If things go wrong in threes...

..then why were there four on Tueday? Uh-oh... does that mean there's two more to come? Ulp!

Duchy Square Centre & Gallery

I took the triptych and a huge canvas of Fencing In The Dunes as the owner had said she wanted to see it. Before going in, I gave the pony triptych a quick flick down and noticed a small fleck next to one of the pony muzzles. Darn, it was under the glass not on top. So I stressed briefly about it (I'm a virgoan, so it's always a bit of a battle trying not to be a perfectionist!) before ignoring it and taking it in.

I pointed it out to Philippa and we were about to decide to go with it, when we spotted a small piece of bluetac under the glass. Ok, that was the decider—and in a way I was relieved.

So, on with the canvas. Philippa loved it right away and we filled out the paperwork for it on the spot. Embarrassment number two (and a lesson for us all - check everything before taking to the gallery for hanging!): she called me back and pointed out some dark markings on the white canvas border.

It was pristine when I hung it at Park Art and it's been in bubble-wrap ever since. How those marks got there, I can't figure. One of the other artists in the centre (thanks Amanda, lovely lady!) dug out some putty-eraser and we tried that but to no avail.

Fencing In The Dunes

Later, when I got it back to base, I found that a damp white cloth gently applied, cleaned off whatever it was on the canvas border. There's a tip I'll never forget!

So, that's two of the four things that went wrong.

I won my own prize

..or that's the way it seemed! A prize from my September draw that I posted to Melania a few days ago was delivered back to me.

I'm a canny Scotsman (we have a reputation for being "careful" with money) and this combines well with being green... so I re-use packing material when I can. On the back of the parcel was my delivery address, all printed and barcoded - with a big cross through the lot before I posted it. On the front was the right address, postage stamp, customs declaration etc.

I guess a post-office scanning machine was still able to read the barcode on my crossed out address, so promptly had it delivered to me! So, lesson two learned: obliterate any barcodes from previous address labels still showing on the parcel). Anyway, it's re-posted now (sorry Melania!)

And number four

I've sorted out burning DVDs with the youtube video that my friend Gordon put together. I've even worked out how to avoid creating the dreadful DVD menu that I put on the first few DVDs.

So I spent ages designing some graphics for a label for the DVD and then getting it to align with the cutouts on the DVD labels for my inkjet.

So I burnt the first couple of DVDs, checked they were ok and then cracked on with the rest (18), printing and sticking the labels onto the DVDs. OK, so I'm new to the DVD burning s/w and didn't realise I'd changed a setting after the first two. When the last one was done, I popped it back in to check, just for belt and braces. I'm glad I did!

The last 18 were all weird files and not actual DVD videos. Aaaaaargh! and I'd used up all the labels—double aaaaargh!!

Still, looking at the positive, at least two were ok!

On a brighter note

...I went to an evening event in aid of breast cancer at Martin Bush's Studio Gallery in Royal William Yard. I was really pleased to again meet Eliot Siegel, a well-known photographer, who had donated his time to taking portraits of anyone willing to hand over some readies for the charity. I seem to remember offering to be his gofer in return for some tips on lighting! Two glasses of pink (sorry, rosé) wine and I'm anyone's!

A delightful young lady (doing a degree at Plymouth College of Art) and her boyfriend were helping Eliot and she said she loved my work and did I need any assistance? I was flattered and gave her my card. Let's see if that turns into something concrete.

There was a fair amount of interest in my work amongst the guests and I answered questions and had some interesting discussions with a number of them. "Thank you, ladies (and gents!) for stopping by and chatting."

One lady had her first posting as a new WPC at the Court House when it was a police station and she gave me an idea of where things like the scenes of crime room etc were, also how they used a very early version of video conferencing for their area updates, before the term was coined. See, we're ground-breakers in using new technology here in relaxed Devon.

Court House

And for my part, I donated Caught By The Surf for the raffle and one delighted winner and husband went home over the moon.

Caught By The Surf

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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