Snowy day

‘Nah’ he said, ‘it’s not going to snow on Christmas day!’

His daughter looked upset, but her mum said ‘Dad is always right about the weather.’

She went upstairs to bed, it was Christmas Eve and she was 7. She believed her Dad but really truly wished for the snow to come. She wanted to get up and see if Santa had been yet, but it was only ten o’clock and Santa didn’t arrive till midnight. The stairs light was on and she tried to stare at it to keep awake. But she couldn’t keep her eyes open…

Suddenly she woke. The stairs light was off and she didn’t know the time, but there was a strange silence outside except for.. A scrabbling sound on the roof. A slithering sound, a tap and a rattle. What was it? And the sky was a funny orange colour. She had never seen it like that before? Soft noises tickled her ears again. She had a chimney in her room but the hole where there used to be a fire was boarded up. But she could hear something..

She looked out of the window, moving the net curtain to one side. The sky was still orangey grey and what looked like feathers were floating down… Was it? Snow? She put on her slippers and silently went downstairs. She saw it was five o’clock in the morning. Still dark and far too early for her parents to be up. Instead of looking in the lounge to find out if she had presents she walked through the kitchen and stepped out of the back door. Snow! Yes!

Suddenly a trickle of snow fell from the roof above her. Then a little avalanche. She heard scrabbling again so she looked up…. Just as the reindeer and sleigh leapt up from the roof and flew into the sky!

Sketch and texture

I tried adding texture with photodirector to this little drawing I did at Trentham Gardens in 2017. I like the way the rushes stand forward slightly more in the digitally adjusted one. I have a ‘go to’ style in Photodirector, I go to the effects option then generally choose option two or sometimes six. That seems to concentrate and texturise the drawing.

Renoir

I just saw a photo of this painting and thought of simpler times. When people could meet in groups, no one wore face coverings, and there was less fear in the world.

The conversation flows, there is gentle banter, there are smiles and laughter. People drink and eat and share food, a mouthful or two of delicious fruit or a compote. Wine and beer, fruit juice and water. The voices murmur, no need to shout through a mask and at a distance. I hope we can go back to more carefree times, but we will have to see. Stay safe. X

Present

A present for someone I love and care for in this awful year. As I was about to wrap the necklace and the Christmas tree decoration I realised how much I have enjoyed creating things with a bit of sparkle. The photo does not do the glass pendant justice because the lighting is not good. Perhaps I should invest in a light box or try and make a DIY version. I think the recipient will be pleased as she has a small collection of my paintings. X

Crying dragon

Tell me dragon

Why do you cry?

Why aren’t you flying

Up very high?

I can’t he said

With a tear in his eye

I walk on the ground

Not up in the sky!

But why is that?

Then with a great sigh

He told me sadly

I no longer fly

My wings disappeared

I just want to die!

So I bought an old glider

Made of two by one ply

Glued on the wings

Now the dragon can Fly!

Mini mince pie!

Mini mince pie with fifty pence piece to show the scale…. A nice nibble, but moreish. I didn’t want just one. I got these in the local supermarket because they didn’t have ant full size ones (about double or triple this). The crust overlaps the tinfoil cup shaped base, and the filling only comes half way up the inside. But it was a tasty morsel.

Urban sketch

I finally got out and did an urban sketch! Hanley Park bandstand yesterday afternoon in the mist. I drew it from the cafe terrace. I coloured it in at home because I’d been out singing carols with the Mystery Singers choir and only took a sketchbook on the off-chance I might draw.

Looking at this and the photos I took I can see I’ve exaggerated the perspective on the bandstand, but I think that helps as I was looking down on it from the cafe terrace.

There’s a comet out there…

Somewhere at sunset a comet called Leonard is heading in towards the sun. It has two tails and is near Venus in the night sky. The tails are quite long and have become more visible. One is a tail of cometary gases heading away from the sun, and the other is an ion tail which curves due to the sun’s magnetic field. I love astronomy and the information is what I remember from watching TV shows. The trouble is it’s foggy here now! I think it will have disappeared by the time our weather improves.

For more (and much better) information go to Spaceweather.com it’s full of interesting information about the sun’s coronal Mass ejections, X Ray flares, Cosmic Radiation and Near Earth Objects (chunks of rock, asteroids, meteors, that are near the earth and flying past us), sunspots and its magnetic field. There are also videos and photos of the sun’s activity. Worth a look.