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

Structure

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Looking out the window she saw a strange metallic structure had risen overnight. Where once there had been fields beyond the treeline now the metal was greeting the dawn. It must be 50 meters high, would it be filled in like a building or was this superstructure it? What was it?

Slowly as she watched the metal started to glow. First white hot, then blue hot. She saw the structure growing, upwards, sideways, forwards, and backwards. The light settled and she saw it had grown like a crystal, now it had reached the trees….. She waited… Would it expand again?

Belgian chocolates

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Oh no! Hubby bought chocolates for Christmas, a big box…. But then we decided to open them. I’ve had five and feel really guilty and a bit ill. Hubby’s eaten about ten! We should not do this. It’s not healthy. But I couldn’t resist the sweet and smooth flavours of them. I’m going to put them in the back of a cupboard so they can be enjoyed next week with our coffee.

When I was a child there used to be adverts of a man scaling a wall in the dark, climbing through a window and leaving a box of chocolates with a card… Not sure but I think it had the man’s silhouette on it? The tag line was ‘and all because the lady loves milk tray’. Chocolates were romantic in those days, not the cause of diabetes!

Blossom time

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I keep finding old photos of my drawings over the last few months. This was day 25 of our Urban Sketchers challenge to draw pictures in lockdown. Over the months I’ve had more drawing practice than I had for several years before.

I notice the tricycle, that had to have new back wheels one of the old ones collapsed and the other one was almost rusted through. And the copper coloured windmill that fell apart in a heavy wind!

The blossom was pink and white cherry and pear blossom. Billowing and beautiful, we had abundant fruit this year. Only five or six months to wait before it comes back.

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Stone angel

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Probably soapstone. This little carved angel came from a craft fair a year ago. She sat with an open book, made of clay, sitting on her hands. Now that’s disappeared so she has a small heart made of glass, balanced there instead.

Is she something that requires a votive offering? An indulgence? No, she is just there. Pretty rather than profound. I don’t really know why I bought her, but she feels friendly….

It sits on the slim bookcase that holds the land line. The bookcase that holds nail varnish and glasses cases as well as other things. Not the tidiest house….

Quick sketch

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Fifteen minute sketch, #skyportraitartistoftheyear. I just tried drawing Carlos Acosta in mid air. Bit scrappy, charcoal pencil…

The winner of the competition, Curtis Holder is doing a ten thousand pounds commission portrait of Acosta for display in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

I wish the sitters were set up so you could watch TV and paint or draw them, it’s an enjoyable programme.

Eddie Izzard drawing

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Just watching#skyportraitartistoftheyear Eddie Izzard was the sitter. Found a reasonably close image to what they are painting today off the Internet. I haven’t worked out how to find images of the sitters on the Web page. I must be doing something wrong. Anyway this was a quick 25 minute sketch. Using a unipin 0.8 black fine line pen. Which was running out

Dove

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Someday Peace and Love will be more important than War. Nature and the Environment will become recognised for how important they are. Maybe symbols of peace, like the dove, will get the message across. We need to take these concepts seriously. We need to stop being selfish and realise we shouldn’t be self centred. People in all walks of life, in this country, and abroad, are struggling. War wastes resources and ruins lives. We need to support each other not attack and deplore. As the song says. Let there be peace all over the world…

Cats and trees

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When you have cats sometimes you can’t have Christmas trees. Baubles and tinsel are just too tempting. Cats who climb will be up to the top of the tree in seconds. There is also the danger of them chewing on the tree lights wire. Also you don’t know if they are going to chomp on some of the traditional toys, like tiny Teddy bears, that might have been handed down from generation to generation. Granny’s baby jesus or the angel with real feathers can be casualties! I’ve seen a few videos of anti cat tactics, and the one of hanging the tree from the ceiling looks pretty good. One solution I once did was to cut out the shape of a Christmas tree and container and stick it to a wall, then sticking real baubles and ones you have drawn onto it. Make sure any baubles are stuck on well and are anti shatter. Other ideas include a bauble free tree… But it might still get climbed!