Started in March…

Posted on June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Birds, Blue, Fisher, Four months, June, Kingfisher, March, Nature, Orange, Painting, RiverLeave a comment

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Finally finished in June.

After a long hiatus, I’ve finally started painting again. Mostly because there is a socially distanced craft fair on next weekend and I need to earn some money.

This is a kingfisher taken from a shutterstock photo I think. I’ve had the photo on my phone for months.

I love the blue/orange contrasting colours. I’m going to do a few tiny canvases and then one or two nature paintings and flowers from the garden… Plus lots of college work, so it will be a busy week for me… Wish me luck.

Horse

Posted on June 28, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, College, Corel Painter, Digital art, Drawing, Horse, Inspiration, Learning, Picture, Playing, Random, Sketch, WordPressLeave a comment

horse woodcut style painter

I’ve just downloaded a trial of Corel Painter Essentials 7

In English I mean I have downloaded a drawing package onto my computer. I hope it will be easy to use, I have got to explore it. What I ended up with after five minutes of playing is like a cave painting! so I guess that’s appropriate as I’m learning.

There are lots of things you can set on it, various AI things (artificial intelligence) like an AI Van Gogh. But I haven’t sussed out how to use them, I clicked on the buttons but wouldn’t say that I could see any difference to the mark making.

Later I’m going to read “Where the Wild Things are” by Maurice Sendak (if that’s how its spelled). Its a book I read in my childhood and I am interested in using it as part of a case study for my course, what fun!

Bottles

Posted on June 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Blue, Bottles, Challenge, Drawing, Fern, Glass, Goldfish, Perfume, Sketching, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

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Stoke-on-Trent urban sketchers challenge today. The prompt was bottles so I went and drew the ones I have on the windowsill in my bathroom. My favourite is dark blue. Then there is a ‘poison’ bottle of perfume a glass cat with a glass goldfish trapped in it. A square small gin bottle and an old chemistry bottle with a cork… I do like collecting stuff…

I used brush pens and permanent colour pens and a fine liner. On cartridge paper in my sketchbook…

Just enjoying the challenge of drawing the fern that has spread everywhere in the bathroom.

Releasing my mind

Posted on June 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Doodle, Drawing, Environment, Illustration, Learning, Memory, Playing, Shibui, Sketch, Thinking, Time2 Comments

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I tried to draw a ‘real’ shibui. I’m not sure I’ve actually got the right idea, but anyway I started with an ink pen held lightly between thumb and forefinger. As I breathed I let the lines wander across the page. These are the purple marks. I even rested he pen on my hand and let it slide down in a wide, slightly jerky, motion…. Then I found ideas coming into my mind, faces, eyes, animals, a skull. Icecream, figures standing and crouching. I decided to add colour. I hope the drawing expresses emotion, and thought. I realised this morning that I had drawn environmental themes. These include a polar bear on cracking ice and a tree dying in the heat. A possible wolf skull and a blazing sun setting fire to the world… Its called Releasing my mind.
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Me and her

Posted on June 27, 2020June 27, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Cats, Friends, Greif, Happy, Life, Loss, Love, Random, Sad, Soul mates, They can be trained4 Comments

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We were friends, twenty years ago, me and her, inseparable. I painted us together, and remember her with fondness. She was so bright. She understood me. She pounced when I threw a ball for her. Jumped when I tapped the wall outside. Purred so happily. She was my soul mate.

This weekend two friends lost their cats to illness. It reminded me of how felines can be so loving. They may sometimes be aloof, but a glance of joy from there eyes is enough to entrance you. Cats are bright, sneaky and sharp.

Never underestimate a cat.

Clouds

Posted on June 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Animals, Clouds, Found images, Life, People, Poem, Poetry, Short poem, What do you see?Leave a comment

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Grey clouds,

what can I make from you?

A curled up husky..

Neanderthal men?

A man’s head in profile

with long hair and beard?

A horses head…

A llamas face.

My random mind

makes things appear

from nothing more

Than water vapour,

and clouds.

Unexpected

Posted on June 27, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Fun, Idea, Life, Short story, Tail, Tale, Unexpected, Waking up, WorldLeave a comment

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When Sam woke he didn’t know where he was. He was lying on a couch with a cushion shaped like a cat, and a knitted owl staring at him. His head felt groggy and he was thirsty.

He stood up and stretched. He quietly looked round the room. There were two plush armchairs and lots of clutter stacked about the place. Mainly books on shelves built into the alcoves on either side of the chimney. There were pictures all over the walls and an easle in one corner.

There was a smell of cooking wafting from the kitchen. It smelt like chicken. Suddenly his taste buds were jumping. He strolled towards the cooker. ‘Well hello boy’ said the woman standing by it stirring the food. ‘you hungry?’ ‘would you like a drink?’ He looked up at her, she was very tall.

‘Miarow’ a strange sound came out of his mouth, boy she was Very Tall. He tried again ‘miaow, murrp’. WHAT THE HELL?

He suddenly realised, his tail swishing from side to side. He was now a cat!

Rainbow

Posted on June 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Grey day, Light, Low light, Low sun, Rain, Rainbow, Storm, Sunshine, WeatherLeave a comment

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When there is heavy rain overhead but a low sun I know there will be a rainbow somewhere. I looked out of the front door and saw this. I got a bit damp and had to change the exposure to get a halfway decent photo. But it came out OK. We also had a few rumbles of thunder, but it’s not been that bad… Last week the rain was far heavier. Tomorrow might be worse.

Rainy day

Posted on June 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Annoyed, Garden, Gardening, Grumpy, Hot, Irritated, Lockdown, Relax, Tense, Time, TiredLeave a comment

View out the back door. The yard needs work but there is a passing thunderstorm so I’m keeping dry and watching a classic race from 2018 in the tour de France. At least the heat has gone. Its a good thing to I was shattered yesterday. Still tired now. I didn’t sleep well because of the humidity.

The madness continues my hubby is not happy. Grumpy. We are winding each other up in this weather. Even my feet feel tense. I have a low level tension running through me. All my muscles are tight. I feel like exploding. I think I will go out in the rain…..

Jump on a train?

Posted on June 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Air pressure, Blogging, Fun, Ideas, Jumping, Thinking, Thought, TrainLeave a comment

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Someone asked a question. If a person jumps up and down in a train carriage they land back in the same place. But if you do it on the roof you will not land in the same place. He wanted to know the reason? A lot of people replied including me. We pointed out that if the train is moving the air on the outside will be pushed aside by the train and anything on it.

I wrote ‘If you jumped on top of a train you would land on the same spot even if it was moving slowly. The reason why you might move is the air rushing around you exerts a force or pressure on you (the air inside the carriage is still). But unless you were travelling fast you wouldn’t move far… ‘.

I think it’s odd that people don’t know it. In the same way a dog who sticks its head out of a car gets its face and ears ruffled by the wind….

Mallaband-Brown

Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown