Well, that was 2019. Best put it behind us, eh? December turned into a bit of a rush for us, the usual seasonal business was combined with Amy doing Jury Duty which knocked a big hole in our productivity. A family wedding was a happy distraction, then we saw New Years in with a mild dose of the Norovirus, which was less welcome.
Around all this, we were actually incredibly busy art-wise, so until we can get some proper blog posts worked up of said art, here's a quick summary...
Rushing to get it done before the Jury Duty, Amy began the overhaul of the sets and backdrops for the church nativity. Traditionally these have been large backdrops painted on paper in the rehearsal time for the show, with a few of us adults supervising whatever children aren't practising their lines at the time. And it's always manic, the paint still drying on the curling-paper, and too much work to do as the backdrops never survive a year in store. So Amy decided we'd undertake a massive project, starting with acquiring some big bolts of canvas, and painting them up at home, to create items which would last a bit. Three such backdrops were done in time for this year (one of them at least 15ft long), with more planned for Christmas 2020...
One small advantage to Amy being on Jury Duty was that I (Ben) had access to the car, which meant I could fit in some railway photography up in the Dales, and a miniatures shoot. Thanks to the wonderful timetable Northern operates this is normally impossible for me, within the constraints of the school drop-off and finishing times, so being able to drive up to Ribblehead was a nice change, if more planet-killing. I'd have preferred public transport from a moral point of view, but Northern have set their timetable up now to cater for Dalesmen who must commute early in the morning to the cities, not for people from the cities who might want a day out in the Dales.
Using the car I was also able to fit in a trip to Sheffield to our old friends at Cupola Gallery (of which more anon) and to get a ton of research pictures of a preserved diesel loco at Kelham Island Industrial Museum; both for a magazine article, and for a model build for another magazine...
...and speaking of magazine stuff, I also had a written article to do, on the Anglesey Model Village in North Wales. A rather fun write-up too, and should result in a lengthy article.
Closer to home, there hasn't been much cold weather yet for railway photography, but I did manage a few shots (and yes, I'm aware of the irony of complaining about global warming when I've been using a car instead of public transport). Hopefully in coming months we'll get just enough snow to stop Amy having to go to work, but not to bring the country to an utter standstill, and there will be a chance to get some nice snowy shots.
One of the reasons we haven't been that productive with photography though is a camera fault, which thankfully turned out to be relatively easy to fix, but which buggered-up a few shoots. An attempt at some night photography on the Worth Valley fell apart because the SLR died just before the train arrived; the above shot was actually taken on the phone, as a last resort (because when I, and Elder Child, had slithered down a muddy path in the freezing dark we were determined to get some
kind of shot out of the night). The phone did quite well, considering.
One successful bit of night photography was the above, and successful only because it was done with miniatures. There's something to be said about doing night shots indoors, 3ft from a radiator and 1ft from a nice glass of red. Anyway, the model was built for the RMWeb (railway modelling forum) 'Cakebox Challenge', a competition run quarterly, to build a model scene on a set theme in an 8-inch square size. This one was on the theme of Industry, and was great fun to build as a break from other work.
As mentioned higher up, I went to Cupola Gallery back in early December, this was to drop off some work for their Under The Bed Sale, something we used to do pretty ritually but took a break from for the last couple of years. We thought we'd enter some more stuff to clear the decks a bit, now the nature of the work we produce has changed a little. The show opens in mid-Jan, more details nearer the time.
So, that was the obligatory round up, now for the equally obligatory 'what's coming up', partly so that we can look back on this post in a years time and laugh at how little we've achieved off this list.
The model making blog is still developing... there's lots planned for it, what has stalled it a bit is actually being busy making models! Lots of stuff being made for competitions and another few bits for model magazines underway... more of the 'Alice in Wonderland' themed stuff coming for example, and some lengthier articles.
Art-wise, Amy is now more into her ceramics and sculptures than photography, we're hoping we'll finally get the laser cutter back to rude health rather than the less-than-reliable state it's presently in, and we might do some more printing/painting too.
As for photography? I know the railway stuff isn't everybody's cup of tea as regards readers of this blog, but persistence and a bit of luck means I've gone from being someone who'd get the odd pic in print once every few years, to now getting pictures in at least one mag a month, so I'll be focusing even more on this field. We have some other photography on the horizon too, and after easing-off on doing exhibitions for a while we're planning on getting a bit more involved with doing open-calls and the like this year.
2019 was a busy old year, but doing the art and photography definitely kept us sane. Roll on 2020...
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