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

Being pestered on Instagram

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

A comment on my Instagram photo of my cat offers me the opportunity to sell my work as NFTs. I know NF stands for Non Fungible (transactions?). I noticed that a friend of mine has had a similar proposal offered to her. I immediately got that sinking feeling that this is dodgy. My images are covered by my copyright, but what happens if you start selling digital images. Aren’t they sold via crypto currency? How is it converted into something tangible. My art is OK but I wouldn’t say it was exceptional. Isn’t this just a bit of ego polishing? Like vanity publishing, and who gets any profit. I have friends who were going to set up an NFT gallery with a lot of friends art last year, but after a while I didn’t hear anything more. But the thing that really put me off was the silly Trump NFTs which were sold for masses of money, but almost instantly crashed a few weeks later. Until the whole thing is regularised I won’t touch it with a barge pole!

Swallow falls a year ago

Posted on Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

I don’t remember when we actually visited Swallowfalls, it’s in Wales near Capel Curig. The water flows off the Snowdonia range. I think I drew this from an old photo. It’s one of my felt pen drawings that I do with #bandofsketchers. This was drawn in May 2022, when we were more restricted in where we could go and I was being so cautious I drew from references more than real life (I still limit where we go). I wish I was up to travelling over there. Wales is a wonderful, picturesque, friendly country. Visit if you can X

Going to a new home

Posted on Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Autumn painting. A woman with a red umbrella walks through a damp and misty forest with leaves scattered around. I worked from a photo someone lent me so I don’t know who’s photo it was. If there is a copyright issue I will delete this post.

I had problems with the body length and the length of the legs, trying to get them and the arms in proportion. I had to play with the colours and shadows to try and get a realistic light on the figure. I also tried to make the trees bluer to send them back into the distance.

I don’t go out much

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

I still wear a mask when I go in shops, especially supermarkets. I rarely go out except to try and walk a bit to keep myself fit. Sometimes the world seems like an alien place and I feel like I have walled off the world. I have stopped visiting many friends and don’t like going in pubs or places where there are a lot of people. I still have covid testing kits and I try and remember to test once a week, mainly when I go out to choir practice. I have not had covid19 (yet) and I do hope to continue to avoid it, but I think people are forgetting about it, and really it’s not surprising because it isn’t in the news headlines any more. But millions died and millions more have been disabled by it. I’m not going to put my life at risk if I can help it. Stay safe x

Lemon tree

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The fruit hanging at the bottom of this little tree is a lemon. Hubby bought the plant at the weekend because our lemon tree died a few years ago. This is sitting on top of our cat tree by the radiator so it can get full sun and warmth. Ii would have put it on the window ledge but I think it would be too hot directly above the radiator. I hope that this lemon and another one which is higher up the tree will ripen. If it does we will have it sliced with ice in a cool drink this summer. X

Easter bunny

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A foil wrapped chocolate Easter bunny that we had for our yoga class chocolate meditation. You unwrap the chocolate, smell it, look at it and notice it’s shape and texture, then put the chocolate in your mouth without chewing it. Finally you chew it and notice how the texture changes. The process of slowly looking at, and tasting it gives you time to understand how lovely the chocolate was, and without just eating in a greedy or hungry way. You are exploring your senses. We also did yoga postures and breathing. It was a simple relaxing evening class.