Spring is coming
Blossom blooms
White payals fall
As the breeze blows
But too cold for bees
Will there be fruit?
Sadness if it fails.
Spring so far
Has been dry.
Tree doodle
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
Crafts
Portrait of a woman called Carol in our craft group working on some diamond art picture. I enjoy doing small portraits, quickly done, it fits in with my Parkinsons shakes, if a line goes awry I can hide it in cross hatching. I have a small notebook with very pae blue lines so they are not very noticeable. I never want to stop drawing and painting. It’s my life. X
I must finish this
About three months ago? I started this, but then winter arrived and I stopped painting. My eyesight has got worse, I’ve found myself cleaning my glasses and realised it was my eyeballs that need “cleaning”, my cataracts are getting worse, extending into my central vision. It’s like a vaseline smeared camera lens that they use to make scenes in films look more romantic or nostalgic. In my case it’s like looking through mist. And it’s bloody annoying! Luckily I’m having my eyes checked out to have a cataract operation. Hopefully I will be able to paint again soon.
Mori
I think a lot about life and death these days. If I don’t hear from people I worry about them. This morning my cat was so fast asleep he was barely breathing. I didn’t want to disturb him, but he is getting old so I gently blew on his ear. It twitched and I was overjoyed. He was fine and woke a few minutes later.
My sister says she might come and live with me if my health gets worse. But somehow I want to reject that. I’m not ready for a last chapter of my book. There has been too much loss lately. I just want that to stop. To enjoy life for a change. Slough off my sorrows and come back fighting. I can’t keep my sadness and worry going, it’s too exhausting. I know I need to “memento mori”, a Latin phrase, which translates to “remember that you must die” in English. It’s a reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of life. The phrase can be used for a work of art. I think that was what my little painting was about.
Arthur Berry mural
Arthur was one of my tutors at college. He went to Burslem School of Art to train in painting. I did this portrait mural of him and one of his paintings at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem in the back room. I think that was over ten years ago now. Unfortunately it was lost in the fire in 2022.
It’s emulsion paint, painted directly onto the wall, so when people ask me if the paintings were rescued I have to tell them no.
Chocolate
Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.
It’s Easter and my sister just asked me if I have had an easter egg as a treat. I haven’t, I had a rice crispy easter cake with a couple of mini eggs on it. I’m trying to lose weight and improve my diet.
But high percentage chocolate is supposed to be good for you so I sometimes buy 85 % dark chocolate. I recently found out that it’s good for your magnesium levels. I will only eat one square a day so I don’t increase my sugar levels.
I try and buy fair trade chocolate to make sure the cocoa farmers get a fair price for their crops, but I really ought to research it more to check this is correct.
Keep forgetting to post
Writing is hard sometimes
Thinking of things to say
When I’m exhausted
Thoughts stray
Are unkempt like my hair
Struggling to make sense
Of my course through life.
I’m writing in a book too
Fighting with prompts
Trying to decide
What to say and do.
Hot cross buns for tea.
Traditional hot cross buns, soft sweet fruited buns marked with a cross. Eaten generally at Easter to commemorate Jesus dying on the cross. I like the normal ones but they have started coming up with chocolate ones, or even ones with a creme egg in the middle. I’ve also heard of ones with cheddar cheese! Might as well have a cheese scone.
Lovely flower
I don’t remember taking this photo. I think it might be from a free photo library. It’s in my media files. Anyway I just want to start planting up my pots with lovely flowers like this. Ideally I’d like a friend to be here to keep an eye on me and perhaps help with heavier pots. I love creating a colourful garden in the yard for the summer. Fingers crossed I can still do it.
Two more cat doodles.
From 2017. Quite eccentric ideas for cards and Stoke-on-Trent that I was playing with. We are known as the potteries because that’s what is mainly manufactured here. I had a bit of a play with scale. Sorry they are not good photos. My odd humour.
Mallaband-Brown 