WIP, is he finished?

Posted on November 27, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Commission, Composition, Dog, fur, Life, Painting, Portrait, Work in progressLeave a comment

On the easel today. I think this is almost done, one of the legs and the side of the body feels clunky. It’s basically that the leg on the right side might need bringing inwards a bit, so it doesn’t line up with the bodies edge. I’m also not sure about the grass. But I’ve broken my fast of painting. I have been blocked for ages. Basically because I’ve been scared about how well I would do after having developed a shake on my left side. I think concentrating helps reguce the tremor. I will get this finished. X

Storm Arwen

Posted on November 26, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Arwen, Cold, north east, north sea, Raining, Scotland, Storm, Weather, winteryLeave a comment

When you see a bad weather report like this you think it might effect your home. In this case its to the north of us up in Scotland and The North East of England. Still the wind is roaring past the house and rattling our wheelie bins. But that’s about it. We don’t appear to be getting flooding at the moment, but there may be on the North Sea coast.

We did have our power supply flickering a few times. But up north thousands of peoples homes have lost power. Trains are stranded. Its all relative I guess.

Panto rehearsal

Posted on November 26, 2021November 26, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2022, Comedy, custard pies, February, Fun, Life, Panto, Pantomime, Silly, slapstick, StageLeave a comment

The stage is set. It’s been a few weeks since we started rehearsals but hopefully in February we’ll be putting on a performance of Beauty and the Beast. I don’t have a part, I’m just going to be in the chorus. I am struggling with doing dances, I don’t feel physically up to it. But I’m hoping to help with the scenery, although I’m hoping it won’t be as difficult as it was two years ago when I was a lot healthier.

The panto (pantomime), is a jokey, comedic play where an adventure happens but its funny and mostly for children. There are really ‘punny’ jokes, custard pies in the face, slapstick, kids telling silly jokes and basically mad cap fun. I’m looking forward to a great time next year.

Cat flap fixed again…

Posted on November 26, 2021 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Big cat, Black and white cat, Cat, Cat flap, Door, fat cat, Fixed, Life, repaired, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

Oh dear! When I got up this morning I found the clear flap part of the cat flap and it’s surround on the floor inside the back door. Clearly our big cat had come through and must have got it stuck round his belly. Luckily I fixed the flap last week so I know which bits to press on to open it up and re-fit the flappy part…. I tried to adjust it… He’s just come back in. Seems OK at the moment, but I don’t want to have to keep putting it back together again!

Seaside colours

Posted on November 25, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized, SketchingTagged Art, Beach, Childhood, Fun, hovercraft, Life, mackerel, Rain, Sea, Storms, stormy sea, Sun2 Comments

Just drawing in these colours gives me memories of sunny days at the seaside. If the colours were greys and turq, with some white added I would think of wild stormy days.

I remember a seaside holiday in the summer that was very grey and wet. The rain started as we arrived and took a taxi from the station to the chalet we were staying in. I was about eleven and I remember staring out of single glazed windows down a steep hill. I can’t remember a beach? I do remember mom having to put coins in a box on the back of a TV so we could watch it.w

Eventually the weather cleared up m I remember a harbour with lots of sailing boats. I think we went mackerel fishing but all my family got seasick except for me. The fishing lines kept catching fish and I pulled them in. When we got back the fisherman tried to give mom all the old fish but she insisted we got the ones I had caught. I don’t know what happened to them.

I also remember a hovercraft trip on a very choppy sea and eating egg and chips in a rough cafe. Funny what comes back when you see an image..

spices

Posted on November 25, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Hidden, Taste, Forgotten, #bandofsketchers, Store cupboard, spices, treasuresLeave a comment

Hidden in the store cupboard, spicy treasures sometimes lose their flavour if they are left too long..

Forgotten hidden treasures.

Todays #bandofsketchers prompt was spices. I used bits of post-it notes for the labels then used black ink fine liner, grey fine liner and a black calligraphy pen to do the shading. I didnt have my mobile phone camera with me so I scanned the image onto the computer- of course it was a PDF, so I had to mess about saving it as a .jpeg so the image would look OK. Funny how you have to learn different skills without realising it sometimes.

Cold snap

Posted on November 25, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized, SketchingTagged bad weather, Cold, Ice, Poem, Poetry, Rhyme, Snow, storm Arwen, Weather, winteryLeave a comment

Warning arrives

Snow flies

Blizzards may be

As Arwen, a storm

Comes in from the sea.

Strengthening winds

Blustery showers

Branches may fall

Throughout the day.

Ice and snow flutters

Into the gutters

When will it go?

who knows!

A short walk at last

Posted on November 25, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Breeze, Clouds, cold day, Dogs, Friendly, Photo, Steps, Sunset, Time, View, Walking6 Comments

Today, for the first time in about three months I walked around the top of our hill (I drove up as I’m still nervous of putting pressure on my calf muscles).

It still had a little uphill section at the end (we walked downhill at the start). But I managed OK. I’d decided to go out early, before the sun set, and the sky still had some colour in it when we got down to the area of school playing fields that spread down into the Trent Valley.

On the walk we saw two dog walkers, one with a French bulldog and a Staffordshire bull terrier, the other with two beautiful golden retrievers. Both pairs of dogs wanted a fuss so that delayed us getting to see the sunset. It was only a couple of thousand steps but as I had already walked into town and back I at least got my 5000 steps in. On a cold breezy day it was good to blow the cobwebs away at last.

Second hand curry

Posted on November 24, 2021November 25, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged aubergine, Broccoli, Cooking, Courgette, Curry, Food, Lentils, mild curry sauce, Onion, Tasty, turmeric, white fishLeave a comment

Well not second hand, but with left-over ingredients. I made this using curry powder and turmeric. I diced up some courgette, onion, broccoli, and aubergine. I then added a tin of tomatoes. I added water to it to stop it burning on and to add moisture. I also added a few lentils. The fish was bought today. It doesn’t really matter what sort, but a white fish isn’t too strongly flavoured. I’d added it later as you don’t need to overcook fish. It flaked nicely as I cooked and turned a nice golden brown. Much nicer than using a jar of curry sauce.

Can you see a dragon?

Posted on November 24, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Pattern, Fun, Life, Layout app, Texture, Dragon, Mirrored, Photodirector, plastic dotsLeave a comment

Messing about with plastic dots glued down, then worked on it in layout app (a mirroring app) and then photodirector to change the texture and twist the perspective. Back to layout to mirror the result. Different colours and patterns seemed to create a horned dragon at the centre. I can see his nose and eyes, although part of his face appears hidden…. Having fun…