A Long time Since

I had a thought to check out my blog, thinking it had been a few months since my last post.  I was a bit shocked to see that my last post was nearly 2 years ago!!  The volume of time I spend online (usually trapped within the walls of e-mail, facebook and linked in, you would have thought that I would manage to find time to add in an entry here and there... apparently not.

So where are we at, that we weren't all those months ago?

Well we are croft owners, now living in the north of the island close to himself's sister and parents.  We have a total of around 35 pigs, 15 geese, 9 turkeys and 4 ducks.  We have a poly-tunnel, plans for an enormous veg patch, a plantation of trees (yes trees in Shetland) with plans for extension and in some parts resurrection.  Future plans for livestock include the addition of dexter cattle and rare breed sheep of some sort (the breed, as yet, is undecided).

On top of all that we both work full time and manage the keep the boat in check along with everything else, it might sound mad, but we are constantly busy from dawn till dusk not an ounce of time is wasted or lost - even on the days when the weather is bad we manage to find something to do.

Turning Tides

The winter solstice came and went, a day like any other in the grand scheme of things, animals fed, loose ends tied up before the conventions of Christmas and New Year put a hault on everything but them most creative of activities. I observed the Solstice passing, its been a year of highs and lows, so I took a moment to rekindle the memories of 2011 and to look forward to what 2012 will bring, new challenges, new beginnings and the development of the new things that began this year and which will be carried forward into the next.

Christmas day is here, and this year more than ever it seems to have gotten in the way more than it has in previous years. There is no work for 4 days, most things are shut down until after New Year, it wasn't that long ago that Christmas day in Scotland at least was a working day, with (as himself said earlier) New Year being the time to look back and look forward, the changing of the seasons and the year, as I said to him then, that was the solistice and he could do nothing but agree. That said maybe the Vikings had it right, celebrate for the whole month and welcome back the sun, longer days and the new year all at the same time.

Two weeks from today, the first of the fire festivals begin, in Scalloway and finish in March when day light is finally with us again for more than a few hours at a time.

End of Summer

Well at least I think its the end of the summer, when I was away in Aberdeen last month the temperature here finally got above 15C and summer came and went in a week, by the time I got home we were beginning to wonder when the snow was going to start falling.

So year two of student teaching has begun in earnest with essays, course work, placements and projects. Placement starts in a week with the upper stages of the primary school, and this year I am in a one class rural school with a total school role of 11, most of whom are in the upper stages. Its going to be a very different placement to last year, and I am looking forward to the challenges that will come a long with it.

Art is going well, got a few ideas for projects to get on with over the winter and have ready for next summer, got a commission or two from family and I am working on my photography, slowly finding ways and means of promoting what it is I do.

An Afternoon Out

Sat in the teeth of an ENE near gale this evening with driving rain and a certain wintery chill in the air. So I am feeling the need to share a few photographs I took over the weekend, if only to remind myself that we did actually experience warm weather this last week. The colour of my face and arms, aside it was glorious, and the beaches and sands of Burra made of a Caribbean film set, never mind a Shetland one.

Art Pistol

Here is the link through to my art pistol profile. Its a bit of self promotion, but that's not a bad thing right?

Art Pistol

There seems to be a pile of things for me to get through at the moment, a list and some coffee will definitely help and hopefully make the brain fog clear (even if outside it looks like a gallon of pea soup has engulfed the Islands).

Its nearly the end of summer, although weather wise I am wondering if it actually arrived?

Year one of school went well, there were times when it dragged on, but on the whole it was good. I passed my placements, I passed my essay with a tremendous 18 out of 20.

This winter I have year 2 and also I am taking some art classes in order to develop the work I already do, and that work has been selling back and forth which makes me happy. Other than that there isn't a lot more going on, however I have made some changes to the way my blog pages look, which it makes it easier for me to share the work I have put up for sale over at RedBubble.

Visual Arts

What else can I say other than sorry for not posting as much as I probably should have done, but between having a job for a few months over the winter, looking for a new job, getting through first year of my PGDE and all that entails ( I passed beautifully, 18/20 in my essay and two great reports from both my class teacher and my tutor) I haven't had a lot of time to hang around and post anything blog-worthy.

So today, while I have five minutes before heading out for lunch, I thought I would share this; Jay Evans - Vis Arts - my Facebook page devoted to my artistic moments with mixed media and environmental art and also my photography projects. My current project with the camera is to take photographs of Shetland's decaying fishing and whaling stations, I have decided to take them all in colour and then move them into black and white with various filters applied to them to create a mood which reflects the background and the feelings I want to express through the images.

In terms of art work I am experimenting, the weather is too good at the moment to be in the workshop/studio so the best thing I can think to do is to be out drawing, painting and really looking at what Shetland has to offer. I have a few ideas, one being a collection of images that reflect the land, air and sea's hidden rhythms which is a tricky concept to get together and has so far involved a lot of thinking and scribbling rather than actual drawing, painting and creating. The environmental stuff comes with found object sculpture, I love it because you can use anything, leave it for a moment then watch wild take it back and reclaim what was for itself once again. Which, in the world of bringing things full circle, is another reason to be out taking photographs of the old fishing and whaling stations.

They are each old and a part of Shetland's history in their own right, but slowly the sea is reclaiming the piers, plants are reclaiming the buildings and the Shetland weather is slowly taking away the rest.