An apology ...

To anyone who has the faintest understanding of (typo) graphic design, for the post below about Mitchells Fold. Thing is, the preview function doesn't show you exactly what it's going to look like, and there are some real horrids in the layout. I've edited it three times to try and improve matters. That's how bad it was.

Mitchells Fold Stone Circle

This is where I went today, to get some photos cos for I'm thinking of redesigning the interpretation board up at Mitchells Fold for the next trick for my MA. Brilliant day, lovely location, and here are some of the things I encountered on the way.

This is a bit of the stone circle itself; in fact it's the largest stone. Most of them are little fellers like the other ones you can see. There's a wonderful legend attached to the place; apparently a fairy cow used to appear here at times of famine, and she would never run dry as long as nobody took more than one pail of milk. Then a wicked old witch, Mitchell, milked the cow into a sieve and drained her dry. The cow vanished, Mitchell was turned to stone, and the other stones crowded round her to make sure her spirit was trapped, and therefore couldn't go round draining people's beer glasses, MacDonalds milk shakes etc.

There is an alternative version, whereby the cow goes mad (does this remind you of anything?), and is slain as the Dun Cow by Guy of Warwick (himself a legendary figure). However, I don't think this version of the story is true - not like the first one - because the original cow was white. And a fairy. Apparently there's a relic of the Dun Cow, to show how ferocious its horns were. It's actually an elephant tusk.

On the way up to the circle I didn't meet any cows, but I did see some sheep.

Here are some of them. I quite like the way sheep turn their bottoms towards you and widdle. This one obviously couldn't decide whether to do the widdling activity, or to keep an eye on this strange person who was pointing a magic lantern box in their general direction. And ended up doing both.

In fact it was a very fruitful visit. I talked to several people about what they would like to see on the interpretation board, and what was important to them about sites like this. They had strong views and were very forthcoming. Which isn't surprising, considering the actual board, which is depicted below. One of them even gave me her email address in France!

This has a certain minimalist, conceptual appeal. Tate Modern would probably exhibit it.

It's just not very informative.

What would you like to see on there? Please leave comments below. All correspondence will be dealt with in the strictest confidence, apart from the fact that the world and his welly-boots would be able to see.

Spyware Doctor - go on, heal thyself!

Like most people on the planet, I get plenty of 'phishing' emails. Depending on how much time I've got, and what sort of mood I'm in, I either delete them, forward them to the fraud department of whatever bank they're purporting to come from or ... if I've got a couple of minutes to spare, I fill them in. With lots of different silly names, silly passwords and sequences like 1234567 under the account number.

I recall reading somewhere a while ago that some businessman was advocating this sort of practice, because if the fraudsters had to wade through thousands and thousands of garbage responses in the hope that some poor soul, somewhere, had actually given their details - phishing would soon not be worth their while.

However, I sometimes wonder if I'm laying myself open to attack, so I got SPYWARE DOCTOR. And what a pain in the fundament it is turning out to be. Won't let me get around suspect websites (like Birmingham University) or access old email attachments (the sort of thing I've had for years - thought I might move to another folder) and when I turn off the function that stops popups it threatens me with all sorts of dire warnings.

And sometimes it won't let me turn the computer off.

Yep, strictly for the paranoid, this one. And if you weren't paranoid when you first got it, you soon will be ...!

Yet another archaeological illustration

The original brief said to do a drawing of somebody in 14th century costume, perhaps for a book on medieval customs and life. So I've continued to play around with the design, as if for a book cover, and here is the result. The previous pic didn't look too bad on screen, but some horrid things happened to the colour when I printed it out.

I think this one looks a little less cluttered than the previous one.

Medieval Falconry

This is what I've been doing today ... arranging and rearranging things in Potatoshop. I haven't finished this illustration yet, and I may well bin it in favour of a different approach. At least it does have a falcon on it, though. I am trying to 'push the boundaries' of archaeological illustration beyond the very run-of-the-mill pictures you get of reconstructed castles, resplendent with figures that look like shop dummies. I'm still trying to convey the same information, though, which in this case is that this kind of falconry was very much the preserve of the wealthy, who viewed it as something of a party. As one of the few activities in which both men and women participated, it was often viewed as a metaphor for love.

I am trying to keep the decorative feel of an illuminated manuscript without actually producing a pastiche of one.

Anyway, it has been keeping me off the streets today!