Mundane Thread Photographic Edition

[Balderdasha]

A family of Florida sandhill cranes photographed by my wife yesterday. Father is on the right keeping lookout; mother on the left; juvenile in the middle, identified by lighter plumage and no red pigment around the eyes and forehead:

This sounds fantastic, but there was no photo...

[Sits]

Phew, amazing. Is that an iris?

[elguapo4]

List of rolls in neighbourhood bar. Pay particular attention to no. 52.

Truth in advertising.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Phew, amazing. Is that an iris?

Yes, backlit by the early evening sun. When viewed in regular overhead light it appears as very dark purple, almost black.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Sunset over London yesterday:

[Balderdasha]

A painted rock "snake" in the local park.

[Toby Gymshorts]

[Balderdasha]

Not as good as Amor de Cosmos beautiful ladybird study, but we also found a ladybird pupa this week.

[Toby Gymshorts]

[Balderdasha]

Woodland stencils.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Majestic texture/colour. Is the blue road a bus lane, or did you push the colour post production?

[Toby Gymshorts]

It's a filter applied to the original picture, to enhance the contrast between road and pavement, wall and sky. Quite pleased with the results, TBH.

[Amor de Cosmos]

As you should be.

[Sits]

That’s exceptional, Toby. I had to look up “grainer” as an occupation, and it’s exactly what it says on the tin: one who paints a simulation of wood grain. Maybe that was popular once.

I’m sure there are a couple of these old painted ads on Sydney buildings; must keep an eye out.

[Amor de Cosmos]

That’s exceptional, Toby. I had to look up “grainer” as an occupation, and it’s exactly what it says on the tin: one who paints a simulation of wood grain. Maybe that was popular once.

Eh! I used to do it for a living not that long ago (well OK, 50 years gone.) Graining, marbling, glazing, gilding, all those specialised painted or gessoed finishes.

[Sits]

<feels bad>

What’s gessoing?

[Toby Gymshorts]

<blushes> Cheers, both. It was taken in a remarkably mundane location, the bottom of Belmont Hill in Lewisham. I've walked past it hundreds of times but something about the evening light made it really stand out.

I must have looked weird, standing there trying to get just the right framing of a wall opposite the (closed) bowling alley.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I’m a sucker for faded gable ads...but none on this phone. Great photo, that

[Felicity, I guess so]

Not quite what I was looking for, but Middlesbrough near the Uni

[ursus arctos]

One of my uncles spent more than half a century as marbler, grainer and fresco painter, specialising in the decoration of Catholic churches. He had covered one wall of their living room with a fresco of flamingoes.

[Amor de Cosmos]

<feels bad>

What’s gessoing?

It's chalk and rabbit glue combination boiled together. It's been used for a thousand years or more as a base for, painting or gilding on wood or any other stable surface. It sands down to an extraordinary smooth surface that's receptive to almost any pigment or metallic leaf.

[Sits]

Thanks Amor.

[Balderdasha]

Stage one of rock painting.

[Balderdasha]

Stage two.

[Balderdasha]

Stage three.