Stephen Coley

Collage…

stephen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:35:35 +0000

As part of Derby City Council’s Art in Empty Shops scheme (I’ll give them a link, even though they don’t even mention me ), I’ll be starting my 2 week stint at 67 The Wardwick, Derby tomorrow morning. I’ve spent the last week watching the road being dismantled & tip-toeing through hot tarmac. I’ve also had very angry phone calls to a rather shady picture framing company who’d ‘mislaid‘ my order for 24 frames Thankfully the frames did mysteriously appear a few days later than schedule and the workmen have laid a new pavement just in the nick of time. There may still be a few barriers & obstacles, but the exhibition is hung and I will be open from 10:00AM tomorrow.

I’ll be in the shop every day (bar Sundays) 10:00 – 17:00 (16:30 on Fridays). As well as exhibiting my recent collage work, I’ll be creating new work in the shop, which will add to the exhibition and I’ll be encouraging any visitors to try their hand at a bit of collage. People can either create a collage piece to take away, or add to a large group collage that I’m hoping to create on a wall in the shop. Or you can simply pop by to say hello

How to pack up a pop-up tent in 5 seconds…

stephen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:57:48 +0000

Way back in February Jake got a pop-up tent for his birthday. It remained unopened for most of the year. However, with a music festival fast approaching, it was time to try out the tent. Testing began while we were sunning ourselves in Italy, so we only discovered just how successful the testing had gone when we arrived back. Our back room was full of pop-up tent

Apparently the first part had gone really well. Once out of the bag the tent had sprung into shape in seconds. Putting away was a slightly different story. Even the neighbours had tried and failed and the poor tent was now looking a little sorry for it’s self. Tracy had another go, but the poles had simply had enough by now and the small metal ferrules that link the poles snapped

Replacements bits were ordered and a bit of ‘pop-up tent packing away’ research was done. We found this…

…and it all looked really simple. With the new bits now fitted we had another go. The guy on the website we’d found had single-handedly packed his tent away in about 5 seconds. Jake, with the help of his mum, our dog, the informative video and a few helpful hints from myself, took slightly longer…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqw6KOL92zs

A mini review – District 9…

stephen — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:27:27 +0000

District 9 (2009)

After finally sending back our unwatched & unfancied copy of Australia (it only took us 3 months!!!), we’re now firmly back in the Lovefilm vibe again. So, District 9… Heard lots of very mixed reviews of this when it first appeared. We loved it. Quite amusing in parts, massively horrific & touching in others. The 112 minutes just flew by and we could easily watch this again before posting it back (we’ll probably not leave it quite so long this time though ).

Me no speak Italiano…

stephen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:19:04 +0000

Which isn’t entirely true, as I can rustle up a few choice words to get by if I’m pushed. But more serious Italian is definitely on the cards for next year, regardless of where we spend our 2011 hols. Unfortunately my phone’s ‘word a day’ Italian app didn’t prove to be quite as useful as I’d hoped. Try as I might, I simply couldn’t manage to squeeze collezionare francobolli (to stamp collect), zio (uncle), attrice (actress) & Vietnam (Vietnam) into a conversation!!! Must try harder next time… Apart from a honeymoon in Venice (which is practically a separate country) & a couple of days in Milan (which was all too brief), we’d not really ‘done’ Italy before. So this year we decided to give it a good go and booked a renovated old house in Tuscany for 2 weeks. The drive down took us 3 days and included a far from impressive crawl through the Mont Blanc Tunnel. I’d always expected that thing to be immense (that’s the tunnel not the mountain, which was)!!! Once down in Italy and a good time was had by all… The scenery was stunning, the food was the best we’d had for a long time (and we do rather like our food!!!), the wine was ridiculously cheap (no comment!!!), that tower was still leaning and the sun shone. Yes the Italian’s do tend to drive like maniacs, but you just really need to get into that mind-set and join the club while your there, and yes the beaches were rather private & exclusive, which was a bit of a shame. But on the whole we came away rather liking Italy. The people were lovely and I think we’d like to see a bit more of them… After the language course, of course!!! And before I start doing my accounts (which is what I should be doing right now!!!), I need to mention a few must see places… La Canonica – The holiday cottage we rented in Tuscanay is beautiful. About 30 mins from the coast and great views across the valley from the garden. Has it’s own outdoor pizza oven (just remember to flour your pizza scoop/paddle to stop them sticking). A great little place and we’d thoroughly recommend it. Portovenere – A small coastal town near La Spezzia. Very, very beautiful. We spent far too little time there, but did have the best seafood pasta we’d ever eaten. Arrive early to get a parking spot. Pisa – Do I really need to say why people need to see Pisa? Sawyer was convinced that Bob the Builder could easily sort out that wonky tower San Gotthard Pass – I may have mentioned this before, as we did this last year as well, but it’s so breathtaking it deserves a second mention. High in the Alps you’ll find a road that links southern Switzerland to the Swiss/German border. If you’re in a hurry then there’s a tunnel. If not then there’s the Pass. I’ve done the Pass twice now and all I’ll say is… I can’t ever imagine being in a hurry to drive this route. B&B ‘t Walleke – This place is an absolute gem and part of me doesn’t want to shout about it too loudly, in case it gets booked up when we want to go back Just like last year, we ended our holiday with a 1 night stop in Bruges and just like last year, we stayed in the truly amazing B&B ‘t Walleke. We knew very little about the place last year and had booked it purely because the name had made us smile!!! It was such a shock when we found it. I could write reams about this place, so I’ll try to keep it brief… Imagine if you will, an episode of Grand Designs, but set in the fairy-tale city of Bruges. Nestled amongst the old quaint & quirky chocolate-box buildings you’ll find ‘t Walleke. The ultra modern & high-tech little place only has 3 rooms, but if you can get one you must give this place a go. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed, especially if you find the roof terrace with it’s fridge crammed with stupidly cheap & insanely strong local beer!!! The owners are simply lovely and will do anything for you.

And now for my accounts and a few holiday pics

New toy…

stephen — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:15:47 +0000

It’s actually a new toy that I’ve been after for rather a long time now… And I’m not sure about everyone else, but when I get my hands on a shiny new toy camera, pretty much the first thing I do is check out the camera’s zoom powers (it doesn’t take much to impress!!!). I know this isn’t the most glamorous picture you’ll ever see, but it’s a damn sight more interesting than the chimney-pot picture I took first

I’m still learning how to properly use my new toy, but so far initial impressions are very good.

I’ve had an SLR camera for as long as I can remember, but reluctantly abandoned it about 10 years ago when the compact digitals hit the market. There was suddenly no need to lug a massive bag with camera, lenses, flash, filters & film about with me; the new fancy digital cameras simply fit in my pocket and came loaded with fancy pre-set functions. I’ve had a few little digitals since buying that first rather plasticy one all those years ago, while my bulky SLR gathered dust in the loft. Only recently all of my SLR stuff disappeared via Ebay… But if truth be told, I’ve always kind of missed it. I’ve certainly not missed the bulk or size, it’s mainly been the flexibility that using an SLR camera gives you. Yes it’s nice to know that your picture will almost certainly be in focus when you push the button, but there have been times when I’ve wanted a little more than simply a point & shoot camera. I’ve wanted my manual settings back…

Fortunately the Lumix TZ8 offers this and much more. So you can expect my Facebook, Twitter & Flickr pages to be littered with inane & random photographs for the next few weeks!!!