The tail of the dolphin

Posted on October 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Adolescent, Crowd, Devon, Dolphin, Fun, Holiday, Life, Sea, Summer, Swimming12 Comments

We’d been out all day on holiday one summer in Devon, we came back to the caravan we were staying in. A crowd of people were on the beach and some people were in wetsuits about thirty yards out in the sea. I saw a dolphin so decided to swim. Didn’t know how long it would be around so I just took my glasses and shoes off and got in fully clothed! I swam between the crowd at the shore and the ones further out. He, the dolphin (oh dear clearly male) kept swimming backwards and forwards and as I was in the middle he kept swimming next to me! After an hour I swam back in shore. Why do I know it was a male? Er, a long appendage! There was a notice on the campsite the next day. You can catch illnesses from dolphin breath out of their blowhole. They say swimming with dolphins is relaxing, but I didn’t expect that! The dolphin it turned out was an adolescent male called Georges x

Spring sprung

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blossom, Eternal, Fruit, Hope, Life, Poem, Poetry, Return, Season, Spring, TimeLeave a comment

Spring, sprung

Six months ago

Remember the blossom

The cherries that followed

Apples and pears

All out there

Hope reigns that it will come again.

Springing up from cold earth

Bitter rain

Chilling frosts.

Hope springs eternal….

Drawing with nail varnish

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Colours, Design, Experiment, Fun, Looking, Nail varnish, Playing, Portrait, Sketch4 Comments

This is a thing now. I had a sketchy picture of my hubby done on black paper. I’d used pastels to do the drawing back in September, but after playing with nail varnish to draw a landscape view, I decided to use them on the drawing. It certainly had an interesting effect. It’s shiny and the colours change depending on where the light bounces off. I finished it off with adding a few lines with a silver marker pen. It reminds me of oil on water.

Trike – restored

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 70 years old, Brian Rourke hand built cycles, Burslem, Cycling, Happy, Repair, Tricycle, Trike, White Wall tyres, Worth the moneyLeave a comment

The trike is restored! Very pleased, my hubbies tricycle was damaged last week when he turned. One of the back wheels had buckled! The tyre and tube had come off but the tube was still inflated.

We rang a couple of bike shops and were advised to contact Brian Rourke Hand-built Bikes in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

We gave them a ring and were told to bring the trike in. When we got there, there was a lot of sucking of teeth and questioning if they could do it? But yes, they would see what they could do. Then on Monday they rang, they couldn’t source the right size wheels, (26″), so they suggested it might not be worth fixing, which was understandable. But I argued that it was a historic machine. It had been ridden in time trials and my hubby had come third in a 25 mile time trial about thirty years ago. It would be a challenge. Also they could maybe use 700c wheel rims and spokes instead? Cue chat with the mechanic. Yes they would order them in.

Yesterday we had a phone call, the trike was done! It’s got 700c rear wheels built onto the original hubs, 32 spokes per wheel. The other back wheel was eaten away with rust so they replaced that too. Also a new 26″ wheel on the front (it has less spokes than the back wheels so they could source that). The wheels are all Mavic. New white walled tyres and tubes on 1 3/4″ rims. Also a new front side pull brake. It cost a lot, but it was worth the money. Call it my anniversary present to him.

The back yard, mid october

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Back yard, Colours, Flowers, Frost, Gardening, Growing, Micro climate, Photos, PlantsLeave a comment

Despite the cold, wet weather the flowers in the back yard continue to survive. If we get any bad frosts I think they will go, but the sheer number of them packed together offer shelter to all of them.

So pleased we had the hanging baskets filled by a little farm nursery back in May/June, they have certainly been worth the initial cost. I go outside and am immediately cheered.

Cat on the line!

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Cat on the line!, Fun, Funny, Heater, Humour, Photos, Shed, Train setLeave a comment

Our outdoor cat has decided to take charge of my hubby’s railway set. Luckily there is a pond painted in the centre so he can lie on it and not do too much damage. He’s got a heater in there so he is nice and warm. He’s also started coming in for a few minutes at night. Although he did swipe a paw at my boy cat last night. He’s happy, well fed, and has lots of fun.

From estherchiltonblog #funnyoftheweek

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dog, Estherchiltonblog, Fun, Humour, Laugh, Life, Photo1 Comment

I saw this and howled! I think my friends with dogs will love this. I did try and share her page but couldn’t find the right option. Thanks Esther for letting me share.

Audrey?

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Audrey Hepburn, Drawing, Fun, Life, Pink, Sketch, Website, Youdraw, Youdraw.comLeave a comment

A tiny sketch I did at Youdraw.com of Audrey Hepburn a few years ago. I drew it in a tiny box on the site using a thick and thin black pen and thin and thick eraser. I added the pink later. That’s why the image is pixellated. It’s interesting if you can make something recognisable from only a few marks.

T

Posted on October 13, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black paper, Cup, Drink, Mug, Painting, Sketch, Tea, Teapot, WatercolourLeave a comment

A proper cup of Tea.

Quick watercolour sketch of my brown Bessie tea pot and a mug of Tea. It started out as a graphite pencil sketch but you couldn’t really see it against the black paper so…. I filled in some of it, I made up some of it. I was going to leave some of it black but I used washes of dark blue and dark red to give it more oomph.

Art is fun, art let’s you free yourself, creativity can be good for you.

Neighbourhood 2, #bandofsketchers prompt

Posted on October 13, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Black paper, Landscape, Life, Neighbourhood 2, Painting, portmeirion, Sketch, Watercolor1 Comment

Today’s prompt was neighbourhood again, to give us the chance to expand (and possibly join up) with Sundays and Thursdays sketches.

This is the view across the road from my front food. Dark cloud lowering, sun hitting coloured leaves, painted in watercolours on black paper. I used white watercolour from a tube to try and cover the black paper. The other colours had to have white mixed in so that I could get the colours to show up on the black paper. I’m quite pleased with the result.

Mallaband-Brown

Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown