March 2021
Sunday, 11 April 2021 14:10![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
In March I did some somewhat unexpected photography, some artwork, started a new job, and played a fair amount of Sonic 3: AIR (just like last March…)New camera lens
In my entry for last month I took some starscape photos one evening while Mars was close to the Pleiades. I would have loved to get some closer up photos of the Pleides in particular, so after I got my new job offer I did some research and treated myself to a second-hand Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3, which has a lens about four or five times longer than my longest lens which was then my 18-55mm kit lens.
Naturally the weather wasn't great at night for the rest of the month, so I haven't taken any night sky pictures with it yet (and the nights are getting very late now…) but I have discovered that I'm absolutely loving it for wildlife photography.
In my entry for last month I took some starscape photos one evening while Mars was close to the Pleiades. I would have loved to get some closer up photos of the Pleides in particular, so after I got my new job offer I did some research and treated myself to a second-hand Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3, which has a lens about four or five times longer than my longest lens which was then my 18-55mm kit lens.
Naturally the weather wasn't great at night for the rest of the month, so I haven't taken any night sky pictures with it yet (and the nights are getting very late now…) but I have discovered that I'm absolutely loving it for wildlife photography.
AMPDG: Paint a ceiling
For AMPDG this month I had to "paint a ceiling". I made a twist on it and painted my loft hatch into a sky roof.
I'm pretty pleased with how it came out! Next time ("Next time") the sky could do with being a mite lighter, but I'm very happy with the clouds.
For AMPDG this month I had to "paint a ceiling". I made a twist on it and painted my loft hatch into a sky roof.
I'm pretty pleased with how it came out! Next time ("Next time") the sky could do with being a mite lighter, but I'm very happy with the clouds.
Acrylic pours
I attempted two acrylic pours (where you put paint into a cup and empty it onto a canvas) this month, for the first time, after seeing some youtube videos and being enamoured with the effect. It's harder than it looks!
These were my first two attempts, though I don't have a good photo of after they dried, where the left one got very dark (and the canvas wasn't wholly covered anyway) and the right one, which was my favourite, unfortunately cracked during drying due to me making the paint too thick. I will attempt something in a similar palette again soon!
I attempted two acrylic pours (where you put paint into a cup and empty it onto a canvas) this month, for the first time, after seeing some youtube videos and being enamoured with the effect. It's harder than it looks!
These were my first two attempts, though I don't have a good photo of after they dried, where the left one got very dark (and the canvas wasn't wholly covered anyway) and the right one, which was my favourite, unfortunately cracked during drying due to me making the paint too thick. I will attempt something in a similar palette again soon!
Chocolate truffles
Work had a couple of virtual away days in my second week of the job. One of the activities was a guided live cello meditation that I'm quite tempted to buy the pre-recorded version of at some point since it was excellent (and scheduled quite close to when I would normally take an afternoon nap, so worked well in that sense too).
The other activity of note was a chocolate truffle making experience. We had some chocolate cooking buttons posted to us and had to buy some dairy or coconut cream ourselves. The live lesson itself wasn't so great (it turns out I ice my cakes with basically truffle mixture already) but before the lesson we were told to temper the chocolate, with instructions, which I'd never bothered to try before.
I used the cheap analogue thermometer that came with a cheese making set my parents bought me a few years ago though they gave the impression that "liquid but cool to the touch on your lips" was adequate. Dark chocolate tempered at about 31°C; milk at 29-30°C.
My tempering seemed to work since the chocolate coating we put on the truffles was a little shiny and didn't bloom overnight, so that was satisfying. What was a surprise was how quickly the chocolate solidified once it started to; I ended up having to chisel a fair amount out of the bowl afterwards!
Work had a couple of virtual away days in my second week of the job. One of the activities was a guided live cello meditation that I'm quite tempted to buy the pre-recorded version of at some point since it was excellent (and scheduled quite close to when I would normally take an afternoon nap, so worked well in that sense too).
The other activity of note was a chocolate truffle making experience. We had some chocolate cooking buttons posted to us and had to buy some dairy or coconut cream ourselves. The live lesson itself wasn't so great (it turns out I ice my cakes with basically truffle mixture already) but before the lesson we were told to temper the chocolate, with instructions, which I'd never bothered to try before.
I used the cheap analogue thermometer that came with a cheese making set my parents bought me a few years ago though they gave the impression that "liquid but cool to the touch on your lips" was adequate. Dark chocolate tempered at about 31°C; milk at 29-30°C.
My tempering seemed to work since the chocolate coating we put on the truffles was a little shiny and didn't bloom overnight, so that was satisfying. What was a surprise was how quickly the chocolate solidified once it started to; I ended up having to chisel a fair amount out of the bowl afterwards!
Dragonfruit update
The single branch continues to grow pretty quickly! Here's a photo from the start and end of the month
Here's a close-up of the tip using my fancy new lens
The single branch continues to grow pretty quickly! Here's a photo from the start and end of the month
Here's a close-up of the tip using my fancy new lens
03-in-03
Since I knew I'd be starting my job and probably quite busy in April as a result, I moved my normal 04-in-04 short story challenge to March instead, and wrote three in the couple of weeks before my job started.
I haven't put them online this year because I'd like to keep them back in case I want to submit to an actual publisher of short stories (I've been looking around but haven't found one with submissions open at the moment) and they don't accept ones that have been online publicly beforehand, but if anyone wants to read them, I'd be happy to send them across.
Ruins (2791 words): A teenager works through her broken relationship with her sister while visiting an urban ruin. (Modern fantasy/supernatural.)
My life as a sapient collection of fish (1848 words): a new lifeform attempts to find a kindred spirit. (I have no idea what genre this is.)
Untitled sci-fi/zombie story (1198 words) about an astronaught [Edit 2021-07-09: Astronaut; good grief Katherine] trapped on a crashed ship with an infected crewmate. (Sci-fi/horror maybe?)
The first two stories went extremely well (from a writing point of view, at least) and I'm very happy with them. The third was a slog and probably would need a lot of tidying up to be worth submitting anywhere.
Since I knew I'd be starting my job and probably quite busy in April as a result, I moved my normal 04-in-04 short story challenge to March instead, and wrote three in the couple of weeks before my job started.
I haven't put them online this year because I'd like to keep them back in case I want to submit to an actual publisher of short stories (I've been looking around but haven't found one with submissions open at the moment) and they don't accept ones that have been online publicly beforehand, but if anyone wants to read them, I'd be happy to send them across.
Ruins (2791 words): A teenager works through her broken relationship with her sister while visiting an urban ruin. (Modern fantasy/supernatural.)
My life as a sapient collection of fish (1848 words): a new lifeform attempts to find a kindred spirit. (I have no idea what genre this is.)
Untitled sci-fi/zombie story (1198 words) about an astronaught [Edit 2021-07-09: Astronaut; good grief Katherine] trapped on a crashed ship with an infected crewmate. (Sci-fi/horror maybe?)
The first two stories went extremely well (from a writing point of view, at least) and I'm very happy with them. The third was a slog and probably would need a lot of tidying up to be worth submitting anywhere.
