house portrait

Posted on February 2, 2022February 2, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Back yard, Blogging, Drawing, Enjoyment, Film, House, Illustration, may 2020, Memories, Pencil sketch, SketchingLeave a comment

From May 2020, when I first started my part time illustration course. I am still quite pleased with this drawing. Physically, I was fitter and could draw without shaking too much. I tend to add less details these days too. I’d like to get back to drawing outside. Maybe meet up with urban sketchers again. Even though I havent caught Covid, it’s done things to me mentally. I guess I got a bit of cabin fever during lockdown, and since then it’s been easier to avoid people – you never know if you will just burst into tears… I think I’m OK, god knows what its like for people living through wars or famine. We can still do things here, well some of us can. I worry for people in food poverty or who can’t afford to heat their homes. It all spins round in my head. which is why I’m writing this at 3.11am…. must go to bed.

In the second world war and afterwards they had ordinary people just writing down their everyday lives in diaries. They were collated to record what had happened. There is a film called “Housewife 55” or something like that, which starred Victoria Wood. If you can find it, it’s worth watching, very poignant. maybe they were their own kind of bloggers.

Changing spots

Posted on February 1, 2022February 1, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, beer, Burslem, knives and forks, Leopard, Mural, Painting, Prince Leopold, shield, Stoke-on trent, The Leopard HotelLeave a comment

When I was painting in the Leopard Hotel I designed a coat of arms for the hotel. The hotels ginger cat lies across the top of a shield with garlands of leaves and berries around it. The shield is split into four sections. From the top left there are crossed knives and forks on a blue ground with a gold chevron. The top right is a portrait of Prince Leopold (not sure where he was from) it was possible that the Leopard could have been named after him. Bottom right are three foaming tankards in gold. And bottom left is a painting of a Leopard. The motto on the banner underneath says ‘The Leopard can change its spots’. The idea behind it was that the pub had just been taken over and the landlords Neil Cox and Neil Crisp wanted to turn it into a friendly place to eat great food and wonderful beer. I think they made a great job of it and for a few years it prospered but the changing face of the town, the empty buildings and then covid finally managed to close it. Sorry for the fuzzy photo.

Fast changing sky

Posted on February 1, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clouds, going dark, Hibernate, Pink, Sky, Sleep, turbulent, Weather, WindyLeave a comment

It’s very windy outside. I took two photos within a couple of minutes of each other. One had a bit of blue sky in it, the other was much cloudier and more turbulent. The pink developed then faded quickly. I mirrored the two photos so you can compare the colours next to each other. Darkness is gathering. I want to snuggle up and hibernate!

Experiment, atomic

Posted on January 31, 2022January 31, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, cloud chamber, Cosmic rays, Drawing, Electrons, Experiment, Face, Hair, SketchingLeave a comment

I experimented with a sunset sky and added texture to it. Then I added some flood fill colours on a low tolerance so they didn’t spread far. Finally I used a sketching app to add the face and hair. I called it atomic because it reminds me of cloud chamber patterns, the patterns of electrons and Cosmic rays make as they pass through cold wet air.

My messy chair

Posted on January 31, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Art, Canvas, Dragon, Is it art?, mojo, Mugs, Painting, Pallette, Sketch book, Thinking, Tidy upLeave a comment

Instead of an easle I prop a stand up in a chair. But sometimes it becomes a bit of a dumping ground. Empty mug, started to colour a canvas, pallette, brushes and tissues and a mug for water. Sketchbook with a zebra Dragon idea. I need to start painting but I have no get up and go. Tidy up and start, or worry and prevaricate. I don’t know. I need to do something soon. Maybe it’s these dark days that are getting to me? I need my mojo back….

I’m bored

Posted on January 31, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Books, Bored, Boring, Closed, Drawing, Ill, Memory, Mind, remember, shut, Sundays, Tea, Years ago2 Comments

Fed up with being ill. Not Covid, but a cold/ chest infection. But I’m getting bored. I feel trapped but that might be a good thing. Perhaps I’m getting better?

Sundays used to be boring when I was a child. Nowhere was open, shops shut, nothing really to visit. If you ran out of milk you could not buy any. Memory of a different world. Time changes things. Then I was waiting for fruit salad with evaporated milk with bread and butter for tea. Watching my mom and dad doing the washing in a boiler in the kitchen that had a mangle on the top and an old spin dryer to get most of the water out. While they did that we played in the garden. Unless the weather was bad. Then I would read a book, or draw. Maybe it wasn’t all that boring?

Limerick time

Posted on January 31, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blog, Challenge, Health, Life, Limerick, Poem, Poetry, Prompt, Shake, Thought, Tired4 Comments

Mondays are laugh along with a limerick day from Esther Chiltons blog.

I usually just write something and post it there but the prompt ‘shake’ struck a nerve (pun intended) so I decided to share it here too. I do have a shake and I am waiting for an appointment to find out the cause. And it doesn’t really pause. It keeps shaking, even at night. And I’m really tired and fed up. So here it is.

Sunday lunch

Posted on January 31, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Chocolate, Drawing, Felt pens, Food, Hot Cross buns, Orange, Prompt, Sketching, TastyLeave a comment

Strange lunch, orange flavoured Hot Cross buns with chocolate chips. We were having a big meal for our dinner and we had a big breakfast so I just wanted a simple, small meal to eat. Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Sunday Lunch so I did a quick sketch of these. They were tasty, but I think I prefer the original flavour. Less sweet and with Cinnamon. Also its very early in the year for Hot Cross buns. X

Moon closer?

Posted on January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged disaster movie, Distance, Earth, Film, Instagram, Life, Moon, Orbit, Sci fi, Thinking1 Comment

There’s a new film out about the Moon getting a lot closer to the Earth. Its by the same director as ‘Independence day’ and ‘the day after tomorrow’ I think?

There is also a video on Instagram showing the Moon closer and instead of being tidaly locked with the Earth (one face always towards us), it’s shown wobbling irregularly.

Thinking about it I wondered what would happen. Unless it was hit by something very large it wouldn’t move closer to us. But if it did I think we would have massive tides and earthquakes. The land rises as the moon passes over it. The question is how close does the video or film represent? The closer, the worse the effects. I know the moon is slowly moving away by a few centimeters a year, its been measured with a laser fired at mirrors left on its surface by the Apollo missions. If it was knocked away the Earth’s tilt would become worse and our spin unstable. Either way not good news…

Willow pattern painting

Posted on January 30, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Acrylics, Art, Ceramics, Design, Fine Art, Painting, platter, Spode, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

I painted this a few years ago. It’s an octagonal platter shape. I used a few images of willow pattern plates and amalgamated them. It’s mostly based on a Spode style of pattern. The edge design was made up by myself. The painting is meant to look like the platter is leant up against a background. That’s why I added shadows and played with adding a reflection below it. I can’t remember what else I added to it. I did a series of paintings of ceramic objects, there was also a jug and a teapot and a large vase painting. It was good to imagine pottery from my adopted home of Stoke-on-Trent.

Mallaband-Brown

Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown