Weddings, wasps and wabbits! (Day 201 - 210)

Day 201 - Cold water

The hardest thing about this blog is deciding on a title each time and I did consider calling it 'hint of a tint' this time as the cold water of the River Iorsa, ended up with a hint of a blue tint. But the air temperature was significantly higher and the wasps seem to be having a good summer.

Day 202 - When grey doesn't work

Coastguard training night and all the ropes were laid out in front of the station as the team went through some mock drills for cliff rescue.  The midges were fearsome and added a sense of urgency and intense irritation to add to the tension.  It was also the night for letting off the bright orange smoke flares that were at the end of their expiry term, so the grey smoke is really bright orange and was enough to bring the RNLI boat charging across the bay in the hope of a rescue requirement.

Day 203 - Carrie

Carrie is one of the Estate dogs and has a formidable bark when anyone arrives at the door, but she's really quite a sweetie and has been coming out for walks with my two mad spaniels this week while her master is away. But don't be totally fooled, she has been known to raid my handbag for dog treats when I've not bee looking.

Day 204 - Secret wedding

Today I had the pleasure of photographing a lovely couple at their secret wedding.  They had decided to avoid all the pressures of a big wedding and sneak away to get wed.  After a shocking start to the day, the sun came out for a lovely afternoon before the heavens opened again after we'd finished the photographs.

Day 205 - Wasp windowsill

I'm trying really hard to be environmentally friendly and apparently wasps are good.  But its hard when I have a nest in the roof space and these are some of the 100 dead bodies under my window as they have become trapped in the bedroom and baked in the sunshine.  Is it me or are there a lot of wasps this year?

Day 206 - Rabbit pie

 When the dogs go ballistic looking out of the window I expect to see a pheasant partaking of the bird food but instead got a surprise as this rabbit hopped around without a care in the world.  Poor Bowser was apoplectic with excitement.

Day 207 - Arran does Urban

Evening class night and another challenge for my students.  This time it was 'Arran does Urban' and we looked at buildings, plant and other industrial structures around Brodick - while I took in a view across the bay.

Day 208 - Ratty

 Apoplectic dog take two!  This time it was ratty come to feed alongside the birds.  But I have to say I'm not quite so tolerant of this rodent and the dogs were allowed to chase it away.

Day 209 - Marvin with one of his sculptures 'in progress'

 Marvin Elliott is a regular at the Arran Farmers Show demonstrating his skills at carving. I did go on one of his great 2 day courses, which was held at Brodick Castle last year and I know is a regular feature of the Rangers annual programme.

Day 210 - Landrover Safari

And today was another of the Arran Rangers service events, a photography land rover safari.  Yet again the weather stayed fine (actually quite sunny) and we managed to see an adder as well as the tremendous views up Glen Rosa.

177th Arran Farmers Society Show

Overhead Winner

I've been to many a farmers show, from small villages up to the the huge events held in Yorkshire and Lancashire.  I much prefer the smaller ones as I can see everything and not feel like I've stumbled into a large car boot sale!

Sheep pose for a photo

Arran's event is held every year on the first Wednesday in August.  Last year was a bit of a wash out but this year after an early morning shower it stayed dry and actually sunny in the afternoon.

One of the fine bulls on show

Marvin Elliott was sculpting with his chainsaw (see previous blog), COAST had a touchy feely tank full of sea creatures, the Forestry Commission and rangers were there along with the food stalls, beer tents, and the Douglas Cocktail bar!

Vintage tractor parade

 Vintage tractors paraded, the Arran pipe band played and there was a fantastic display by Duncan and Ali of the Clan cycle stunt team.

One of the birds from Arran bird of prey centre

Meanwhile the competitors vied for position showing off livestock, horsemanship and dog obedience! For those who wanted a dog agility course was available to try - you could even borrow a dog!  The overall winner was a Holstein cow, from Stewart Reid in Lamlash.

Sheep riding - not a competitive sport!

Butter churning, spinning & weaving and birds of prey were other attractions, not to mention sampling some of the local food and of course whisky!

The Clan cycle stunt team

But for me its the livestock that make the show, all the time that it takes to present the animals in tip top condition, coats groomed, horns and hooves oiled, and cattle trained to harness (although some made the odd bid for freedom).

One of the many horse competitors

More pictures can be seen here for The Clan Cycle Stunt Team and here for the Farmers Show.

Walking stick carving

To and from photographs

A few weeks ago I posted an article on photographing smoke not realising how this would go on to influence a totally new experience that I was going to undertake.  I regularly try to do something new, just for fun so I had booked a weekend with Brodick Castle rangers to have a go at wood carving. Never having picked up a wood chisel before it could be amusing (if not dangerous!).

The beginning 

The two day course was run by Marvin  Elliott who lives and works on Arran and has work in both public and private collections around the world.  His little studio sits opposite the harbour in the lovely village of Corrie.

Marvin's studio

The weekend started with a short talk before heading off into the forest, chainsaw in hand (that’s the professional hand of a ranger!) to pick a piece of wood to carve. And this is where the influence of the previous photography started to take effect.  In the wood I looked at, I could envisage the wonderful swirls of smoke and hidden patterns and had a perfect picture in my head of a finished wood carving!

 

Work in progress

Needless to say my skill lacked sadly behind.  I had never tried to carve wood before and I happened to pick a well seasoned piece of beech – a piece of concrete would have been easier to chip at! But I did persevere with pictures of smoke roses, periwinkles, hands and general swirls in my head.  These were modified as the day went on and I envisaged drafts destroying my smoke images as the chisel when where it wanted and wood split and refused to bend to my will.

The end result was not quite how I had imagined it but undeterred I went on to carve a sea serpent, on a slightly softer green piece of wood, which now sits proudly in my garden.

 

Sea serpent in the making

Now resident in my garden

Whereas my inspiration came directly from taking a photograph, I found it fascinating to listen to Alex Boyd this week, whose inspiration led to a whole series of photographs.  Alex is an internationally recognised photography, most known for his Sonnets series see some on this link which features a character called Henning who features in all the images, wearing a white shirt and braces, in remote / iconic locations around Scotland.  Alex was on Arran and gave us an interesting talk on how he developed the idea to take this series, along with the trials and tribulations along the way!  His love of photographic and art history, and influenced by people such as Caspar David Friedrich and Anselm Kiefer, motivated him to take a fresh look at locations around Scotland.  The resulting enigmatic photographs often have a dark hidden message.   Alex is currently exhibiting at the Douglas Hotel – worth popping in for a look. 

Sign outside Marvin's studio