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

Chinese, Japanese, Indian

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What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?

We were introduced to more exotic food at quite an early age. My mother and father would take us out for meals to local restaurants. Mostly Chinese, but sometimes Indian eateries. It was there we learnt to use chopsticks. We ate tandoori or baltis. We never really ate anything too hot or spicy though. My favourite Indian meal had orange flavours in it, very mild, a house speciality of a local restaurant.

Then a few years ago I discovered a Japanese Restaurant near us. I had not really understood the difference between Chinese and Japanese food so it was a revelation. I soon got other family and friends to try the cuisine there. We sometimes have birthday meals there. I don’t think I have really explored world foods, but at least we have tried some.

Happy Thanksgiving

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We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK. It comes from the arrival of settlers in the USA and their survival despite the conditions there. I don’t know much about its history, it seems like many of the same treats and foods for Christmas are eaten during Thanksgiving. I know people make their way home to be with family and friends.

I have been to Plymouth in Devon, England, where the Mayflower left to go to America, but there is some argument about where it first set out from, and I believe there was another ship due to travel across the ocean, but it was in such poor condition that it did not go. I’m interested in the history of the celebration, and the variations between it and Christmas or other winter celebrations. I wonder if it’s similar to our harvest festivals earlier in autumn?

Einstein

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If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?

I would not pretend to be able to understand the Physics of the general and special theories of relativity, but Einstein has always seemed to be an interesting person. I think I know a bit about him, like he worked in a patent office. But I don’t know much. I think he regretted his research bringing about the atomic bomb, and about quantum mechanics. I think I remember him saying ‘God doesn’t play dice’, meaning he didn’t believe in quantum theory.

Recently Einstein has been depicted on British TV in an advert trying to persuade people to have smart meters installed in their homes. Given that 3G signals are being cut off and about 8 million smart meters run on 3G and are about to be turned off? I would ask him if he approved and also would he laugh at the awful makeup the ad makers have used to depict him!

From what I have seen it looks like Einstein had a sense of humour as well as a tremendous intellect. I would just like to have a general conversation with him, and if he was alive now, what would he think of our crazy world?

Bubble wrap and hessian

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With added filters. Mainly using Instagram filters after I had taken the photo, then created a collage using incollage. I wanted to use the filters there but the ones I looked at are pro tools and you have to pay to use them, so I tried to recreate the feel using Instagram. I changed it to black and white, twisted it round, changed the brightness and contrast. I also changed the structure setting and the sharpness. It’s all done by eye and how I feel about the resultant images.

Foxy

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Six years ago I was painting tiny little matchbox sized pictures. I don’t make much money off them, but I guess a few more people can have examples of my art. I love nature, so some of the subjects are foxes and owls, fish, and other animals. I must do some more. I have a couple of craft fairs/exhibitions this weekend, I need to get my act together and paint, but looking after my hubby is time consuming.

Sometimes

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Do you trust your instincts?

I’m rather wary of instincts, I have been known to trust people even when it has not been earned. Or distrust people who turned out to be the nicest and kindest people that I’d ever met before. But it’s not a regular problem, mostly my instincts aren’t too bad. And sometimes I know instinctively what’s going to happen. I don’t claim to have premonitions, but maybe I observe more subconsciously than I realise. So when something happens I feel vindicated.

But there was the one very odd incident. I dreamt of meeting old friends I hadn’t seen for years in the middle of a thunderstorm. Then a few days later we were cycling out to our friends when we met them and our old friends cycling the other way. That was strange enough, but the clouds were building up and the thunderstorm arrived! We had to take cover in a bus shelter. My dream actually came true! So maybe my instincts should be trusted. X

Fushias in November

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We might get a cold snap in the next few days. At the moment though they are clinging on. Inside our house, I’ve just had to torn the heating off. We had a radiator mended in the week and now it’s pumping out warmth. I’m sitting here in a tee shirt and thinking I might turn it back off at the valve…

Let’s see what happens when the weather cools. If it gets frosty, if it snows. Then I won’t just be wearing a fushia pink tee shirt, and the flowers outside might be gone.