My friend posted a photo of one of her cats yesterday, and it was my cats daughter. She looks so cute with her black mask. She’s grown into a full sized cat, but her sister, who was also adopted by my friend, is only tiny like her mum.
So it’s great to see her thriving. I love her black mask, reminds me of batman! Apparently she was looking in through a window to check if my friends dog was about, but it was in another room asleep.
It’s good to know how they are. I don’t hear about their brothers who were adopted by a couple a few miles away. We did see photos of them growing up though. It’s nice to keep track of them….
Stones, rocks and crystals. Glass paperweights. Books. Plants (mainly Christmas cactuses). Cat ornaments. My paintings and art.
One small terraced house. Two bedrooms, one living room. Cluttered. I’m trying to declutter a bit, but it’s hard when you collect (or is it hoard?) things.
I tried counting the books once, but when I got to 1000 I gave up. I collected Terry Pratchettand and Ann McCaffrey books, also Ellis Peters (Brother Cadviael books). I might have spelt it wrong. I like science and biography, novels and history, too many…
Cat ornaments range from sculptures to small home made clay objects. I have most of them in the living room, sitting on the mantlepiece.
I also collect too much art supplies. I have lots of felt pens, brushes, paints, canvases. Yes it’s cluttered. So I need to organise everything. Have a spring clean. Dust off the glass paperweights, the cats, my paintings. If something happens to us goodness knows what my relatives will think!
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was reflection… Quick reflection sketch. From a photo at Rode Hall lake a couple of weeks ago. The wind was ruffling the water so the reflections are a bit subtle….felt pens again.
Two years ago I painted the mona lisa on zoom for a charity event, I did it over just a few hours. Other people did performances, I did this! Madness! Thank you Facebook for the memory.
It was actually sold off to raise money at the end of the event. It’s acrylic on canvas, and was a real challenge!
Ugh! I got up really early to move the car. My parking pass has run out, so I can’t park in front of my house between 8am and 9pm so I’ve had to find a spot in another street.
The good news is that I have applied for the pass. I had to use the Internet as the council does not have an office open to the public anymore. Everything is via their website. What about people who are not computer literate, or don’t do online banking? Poor people are gradually being disenfranchised. They could use a library. But lots of them have been closed due to budget cuts.
So I have done the forms online and got a receipt to prove I’ve paid. But I still have to wait for the pass to be posted to me. The bad news is that post isn’t delivered as frequently as it used to be. At one time post was delivered on the next day all around the country. That includes most of Scotland, Wales and the far south west. Now, however, the royal mail is concentrating on parcel deliveries. It’s letter service is a lot less important (all those emails…) and to add insult to injury the price of a first class stamp is now £1.10 (at least depending on its size). I can remember when you could buy a stamp for 20 pence.
Worse still, the email says that due to high demand, it may take ten days for the pass to be posted out! That will be ten Working days, two weeks.
So at least I will be getting up early for a while. Although I can have a lie in on Sundays and bank holidays!
Lost mural of Burslem Riot that was destroyed in a fire
My legacy is my art. I have painted for years. I hope that someone wants them when I’ve gone.
I was involved in painting several murals over my time as an artist, but sadly most of them have been destroyed in one way or another. I painted a mural in the stairwell of the Unemployment action centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent just after I finished college. Then we found the building was going to be demolished. So myself and a friend got permission to go in and take photos. Unfortunately the photographs came back blank. The film had not been attached to the spool and was not exposed!
Then I painted some murals with a council art group. Over a few weeks we worked on a school canteen (alien/ sci-fi landscape) a ward at a hospital (images of Stoke-on-Trent to aid elderly patients memories), and a memorial for the 1914 to 18 war. All of these were demolished.
Finally I did twelve murals at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. This took me the good part of two years on and off. The painting above was a mural I did of the Burslem riot of 1842? I researched it and a lot of the characters were based on local Burlem residents and people who worked at or frequented the Leopard. All of the murals were destroyed in a fire that burnt down the hotel.
I have also painted scenery for the local pantomime and Mystery plays, but I don’t know what has happened to them.
What is the legacy you want to leave behind?
So if this isn’t my legacy what is? All the paintings and artwork I have created over the years since I was a child. Not all of them still exist. Art turns out to be quite ephemeral in some ways. But I’ve sold enough that, if no one wants the ones I still have, the rest have gone to new owners. Even if they were to appear in charity shops, I hope that some do find good homes.
I finally got my email to work, not on my phone, but on my PC. Help! I found around 3800 emails..
I have deleted about 2000 of them. Mainly notifications from WordPress about all the wonderful blogs here! I think there are about 30 to 40 emails I need to action. Mainly to apologise for not getting back in touch.
A few times I caught the wrong bit of the line of the email (missing the delete box) that clears the ones due to be deleted. At one stage I’d got up to 200 pending deletions! I gave up then, my arm was too painful and shaking to be able to concentrate. Will do more tomorrow… First world problems… I will try and continue to be tenacious.
I’m doing a craft fair soon but I haven’t replaced the paintings I have sold with new ones. I need to get my act together and paint. I just feel a bit down. This has been going on for weeks. I think its artists block? I know why, lots of thoughts on my mind and anxieties, so I prevaricate because I don’t want to get things wrong. I’m fine when things are going OK, but sometimes I let things get on top of me. I will try and sort my mind out this week! Then hopefully I will have new work to show you…..
I found this in a pile of old letters a few days ago. We knew exactly who to send it to, a very old friend who comes from the south west. It’s about the Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow railway.
The railway line was very curved, the corners were tight, so very few engines could travel along it. It was closed to passengers in the 1930s. It was one of the earliest railways and only very short wheelbased engines could used it. It was mainly used for transportation of China clay across Bodmin moor in Cornwall to Plymouth. The track bed was laid with a camber so the engines could get round the curves. The engines were 240 Beattie Well tanks. They were usde to lower the centre of gravity (Information courtesy of my hubby).
Mallaband-Brown 