Art, markets, bookshops, coffee and all things Saturday

I had planned on posting about castles this weekend as I have been working on my Dunnottar Castle photos from a couple weeks ago, but alas I am an idiot and left my already typed post at work on Friday. So the castle post will have to wait until Monday. But fear not! As I do have a post for you all, although it does not have any photos of my own in it I hope you will enjoy it just the same. 

After a very lazy, coffee in bed style, start to my morning I managed to get up, showered and into town with the intention of going to the international market that is on in Aberdeen this weekend. On arriving at the end of a street of vendors selling everything from pet collars to produce, meat and fresh fish I noticed a stream of people walking into a building - the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum. Standing on the rather chilly intersection of Belmont and Schoolhill Street the cosy art museum sounded like a fantastic idea. So in I went  and I was not disappointed, in the entrance hall the gallery has an amazing exhibition of modern art that is inspiring.  

And so I wandered through the rooms each bringing with them a new surprise and addition to my internal debate on what is my favourite art form. As soon as I had decided that watercolour paintings were my favourite, as the fantasy world that the colours created and the abstractness of it all was just up my alley, I walked into a room covered from floor to ceiling in oil paintings and my eyes were instantly tantalised by the vivid colours. Crimson red, aquamarine blue, sap green all beckoning me over to view them closer and decipher them, all the while remaining outside of my physical grasp (Am I the only one that wishes that we could touch exhibitions - I know logistically for the preservation of the artwork we can't but still).

And then I see the sculptures, bronze and marble works of perfection. There is just something about sculptures that gets me, I studied Classic Civilisations at university so sculptures and I have a long standing history of intrigue. The way the sculptors make a piece of cold rock come alive and make dresses look like they are flowing and silk veils are covering the figures is amazing. The three dimensional aspect of the work is also a winner as I love the fact that I can walk clean around the art piece and gaze at it from all angles. Thinking about this it probably feeds into a power structure as I feel that my gaze as the viewer is given more authority but I digress. 

The art gallery continued with each room inspiring me to new heights. I literally had to stop every ten minutes to scribble a photo shoot idea or thought into my note book. It also inspired me to start sketching and painting again, which is something that I have not done in four years. I went straight from the gallery to the hobby craft store and bought supplies to start. 

After all this inspiration and with a renewed love of art I made a pit stop at the secondhand book shop, Books and Beans, to grab a coffee and pick up a couple used books. I know that buying a brand new book is really awesome, but then so is getting a secondhand one. There is something to be said about buying a book that has lived. It has a history and if they could talk.... well let's just say that it would in any event be interesting. 

And so my Saturday adventure in town came to an end and I headed home to relax with a glass of wine and my thoughts, and to write this blog post. Below are a few images of the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner who caught my eye years back with his steam train painting hanging in the National Art Gallery in London.  He has a couple paintings in the gallery here in Aberdeen if you live nearby and want to check it out. To be fair I am no art guru and what I know about Joseph Mallord William Turner is not that much. But I know that he was called 'the painter of light' by some and for me his work just speaks to me. It catches my eye and makes me walk across a gallery ignoring all the other pieces. My curiosity and need to see his work better acts like blinkers, and that to me means that his work is something special. 

Transformation and the River Don

There is just something about large bodies of moving water that becomes even more magical when the light around you is changing. For me they are magical places that speak in poetry and motion. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said that 'my soul is full of longing, for the secret of the sea' and that in speaking the truth about the sea we can't leave out the poetry. And seeing as I am not much of a poet I thought I would give photographing the River Don as it began transforming a try.  

A sneaky peak

For those of you that know me and have some knowledge of my trusty Sony laptop - you will not be surprised to hear that I am struggling to get the old gal to charge again. For those of you who are not acquainted with the situation you may be wondering why on earth I would refer to a not exactly reliable laptop as 'trusty'. Well let's just say that personal experience has shown me that when technology is failing you it never helps to shout choice words, shake it or throw it out the window. Instead I go with the route of lovingly trying to resuscitate it back into a working state with what I hope are comforting words, despite the fact that I want to toss it across the room with a force that would make even Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull F1 car jealous.

Anyway the whole point of this little sidebar story is to explain my lack of blog posts and having only one photograph to put with this post (which I am typing on my very kind sister's laptop). My currently not-charging laptop, which has all my downloading and editing software on it, has put a spanner in the works to put it mildly as I do have tons of photos to post from Dunnottar Castle and a sunset at the River Don. So for now my loving technique does not seem to be doing the job and outside reinforcements may be needed.

Luckily in the few minutes that I did manage to get my laptop charging I quickly jpeged a photo that I took at the River Don this last week. So here you go a sneaky peak of photos to come, I hope you like it!

The River Don rises in the Grampians and flows eastwards through Aberdeenshire to meet the North Sea in Aberdeen, Scotland. 

Snow Days

So for those that don't know yet I found a job and started roughly three weeks ago which would explain my lack of blog posts the last few weeks. But that is going to be changing soon as I am getting the hang of eight to five working days and I will find a way to get some photography in inbetween. I have plans this weekend to go visit Dunnottar Castle.

But in the mean time here are a couple more photos I took when it snowed.

Enjoy!

Not even snow can keep these rugby players from practicing on  the field below Broad Hill.

Flying South to warmer weather perhaps?

Now these guys were just plain crazy! It was snowing and they decided to willingly get into the ocean!