New paintings and regular art updates.
What is good about having a pet?
Cats calm me,
Relax me..
But they trip me up
Knead my stomach
Paw my face
Insist on tasting my food…
But they make me laugh
Purr at me
But then they jump up
On cupboards
Climb up trees
Lie on the stairs
Entertain me,
Keep me company
Cost too much at the vets
Give me love. X
My brain must be decaying.
Or I’m getting very old?
I forgot my manners
And didn’t even post
Lacking sleep and busy
I just realised
No words were written down
No thoughts discussed,
No post forthcoming
I simply slept
And forgot.
I did this years ago. I still love this little watercolour doodle. I splashed blue paint onto the paper then I think I added the cat… I loved adding his frowny face. Poor cat, getting soaked. X
Our Orme group continues to meet and create new art.
We are holding our annual exhibition, with paintings, sculpture, jewellery and other art and crafts available. There will be festive refreshments available.
We have new artists who have joined this year so there will be different work amongst the art on display. If you are in the area of Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, on 23rd November 2025 why not come along?
Old willow tree
Standing tall
Your long thin leaves
Now wave and fall
From green to gold
And yellow hue
Fluttering against
A sky of blue.
Then wind blows strong
Storm comes along
Your leaves are shredded
And stripped
To lie among
The fallen mulch
For slugs and snails
To munch!
For the last couple of weeks fireworks have been going off in the UK to celebrate bonfire night and possibly eid and Halloween too. But last night was the loudest and longest session.
I’d been out and was driving home. At the top of our hill I could see the flashes and bangs of massive fireworks across the city. The weather was clear and dry so I could see a lot of sparkling colours. I’m glad I went home, my poor cats were petrified. I’d forgotten to leave the radio on to drown out the noise. They soon settled down though x
I was driving so couldn’t take a photo but decided to try and draw an idea of a rocket going off in my Artrage app.
My paintbrush flittered quickly
Across the canvas
A blob of red and brown
A touch of white on a rotund belly
Fluffed up to keep out the cold.
An hour of painting
Green sprigs above
Snow below
Footprints trail
Sparse grass protrudes
Hop on the way
To Christmas.
It rained very heavily a few days ago.
I wrote this poem in response :
Rain flowed down the hill
Flooded the gutters
A wall of water
In the midst of it
A man on a mobility scooter
Drove it through two feet of water
Flash flood wheel chair hero!
The man on the scooter was videoed, it made the local TV news! Legend! I think it’s on tiktok in Stoke on Trent.
My old cat seems to be a bit better, he’s eating more and has gone back on to solid foods. He is more friendly and active too.
I thought his life was over, but he’s somehow stabilised. I’m hoping he keeps going, as long as he’s not in pain. The anxiety has settled a bit in me too. I don’t worry about going out as much now. I can’t explain the relief I feel. And he’s getting lots of love. He’s lying on the mat near the heater at the moment. Paws tucked under. Typical loaf position.
Old buildings in our city don’t always last. They are often left to rot. Trees and bushes grow out of brickwork, splitting the seams and unzipping the building. Making the ancient pottery a ruin.
Some places dismantle buildings. For example the Black Country Museum in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It often numbers each individual brick of a house, or factory, or school and rebuilds it within the grounds of the museum. It has working chain makers and underground canals that run through caves with fossils imbeded in the walls.
Meanwhile our industrial heritage in Stoke on Trent is gradually rotting, or is even burnt down by arsonists. We really should take better care of out industrial archeology even if it means donating it to the black country museum.
Mallaband-Brown