Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown

I'm an artist based at the Spode factory site in Stoke on Trent. I paint, draw and create digital art. Contact me at mallabandbrown@aol.com

Cup of tea

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Decaff tea isn’t brilliant at waking you up, but at least the caffeine levels are healthy..

I like English breakfast tea, earl grey and just bog standard tea bags. I don’t like speciality teas, some of the flavoured ones taste lovely but can be packed with sugar. And cost a lot. I’m also not keen on camomile tea which gave me nightmares when I drank it.

Why are the photos on the free photo list on here so hard to find? Most of the ones under “tea” are made without milk, which makes me think most of the images are American? Us brits generally like a brew made with boiling water on a teabag then when it’s steeped, we add milk and sugar or sweetner or nothing else. I don’t know many people who take it with lemon. Most people like builders tea (very strong in a mug). Enjoy!

Last night..

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The cats slept but I didn’t.

Little snores kept me awake.

I don’t like the dark

Or the cold

Being on my own.

One cat gets under the covers

Claws out, poddling me

It’s sweet but

Then she gets too hot

Leaping out and away.

I tried reading

But I ached,

My mind raced

Too tired to sleep now.

Third night this week….

Cold

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Brr it’s cold tonight, the wind is blowing and we might have some snow. The cats can open doors but don’t want to close them! That let’s the draughts through from the back door area. Our cat flap is old and loose through wear and tear. I’ll get up and shut the door, then a cat comes in and pushes the inner floor open and whoosh, cold air. The cats have warm fur so they aren’t bothered, but I’m shivering, brrrr

Fat cat

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Drawn with an ink roller

When I got an ink roller to blot out the name and address on a letter I realised I could also draw with it. This is from 4 years ago and came up on Facebook memories. This was one of my experiments. Since the roller made quite a wide mark it turned into a fat cat! Some of it is using a fine line pen but if you use the roller edge you can also draw lines.

Blurred

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Time blurs everything. Thirty years ago I was doing a course at college and for a while I rented a small studio with two other artists. But it didnt work out. One of them was collecting egg boxes to try and insulate the walls as the place was freezing in the winter but also to try and deaden the noise of rock music one of the artists used to like playing. The windows had arched wooden frames that were quite architectural but they were single glazed. I only painted a few things but when I was there and the music was on it would drive me mad. Unfortunately I could only use the place in the evenings and that coincided with the rock sessions. So I gave it up in the end. Now I’m looking at leaving my current studio. It’s too expensive to carry on renting. If it is the choice between paying rent for it or paying the fuel bills I have to make the sensible choice.

A better day

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I went out in the car today. Only to a post office to send some documents off and get some shopping. The postmaster asked me what was in the envelope that was addressed to “the bereavement team”. When I said a copy of hubbys will and death certificate he was instantly sympathetic.

As a sign we might be living in the matrix, while I had been waiting in the queue I had spotted a box of cuppa soups that I like. After I’d handed over my letter I turned round to pick up the soup… Where was it. I stood for two or three minutes but could no longer see it. A glitch in the matrix? All the other boxes of soup I had spied were also missing. Perhaps I had dreamt it.

Then I went into a shop and got a cornish pasty and a chocolate brownie for tea. I noticed that the woman who served me had a runny nose and touched it with her hand before picking up the brownie. I got home washed my hands, microwaved the pasty, washed my hands, microwaved the brownie, washed my hands. I think I might have been overcautious but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Give peace a chance

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If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

When I searched for “dove of peace by Picasso” in the WordPress image search engine this was one of the pictures I got!

If a search engine can’t find an image of a dove of peace what chance have we got? There were pictures of a woman with sun tan lotion under her eyes? A sunset, clouds, a possible white wing with feathers. I guess I should do my own version but it’s late and I just wanted to write this.

Symbological images are important. An image of a white dove is, I would guess, almost universally understood as meaning peace. White doves are released at sporting events. They are clean and innocent looking (why don’t they use black doves too?), in some ways it could be stereotyping white to equal good? But I’m not seeking to answer that question here.

What we need is not the symbol, but the actuality, where are the people with the moral strength to say enough is enough. Oppression must end, fairness must reign, understanding must come to the fore, eventually instead of collateral damage and bloody mayhem..war must end. We must give peace a chance.