The copse on the hill

Posted on July 30, 2026 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged biro sketch, Clouds, copse, Drought, Illustration, Life, Poem, Poetry, Rain, sleepy valley, Storm, Trees1 Comment

The copse on the hill.
High Trees
An ancient site.
Clouds scud – fly by
A Storm will blow,
And rouse the world.
Sleepy valleys,
Shaded by darkening clouds, ~
Let it rain, wind blow
Bring relief
From drought.

Talking helps.

Posted on July 30, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Caring, gratitude, gratitude diaries, Sadness, Support, Talking, Thinking, three things1 Comment

I found a post from a stranger that touched me and made me realise that you can do things to help you with sadness.

I suddenly remembered what I was advised to do when my hubby died a few years ago.

I hope people don’t mind but this is what I wrote to them. It’s copied directly from the post and I hope it makes sense to the person that I have written it to.

“Sorry you feel that way
It’s good that you are expressing it.
Can you talk to someone to help you get through it? I retreated into myself when I felt like this, but then I realised it was better to talk it through. My thoughts are with you. Even writing things down helps. I have written gratitude diaries. You write down three small things to be grateful for every day. Small things, like the traffic light turning green as you get there. Or finding a nice flower, or simply saying hi to a friend. “

Sending hugs to you all.

Pouring

Posted on July 29, 2026 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Acrylic on canvas, Lion, Memories, Pareidolia, Pattern, poured paint, quick abstract1 Comment

Acrylic on canvas, abstract poured blue paint, I filled, then used a toothbrush to add wispy texture. As a matter of interest in this orientation I think it looks like a lions head?

Ignoring emails

Posted on July 25, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Deleting, dross, Emails, gem, Memory, Messages, millions, Poem, Poetry, spam, Too much1 Comment

Apologies world

I don’t want to hear

The millions of messages

Or emails or ads

I just get fed up

Of going through dross

To find the few gems.

I will reply soon

Just giving my brain

A rest.

Pegacorn

Posted on July 25, 2026 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Fine Art, Memory, Pegasus, Oil paint, 40 years, Unicorn, Hardboard, imagining, PegacornLeave a comment

Someone asked for mythical paintings so I shared this. It must be 40 years old. I think I painted it after finishing college. It’s oil paint on hardboard.

My downstairs lights don’t work and I need to get someone in to fix them, so the image is very dark. I’ll try and take a clearer picture of it.

It was fun creating a combined unicorn and pegasus.. Why not?

My pain

Posted on July 24, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged History, Hope, Life, Me, Memories, Mental health, Pain, Sadness, stoicism, Time12 Comments

Today, after years I finally wrote down a lot of the bad things that have happened to me over the years. I’ve held it deep down and rarely shared it because, stiff upper lip, you just get on with it. People call me stoic, well I have been like this for over 60 years. I’m only saying now because I need to prove it to someone. Taken all day to write it all down. Do I feel better? Don’t know. I think I’ve still got some hope left.

Kaleidoscopic

Posted on July 22, 2026 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic paint, Colours, Dots, Fine Art, Iridescent, Kaleidoscope, Mandala, Painting, PatternLeave a comment

Another experimental piece. There were 6 bottles of new iridescent acrylic paint at art group. Each bottle had a little cap inside the lid to stop the paint leaking out. They all had paint adhering under the caps so I used them to create dots of colour. The central yellow circle was created first using all the paint under the cap swirled round in the surface of the canvas. Each other dot only used the paint under the caps and making an uneven surface. The extra patterns were brushed on afterwards.

I see a central sun serrounded by a white path, that in turn is circled by trees then flowers. Or a kaleidoscope.

Shall I finish this?

Posted on July 20, 2026 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blue, Brown, Design, Fine Art, Memory, Parkinsons, Pottery, Teapot, Wood, Work in progress2 Comments

I’ve struggled with this for 2 years. I do a bit and get fed up. I’m making the design up and it’s fiddly, my hands shake and it’s hard to get it right. The base of the pot curve is not right. Maybe I’ll get it finished once this hot spell of weather is over? So it’s a WIP.

Baskets

Posted on July 19, 2026July 19, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Flowers, Friends, Garden, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Life, Memories, small farm, Water, yearly project2 Comments

I’m trying hard to keep my hanging baskets alive. They are on a shady fence which is good, but one in particular is in full sun and is getting rather crispy. Also I bought a few small extra plants but they outgrew their pots so a friend and her son came over to help today to repot them into containers. Some of them were a bit wonky so I tried to straighten them up. That was hard work. Even putting the bin out exhausts me.

Anyway the photo is of one of them. Bought just over a month ago from a small farm and really filled out. I’m using washing up water and some bottles of water to keep them going. Might rain next week… Cropped off the dried out bits.

I do this every year, but this year was a bit much, I will see what happens next year x

Bread

Posted on July 18, 2026July 19, 2026 Posted in UncategorizedTagged airfryer, Baking, Bread, Cookery, Eating, Food, Friend, Photos, Recipe, recording3 Comments

My friend keeps sending me photos of bread he has made in his airfryer… I’m sure he’s proud of it, but I’m not quite sure why he’s sent me eight??? Pictures of it.. It’s getting to be like manna from heaven. Maybe I should get the recipe?