New paintings and regular art updates.
One of my photos that I got in a local calendar for this year. There was a photographic competition in the summer. People were asked to submit pictures of our local village of Penkhull for it to raise funds for the village hall.
In the end three of my pictures were chosen, that’s a quarter of the twelve monthly images! There was also a thirteenth one that was chosen for the front of the calendar. I’m so proud to have had my work included for 2025.
Red warnings over Ireland and Scotland today for strong winds. Some gusts were over 100 miles an hour. Almost a million houses are without power over Northern Ireland and Eire, and the storm is moving across to Scotland.
Amber warnings for North Wales and the North of England. The rest has had yellow warnings.
I woke this morning to the wind blowing through the cat flaps, seeking the gaps around the kitchen window, and whistling round the door. The bare skeletons of the trees were rattling their branches together. I think the birds were hunkering down in the bushes. Next door has a scaffolding platform in their yard while they work on the roof and walls. That shivered and shuddered as strong gusts blew past it. I was worried it would blow into my yard. The cats have been out but quickly rushed back in.
People were warned not to travel and trees have been uprooted and structures damaged. There has also been flooding in costal areas. This is one of the worst storms recently, but they are getting more frequent.
But the large country to the West of us has a new president that does not believe there is a problem. He wants more oil and gas development.
He is the reason for a lot of hot air.
Sliced wood. How do you make a veneer for furniture? Cut through a slice of wood four times, glue it onto some backing wood like pine and add three more pieces rotated so the result is a symmetrical pattern.
This is what my grandfather, who was a carpenter, did for my mom and dad as a wedding present. He gave them two wardrobes, one large and the other smaller. He used a carcass of probably elm or beech and then used Walnut, polished and stained to a dark glossy finish. They were beautiful. As a child I used to go and look at them. The pattern and colour enthralled me.
A doodle from a few years ago. I just found it on my phone, I was playing with colour and texture, using an app to solarize areas. But clearly I wasn’t concentrating on proportions! This fairy Ballerina has very large legs and one large arm, and the other arm and the head are tiny. The body is too small too. I think its a case of looking at one part too closely instead of viewing the picture as a whole. Anyway I thought I’d share it as a bad example of doodled digital art.
This munchkin was curled up by my bookcase at the top of the stairs this morning. He’s a medium sized cat and just about fits, he was well asleep but one of the others ran past and disturbed him. He’s like a little guard, he follows me about and keeps an eye on me. The only problem is the risk of tripping up over him. The other boy cat sleeps on a step halfway up the stairs…. And it’s a good job he has white on him or I could go head over heels!
Beauty
Esther asked us to write about beauty this week. I struggled to explain what I think of the word. I wrote :
Beauty can be on the inside, you don’t have to look amazing to be alive and well thought of. If people could read your thoughts? How would they interpret them. Odd or plain, ugly or old? It’s your brain and thought processes are important. Consider the world around you and how people are perceived. Media makes things worse.
But then I thought am I talking about personal, intellectual beauty? In the case of the word should I just look at beauty as form? Like a lovely rose? As how I feel about a wonderful day or a landscape? There are so many connotations to the word.
If you don’t have a lid what can you do?
Knives and forks and gilding.
A menu clipped to a board,
Light through a window
And cast down from a chandelier.
Chairs and tables
Scrubbed and clean
Let’s get a coffee
With lots of cream.
My sister and I went to have a cup of hot chocolate and some cake at the Capabilitea Cafe at Trentham Gardens, in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, this afternoon. It was lovely to get out after spending at least two weeks in the house with this dreadful virus. We were going to have a savory meal but I was tempted by this “the works” hot chocolate.
The sun was low on the horizon when I finally got out. It’s bad this time of year and it was hard to drive the couple of miles there. I’m glad I had my sister with me, she helped me blow up my car tyres and had to point out where the disabled parking spaces were on the Trentham village car park. We had a little wander so I could try and stretch my legs. I managed 1657 steps today, which is more than I’ve done in weeks (that’s in fits and starts, I have to stop and browse (take a rest), every so often). But I escaped from the house at last !
My phone is full of photos and my WordPress account is too. I want to add new images but my blog tells me my media file is full. What can I do? I have to delete previous photos from my previous posts.
So if you read one of my blogs and it doesn’t have a photo to illustrate it, that’s the reason why. I could delete the actual blogs but I don’t know how to do it?
Sun glancing through the stairs window in January. I don’t have a window cleaner and the ivy is growing up and in the way and the glass ornaments on the windowsill. But I like the chaotic jumble of colour and shadow. I’m not very organised about anything anymore. By the time I’ve walked upstairs I’m ready to fall over. Dusting? I haven’t done that in a while. I need to get my act together. Anyway not much else to be said.
Mallaband-Brown