Three years with my SO calls for a (government sanctioned) mini-escape to the beach. We headed out towards Dunbar, in East Lothian, to explore the John Muir Country Park.
The country park marks one end of the John Muir Way, which runs across the central belt of Scotland. Perhaps next year we'll walk it!
The end of this decade has really crept up on me. I can hardly believe that is now 2020!
This time last year, I wrote a piece on setting New Year Resolutions and how I'm not really a fan. Instead, I prefer assigning a word to the year as an intention.
With all that said, I want to take a quick look back at what has been an incredibly formative decade in 10 photos.
In 2010, I was 15. I had just received my dSLR (a Canon 550D that is still going strong to this day) and had just begun my journey into learning photography.
Despite being right in the middle of the dreaded International Baccalaureate, I was photographing throughout 2011!
In 2012, I finished up at my sixth form and started my undergraduate degree at the University of Stirling!
2013 was the year I founded The Travelling Quill!
2014 is hard to summarise with just one photo! I did so much travelling in this year, it was a bit exhausting. Asia in January, Africa in June and a semester in North America in the autumn.
In 2015... I actually did some uni work, but also managed a few trips here and there...
In 2016, I graduate and started my first job, which took me to some very exciting places in and around Scotland!
2017 saw me visit somewhere a bit more out of the way, Gibraltar, as well as some more touristy destinations in the US...
In 2018, I started working in the third sector, but still managed time to visit Bruges and manage another trip to the Highlands!
And lastly, 2019 was when I threw myself into art (but still managed a trip to Italy!)
It's a bit overwhelming to look back over all of these memories! I remember being a kid and working out that I'd be 25 by the time 2020 came around. It seemed light years away and I could hardly wrap my head around being that old. And yet, here I am! Mid-20s and trying to navigate all that comes with Being A Grown Up.
I'm not sure just yet what word I'll set as my intention for 2020, but I suspect it will be more academic than previous words as I'll be heading back to university to begin my Masters degree in September! Looking back over the years as shown me how different I am now to that quiet girl who fled London to Scotland aged 18, and how much I've grown in confidence as my own person.
Here's to many more adventures in the new decade.
In 2016, I decided to sketch every day for an entire year. And I did that! It was a big challenge to stick to but I did it! Since then, I've kept at my art in one way or another. It's been tricky between working full time and Being An Adult but I'm so glad I have a hobby that's all my own.
For my birthday this year, I asked for contributions towards a monthly drawing and watercolour class called 'Fur and Feathers' at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh. I've done one or two classes before and had some very mixed results with them but I was excited to try this one because (as I'm sure is apparent by the number of zoo posts I've done over the years) I love animals. I have very little experience with painting at all but, I thought to myself, my love of animals will trump this!
So it turns out the drawing part was pretty straightforward, albeit more technical than I was used to; there was a lot of measuring using compasses and rulers and double checking references using a light box. As I have more of an affinity to illustration, this was a nice challenge to slow down and study the reference properly - a wild rabbit.
The less nice challenge was when we started to paint! What a remarkable learning curve. I'm grateful that I already had experience with the initial learning curve with drawing as that is what got me through the learning curve with this rabbit painting!
Each class, we'd observe the tutor do an expert replication with exact precision of a particular part of the rabbit. Then we'd go off to do the same (with varying results).
Fine details are what got me the most, requiring the precision of defusing a bomb except using a medium that in its nature is fluid and unpredictable.
But as they say, practice makes perfect. Having had time away from this bunny, I can safely say I don't hate it as much as when I shoved it into my bag once I decided I was finished with it! You can definitely tell it's a rabbit!
In December, we had a mini prompt in the form of this lil mouse.
I'm at the frustrating stage with any new art skill where I can now see the differences between my piece and an expert piece but don't have the skill level to do much about it!
Which means practice, practice, practice!
My course runs all the way to June so there's lots of time to improve still. In between classes I'll be trying my hand at more watercolours (like Cleadon Hills below that I painted for my mum for Christmas) so watch this space, I guess! Here's hoping that by the time June comes around I'll have come on leaps and bounds!
I'm 25! And that means if I want to pretend to be a tourist in my hometown, I will!
Okay so credit where it's due: I first spied this route on Secret London. I had it filed away for a not-so-rainy day and my birthday being at the end of August seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.
According to my Strava, it took us just over two hours to complete the 10km walk and pretty much hit every possible landmark: Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, The Mall, Buckingham Palace...
St James's Park, Westminster and Big Ben (sadly undergoing repairs while we were there), the the London Eye and the Southbank...
The Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and then over the Millenium Bridge...
To St Paul's Cathedral, then along Cannon Street (where we stopped for tea and cake)...
Past Monument...
And Tower Bridge and the Tower of London...
To finish at St Katharine Docks where we got two eye wateringly expensive pints at the delightful Dickens Inn.
In hindsight, my beat up pair of Converse were not the best shoe choice for this walk. Were I doing it again, I'd be in some nice walking shoes or something with arch support but I still had a lovely time and we had gorgeous weather. I fully endorse this walk!
Long time, no holiday! The last time I was out of the country was a my trip to Bruges (quaint, delicious waffles, A+, would recommend) back in April 2018 so this was long overdue!
Sorrento has been on my revisit list for a long time now. I first went almost 10 years ago with my family. Sitting opposite Mount Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples, there is so much to do but life is much more relaxed than Naples itself. If you want to get busy and see all the Roman ruins, you can, but it's just as nice to laze about the pool and stuff your face with pasta. And I'll be honest, the food was the main reason I was back.
As is my preference for a summer holiday, we operated a day-on, day-off mode of exploring the area: a day exploring, a day reading and enjoying the view from the hotel:
And it was a nice view!
In a slightly off the beaten track decision, we hiked from the hotel in Sant Agata due Golfi (up in the hills, which is how we got that fantastic view) and walked down to the abandoned fishing village of Crapolla, way down in the cliffs on the Amalfi Coast.
There's a dinky little train that goes from Sorrento to Naples, and stops at Pompeii and Herculaneum along the way (also where you'd get a bus to climb Vesuvius). It's never 100% on time but it'll get you where you need to go for a decent price.
However, don't rule out what you might consider a tourist trap straight away! We managed to find a Vesuvius and Vineyard tour for a very reasonable price. Entry to the National Park, time to hike, and then to a private vineyard for a three course meal and six glasses of wine (we were rolled back onto the bus).
Lacryma Christi is a protected-status wine from the slopes of Vesuvius and is delicious. Highly recommended if you can find it! The name comes from a story that Jesus looked down on the Bay of Naples from heaven and thought it was so beautiful that he cried. Lacryma Christi.
Continuing with The Year of Creativity, I decided to try my hand at paper flowers - or roses to be more specific!
This project is one of those I had put on the backburner for a rainy day. With it being the long weekend over Easter, I found myself with some spare time and although it is decidedly the opposite of a rainy day today (20C and sunny, yes please!) I got cracking.
I had most of what I needed lying around already but these flowers do call for a hot glue gun and crepe paper. Crepe paper is regular tissue paper that's been coated with sizing (a kind of glue) so it holds its form if you crease it. It's also a bit more durable than regular tissue paper which I needed as the paper would be getting wet. It's not that rare but did require a trip to Hobbycraft (which unfortunately for me is two bus journeys away - boo).
When I had returned home victorious and got started, it turns out a little crepe paper goes a long way. I bought three packs of white paper and I only used half of one for this trial attempt. At least I'm stocked up now for future flowers!
To begin, I cut out petals from the paper. I tried to keep things vaguely realistic by making the folds of the paper go vertical up the petals. Then I mixed some acrylic paint together. You don't need to use any special colours for this - just a decent amount of white, and a small amount of of red and yellow. Although the petals dry lighter, colour (especially red) goes a long way when added to white.
Placing a petal over a jar/unimportant pot/scrap paper, I misted them until they were damp (here you'll learn how thick your paper is, go easy on the water until you've got an understanding of what you're dealing with!). Gently begin adding colour to your petals!
Let them dry and peel them off their surfaces. I've seen some people speed up the process by putting the dish in the microwave for for 15-30 second bursts but as it's a long weekend and sunny(!), I wasn't in a particular rush.
I nipped out into the garden and uh, relieved a hebe bush of a burdensome twig. In future I'll be on the lookout for larger, fallen branches as it will allow for larger flowers. I hot glued the petals together, beginning with a curled petal and working out. The buds were similar only scrunched up smaller.
And here is the finished flower! I'm really happy with this as my first attempt and it's lovely in my flat. Plants (both real and 'fake' like this) are slowly taking over the the flat and I am absolutely okay with it. Perhaps I'll try my hand at another species next time...
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of wildlife photography. I love wildlife sanctuaries and zoos and basically any place I can take photos of animals. With no plans this Sunday, I didn't need much persuading to pick up my camera for a nice day out.
Well, it would have been a nice day only the Scottish weather was out in full force. It was sunny, but it was also raining and blustery and a little too cold to be outdoors for so long. But I still managed some very good shots!
We had a bit of respite by nipping indoors to see a flying show. Some of the owls are trained to be Owl Ambassadors for their species. In practice, what this means is that they fly from perch to perch for bits of chicken, and their only goal is that chicken. They are so focused on lunch and so practiced at flying that they swoop extremely low over your head. There was an awful lot of ducking/protecting my camera!
One surprise resident was this handsome kookaburra! Kookaburras are actually members of the Kingfisher family so decidedly not what you'd expect to find in an Owl Centre but since St Andrews Aquarium has meerkats, I've learned to never assume what I'll see at these kind of centres!
I will absolutely have to go back to the Scottish Owl Centre when it's a bit warmer!
Since 2015, the Audacious Women Collective has focused on empowering and encouraging women to overcome personal, political and institutional barriers, and to celebrate the achievements of inspirational Scottish women. The Audacious Women Festival happens once a year and a range of workshops and talks are held by and for people who identify as women.
I was lucky enough to get a ticket for a gilding workshop run by Sally-Ann Johns of Studio 58 at the City Art Centre. I had zero experience of gilding prior to this day so I'm very grateful to Sally-Ann for teaching me! Photos courtesy of my Instagram story that day!
We began by coating a wooden board with a gold acrylic paint. This would act as our base and would also help mask any issues we might encounter when we placed the gold down on the board as beginners. Hair dryers were used to speed drying along.
Next up was working out what word we wanted to gild/gild around. After a lot of humming and hawing, I decided to simply do The Travelling Quill initials in a pale blue and gild the background.
Once we were happy with our designs, we needed to coat what we wanted to gild with a substance called gold size. Size is an adhesive that can be used to stick gold leaf or any other kind of 'leaf' to a surface. It's quite runny and we used small paint brushes to apply it to our wood.
Another quick blast with the hair dryer and we were ready to apply our gold leaf! No going back after this as once the gold leaf touches the size, it is sticking! Placing the goldleaf was tricky because of this. It's very delicate and fragile so you have to place it gently and avoid tearing it.
With the entire board covered, the unattached gold leaf then needs to be brushed away. Using incredibly soft brushes, we revealed our designs below. It felt a bit like excavating ancient ruins or fossils!
A quick spray with sealant outside to protect everything...
And then that was that!
Not too bad for a total beginner! I missed a few spots with size but I'm very pleased with how it turned out and the board has pride of place in my office now!
Once again, another trip to Edinburgh Zoo. February makes for cold shooting but I'm pretty pleased with some of these shots. Always a treat to see the red pandas as well!
The Travelling Quill is Emma C Simpson's online journal, blending travel, photography and other general scribblings about her life... read more »
