Digital rose drawing

I used to draw at a website called Sketchfu before it closed. It had simple tools to draw with, no complicated applets, and consequently it was open to a large number of people.

Eventually it became a massive site and the owners lost interest in it. I was a moderator and had to deal with a lot of problems over the years I was there. I won’t go into details but it included bullying and inappropriate language and messages. There were a few of us that were allowed to remove inappropriate content but it was hard work. (I also moderated another site but did not disclose my role). When someone draws the same rude or racist image over, and over again for hours, but you are there deleting them as they appear, they eventually get fed up and stop. But if you admit you are a moderator you get a lot of stick, so I kept quiet. At one stage I was working in a full time job and coming home and doing four or five hours moderating!

Anyway I loved creating digital drawings, including portraits. I loved doing challenges. Someone would post a photo and we had to try and copy it. I’ve just found some of my old pieces so I might post a few of them over the next few days.

I don’t know where this came from?

It’s the sort of photo I’d take, but I don’t remember it? It might be something that’s on my phone from a WhatsApp post, so if it is apologies to the owner. I’ve posted this here because I’m a member of a group called the peeling paint appreciation society on Facebook. Some of their images are amazing. I do wonder if some have had the saturation and sharpness enhanced. I feel like I should look out for more interesting images.

Trumpet playing

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

I lost interest in learning the trumpet because of lock down. I had to stop because I wasn’t allowed to visit the teacher for months. Then I got involved in other things. So my trumpet is in it’s case, with papers piled on top. I wonder if I will be able to take it up again? The trouble aswell is that I can’t really afford to do it anymore. I think I am fit enough and I can manage the breathing for it, but I need to find a cheaper tutor and work out if this fits in with my current finances.

I still enjoy choir practice and music making. I will have to see what happens. I might even try and join a brass band.

Joined and left a page

I joined a fun science page on Facebook this week. But soon realised that there were a lot of sceptics there. For everyone discussing a theory five seemed to be completely anti the facts! I should have laughed but I could not believe it! There were people who were anti everything.. I decided to leave the page.

I also posted to a page about clouds and again there was a discussion about chem trails (saying the condensation trails from aircraft have chemicals pumped out of them!). The trails are water vapour condensing around dust and ice particles in the air. My question to the commenter was to fact check his theory, he told me to check mine. What fun. I give up. Maybe science was taught differently in my childhood….

Chocolate seashorses

What’s your favorite candy?

I can’t find a photo of one, but I really enjoy chocolate seahorses and seashells. I think they are my favourite chocolates. They are moulded shapes with stripey surfaces and have chocolate truffle centres. I can’t remember the name of the company that makes them Guylian? I think. Very sweet and tasty, hence the reason I don’t have them often. They come in flat boxes of twelve or more chocolates. There are seahorses (I tried to draw), seashells, starfish possibly? It’s a while since I had any. X

First haircut since lock down!

My friend came round and gave my hair a trim today (another friend has also offered).

I was sitting in my dressing gown keeping warm, when a friend rang up. Do you want a haircut? I thought about it. Yes why not. She arrived twenty minutes later with scissors and comb. Ten minutes later and I felt lighter and neater. No fuss with washing and drying, no conditioner. I’d washed my hair already. I tried cutting my fringe (why do Americans call a fringe  bangs?) but I couldn’t really see it properly so she finished it off.

Midway through the cut another friend rang, so I rang her back and chatted about this and that. All the company tired me out, but I’m glad they got in touch. Now I’m surrounded by hungry cats. A reason to go shopping in a bit. Life, you can’t always hide.

Everything!

Do you need a break? From what?

For those that follow my blog you will know I’ve been going through a couple of bad years. I really want things to stop going wrong. I feel like the universe is jumping up and down on my head. I’d like a break. That’s just a few days where I can relax and recover.

Holidays, that’s a word I don’t think I will hear in the future. I have ‘leisure time’ but that’s just sitting being bored because I don’t have anything I can do or want to do. I’ve spent years looking after someone and I’d love to have that responsibility back. The silence is deep sometimes. Thinking is not a ‘break’. We would talk and chat, breaking that silence with serious thoughts or silly humour. I could always make him laugh.. There is no laughter now.

Snow due

The last lot of snow fell a few weeks ago, now here is a threat of more. The forecast is for wet weather coming up from the south hitting cold air in the north. Wherever it clashes we will get the snow.

There is also the risk of ice, and possibly heavy sleet and high winds. Oh what fun. I’m staying in and snuggling if I can. We live in a city and don’t get things too bad. But even so we can sometimes get gridlocked as there are a lot of bottlenecks in the road system. It once took me three hours to dive home two miles due to abandoned vehicles.

Bluebell memory

One spring a few years ago we went to Rode Hall in Staffordshire and walked round the bluebell filled woods. Hubby took his little red motorboat to try and sail it on the lake but there is not a safe place to launch it from, so I took this photo of him looking longingly at the lake, boat in the bag next to him.

He did sail his boats on the smaller of the two lakes at Westport later in the year. One day he sailed it and it ran out of power a few feet out from the shore. He tried to pull it back in with a broken branch. It drifted further out! So he took his shoes off, rolled up his trousers and waded out! As he clambered out with the boat his legs up to his knees were covered in black mud. We didn’t have a towel so he had to sit on a couple of carrier bags in the car. The mud was very smelly so we drove home with the windows wide open! He was always adventurous bless him X