Tag: art

My little Islay Cottage (courtesy of Islay Celtic Craft)

Islay Businesses

Back in June I bought my first Islay cottage. Not one I can stay in, my budget doesn’t stretch that far, only a tiny one I can enjoy looking at standing on my Islay shelf. It comes courtesy of Gordon and Mairi Want’s Islay Celtic Craft Shop. This is how it looks:

Picture of a small model of a decorative cottage with a rowing boat outside
Islay Cottage from Celtic Craft (1)

It’s a small cottage at the shore, a rowing boat tied up on a pole just outside. A chimney for the fire of course. You won’t be able to buy this specific one, as each of the cottages they sell is handmade and unique. You can find more of them on their Facebook page (link above) or even better by visiting their shop just outside of Portnahaven on the back road past Kilchiaran to Port Charlotte.

Picture of a small model of a decorative cottage with a rowing boat outside
Islay Cottage from Celtic Craft (2)

When you visit the shop you’ll find all kinds of great local art and Islay things. If you’re lucky you also get to meet a very friendly cat (unfortunately can’t remember its name). Not to forget, Gordon was very helpful and found the perfect box to get my cottage home safely.

Oh, and the cottage wasn’t the only thing I bought. But that’s for another post…

Nice Islay light (courtesy of Islay Prints)

Islay Businesses

This is a long overdue post, but better late than never. I think I first saw them back in November 2023 at a Christmas fair in Bruichladdich Hall. Bonnie of Islay Prints had some lamp shades with Islay nature related prints on her stand. We had a chat about them and I learned that they come in different sizes and various prints and colours are available. I thought they would look great on two lamps I had, especially as I wasn’t too fond of the original shades.

Picture of a Wet Meadow lampshade in ochre from Islay Prints
Wet Meadow lampshade in ochre from Islay Prints

We agreed that I would measure the sizes I needed when I got home and then order the ones I wanted. For various reasons I didn’t manage to do that for a few months, but just before my visit in April 2024 I finally got my act together and finally placed my order. I decided to go for the Wet Meadow motif in ochre for both, as I wanted some mild warm light from the lamps.

Bonnie was extremely helpful and managed to make the shades while I was on Islay, so that I could pick them up from her workshop and save on the postage. They were safely packed in a cardboard box and travelled home on my passenger seat. Once I arrived home I quickly exchanged the old shades for them, very simple and easy to do.

I’m very pleased with them, they are exactly like I was expecting them. Only thing to point out for this particular version I think they need a bulb with a warm tone. I had a more white bulb in one lamp first and a warmer more yellow in the other. It made a significant difference and I soon changed the white bulb to a warmer yellow as well. One is standing next to me as I’m writing this, providing some background light at my desk. The other one is on my dining table.

If you’re interested, check out the Handmade Lampshades section on Bonnie’s website. While you’re there also check out the Handprinted Greeting Cards (I’ve got a few of those as well), Linoprints and Homewares (I’m considering some of them as one of my next purchases)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) imagines Laphroaig distillery on Islay at Hogmanay

Islay Fun

Following on from yesterday’s AI Happy Islay New Year I played a bit more with Microsoft’s Copilot / DALL·E 3 from OpenAI. The prompt was fairly vague and not much really reminded me of Islay. So I thought, let’s try to be a bit more specific and ask it to “Create a picture of Laphroaig distillery on Islay with fireworks above during a clear night with the Milky Way above”. Assuming the AI has been trained on some pictures of the real thing it should be able to create something that at least remotely resembles the real thing. Well…..

Looks more like a factory with the six chimneys instead of the real single one. No pagodas either. At least some whitewashed buildings. Not sure if that’s the Sun or the Moon or fireworks on the horizon?
Odd looking building and there’s no lighthouse at Laphroaig. The Milky Way looks a bit odd I think. At least the loch looks very vaguely like Loch Laphroaig
Chimney looks about right, but the lighthouse next to it? At least some whitewashed buildings, although it somehow reminds me more of Lagavulin than Laphroaig, The Milky Way looks seriously weird.
Probably the best of the lot. One chimney only and the tower in the centre with some good will has a pagoda. Location on the shore kind of resembles Loch Laphroaig. Milky Way looks a bit funny but better than some of the other attempts.

I don’t know what the AI has been trained on, but I assume it doesn’t know an awful lot how Laphroaig really looks. Some of the representations of the Milky Way look a bit odd as well. Some of the distillery buildings it created look more like a factory with up to six chimneys (but lacking any pagodas). At least all the results place it at the shore, although the lighthouses some versions get are rather odd.

Somehow I had expected a bit more, but then again I heard you have to be very specific with the wording you use. I might read up on it and try again some other time.

An AI Happy New Islay Year 2024

Islay Fun

Happy New Year 2024! Time for resolutions (including blogging here more again) and those kind of things. For various reasons I’m deviating from my usual New Year’s Day schedule today. Went for my morning walk (which I extended to a total of just over 7.5 miles) fairly late and so listened to the New Year’s Concert from Vienna using headphones while I was walking. So now over a late brunch I’m playing with some AI image generator (one of the resolutions, learn more about AI…) trying to generate some Islay themed New Year’s pictures. The text is written by me still, not an AI. Click on the pictures to view them in a full size gallery:

Plenty of Eagles (although not the right ones and a bay that reminds me a little of Port Ellen.
Some generic whisky bottles, can we let them pass as Islay whisky? The geese look more like Canada, not the Barnacle I asked for. And some more non-Golden Eagles.
Lots of fireworks, some Eagles (the one on the ground could even be a Golden Eagle), something that could just pass as a whisky distillery and even a generic bottle of Islay whisky
The distillery looks a bit weird, but acceptable, just. The Barnacle Geese look like Canada Geese again. But the weird Swan and Geese (?) hybrid on the left is baffling me.
The whiskies look a bit weird and I’m not sure of the glass second from the left. The Barnacle Geese look a bit weird and I’m not sure about the Eagle either. Cottages could actually be on Islay somewhere, even the pier.
More Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese and I have no idea what the bird in flight is supposed to be (certainly not the Golden Eagle I asked for). The village looks a little bit Islay-ish, although the lighthouse is in the wrong place
Nice looking village with the lighthouse in a plausible place for Islay. The bird in the air seems to be some weird cross between an Eagle and some gull? Not sure what the birds on the beach are. Or what the bird on the right is supposed to be. Some weird whiskies and a strange carafe (?)
Some more Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese. Some shady generic Islay whisky. The village could fit in on Islay.
Not sure why the fireworks are with bright sunshine. Lighthouse looks slightly wrong, doesn’t make me think of a Stevenson lighthouse. Not sure what the flags are supposed to be? Plenty of wrong Eagles and wrong Geese (Canada instead of Barnacle)
The village again reminds me a bit of Port Ellen, the building at the end on the left could just pass as a distillery (or a church?). Not sure what the birds around the Islay whisky bottle are supposed to be, not the Golden Eagles and Barnacle Geese I asked for. Nice fireworks in a good place though.

Some interesting results in the AI generated pictures (using Microsoft’s Copilot / DALL·E 3 from OpenAI). I asked for an Islay New Year’s day with Islay whisky, beaches, white cottages, lighthouse, Golden Eagles, whisky distillery, lighthouse and Barnacle Geese (in a few combinations). None of it really looks like Islay. The Golden Eagles look mostly like Bald Eagles. The Barnacle Geese look mostly like Canada Geese. The distillery looks weird. The whisky is generic, but that’s OK. In other words, not that much improvement to my earlier attempt.

On that note I hope you had and are having a good New Year and will be having a great 2024. Time for a New Year’s Day dram soon, I think.

Rachel’s stained glass birds

Islay Links

This isn’t strictly speaking an Islay post, although I came across it because someone mentioned Islay in a comment to it. I’m not even sure if Rachel has ever been to Islay. Either way, Rachel makes birds from stained glass and I think they look absolutely amazing. The birds include Choughs and Hen Harriers, birds frequently spotted on Islay. If you know your birds you will spot the Chough in her tweet immediately:

For more of Rachel’s work including the already mentioned Hen Harrier and also some Greenland White-fronted Goose head over to Rachel’s website. It is being rebuilt as of writing this, but you can page through two excellent albums of her work.