Turner Contemporary

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Guthlac

Had a nice lunch and the now must pull ourselves away from the sunshine to go through the gallery … it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Interesting colours

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Guthlac

Two images captured in the garden today. I really, really love the image quality of the Canon G1x. However, I’ve hit the focusing issue with the cloud photographs…it just wouldn’t seem to focus, however I set the aperture to around f12 and it didn’t seem to matter that the focus warning symbol came on every time I pressed the shutter.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A quick sketch

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Guthlac

I’ve just received a really great book from Amazon – Drawings by John Singer Sergeant and this inspired me to create this quick sketch of the wonderful actress Tilda Swinton. I’m really enjoying this much looser style.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Not a bad morning’s work

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Guthlac

Quite pleased with what I’ve done this morning…

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Digital Painting

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Guthlac

This morning, whilst reading the paper, I came across a story about Helen Mirren winning some award for a ply she starred in. I can’t remember the details but I suddenly got the urge to create a digital painting portrait of the Dame. I also decided to experiment with a different painting approach. So far it looks really promising.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

So much for yesterday…

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Guthlac

Yesterday is another world. Yesterday I couldn’t see the point of all this historical research…what was the pint? Well today I’ve spent the day…well doing historical research.

The problem I’m trying to find a solution for is where a salt road runs from when it leaves Burton Lazars. I have a salt place name for it leaving to the east which then leads to Leicester Ford, which suggests a road to Leicester cross the River Eye and then nothing. As the crow flies it is only 25 Km to the pre historic salt producing areas of Lincolnshire. However trying to find evidence for a salt route through this area is proving a nightmare.

At the moment my best bet is that the route passed through Corby Glen for a number of reasons, none of which are more than hunches. So I’m slowly building up a map of the known Roman and pre historic activity in the area to see what, if any clues they might give me. It is long and a labourious but does allow me to really start to understand how things might have worked.

Now I’ve been working on this on and off since around 6:00hrs this morning, it is now 23:40 and I think I’ve done enough for one day. Still will give me lots to think about and hopefully not dream about. Fat chance of that!

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What the hell am I doing?

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Guthlac

Two days into my reopening of the historical research project and I’m starting to wonder “… what am I doing here?…” It isn’t as if the project has suddenly got boring, well for me at least, I guess it is because I haven’t got the motivation to really do it justice. Also I love creating images and this is hours upon hours of checking and rechecking facts, which you have to do if you want to produce a serious research paper, but I really am not sure I want to.

So will I continue my research or will I scale things back? I haven’t got a clue, another recurring theme throughout this blog – perhaps I should rename it that?? Anyway, as a means to cheer me up and release some of the frustration I made these images on my iPhone from photographs I captured over the past few weeks. It pleased me – I hope it pleases you.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Buddon Woods

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Guthlac

Another day another set of images for the Deep Time project. I’m still not sure whether I know where this project is going yet but when I find out I may let you know. These images were captured at Buddon Woods and again we are looking at Pre Cambian geology.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Kedleston Hall ~ No 2….the whomping willow

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Guthlac

With apologies to JK Rolling but I think I’ve discovered the real whomping willow at Kedleston Hall. Perhaps Kedleston Hall is the true Hogwarts! I must admit there were some strange looking people there today, not least of course being me and yes I cannot lie I am Haggrid, perhaps they were elderly wizards and witches but then if I’m Hagrid I would have known that. I think I’ve taken this as far as I could.

This second set were taken with the G1x and the more I use this camera the better it gets. However, as I recently discovered, I really am the worlds worst person to say how a camera works because I only use a small set of functions they have to offer. So if you want to know how the Canon G1x works when the file format is RAW, using aperture priority, on single shot and sometime using Macro settings then I’m your man. Otherwise I haven’t got a clue as I never use any other facilities.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Kedleston Hall ~ Part 1

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Guthlac

Just had a great time with my good friend David Manley at Kedleston Hall, just outside Derby. Many things were discussed but at the end I think we both agreed that whilst we felt a whole lot better by discussing them we didn’t change the world one little bit. However, life is far too short to worry about such things.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment