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

Tig remembered

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Tig was a handsome cat and very friendly. We loved him very dearly. I did this painting of him in about 2011. It’s just come up on my Facebook timeline.

We had Tig for a couple of years. He came and stole the other cat’s food and gradually moved in with us. The only thing he was scared of was The window cleaner, as soon as he heard him, he was out through the cat flap and away.

He was young and healthy and did mad things. I don’t have the pictures but I drew a series of cartoons of him on a website called Youdraw.com and called them the adventures of Tig.

One Wednesday he ran off as usual when the window cleaner arrived. But he did not come back that afternoon or night. I called and called but there was no sign of him. In the morning my partner went out looking for him while I got ready for work. He found Tigs body in the alleyway. We think he had drunk something, perhaps antifreeze that had poisoned him. There were garages nearby.

I couldn’t go to work that day. My grief was too much. I’m glad I painted him.

We have snow

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But don’t get excited! It’s wet and about an inch deep. But something we were going to tonight has been cancelled because of it.

Meanwhile over in Europe this week the snow fell so heavily that roofs have collapsed and people have been killed in avalanches.

Britain is situated in the Atlantic ocean in the gulf stream. We only rarely have a lot of snow so we are a bit out of practice with it. No one puts snow chains on car tyres, we don’t possess snow shoes, and the only time skis are worn is when people go up to the (mainly) Scottish mountains in the middle of winter.

Anyway an inch of snow is the most we have had so far this year. If it’s pretty in the morning I will take better photos.

Yellow sky.

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I was looking out of the window and the sky was so yellow I knew it was going to snow. I don’t know why I know that but there is a certain tinge it takes on when the snow is coming.

I looked out later and indeed big white flakes of feathery snow were falling, mixed in with a cold rain.

The cats are curled up and warm and I’ve got an extra heater on and I’m sitting here with my hot water bottle (for my bad back). I’m huddling, watching the sleet and wondering if I should go out shopping. Life goes on.

Looking at backstamps

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What are back stamps??

They are the trademark or manufacturers mark  that you find on the bottom of cups, plates and dishes that shows who made them.

This can be useful in identifying the manufacturer, whether they are antique and if they are worth anything. Sometimes they even get forged! People have added things like the Clarice Cliff signature onto modern pots to try and fool people into buying them as originals.

Some pots have simple marks on their base to identify them. Others have complicated patterns and writing.

The people who live in the potteries (Stoke-on-Trent). Have a habit of looking underneath pots to see if they have recognised which pottery made them. I think it’s called the “turn over club” but I may be wrong…..

Amaryllis

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I have 4 Amaryllis flowers growing this year. The bulb sends out a long shoot after it starts to grow leaves. This flower spike will grow rapidly as long as it gets plenty of water. There can usually be 1 to 4 flower buds. All my Amaryllis plants have deep red flowers but they do come in other colours.

We got another plant in a deep glass vase which was in flower. Now the flower stem has gone over (died back) but its putting out leaves. I have two more plants that I have kept for years. One still has a long leaf on it from last year. Both are responding to being watered by starting to come into leaf again.

A tip, Amaryllis go dormant for a while from autumn. You need to start watering again mid winter to get them to start to grow. If you need to repot them only go up one size. They like to be quite tight in their pots. Use a good house compost, maybe a bit sandy to stop them getting waterlogged. Then sit back and enjoy the amazing flowers.

Stats have changed?

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What is happening here? My stats pages have changed. Perhaps they have tried to simplify them but now you are directly sent to the insights page and then you can choose whether you see stats for days, weeks, months and years. But it’s not the same. The bar charts look different and I’m not sure how they relate to the old ones.

I wish I knew where we get information from to tell us what is happening  Is there a page which you can look at to tell you what is coming up at WordPress?

It seems to happen everywhere. Facebook is constantly tweaked as is Instagram. You just have to try and pick up what is going on. I don’t think things should stay the same but it would be handy to have some information before hand.

Windows…

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No not the trade marked version. But old windows at Spode. Dusty and dirty and empty of footsteps, no faces staring out of them, no lights behind them, no shapes of pottery stacked. Life is quiet for the factory, silent. The place is shunned, surplus to requirements. How can it still exist?

Time passes, new movement as people take up spaces. Shift of light, shift of direction. Art and theater, people sleep on site now in the hotel. The chance to regenerate like a time lord. The site has age and power behind it. The ghosts look on, seeing the lights, wondering what will happen next. Will they be evicted from the deep soft clay dust that coats their footprints and hides their breath.

Sun pillar

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It was about 5 years ago when we were on holiday in Devon. We had arrived at the camp site late in the evening after a leisurely drive down from the Midlands.

As the Sun started to set we walked down through the dunes to the beach. My eye was taken by a pillar of sunlight shining from below the horizon where the Sun had just set. I have seen sundogs before (reflections off clouds on either side of and above the Sun that look like tiny parts of rainbows). But I did not know what this was. Luckily I had my camera with me and snapped these shots.

I later found out this was a sun pillar, caused by the sun reflecting off high icy clouds. I’ve never seen another one.

Pattern

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Colours, shapes and texture make up this pattern. Using digital apps can create images that would not be easy to create on paper or canvas.img_20190117_002155

Once you have done that you could use another app to duplicate and twist the images. I love patterns and continue to create images like this.

It’s really not hard to do and it would be good to see more art being created in this way. Be brave! Have a go! You might surprise yourself.

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