Video: Stirling Summer Skins

Last weekend was the annual Stirling Summer Skins Curling competition at The Peak sports centre. It is a light-hearted event that attracts curlers from around the world, and I was there to film some of the fun.

My video, below, contains lots of colourful highlights from Day 1 (the Friday), in which every team played two games. You can expect to see plenty of crazy Loudmouth trousers, folk dressed like they're in the Caribbean (despite the rink temperature being rather cold), lots of fancy dress, and an appearance from Batman, Robin, Catwoman, and The Joker!



Days 2 & 3 of the competition were played on a knock-out basis, with the Final being contested on Sunday afternoon. I went back to the rink on Sunday to film the Final, which was a closely contested game, played with a bit more seriousness than the Friday - but as you'll see from Bob Cowan's photos, it wasn't completely serious!

I filmed most of the Final, but I am yet to edit a highlight video of the game: One reason being because it'll take a lot more time, and secondly because it won't be as colourful/fun as the Day 1 video. However if there is a demand for the Final video then I could be tempted to go ahead with it...

Commission: Chatelherault

Here is a large painting commission that I completed a couple weeks ago.



It is an acrylic on card portrayal of Chatelherault near Hamilton (Scotland); and measures roughly 80 x 40cms - making it by far the largest painting I've done in several years.

Novak Djokovic caricature

Of all my recent tennis caricatures, this Novak Djokovic caricature was the third (of five) to be drawn but is the last to be coloured.



Second seed Novak Djokovic met Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in this afternoon's first semi-final match: Despite defeating the mighty Roger Federer in his previous match, Tsonga was today knocked out in 4 sets, so Djokovic progresses to Sunday's Final.
Djokovic would play the winner of this afternoon's second semi-final match between defending champion Rafa Nadal and fourth seed Andy Murray: British hopes were raised when Murray won a hotly-contested opening set, however Nadal dominated the following three sets to secure his place in yet another grand slam final.

Work in progress teaser

I'm making slow progress on the largest painting I've done in about 5 years. It's an acrylic on card commission, and measures roughly 80cms x 40cms (32" x 16").

The photo below is a wee teaser, showcasing the painting and my re-arranged work space (which is temporarily set-up to accommodate work on this painting).