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

Eye news

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Oh dear! I thought things were getting a bit ‘fuzzy’. I just had my eye test and they are. So far things are not bad, just a blurring round the edge of my lenses, like fogged up glasses when you come in from the rain, or being dazzled by the sun. My central vision is clear. But it’s something to keep an ‘eye’ on literally and metaphorically.

I need to eat healthily and have anti-oxidants in my diet. I will try and do everything I have to. I just don’t want to lose my eyesight, art means so much to me, reading too. I just hope this is a gradual process. I know it can be treated, I hope when I need it, it is.

Arrived today

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Note cards from my friend Martha in Colorado. She’s a brilliant artist and loves the Sand Cranes that migrate through her valley twice a year. She has cards for sale through her Etsy shop I think.

I hope she doesn’t mind me using her image. I think it’s so atmospheric. I like the different positions the birds are in, so well observed. And the sky is blustery and lively. It’s great to have something like this from such a talented artist. I’m definitely putting one of them in a frame. Is so sensitivley painted, I love it.

Painting and drawing

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What do you wish you could do more every day?

I used to paint and draw a lot more than I do now. I feel though that recently I’m quite blocked, stuck, nervous of creating. Yes I sketch every couple of days, but my easle is resolutely empty. The paints in their boxes, the brushes lying fallow. The trouble is my physical health. My left arm keeps shaking and I have pain in my elbow. I’m still waiting for a full diagnosis. I don’t think it’s anxiety, but not painting makes me anxious….

I just saw a painting/art competition online, but the entry needs to have been created after 1st January 2023. The painting I had in mind, and it was a good one, was from a couple of years ago, so it was not suitable. Also the entry date is tomorrow, I’m not going to have time unless I get my paints out NOW and paint all night..

I have a list of paintings to do for friends and family. I feel oppressed by that. I should feel glad. I need to break the block.

Big little kitty

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This cat is big! He’s the biggest cat we’ve ever had. And yet he’s gentle and much more loving than he was when we first took him in.

He was known as ‘the outside cat’ at first. But we gave him a name and gradually he touched our hearts. He had been abandoned by his previous owners and was thin and a bit standoffish at first. For a long time he was outside and my other two cats stayed inside, they were rescues and we didn’t want them to stray onto the main road. We were also concerned they might catch something from the new cat.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since we let him in the house, and the other two out. Basically I would lock the cat flap so he could come in to eat but I would have to let him out so the two couldn’t go. But even then he was getting bigger and he would push and push on the cat flap until he broke it! We glued the split cat flap back together with a layer of plastic and sellotape. But eventually I got another flap and cut it down so the door to it would fit into the original mechanism.

Since then, this cat has thrived. He jumps up between us when we ask, he’s gentle with the other two (he eats as much as both of them put together though!). I love them all, but he has a special place in my heart.

Bumblebee

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The wind is howling and making the window in the kitchen buzz… But I heard a different buzzing this morning, and not from the window. I looked and in amongst the foliage and there was a large bumblebee trying to get out. I grabbed a cup and some paper.. But I just could not reach and the bee kept falling down. Then. I remembered, I’ve had this bug catcher for years. It still took a few goes, you have to place the catcher over the creature with the sliding door below it then swivel it so the door is above. You give the trap a little shake and the door should slide down. In this case the door stopped part way so I had to get a knife and tap the top of the door so it closed. Then I released the bee outside (you turn the trap round so the door opens up again), so happy to let it go safely. Glad I remembered the bug trap, now back under the sink.

Why?

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What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

I’m not sure I want a tattoo, I’ve managed not to get one so far in my life, but I might be persuaded if someone could give me a good argument to get one?

So what should I get an image of and where should I have it….? Perhaps a discrete one on a hidden part of my anatomy, my upper arm, back or leg? I’ve got no one to hide it from though, and they are much more beautiful than the old fashioned love and hate words on peoples knuckles. I know people with sleeves and huge tattoos on their backs or legs. I’m not afraid of being tattooed but I would rather design something for someone else..

A tattoo for me? My hubby always says I have eyes in the back of my head….

Glass

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Glass roof and glass bottles letting the light through. Rain water running down the surface from a drainpipe on the wall above. Glass bottles are perched like pigeons on a beam below the skylight. Bright blue sky and white clouds scud past high above. The roof of the Spode museum building is visible behind the bottles. This was in the ‘Factory Floor’ conference and party room at Spode. I like the conjunction of the glass roof with the glass bottles is pleasing, it is also interesting to see the metal industrial chimney rising above the roof.