New paintings and regular art updates.
The cats stare at me, what do I mean to them? What do they want? Unblinking, looking silently. The sight is unnerving. And so many cats, all together. Like a jury sitting at a trial. No tails twitch, no ears turn. The concentrated look is infinitely worrying. Like some form of hive mind…. Do cats do that? I thought you couldn’t herd cats, but these ones? They know what they want, and I feel like a mouse in their glaring cats eyes….. Inscrutable…
We got a letter off our energy company today. Our yearly bills are set to DOUBLE. I then saw a video of a comedy programme from the 1970’s on Facebook in which a man is being encouraged to save energy by using a hot water bottle, to which he responds he can’t afford to boil a kettle. Other suggestions include using a car less (he doesn’t own one), eating healthily (on his income he can’t afford to), and heating meals thoroughly (he can’t afford to have his cooker on). It was funny, but it shows things were not so different fifty years ago! Later on they showed a public information film from about the same time. This was to encourage the population to save energy by only heating one room in their home instead of heating the whole house do that the NHS and hospitals would have enough energy to stay open!
Seriously though it does make you wonder about open plan living, maybe people should rebuild internal walls?
Painted this today, only 5×5 inches. I might add more to the background. It’s meant to have droplets of water (like tears) on the petals. I’m also trying to emphasise the flower with a strong red but I don’t know if I should darken the greens. Still I have at least painted again.
Summers over and my sandals must be put away for another year. I will have to get my flat heels out again. I don’t bother to buy pairs of shoes. I bought three sorts of the same type in different colours, and never wore them! It’s strange, some women have tens or hundreds of pairs, and different ones for different occasions, I never got into that. I think it’s because I’ve never had much money. When we had a death in our family when I was a teenager, my mother gave us money to buy a dress and cardigan and shoes to wear to the funeral. I think that’s why I don’t get excited buying clothes or shoes. As long as they aren’t falling apart I keep wearing them….
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was paper. I realised I’m surrounded by the stuff. Sketchbooks, newspapers, cards, envelopes, etters, books, novels, paperbacks, calendars, magazines, print outs. I’ve tried to represent them in a sketch. The image is imagined, but my house is a mess at the moment so it is littered with paper things.
I painted this a few years ago, it’s based on a poppy with a white centre. Most poppies have dark splodges in the centre. I think this looks more subtle. I’m toying with the idea of painting a mixture of both on a larger canvas? The background would be greens and straw coloured. Got to possibly block out or draw out their positions and then maybe add some forget-me-nots.
Autumn comes round
every year
the leaves change colour
from green to golds
and reds and yellows.
Falling in ragged heaps.
I feel guilty that I haven’t painted. I think I need to get my brushes out. Painting is my reason for being. It’s not negotiable, I have to paint, or at least draw. It will happen, I’m just not sure when. As the days get darker I always find it more difficult, especially painting under artificial light. By the way, I must have a hundred brushes around the house, I think they multiply when I’m not looking!
I was looking for an image to use for this post and found this. Where the light through prisms in the mobile in my window was casting rainbows on these brushes. I hope I don’t get artists block, sometimes I just can’t paint…
Flashing like a beacon, connected in all different directions, emotions bursting out into the world. Thoughts spiralling. Pain, anxiety, calm, hope, dreams, fear, sadness all mingles. If I can find a thread to pull me through all of the entangled ideas. The tears keep falling.
Today I reached out and so many people reached back to me. I feel overwhelmed with their support. I need to hope things will improve. I think the friends I have made that hope more real.
We are still picking pears from the tree and a quick meal is to chop then up into pieces and stew them up in a bit of water and sweetner. Then I make up some custard to pour over the stewed pears. Its warm and sweet for a cold day. It saves the pears from rotting as if you leave them they can get over ripe and go mushy and brown. It’s not bad for an old crooked pear tree that almost blew over one year!
Mallaband-Brown