Contoured

When the ink bleeds through the back of a sketch you can draw contours around the splodges of ink. I think the negative space it creates is quite interesting. You can vaguely tell its a still life (with Christmas cactus and flowers in a fish shaped glass bottle. The original felt pen drawing (sharpies) is about three years old.

Still writing gratitudes

I’m on day 66 and I’m still writing and drawing three small gratitudes a day. From getting a good night’s sleep, to playing with the cat, to reading a good book, nothing is too small to be grateful for. I’m sure over these last few weeks it has helped keep me going. Putting positive thoughts in the front of your mind isn’t always the most normal or natural thing to do, but it helps you to step back from what might be a dreadful time. I like drawing and writing, but I’ve got my hubby just writing a few lines every day. It doesn’t have to be profound, that would be amazing, but wonderful things just don’t happen everyday. So accept the small stuff….

Missing fog

No not missing in the fog, just missing fog. I lived in flat many years ago and we were half way up a tower block. I remember looking out of the kitchen window and the clouds were below me. When I walked outside I was in fog. Cold and grey, but it made the world interesting and indistinct. Sometimes driving home at night we would encounter fog patches or banks of fog. Driving in and out of them made me very cautious. There were stories of people following the rear lights of cars into people’s drives because they hadn’t realised that the car had turned off the road and they had been following to find their way around.

These days we don’t seem to get much. Is the air dryer so mist does not form? Is the humidity of the air too low? I miss the fog

I took the photo in Hanley Park a few years ago. I really like the wonderful blurred areas of part of it, unfocused and softened. I like the way it removed colour, making the image monochrome. I miss fog…

Horror films

I don’t do horror films, I think they are illogical and silly. I’m sure I could watch a comedy one, but I get irritated by the serious ones. My hubby watches them and I do some art or read a book…why?

The main character seems to run upstairs when she (usually a woman) is chased. Or goes down into a cellar with a torch that isn’t working properly. Then something horrific happens to a friend who has just called round (in the middle of the night) to see how she is settling in. The result is she hides somewhere silly and dangerous, trying to keep one step ahead of the ‘ghoul’ who has either a mask or makeup to hide their identity. After an hour or so of idiotic chasing where ‘spooky’ activity happens and various other cast members die horrifically being hit on the head with copper saucepans and malt vinegar drownings, eventually she finds the front door (three steps from the bottom of the stairs) escapes, and gets run over and killed by a tractor towing glowing turnips…

Autumn leaf

Rain and wind are buffeting the trees. Slowly the chlorophyll comes out of the leaves and other coloured photosynthesis pigments remain. Xanthaphyl and Ceratines are some of these. They are the pigments that cause yellows and reds. They are the chemicals that transfer energy from sunlight and convert Carbon Dioxide and Water to sugars and Oxygen. The sugars feed the plants and the Oxygen helps supply the air that we breathe. If plants stopped providing Oxygen and sugar we would run out of Oxygen (21% in air) and the food we get from plants. They are essential for life. And if when the Nothern Hemisphere lost leaves in Autumn, the South didn’t have a Springtime we would be in trouble

Negative

Once I had a drawing (this took thirty minutes), I played with different filters to create different effects. This was using the negative filter on my phone. I have so many sketches and sketch books that I think I ought to store together. I also have thousands of photos on my phone. It’s a way of keeping memories and meaning. But sometimes the photos you really want are the ones you never remembered to tske…

Life drawing

Today, after a very bad night’s sleep, I got up and decided to go to the Orme Art Group today. We had booked a life model to sit for us and I didn’t want to miss it. I had bought new ink pens and black sharpie pens to use in my sketchbook. This drawing took a couple of hours, I wanted to capture the patterns on her skirt and scarf and the autumn leaves outside the window. I think this went well and I’m pleased with it. Going out and talking to the friends in the group really helped.

Added leaf

When the exact size and shaped leaf falls on your picnic plate. I moved it over to line up with the stem. I had to take a photo

Today was a good one. I sang, I laughed, I cried and I felt supported by friends and by the world. I found a plastic heart that had fallen off a picture and was stuck with bluetack to the bottom of my slipper. But that bit of plastic was whole, not broken. A sign? Perhaps, I took the decision to accept it as that and it made me smile.