Posts Tagged: family
Douglas fundraising for Sport Relief 23 March 2014
Well done to nephew Douglas for raising over £100 for Sport Relief. I ran alongside, kept up until the last 200m… He’s younger than he looks (here). The fundraising page (to be updated) is:
http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/douglassandy
Thanks for any further contributions.
Uncle Ed’s Chair 29 January 2014
This is Uncle Ed’s Chair. Uncle Ed was born in 1908, so he was probably sitting in it about a century ago.
He was my Gran’s little brother. As we’re the folk left in the family with kids who fit it, we’ve inherited it. I like how the seat’s all scratched and the arms are shiny, a reminder of all the abuse it’s taken in the last 100 years.
Ours prefer sitting on tables or on the floor. Perhaps it’s unfamiliar.
I like that it’s useful and practical, and gives a physical connection to the past. It’s not the only connection: the watercolours that the sketches are done with belonged to my Gran. It’s nice that they’ve lasted.
Not Working – January 2014
Most sketching opportunities are work related: there’s not much time otherwise. Here are a few that aren’t:
A couple of pints with Scott and Dougal. I’ve been enjoying Scott’s insightful view of the world for the last 36 years and it still takes me by surprise.
Isla and Julie at Gran & Grumpy’s
Home
Hanging on for Christmas 2013
Everything changes in the week before Christmas: travel is less predictable, work is what happens between nights out, there’s loads to finish and there are things to reflect on. 
Santa was in the departure lounge when my plane was on time… …nobody quite so interesting when it was delayed, in Bristol.
We won a couple of cracking jobs in the last week, setting us up nicely for next year, and adding an extra level of excitement to the Christmas party. 
We need to learn from those we know who are doing things well around us, like Argent at Kings Cross. They work hard to keep the place busy and bustling whilst construction is going on all around. 
A few of the buildings are really attractive too. This has different proportions to most office structures you see, and attractive cast columns.
It’s all really busy, but if you want to spin your talents into a successful business career you could do worse than look to Jackie Stewart for inspiration. This is his Tyrell 003, in which he won the Formula One World Championship 40 years ago this year.
Then Alison, a few days past her due date, came round and we talked about far more important events all together.
Fraser & Isla 15 December 2013
Short days in mid December mean more time in. I’ve never watched a whole film with Isla before, so we watched Beauty & the Beast from the comfort of the couch. 
She used a cushion for help with the scary bits, I just concentrated on the Christmas tree and accepted that I can’t make ‘Beauty’ a beauty, which might be some consolation for the (actually quite handsome) Fraser.
Folk – 2 December 2013
James Lord at the Whisky Society (after the Dome and the Dogs). Tomorrow we will be talking about the future but for now we aren’t thinking too far ahead.
Innes getting into a proper seat.
CBeebies does Gender Bias 18 October 2013
Sketching the kids over the course of an October holiday. CBeebies is on and Fraser & Innes are mucking about and not paying much attention. 
Isla’s watching closely. She’s wondering where the women are. As far as I can see, over 80% of the TV shows have lead characters who are male. Why’s that?
So we put on the Jungle Book, which didn’t really help.
Uncles – 22 September 2013
Keith and Marc sleeping on the couch after Sunday lunch, as they tend to do.
Sandy spinning Fraser. David to follow.
Kid’s Stuff – August 2013
I got mixed up with a kids party for the first time in a while. 
40 years on, things have changed.
Innes watching a bit of TV.
F&I waiting to go swimming.
We all went to Nina and the Neurons at the festival in the BBC’s adaptable (pub/ children’s crèche) venue.
Eastwood House, Dunkeld. 27 July – 3 August
A privilege to stay at Eastwood House, Dunkeld for a week. It was the shooting lodge for Blair Castle, and is strung out along a river bank looking south over the Tay.
We spent a week playing by the river and enjoying local tourist attractions from Osprey watching (I missed the highlight as I was trying to stop Innes singing in the bird hide: bad form apparently) to the Perth Show.
The house has been superbly, sensitively, renovated by Alex and Cat.
Everything is beautifully chosen, whether it’s colour, art, or the degree of renovation. A small example is the chairs, so I drew a simple one every day.
The house is also where Beatrix Potter wrote an illustrated letter about a little rabbit, and this was the basis of her subsequent books about Peter Rabbit and others. She could draw a bit and had a scientific mind, so a different career may have lain before her had she not been a woman. Science’s loss, illustrated children’s story’s gain.
She said: “It’s all the same, drawing, painting, modelling, the irresistible desire to copy any beautiful object that strikes the eye…”
She wrote the letter in 1893. 120 years later, we occupied the same spaces she had, and passed a very pleasant family holiday.
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