someone who turns out to be innocent make me even less inclined to visit the capital again


• August - we move back into our house in Bristol


• September - I start blogging - the first blog I mention is Nan's heron's snag (see my posting of Sept 4th) (I also mention a knitting blog that I've not followed since).


• October - I get Painter IX and an A5 Intuos3 tablet - there's no stopping me now!


• November - I try to put borders round some of my pictures but I find them quite hard to deal with!


• December - I get a new camera and start to play with it!

If I could put in a few wishes for 2006, they would include less incidents that involve the police, and more hilarious dreams please!

Happy New Header!

And as 2005 comes to a close, I'm celebrating the beginning of the new year with a new banner.

So this is goodbye to the old:



And helllo to the new:



Happy New Year to you all!

All around the houses!

My first panorama using Canon's PhotoStitch software.... 10 photographs of the tops of the houses - ours is the last magnolia one before the grey ones.

The software suggested a crop that didn't show any of the jagged edges but that didn't leave much in the middle!

And this is my second:



Which gives you (almost) the other 180 degrees of the view!

Illustration Friday - Flavour

This is what happened after playing with a picture of fruit...

New Camera!

After over a year of saving and pondering what I need I've finally bought my own digital camera - which means Jim will be able to use his again :-)

I got a Canon 350D which came with a standard zoom (I went for the USM version) and I also got a macro lens, so now I'm looking at things in detail...

And as the rain is pouring down today I'm glad I wasn't hoping to go out and take lots of landscapes (yet).

What sorts of things, apart from fruit and flowers, do you think I should try looking closely at with my new camera and lens?

Lee (and blogging)

I've had various prompts to do this post, not least an out of the blue email from Lee's sister saying hello and asking where the web page I'd done for Lee had gone...

Lee was an incredible sky diver but she died following a mid-air collision in April 2003. By then she had moved from Bristol to California then on to Australia. As I wasn't well enough to regularly use the computer for email through much of this time I'd had little contact with her since 1996. However her death was a real blow to me and I grieved her loss fully.

One of the consolations I had was discovering a blogger who mentioned her. She had never met Lee but worked with her.

I made Lee a web page despite the fact that it made me quite ill to do so. And the idea of one day doing my own blog was planted.

There is another page dedicated to her and looking at it today I noticed that there was a picture of her with a Marilyn Monroe statue so I thought I'd do a variation on the Andy Warhol Marilyn pictures for her.

For those of you interested in Andy Warhol, whilst looking for references I found a page where you can play with the Marilyn image yourself.

My biggest regret is that I did not go to see Lee whilst she was in Australia. She'd written to tell me she had one of my paintings on her wall but I couldn't picture her properly... and so my resolution for 2006 is to go and see those people young or old whom I value in my life.

What resolutions are you making?

Transformation

I feel that this one is about transformation but that's all. Any ideas?

Early bird

I woke early this morning and was compelled to draw. Having drawn I scanned then played with them in Painter IX. This and the next posting were the results. Any suggestions about what they might mean is welcome.

Plum

See my new pet, Plum, in the sidebar. Move your mouse to see what she does!

First found at Sultry Painter Woman's Journal to a Muse.

They have other animals too. These are pets that you can have just for Christmas!

Illustration Friday - Holiday

Wishing you all the best, however you do, or do not, celebrate at this time of year!

Thank you to everyone from Illustration Friday and all the bloggers who come by - for all your comments and encouragement. Its been great seeing your entries/postings too!

Thank you to all the others as well - the silent ones. Please feel free to carry on looking, whether or not you wish to comment.