Chacho update

I have done some more work on Chacho this afternoon due to his owner advising there was actually more colour on his face and the original photographs had been slightly over-exposed. I have now been given some photographs taken in natural light. Here he is now:

Highland Holiday attractions

My Mum and Dad have been visiting us since Wednesday, so we have been going out visiting some local sights in the Caithness and Sutherland area. Yesterday we visited Dunrobin Castle. The castle itself is open to the public as well as their beautiful gardens and they also do a falconry display twice a day. Here are some pics:

The Castle
The gardens

These two are from the falconry display. The Owl in an Eagle Owl and the Hawk is a Harris Hawk. They have inspired me to attempt a bird of prey at some point.

Today we visited Bettyhill along the North Coast then went in a circle via Kinbrace and back up to Melvich. We then went to Duncansby Stacks and visited Seal Beach. Can you guess how it got it's name??

Caithness County Show

We went to Caithness County Show today. It's primarily an Agricultural show and is held every year, alternating venues between Wick and Thurso. There was judging of animals such as horses, both in-hand and with riders, cattle, sheep, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs and poultry. There was also craft judging on artwork and needlework and cake making and things. Basically, your typical county show. They had some nice artwork entered, I think I might enter something next year.

There was also displays from the Junior Pipe Band and traditional scottish Dancers, as well as loads of trade stands at which to spend money.

They finished off with a fantastic horse display, showing all the different ways in which horses have been used past and present. They started off with two beautiful Clydesdales in full harness and went through west indians and americans in covered wagons, endurance horses and 3 - day eventers, through to pony club and Riding for the Disabled.

Here are a few photos:

Home for the weekend

I've not posted at all this weekend because i've been home for my cousin's wedding party. I flew down to Bristol Airport on Saturday afternoon and back up to Inverness on Sunday. Felt quite the jetsetter, left home at 11.20am on Saturday and was back about 3pm on Sunday. Just over 24 hours to go nearly the full length of the UK and stop off for a party. The wedding party was great fun and it was lovely seeing my family all in one place without having to charge round visiting everyone and hoping no-one is too offended if I run out of time to see everybody!

I managed to get a window seat on the flight back and was amazed I could see the ground still. I got so excited I took some photos out of the plane window. I think they're pretty good, so here are a couple of them:

The clouds

This is a port. I'm not sure where. you can see the boat wakes in the sea.

Pet Portrait reference photographs

When I am drawing my own artwork and not commissions I have to be very careful where I get my reference photographs from, due to copyright. I have found a few sites that are really useful, so I thought I would share them

Mourguefile I have only just come across this one and haven't actually used any images yet, but I know they are royalty free and available to use by artists and there are some beautiful photos on there of all different subjects, not just pets.

Pet Portrait Forum The forum has a reference photograph section, covering dogs, cats, horses, other animals and backgrounds. These are images members of the forum have posted and are all copyright free.

Flickr Flickr is a brilliant site - purely for the enormous numbers of photographs available. There are different levels of copyright protection available for photos hosted on flickr, so you need to ensure the photograph you are using has a creative commons license and the photographer is happy for it to be used for commercial purposes and to have derivative works produced from it. This does narrow down the selection available but still provides a lot of fantastic photos.

Artist Reference Photo This website is still new so doesn't have a massive number of photos available yet, but the ones there are very good and all available as copyright free. There is a small subscription charge.

I also think it is worth approaching photographers whose work you admire and asking if they are happy for you to use their work as a reference. I think in most cases, they will be flattered and as long as they are credited will be happy for their photographs to be used.

Cottage number two

Here's the second cottage we stopped and looked at yesterday:

This one's got it's own driveway

Just look at the view

This one's got an aga as well....

... and an upstairs, though Steve wouldn't let me up there.

It's also got a proper Bathroom, so we assume it's got a septic tank or did have ...

... and it's got light switches and sockets, though there was no mains electric going to the house.

Here's the front room, complete with open fireplace and sheepskin rug (which is a very dead sheep - nice!)
But it has got a good roof and guttering

This one's got potential!

No pet portraits today, because I finally managed to get Steve to take me out! We went up a glen called Glen Loth and then to Kinbrace, along to Strathnaver, then Bettyhill then home again. It was a gorgeous drive, even though it was a bit grey. One of the reasons Steve took me out where he did was to show me a house he'd found that he thinks we should buy. It's not habitable, but it's in a beautiful location. Both of us would really love to buy an old cottage in the middle of no-where and either renovate it or re-build one in a traditional style, depending on the state of it. Whenever we go out and see an old ruin, it's like, 'that one's got potential!' I will show you photos of the one Steve likes at a later date, but here's one i've fallen in love with at Glen Loth:

Here's a close up - I think it might need a new roof and some windows!

It's got a kitchen sink...

....and an open fire. One at either end actually.

There's even a second house in the back garden

With a rayburn....

... and a sofa included!

Pet Rat Photos

Well, as promised here are some photographs of my two new rats. They met Treacle and Charlotte today. I used the Bathroom as neutral territory and they got on ok. There was lots of bum sniffing and forced grooming accompanied by a few little squeaks from the babies, but that's all very normal, and I'm really pleased as there was no blood or fighting. Tommorrow I will put them together in the bathroom again, and if they're ok like they were today I shall move them into Treacle and Charlotte's play pen and see how they get on when the territory's not neutral.


Here are the pictures: This is Doughnut. She's a Cinnamon hooded and seems to be the quieter of the two, though she's still very friendly

This is Tinkerbell. She's a Mink Roan and as she gets older will lose her grey colouring and probably go completely white. She is the more adventurous of the two. Today in the bathroom she was off with Treacle exploring.

Shell Beach

My parents-in-law are staying with us at the moment so we are showing them a few of the sights. We had an absoloutely beautiful day today - blue skies, hardly any wind and lovely and warm, so we went to Shell Beach after tea to walk the dogs. Shell Beach is between John O' Groats and Duncansby Head and is so called beacuse the sand is made up of broken shells. It's amazing, i've never seen anything like it. I took loads of photographs, here is just a few. Enjoy!

This one is on Macro setting on my camera, and is a close-up of the shells.

Footsteps in the sand: I likes the footprints the dogs and us and the birds had made in the sand. Another one playing around with the macro setting.

This one I just liked the angle of the rocks - just playing with diagonal lead-in lines.

This is Jerry, my Springer Spaniel. I thought it was a nice arty-farty shot of the dog!

And this last one, I just loved the shape and smoothness of the rocks, again playing with diagonal lines.