Holiday UK #2 – Dartmoor Bog

dartmoor poniesExcept from L’s holiday diary entry, 24th June:

“Up on to Dartmoor today via several stops for Amy to gawp at horses and take photos. We a parked at the Postbridge information centre to start the rather boggy walk up to some standing stones with picturesque views of the moors.  We ended up meandering around a peat bog for a bit before giving up and following a wall to the obligatory water feature challenge of the holiday…” NB. We often find ourselves traversing fast flowing water courses on our expeditions.

bogMy response to L’s diary entry:

“I think L has underplayed The Bog.  We were walking for 8.5 miles and for at least 5 of those miles we were ankle deep in bog.  At one point we found ourselves lost in the middle of a vast expanse of moorland (as far as the eye could see) with no visible path in sight.  I was secretly calculating our water rations in case we started to sink into the stinky, relentless bog and had to wait for rescue…”

I must mention that today is my mum’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Mum!

Beautiful Bloggers

I’m not very experienced with Blogger Awards but when someone nominates you for one, there is undoubtedly a sense of pride (however small) that people appreciate what you do.  I hear that some people are irritated by them, but I think it is nice to spread the cheer.

It has taken me some time to follow up my nomination from the lovely Michelle who writes regularly on her blog The Green Study.  There are a few rules involved in the Beautiful Blogger Award.  I’ve worked my way through them:

Identify and show appreciation of the blogger who awarded you.
Michelle was one of my first followers and always has kind things to say about my work.   She writes beautifully about her life, her daughter, her observations and often her posts are dosed with humor.

You must add the award logo to your blog.
Added to my “About” page.

Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.

  1. I used to work in a zoo looking after a baby elephant.   I appeared on television with said elephant and can confirm that animals and TV do not mix.
  2. For a short while I rode a Harley.
  3. I’ve had a varied career path.  I was once a firefighter before it dawned on me that burning to death would be a horrible way to die.
  4. I love animals but my other half is yet to be convinced that our life would be so much more interesting with a dog in it.
  5. I truly have big hair.
  6. I secretly hope that one day someone will see my drawings and say ‘hey, let’s collaborate on something’.
  7. I dissected my own kidney in a biology class.  Of course you wouldn’t be able to do that nowadays, but in back then when you had an operation you could take your body parts home in a pot…. That’s what I did.  And I wonder why people think I’m weird.

You must nominate 5-10 bloggers you read regularly for this award.
All of my nominations are for fellow artists.  I would like to start with Rusty Doodle.  Rusty is a doodler/cartoonist who after years of ignoring his passion to follow other career paths, has finally turned his hand to what he loves.

Silent Paige “was a child witness to domestic abuse. She uses comics as her preferred medium to explore the experience and legacy of that.”  Beautifully illustrated, I wait with baited breath to see the next installment.

The Illustrious Peacock.  “Bringing a touch of beautiful into everyday life”.  Fabulous filmography, photography and design.

The Cutting Edge – often rude, often crude but always funny.

An Owl a Day – What a challenge!  Drawing an owl a day for 365 days.  I love these quirky little illustrations.  Who would of thought it was possible to create a different one every day.

Inform your nominees that you nominated them.

I would love to be able to contribute to a piece of work like this. Melts the heart!

I’ve been fiddling around with paper Valentine ideas…both for this blog, and for Jackson’s Darwin’s shop displays. It was serendipity that led me to this romantic animation featuring paper. Lots of paper.

Merging computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques,”Paperman” was created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios. I love that they’ve put it up on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

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Pigs can walk

pigI’ve been rummaging through some old files.  As I explained in an earlier blog post, I love animation,  (particularly stop frame) but I have little patience.  I found this short sequence I put together of a pig walking.  I hope the animated gif image works.  I’ve tested it a couple of times so you should be able to click on it to see it working.

Animal cruelty?

Walking to the shops earlier this week, I passed a lady, perfectly coiffed, with two dachshunds in tow.  Looking rather forlorn and somewhat embarrassed, both dogs were draped in sparkly pink coats and matching collars.  Had their hair been long enough, no doubt it would have been styled accordingly.

We all do it to some degree, but should their be a cut off point beyond which our desire to anthropomorphise (sp.?) our pets becomes animal cruelty? If they could talk, I should imagine these dachshunds’ tales of woe would all hinge on their owner’s desire to dress them up like barbie dolls.  No doubt the poor mites are laughed at by the other dogs in the park on a daily basis…

Having said all that,  I couldn’t help dressing my cat up at Christmas! – he looks happy doesn’t he?!

And whilst I’m on the subject of domestic pets…how about this as a method for taking your dog for a walk? (snapped from the car as I drove past)