Gargoyle

Posted on March 4, 2026March 4, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Churches, Fantasy, Fun, gargoyles, Homunculus, Sculpture, Spooky, Stone, Terry Pratchett5 Comments

He sits and thinks, that old gargoyle, homunculus, pottery sculpture. The hidden being in the garden, or up on the roof or gable. A cheeky little figure, used to add interest or even to channel rain from overflowing gutters.

Ancient symbol of fear or fun. Some are spooky others more playful. A curiosity on ancient churches.

I love the author Terry Pratchett and his playful descriptions of living gargoyles, their mouths unable to move properly so they speak like they have something getting in the way. They struggle to speak clearly. I’ve tried to find a quote to explain Pratchetts reasoning…

From wiki lspace.org:

“Consider them moving masonry with a personality. To some, gargoyles are considered “urban trolls”, because they are stone-based. Gargoyles may be very distantly related to trolls, if they are related at all. Trolls are large humanoid rocks with valuable minerals for blood vessels and neural networks. Gargoyles live well in Ankh-Morpork which is steamy and baking in summer, so their nervous system is very likely different from that of trolls (for an explanation, see trolls). Gargoyles have various, slightly monstrous shapes (just like the gargoyles you might see on really old-styled buildings), many with wings and claws, and all with a mouth that is shaped like a pipe that cannot be closed. Due to this pipe-shaped mouth, gargoyles have difficulties pronouncing consonants, and it takes some mental translation to understand their speech (see Men at Arms). Gargoyles are extremely good at sitting still for a long time and watching the goings-on, therefore excellent job candidates for stakeout Watchman or semaphore watcher (watching the signals on another semaphore tower and relaying it).”

March 1st

Posted on March 1, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Daffodils, Flowers, Life, March, New year, Poem, Poetry, renewal, Snowdrops, Spring, Time, Tulips1 Comment

Soon there will be tulips

Now there are snowdrops,

Daffodils emerge

Life comes back

Despite the winter

Earth renews

The circle of life rotates

Finds new ways to escape

From the grim greys

The dark days

The light plays

And lifts my spirits.

Year of the Fire Horse

Posted on February 28, 2026 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Red, Blue, Sketch, Fun, Playing, Gold, Metallic, ArtRage app, Chinese new year, Fire Horse1 Comment

I decided to draw a Fire Horse design in my Artrage app. It’s the symbol of the Chinese New Year. It’s basically a finger painting using various tools in the app. It also allows you to add metallic tone. It’s simple and fun to use.

Copper workshop

Posted on February 28, 2026 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic paint, Copper, Fuji, gaps, Metallic paint, paintbrushes, palette knives, Reflections, sheet, Volcano2 Comments

Just painted a volcano, possibly Fuji, I did this today, at a painting on copper workshop. The copper sheet is glued to a foam board backing. I used metallic acrylics. But the paint broke up into cells on the surface This allowed the copper to show through. It was hard to get it to spread but it made for an interesting textured effect. I used paintbrushes, rollers and palette knives. When you try and take a photo you can see lots of reflections. I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

Spidery

Posted on February 27, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Creepy, Frightening, Fun, Group, Halloween, Odd ideas, prompts, Silly, Spider, Stories, Writing1 Comment

Imagine meeting this on a dark night. It was bought up to our writing group for last year’s Halloween. Did we write creepy stories? Not really, more ghostly ones.

It’s interesting as a group to have prompts, you don’t know the random ideas that get thrown around. We all have very different styles and so we come up with stories that have contrasting ideas. Life has given us all different experiences, and it’s great to grab from those playbooks.

By the way, the spider got put away for next year,

Have you read books by John Wyndham?

Posted on February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Books, Chocky, Chrysalids, John Wyndham, kraken, lichen, Midwich, Science fiction, TriffidsLeave a comment

I asked this on Threads and mentioned my favourites. The Chrysalids, the Day of the Triffids the Midwich Cuckoos, Chocky, The Trouble with Lichen and the Kraken Wakes were the ones I read.

I know he wrote other short stories, and some of the main novels were turned into films, but they never quite came up to the standards of the original books. Some of them were turned into TV series too.

Reading Wyndham got me into science fiction and I found I loved others too, like Issac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Anne McCaffrey, and Ursula K LeGuin.

Wyndhams style could be chilling, he sets up situations that can trap people and his descriptions are sometimes very macabre. I had the pleasure of reading them in the 1970s, once I’d read one I had to read more.

She purrs

Posted on February 25, 2026February 25, 2026 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, company, Memory, Sleeping, still sad, Tired, Tuxedo cat, WakingLeave a comment

Lose one cat and another one gets more friendly, wants more attention. The trouble is this one comes and sleeps on my thighs or on my bladder in the morning! It’s very difficult as I wake up…. It makes for uncomfortable feelings. Cramp and aches and well… Desperation!

But I’m so glad to have her here, she and her brother are still here to have them. My memories of all of them are a great comfort.

Flowering cactus

Posted on February 24, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Christmas cactii, Flowers, Growing, Indoor gardening, Life, Orchids, Watering, window sill1 Comment

My Christmas cactuses have finally bloomed in February. The could almost be described as Easter Cactii. The whole windowsill is covered with the. Probably not the best idea if I over water them. I also have orchids. On another sill, but they afe going brown and crispy. I nerd to remember to water them.

Paw print

Posted on February 23, 2026 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Tuxedo cat, Unexpected, Loss, Sadness, Sympathy, Black and white cat, Grief, paw print6 Comments

When I got up this morning there was a letter on the mat. I opened it and it was a sympathy card from the vets who had treated my poorly cat a couple of weeks ago, and eventually had to put him to sleep.

It was so kind, they said they could see we had a close bond and that I cared very much for my cat. I am so sad but proud that they felt this and had taken the time to write to me. I will treasure his pawprint forever.

Award winner is..

Posted on February 23, 2026 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged 80s, Art, award, CV, Design, History, Memory, Poster, proud, recruitment, WinnerLeave a comment

Yes, many years ago, in the 80s, I won an award for something I designed. It was a recruitment poster. I don’t think anything was done about actually using it. It’s probably stuck on top of an old cupboard somewhere? But for a short while I had the frisson of winning something.

I don’t think my name was even engraved on the shield, I think the place I was studying didn’t think a poster was serious enough. Not proper research, which is why I’m not going into detail. But for a while it was firmly on my CV.