Etiquette with Mrs. Bucket

I was walking through Burton last week and found a little bookshop and a copy of Mrs. Bucket's Book of Etiquette for the socially Less-fortunate. Lots of useless advice, as you can expect. Here's a video of Mrs. Bucket's best put-downs:

Watercolour with Nathan Fowkes

A watercolour from the months before my ordination; 

it was ideal for the ordination cards.

A gouache using cheap materials from the Works; 

my first attempt with gouache is not my worst.

When I was younger, I used to do lots of little drawings. Above is one of those. I was especially fond of drawing people, of getting their proportions right and achieving the facial resemblance that is key to a decent portrait. I did some landscapes in the beginning, but landscapes are rather boundless (compared to the human figure) and I got lost in the detail. Now, drawing is one thing and painting quite another. I have tried painting, but usually in watercolour, which is more manageable than oils. But it's time for an adventure, and for a recent birthday, my brother found me a treatise on landscape painting in watercolour and gouache (a species of opaque watercolour) by one of my favourite contemporary artists, the American Nathan Fowkes. I'm not ready for the oils yet, but I think I can give the watercolours another shot, with some instruction from Mr. Fowkes. Here is a video featuring him and his landscape work.

Why are those fine chess sets so very expensive?

I think that one of the reasons chess is so popular even with those who cannot play it very well, or even *will* not play it, is the aesthetic value of a decent set. And here's a video description of high-end sets being built in India by skilled craftsmen. As usual, the high price is due to the time it takes to produce the pieces; naturally, the knights are the most complicated and time-consuming to build.

Blogs and social media

It's not very easy to add material to a blog from mobile phone or tablet, and I rarely use the computer. I can see why so many bloggers switched to social media about fifteen years ago. I've just installed Blogger on the android tablet. Let's see if that's useful.

By the way, I'm beginning some Christmas books. It's worth mentioning them, since they will help form posts over the next year. 

• R. H. Charles, the Book of Enoch. A translation of this ancient 'apocryphal' text of the late Jewish period (the centuries before Christ). It seems to only be apocryphal because it was rejected by the Jewish rabbinic schools after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. It was still used by the Church and has much in common with the book of the Apocalypse of S. John (Revelation).
• A. Ross, Marvelocity: the Marvel comics art of Alex Ross. My favourite comic book artist and his work for the Marvel production house. Ross works with a type of opaque watercolour to produce very realistic depictions of popular superheroes. This is a coffee-table sized showcase book.
• M. H. Bonham, The cat-owner's problem-solver. Just that. Not that Letts has any great problems, but there are some useful things in this one.