Magenta or pink
What do you think?
A pompom dahlia
Beauty not failure
A garden delight
A lovely sight
Meditation in mauve?
I must be in love!
Magenta?
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
Frosty trees
Dawn, and a streetlight shines through the branches of our willow tree. Frost and snow festoon the twigs, but it will soon drip away and disappear. The Holly tree underneath the willow is a refuge for small birds that roost in it and try and keep warm under its glossy leaves, later in the year they will be building their nests. Today we saw a Robin on the bird table.
The light is greyish white, with a touch of yellow. The sun has hidden behind the clouds. The forecast is for a sunny day, but its still possible that there will be more snow showers. Nothing much to write about, but I do love a bit of snow.
Covering
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was cornering. Cat covering a book covering a mat covering our floor…. He likes to keep his paws warm. Funny how they find the warmest places despite having fur! Felt pen and black ink drawing.
Lace?
Once I start playing with apps I go back and make new patterns. I realised that using the symmetry tool on my sketch app I can offset them so they don’t overlap, and I used various colours from the same part of the spectrum. Then I duplicated and rotated the pattern, creating a lace like design.
Going out
I just got out of the house, only to go across the road to the supermarket, but it was definitely ‘out’. I leaned heavily on the shopping trolley to support myself, the cold air had got to my lungs and I felt short of breath again, but at least I didn’t cough. I was out yesterday, but only to walk from the car to the pharmacy and back again, so this was actually more of a test. The snow had all melted except in patches where it had been sheltered by the shadow of some bushes. In those places where the sun hadn’t penetrated there was crispy icy snow, glassy from compression by feet. I avoided those areas because I didn’t want to slip. Now I’m home and keeping warm. I’m wearing a fleece and my dressing gown over my clothes to keep warm!
Snow drawing
Did you ever make paper snowflakes? Fold a piece of paper in two then fold it twice more so you end up with six pieces. Leave it folded and cut through the resultant triangle to cut off the excess paper sticking out so that each shape is the same (it’s so hard to describe!). From there cut out random shapes into each of the long sides, and a random pattern in the short side. When you unfold the paper you will end up with a snowflake (six sided). You can do other things. If you just fold it in half it could be a snowman or a butterfly if you colour in the paper first. If you quarter it you can make flower shapes. It’s fun to experiment and it’s something I used to do as a child. The snowflakes were stuck on our windows as decorations.
So it did snow…
Not much though, and it’s melting today. But when it was snowing it was dropping big wet flakes out of the clouds, like bits of wet tissue paper. When you look up you can see the flakes falling down, dark shadows against the whitish clouds, then white as they get caught in the light from my doorway. There was a small accumulation over night, but then as the sun caught the snow on branches it dripped off in white blobs.
Around the country it has been far worse, a double decker bus toppled over on an icy road near Hinckley Point yesterday. Some of the passengers were injured. The lake district hills are covered in snow, and Scotland and Wales have had much more than here. I guess living in a city means it doesn’t get as cold so snow melts more quickly and with global warming there are less really cold days than ever before.
A dusting of snow
Hard to see, but the roof opposite has a dusting of snow. It was like that this morning, a thin, crisp crust of powder. Then it melted quickly in the low sun. Now the clouds are back, getting that orange glow off the sodium street lights. Next doors roof has a thin white layer of snowy ice. The gritting lorries are out, and we are waiting for disruptive snow showers coming from the North West through the Cheshire gap. Meanwhile the cats dip in and out of the catflap. Coming in frequently to warm their paws, then out again to do who knows what? When we go to bed they will come in and curl up to sleep. Meanwhile they pad through the thin layer of snow, silent and probably deadly!
Ukraine again
Memory lapses, things happen and the world turns around the sun. But in February it will be the anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine waged by Russias Vladimir Putin. Not that that was the start of it, first Russia took The Crimea, now the resolution seems to be to take the south east of Ukraine from its sovereign people. The argument seems to be that it used to be Russian and will be again.
The awful thing about it is the vicious tactics that are being employed.. Sending missiles against the power and water grids in the country. The senseless murder and maiming of the civilian population in their apartment blocks, in hospitals and in maternity wards. The leader of this chaos and destruction is one man, Vladimir Putin. He was involved in the terrible war in Syria where he supplied weapons to President Assad. He has a history of pushing boundaries (literally) and was given too much support by the ex president of a western country. He thinks he will get away with it, I hope he stops and gives Ukraine peace and freedom again but I’m not holding my breath.
Winter watch is on
Winterwatch is an offshoot of Springwatch which is a programme that started on BBC TV several years ago. The presenters have changed over time, but it gives us a view of the British Isles through the seasons.
Winterwatch is lovely, seeing badgers, falcons, water rats, deer, stoats and seabirds amongst other animals gives you an idea of how they live and survive and in some cases thrive during the winter.
The programme explores wildlife and behaviour over a couple of weeks, sampling their lives and how humans affect them. The series is a wonderful reminder of nature. Some of it is filmed live during the evening programmes and also has videos of other animal activity happening at this time of year.
If you want to know more about the natural history of the British Isles during winter you can watch it in the UK on BBC 2, or the BBC I player, or the Facebook page which is called BBC Springwatch. Or bbc.co.uk/winterwatch
Mallaband-Brown 