Speak your mind
Talk to me
Tell me what you think
Answer the question
What’s your point
What do you mean
What did you say
Tell me something else
Explain the situation
Talk to the hand
Just talk to each other!
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
Middleport photos
We visited the Middleport pottery a while ago on a rainy day and I took a few photos. I liked the atmospheric lighting, the sheen of water on the cobbles and the model of the pottery that is in the museum. I hope to visit again soon.
Middleport pottery is next to the canal in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It has a museum, a cafe, a shop where you can buy pottery and various events. There are also studios and workshops which make for an interesting place to visit.
Last year’s Tulips
I’ve not had much time in the garden recently and missed most of the daffodils and tulips so here are some tulips from last year. Things have also got a bit squashed by some building and gardening work, I want to get back out there and tidy things up.
There are a few patterns created by duplicating the photos using the layout app on my phone. I hope you like these.
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Finding time?
What a week! I’m in the midst of campaigning in the local elections. I won’t go into details or mention the party I’m standing for. I don’t want to get into a political ramble here.
It’s just been mad. I’ve hardly been home. I haven’t had time to blog. My legs feel like they are about to drop off because I’ve done so much walking. My back is aching from jarring it coming down some steep steps. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ve spoken to lots of people and met some really interesting characters. I want to help with their problems and try and make a difference. The only problem is politics has become a real antagonism to some people. With everything going on nationally it is having an effect locally.
So life is busy at the moment. But I hope to try and fit blogging back in again soon.
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Wash
My cat likes sitting in the bathroom to have a wash. I don’t quite know why. It’s probably quieter than the rest of the house and he’s not pestered by his sister except when she runs in and pounces on him! Yesterday she was sitting on the bath and he walked in she batted his head as if to say get lost. Sometimes they sit at either end of the side of the bath like bookends. I walk in and they are sitting there calmly just chilling. I think it’s most attractive when the afternoon sun slants in and warms the room.
A busy day
My mask of calm is about to slip
So busy today,
And time is spilt.
Suffering pain to make life work
Rushing from place to place
See no chance of resting now
Sitting neath a blossoming bough.
No I must in haste go
Till the job is finished, how?
Urban sketch,
The craft fair was quite quiet to start off with so I did a sketch of one of the other artists. I’m a member of our urban sketchers group and I think this counts as an acceptable image because I have included the brickwork in the hotel we were in and surrounding objects.
Craft fair today
This is why I’ve been missing today. I enjoy doing craft fairs but not on a regular basis.
I’ve not done badly today. But it is a lot of messing around and carting stuff about to be able to display your art. There is also the time it takes to get everything out then packed back away at the end of the day. We had some heavy wooden trestle tables, my shoulders are aching now . Anyway that was my day.
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Spooky tap
I went to use the ladies in the hotel where we just held a craft fair. I walked in and the lights were off, no one else was in there. The lights came on automatically. As I used the facilities I heard the tap go on (but no one was in there with me). And when I opened the door the tap (which was one of the push down types) was still running, it was just spooky. I know the building is old. But why would a tap switch on?
I pulled up the top of the tap and it shut off. I didn’t feel scared, just surprised.
Watching 2001 a Space Odyssey.
I haven’t seen 2001 for about 10 years but it hasn’t lost its magic. If you have never seen it then it’s worth having a look. It’s a classic science fiction film set in 2001. It was made in the 1960s but it has quite good predictions of how things would work in the future.
It starts at the dawn of man and charts what happens when a enigmatic black obilisk appears on Earth. The film then fasts forward to a future where humans have made a discovery on the moon and follows an expedition to Jupiter.
I did read the original book by Arthur C Clarke and the following sequels. I think in the original story they travel to Saturn, but the destination was changed in the film and the subsequent books.
I won’t post any spoilers about what happens. But it is very good, although modern audiences might find it a bit slow. The one thing I do like is that the space sequences are silent except for music in the first sequence. Sound cannot propagate in a vacuum as there are no molecules to transmit it. Hence although you would hear rockets in earth’s atmosphere you wouldn’t in outer space.
The director was Stanley Kubrick who also directed A clockwork orange and other classic films. I think they are showing it because its the anniversary of Kubruck death.
The start of the film shows the moon in silhouette with Earth and then the sun curving beyond. That’s what I’ve tried to draw here.
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