Like olives
Shining ovals
Stare out at me
Boop
Purring…
Touch noses
Then a pounce
Onto the floor
Off on an adventure
Back later
For more
Green eyes
Hero
Doing some digital drawing in Artrage. Since there is a new film out about the trojan horse and it was on my mind I decided to try and draw a Greek hero. It’s meant to look metallic, like a bronze bust. It certainly feels illustrationish. Pure imagination. On another thought. I wonder if I draw left handed profiles because I’m right handed (but right handed three quarter faces.?)
AI thoughts
The question of AI came up in an art group I am part of. I wrote this as a suggestion :
When you think People using photoshop and other illustrative tools to create cartoons and images these tools are quite recent. If AI is used for that purpose then it’s probably OK. Artists also change original art, for example surreal changes to the Mona Lisa by Salvador Dali. What I am concerned about is people taking art and altering it and passing it off as their own. Plagiarism is not OK. As long as that doesn’t happen I can see a place for it. Thinking about the shock of the new book I can see we could be on the edge of a revolution like the impressionists and the changes they unleashed
I think things like extra fingers and and anatomically incorrect bodies take us into the so called uncanny valley. But perhaps artists can use this to our advantage. Creativity boosting AI imagery if we are lucky?
A neighbours cat
Seems to be moving in. I turned round yesterday and it was on the arm of the chair, she keeps coming in and stealing my cats food.
The two of them have yowling matches, hurling insults at each other.
I’m sure the cat is from about 3 or 4 doors up and I don’t want to encourage it as they might get annoyed.
It’s just come in again, I will have to go and shoo it out again.
Pink sky in the morning
View through my bedroom window this morning. We had a couple of rumbles of thunder last night which resulted in my damp cat jumping on the arm of the chair for a bit of reassurance.
Today’s forecast is for light rain and a light breeze, but more widely our area has an amber warning issued for thunder showers with a risk of flooding and disruption to travel.
However this is so incredibly minimal compared with the terrible mud slides and flooding in Nepal. So far 160 people have died and 1400 people are reported missing. Yet another climate disaster.
We must stop ignoring the damage we have, and are causing to our precious planet.
Window
Window with curtains
Town Hall window with curtains, I loved the silhouette this made, the brightness of the daylight outside emphasised the shape, and the height makes it feel elongated. It’s like a tall house with a pointed roof.
Taken in the ballroom of Fenton town hall, Stoke-on-Trent.
Movement
Movement was the prompt and it brought back memories of my childhood. I learnt to draw horses. They are such powerful and beautiful and intelligent creatures. I only occasionally saw them in real life as I lived in a town. But I had the book black beauty, and watched folly foot, a TV series about horses, and was always singing the theme tune to something else “on white horses”, plus champion the Wonder horse and the lone ranger.
It’s no wonder that I loved drawing horses from an early age. When I was a kid at school I used to draw horses over and over again. I even sold some to other kids in my class for sixpence. I loved drawing dappled greys. I was better at it then than now x
Bread
My friend keeps sending me photos of bread he has made. Because he’s posting on WhatsApp the images keep downloading themselves into my phone gallery.
He makes a basic dough then adds nuts or berries, chilli powder or flakes or garlic. Recently he’s been adding chick peas.
The only thing is, he lives so far away that I’ll never be able to eat any of the loaves.
Miniatures
I have a few miniature paintings for sale at the Etruria Industrial museum. They are pictures I painted a few years ago that I had left over. If they don’t sell I could glue magnets on the back of them and varnish them to be used as fridge magnets.
I have a small painting someone gave me which has built in magnets, that’s where I got the idea from.
I want to try and do something because I feel like my art life is ending… And I don’t want it to.
Sad birch
The leaves fall
Silver birch wilt
Sad trees heated
Beyond nature
Driven to drop
Their browning
Paper thin foliage
No doubt about it.
Climate change exists.
Mallaband-Brown 