Maureen O'Hara you still owe me €3

Years ago, when I was acting as assistant Events-Controller during the Galway Film Fleadh I had the opportunity to meet Maureen O'Hara. Myself, Events Controller Dave Coyne and a couple of representatives from the Fleadh and the Town Hall met her at the door and brought her through the back entrance away from photographers and fans. Maureen was an extremely nice woman, very friendly and chatty...Well during my brief spell in the green room (I glamourously spent the rest of her visit acting as personal security more than anything) Maureen asked if anyone had hair spray. No one did so I offered to go buy her some...I returned 10 minutes later, gave Mrs O'Hara her spray - she's doused herself in a cloud of it and went onstage...

Well Sunday last Neen, my parents and I went out to Cong, co Mayo for the day and visited Ashford Castle. We were delighted to find out 'The Quiet Man' festival was on. As we walked through the gates of the Castle we noticed a procession of bagpipers coming towards us so we pulled in to let them pass. I was filming the bagpipers and noticed a vintage Emerald car pulling up the rear. None of us noticed  until it was directly infront of us that it was Maureen O'Hara herself...The first thought that popped into my head was..." She still owes me three quid! : )

Miragaia

I recently came across a great paper on this recently dicovered Stegosaur, Miragaia. The paper by Octávio Mateus, Susannah C.R Maidment and Nicolai A Christiansen outlines in good detail what exactly we can ascertain about this fascinating creature from the newly discovered remains...

Here is a short excerpt from the paper:

"Stegosaurian dinosaurs have a quadrupedal stance, short forelimbs, short necks, and are generally considered to be low browsers. A new stegosaur, Miragaia longicollum...from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, has a neck comprising at least 17 cervical vertebrae. This is eight additional cervical vertebrae when compared with the ancestral condition seen in basal ornithischians such as Scutellosaurus. Miragaia has a higher cervical count than most of the iconically long-necked sauropod dinosaurs...."

I think it's an absolutely beautiful species and has rocketed right up there as one of my favorites. The figure above is one I just bought on Ebay. Produced by Wild Safari LTD in Conjunction with the Carnegie Museum is a wonderful little sculpt. I'm planning to do a large watercolour of Miragaia shortly...I already have a couple of preparatory sketches drawn...just waiting for couple of free studio days!

NEW PHONE!!!

I love my gadgets...and after a lot of contemplating...research, dropping into phone stores (sorry Neen) I finally upgraded my phone. I contemplated getting an iPhone 4 for a bit, I even thought about waiting for an iPhone 5...but in the end decided I'm not really an iPhone kinda guy. Iv'e used Nokia's my whole life so decided to stick with the Fins...

In the end I opted for the Nokia N8, and boy am I happy I did. What swung it for me is the camera. It's easily the best on the market (12MP camera, Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash, HD Video)... It' actually takes better shots than my own personal camera...when I heard that a major firmware update for the camera was soon to be released I knew now was the perfect time to get it. When I sat down and asked myself what exactly I was looking for in a portable device, the camera, OS and build quality were the most important factors for me. (I don't really care about novelty apps, or games.) The N8 is rock solid. The new Symbian Anna operating system is superb and like I said the camera rocks so I'm delighted.

BIG TIME - The Amazing Spiderman

I dropped into my local comic book store the last day as I was having a hankering for a comic and wanted to play my small part in supporting the local comic book industry. You see I usually wait for the TPB or hard cover collections to come out, I rarely  buy monthly editions anymore but this was 3 issues in one and features amazing pencils by Humberto Ramos so it was a perfect choice.  The comic introduces a whole host of Marvel characters so if you are new to comics and want to start somewhere easy this is the issue for you! If you are passing through Galway Ireland and looking for a comic be sure to head to Sub City, (Bottom floor - Corbett's Court/Eyre Square Shopping Centre)

'Ish' by Peter H. Reynolds

I don't buy loads of children's picture books...generally when browsing a book store I only take home the ones that really stand out...If I have to think twice about whether or not I 'need' it, the book generally goes back on the shelf.

'Ish' is one of those books that the minute I read the first couple of lines my mind was made up...It's a truly fantastic book by author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. I can't recommend it enough -  especially if either yourselves or a small member of your family is an artist.

I'm not going to divulge anything about the story itself - I'd prefer you to experience the wonder that is 'Ish' on your own.... My fellow artists of all ages I implore you, go out and buy this book now! I'ts truly magical!

Paintin' Today

Unexpected day off today, so I'm catching up on my personal work...Going to watercolour a few sketches I've been hoping to do for a while...

Listening to...

'All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone' - Explosions in the Sky

'Day Dreaming The Very Best of Doris Day' - Doris Day

'The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place' - Explosions in the Sky

Lisa Hannigan - New Song - A Sail

How I See Galway

One of our local newspapers, the Galway Independent is holding an amateur photo competition at the moment. First prize is a Nikon DSLR...I'm planning on entering soley because I would absolutely love to win that camera. You see, my current camera is years old, kinda falling apart and most definitely on it's last legs. It keeps bugging out on me and the light sensor is all over the place...shots look accurate one second and completely bleached out the next. Don't get me wrong I love my camera...it's been a faithful ally for many a year, and although it looks the part it's unfortunately not capable of capturing photos anywhere near the quality of  the more expensive DSLR's. The truth is I've asked far more of my camera than it was ever designed to do....

Realistically I don't really stand any chance of winning...my photo's are a bit too 'arty farty' I fear...and admittedly probably not the best. The shots, angles and themes that interest me are not to everyone's tastes.

Of course none of this is going to put me off. I'll give it a go just for the fun of it, keep my fingers crossed! : ) - Now I just need to figure out which three shots to enter..

Fridays Galway United match was a passionate affair. The crowds were riled up, as were the players, managers - stewards -  everyone. It's a hard time to be a Galway United fan - and even more difficult to be a player on a losing squad. Fair play to them for kiting out every week and doing their best - that's really all anyone can ask for. We all just want to see our club survive and the team return to winning ways. We lost the match but the atmosphere was pretty special. In particular I must commend our young keeper Conor Winn. He was very unwell leading up to and during the match. It showed great dedication and strength of character that he played the full 90...

As usual I was taking photos for the club programme ...(That's another reason I could really do with a 'proper' camera. My Galway United duties would be made all the easier with a professional camera) The shot below is of a young fan picking out a winning ticket for the half time draw...

Dig deep...

This next shot is of Tuna, my sister in law. She made a Galway United scrapbook and waited after the match to get autographs during warm-down.

Even in defeat...

I took the following shots in town today. The competition theme is "How I see Galway". I really liked the idea of how a dog might view the hustle bustle of shop street. As my wife patiently stood by I squatted down in the middle of the pedestrianized walkway and took a couple of hundred dogs-eye-view shots of passers by. It proved a really interesting set. It kinda reminded me of what it's like to be a kid. If I had been standing taking those shots everyone would have ducked out of them. But because I was only a few feet off the ground nobody really payed me any attention and just walked by as normal...It seemed a pretty accurate and hugely interesting snapshot of an average Galway day... (click photos for full-view)

Generations...

Everyone's City

Dogs eye view of the city - 'Hello'

Dogs eye view of the city - 'Goodbye'

Deadman's Beach, Renmore