Photo diary

Life is a bit busy, so I thought a photo diary would be a good way to catch up the last few weeks. Since I last posted, I've been up north to a beach.  Yes it was empty apart from us.

Road to the beach.

I've seen a free show of Spanish folklore and flamenco dance, at the Doha National theatre.

Waiting for VIPs to arrive and the start.

Twice, I've been sketching with fellow artists, the first time as part of the WorldWide SketchCrawl, which was my fourth one.

WWSkC #29

My new class in my new location consists of just 4 men who are great to teach, and the classroom has all the modern technology needed (and a glut of white boards - what can you write on 6 boards?).

My office & classrooms are on the 2nd floor.

My classroom.

I went to 2 photo exhibitions at Katara, the cultural village, and got to see the awesome set up for the Doha Tribecca Film Festival, which opens tomorrow, and I am really excited about. The first exhibition was "Honor Kalbhi" for the Venezuelan cultural week. Then the awesome "In our time: The World as seen by Magnum photographers, 1936-1987". Check it out.

Part of the amphitheatre: 3 days before the opening.

Cultural catch-up

One of the reasons that I left Oman was my need for a bit more cultural stimulus. In the month that I have been in Turin I have certainly started rectifying that. So far, I have visited GAM (as I mentioned a few weeks ago). I have now visited the Antiquities museum, mainly because it was next to the Roman theatre and city gate, so I thought I'd pop in. Amazing Roman artefacts, as could be expected. On Saturday, a colleague and I visited Palazzo Madama, which is a real hotchpotch museum housed in a beautiful Savoy-era palace. Got a fabulous view from the tower over the city, but unfortunately it was reached by a glass elevator, which I hate.

Last night I went a concert billed as the "classical music of the future" at a venue near my flat. I find going to a concert alone a bit daunting, but as you can guess from the top picture I took along my sketchbook for company. After my pre-concert glass of red wine, I drew some of the instruments whilst waiting for the concert to start (above). I liked the double bass lying at the front of the stage, and was fascinated as he played. The second piece was played by four percussionists each with a xylophone plus drums, cymbals, whistles and other things. It was amazing! It was also it's première, so I wonder how it will do in the future... Will HM Qaboo's orchestra play it one day? After all he likes loud percussion pieces.

So that's 2 museums, an art gallery, and a concert so far In Italy, plus the ballet when I was home in UK. What next???