New paintings and regular art updates.
Late greeting to 2024’s calendar
You arrived at the start
Of January (not a wonder)
And ended 2023 at last
A year I don’t want to remember
Not a good year for me.
May this year be better and hopeful
A leap year, an extra day
February 29 a blessing
Where happiness might just stay.
Apart from that added adventure
The rest may be simply the same
But hopefully pleasant and gentle
I don’t want 2023 again!
When I got an ink roller to blot out the name and address on a letter I realised I could also draw with it. This is from 4 years ago and came up on Facebook memories. This was one of my experiments. Since the roller made quite a wide mark it turned into a fat cat! Some of it is using a fine line pen but if you use the roller edge you can also draw lines.
Time blurs everything. Thirty years ago I was doing a course at college and for a while I rented a small studio with two other artists. But it didnt work out. One of them was collecting egg boxes to try and insulate the walls as the place was freezing in the winter but also to try and deaden the noise of rock music one of the artists used to like playing. The windows had arched wooden frames that were quite architectural but they were single glazed. I only painted a few things but when I was there and the music was on it would drive me mad. Unfortunately I could only use the place in the evenings and that coincided with the rock sessions. So I gave it up in the end. Now I’m looking at leaving my current studio. It’s too expensive to carry on renting. If it is the choice between paying rent for it or paying the fuel bills I have to make the sensible choice.
I’ve just watched this film for the first time in about 20 years. In turn comedic, poignant, rude, surprising and life affirming
There is a poem by W H Auden in it “stop all the clocks”, so sad and yet to the point. I felt myself starting to cry again. But it helped.
It’s a film from the early 1990’s and has a strong cast of actors including Hugh Grant as the main star. It follows him through the marriages of his friends and perhaps himself. And the death of a close friend.
If you’ve never watched it I think you will probably enjoy it.
Cats! They are sometimes sweet, sometimes bonkers. One of mine seems to think he’s an otter! He’s just come upstairs purring gloriously and left wet paw prints next to me as I was sitting on the edge of the bed. A purraow and now he’s washing his paws. Reminds me of a quote from Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood…. Before you let the Sun in make sure it’s wiped it’s feet!
The ugly duckling hides in the reeds, brown feathers gradually lost, snow white feathers uncovered. Soon it will be a majestic Swan.
Photo from a walk in 2020, Westport lake in Stoke on Trent.
What colleges have you attended?
Most of my studies were arts based. But I genuinely think that having an art degree helped me with understanding the imaging techniques of Radiography. I only just passed that course though because I wasn’t very good at Physics.
Life might have been different if I had persued a career as a radiographer. I was very good at positioning patients and producing accurate images. But I got into trouble once because I took an xray of someone and the lecturer said it would be impossible to take it without moving the patient. BUT I had used a very mobile xray machine that you could position at any angle or height. I got the supervising Radiographer to confirm I had done it correctly. Even so I was marked down and given a minimum pass mark for the film. That’s when I fell out of love with that particular course.
Westport lake. A splendid place to visit is one of our local reservoirs. It helps supply the Trent and Mersey canal. In winter when the trees and bushes are skeletal the warm glow of a sunset can make it seem anything but cold. Pleasant memory of a walk with my hubby.
All my cats have black patches on their noses. Apparently the black in cats is actually a type of tabby (ginger) and sometimes in bright sunlight you can even see stripes where part of the coat has faded. Most of the cats I have had have been black and white, none of them were pedigree and a lot of them were cool characters. One particular cat was very intelligent. She came when I whistled or called, but would also jump across gaps when I called her and liked to ride on my shoulder. She was a stray when we got her and lived to a good age of around 19.
Want to get a pet with an independent personality? Think of adopting a rescue cat!
Short days, the candle is nearly out. Darkness floats by my eyes as I look into the garden. Cold wind and rain is making it chilly and damp. Memory tugs at my mind, pulling my mouth down at the corners. But I caught myself laughing a couple of times today.
Where will I be at the end of next year? Will I find the safety and solace I seek. Will I manage on my own. Decades of being a couple makes it difficult to predict. I’m trying to explain how I feel about things. I feel like I did when I left school after that being my whole life. The cliff edge is close, my hubby could climb down cliffs while I cowered at the top. I don’t like them. I want to be settled and secure. Oh well, we will see….
Mallaband-Brown