I was just watching a programme called ‘Glow up’ about make up artists competing to win a make up artist of the year award. They are all young, enthusiastic people and the work they did was amazing. The first challenge was to create fresh makeup for an advertising campaign. The results were varied between very subtle and very bold. The second challenge was to create a make up which represented the place the contestants came from. One competitor came up with a bee for Manchester on her models nose, and eagles wings using feathers on the models eyebrows.
I’ve never seen this programme before on BBC 1, but I’m glad I did. I have done a small amount of face-palming in the past but this was on an entirely different scale. Really amazing and artistic! My sketch here is nothing in comparison. X
A doodle drawn in sketchbook app, there are a lot of pens and brushes on the app, so I chose glowing colours and then a thin magenta pen to draw a profile over the top. Spirals are one of my favourite geometric patterns. It’s just a finger painting.
Acrylic on canvas painting, work in progress. Of trees and rocks or stones. But I don’t remember what I was doing with it. I found it in the summerhouse while I was helping clear it up. I must have started it sometime last year. Perhaps in the winter. I’ll have to make a story up? Maybe it was too cold in there and the water froze, or the weather changed and continuous rain put me off. I’m going to get my brushes out and try and finish it off….
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was guess.. Guess what bird this is? A teet owl….? Just a silly digital cartoon drawing using Artrage and trying to use all the different tools on the app.
Beware! Early morning hazard on the stairs. As the days and nights get warmer I think he sleeps on the stairs because there is a cool draught of air descending down them. It does make navigating them difficult for us. Thankfully I have two handrails and I walk carefully anyway. Rushing down (or up) could lead to a serious fall. I am also happy that he has a prominent white mark across his back which makes him more visible against our charcoal grey carpet (which the cats are pulling loose). Early morning perambulation is done at our own risk! Meanwhile he’s snoring quietly, curled up, a step full of fur asleep on the stairs.
Above all, freedom means being allowed to think, to care about people, to learn and find out things.
It must be important to have freedom of thought and speech. I don’t mean hate speech, or sharing violent or abusive beliefs though. Too many times people have been bullied and harassed by others who think they have all the answers. But it’s hard to work out what is the right thing to say… One person’s truth is another person’s lie?
Fake news does not help. Fact checking is important, if it’s done properly, I use websites like Snopes to check dodgy facts. I think the freedom to receive a good education is very important for both boys and girls. There should be knowledge shared around everywhere. If it means that all the world can act together and reduce pollution and save energy. Something must happen to improve everyone’s freedoms. I’m probably naive but we must try.
There it sits, down by the lake. How old is it? Are there boats still moored inside? A life belt is still attached to the back wall as the wood gently greens and rots… .
I’ve never been down the steep steps to the shore, it’s green and slippery and there is no handrail. If I was young I would explore. The reeds and rushes are starting to grow up, and no doubt moorhens or coots will be nesting there soon. Chicks still waiting to be laid in their eggs. There are Canada geese about. Life is renewing.
I cannot be specific. There are too many politicians I strongly disagree with. I know that any person can be bad. Whether they support right, left or central politics. But somehow they all seem to be capable of misdeeds.
So why right not left? I just think currently in our country, we have had too right wing politicians for too long. They have been in power for thirteen years and things have not improved. Our health service which was the best in the world has been partly sold off, and what’s left is succumbing to cuts in beds, loss of doctors and nurses who are leaving to go to better paid jobs abroad.
We voted to leave the EU (Brexit) and turned our backs on a whole continent that supported us. We have always been ‘little englanders’, but that was a ridiculous idea and we are all suffering for it now.
Our politicians want to ignore human rights and are getting more and more vindictive. A series of political scandals including the miss selling of Protective equipment for the pandemic, (which was not fit for purpose). Sewage being poured into our rivers and sea, and tax cuts for the richest, all have destroyed our reputation. And we have awful treatment of migrants who cannot safely get into this country so are risking their lives trying to cross the channel in small inflatable boats. And one of our ministers had the gall to call them ‘migrant shoppers’ or similar phrase, as if they were not desperately seeking refuge.
So no, I know there are awful people everywhere, but I need to think about our government. If we cannot act in a humane way how can we expect anyone else to do so?
Mallaband-Brown 