New paintings and regular art updates.
Another from my photos of the BCB, British ceramic biennial that was held in Stoke on Trent a few weeks ago.
Some pieces were more beautiful than others, some seemed to have more significance. Some like this seem playful. A piece that has been twiddled and twisted, creating a root like structure but with almost a trumpet bell on the end of it.
Simply placed on a surface in front if a window, the object casts interesting shadows.
I don’t know what I think of it, but it was worth documenting.
Next weekend I’m busy with an open day at Spode and an exhibition and craft sale at the Whitfield centre with Orme Art Group. I was trying to think of a theme to use for some little paintings I want to do and I’m thinking owls and maybe hedgehogs (which will be curled in autumn leaves). If it happens I’ll post some pictures.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading an old Issac Asimov book. The stars like dust. It’s one I had in the 70s and haven’t read it since.
Asimov mainly wrote books about robots and formulated the three laws of robotics. But this book is about galactic intrigue and the attempts of a young man called Biron Farill, who is the main character of the book, to escape the Tyrrani who rule the Galaxy and are trying to assassinate him.
I have completely forgotten the story, it feels old fashioned but has intrigue. I can imagine watching an old film, some of the settings, seem clunky. But it’s worth reading, and I’m enjoying it.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I think I would move closer to the sea. Up a hill, away from flightpaths, with a lovely view. A small town nearby.
Wales is close enough so that I can still visit family and friends. I would ideally like a slightly bigger house so that people can stay.
Why a Wales retreat? I know the country to some extent. I have Welsh ancestors, I have family there. I am used to the weather and I think its slightly less polluted than England.
Recently I’ve thought about moving. It’s not in the forefront of my mind, but if I ever have the money I would like to spend my declining years visiting Welsh tearooms and eating bara brith cake, painting Welsh scenery and joining choirs!
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?
We were cycling home on our tandem one summer evening, when suddenly we turned round in the road. I had no idea what was going on, it was a narrow country road and it surprised me.
We pulled up and my hubby started looking on the grass verge. There was a camera just lying there! We didn’t know what to do, so we took it home (we were in the middle of the countryside), with the idea of seeing if there was a film inside and getting it developed if there was. We would try and get it back to its owners somehow? This was about 30 or so years ago before we had the Internet, so there wasn’t much hope of finding its owners.
We sent the film off, but it came back blank, it must have been lost when someone put a new film in, maybe put it on top of a car and forgot to move it when they drove off.
I have to say I had forgotten all about it until I saw this prompt, and now I feel guilty for not reuniting it with it’s owners.
It’s coming up for Christmas and once again the Clay Chorus choir has transmogrified into the Mystery Singers.
We met last night for our second rehearsal and it was straight into various carols and wassails that we perform in a trip round Penkhulls’ pubs in a few weeks time.
We sang ‘while shepherd’s watched their flocks by night’ Cranbrook arrangement, ‘Good king Wenceslas’, ‘Sweet Chiming Bells’, and several other favourites.
Old friends come and add to the choir numbers. We sounded good last night. I hope we learn some new songs too x
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
I met the lovely Dawn French once, for about five seconds, she was giving out chocolate coins with her face embellished on them to graduates at the University she is the Chancellor of, and I was one of the hundreds of students that met her that day.
She is a comedian, actor, writer, appears on TV as a the Vicar of Dibley and is one half of French and Saunders the comedy double act.
My fleeting meeting was just a smile and a handshake and me trying to say thank you very much and I love you without garbling it up too much.
I’d travelled a few hundred miles to be at the graduation ceremony, but after being given a very hot nylon gown and mortar board to wear on a blistering hot summers day it was all I could do to stay upright. I’d got family and friends with me in the audience, and it was a very proud moment, but my main thought as I got off the stage was “ice-cream” or “cold drink”!
My friend just sent these photos, they are his model VW van next to a couple of my paintings. They made me laugh! I haven’t seen them for a few years so it came as a nice surprise to receive his message. I’m chuffed aswell that the scale works. I want to go somewhere for a trip now.
Lined up in a row, like geodes waiting to be cut. Ceramic globes and fragments at the British Ceramic biennial exhibition last weekend. How quickly time flies. I wanted to share another photo that I took. There are too many to share but I likes this set of objects, like the cores of planets. I imagine them with hollow centres and amethyst crystals.
What podcasts are you listening to?
I’ve never got into podcasts, I’m not even sure what they are? Are they radio shows that include video, or TV shows, on the Internet? I guess like anything else they can have their own style and substance.
I don’t have an iPhone, do you need one of those to listen to podcasts? Are they short programmes or long ones. If you call something a podcast does that mean it really is? I watch lots of videos, because I’m a visual person, and although I can pick up a tune or understand an argument, I’m not necessarily an aural person. I’m not into music, not in a big way, I tolerate it, and unless it’s a particular classical style I can pretty much leave it.
Please give some examples of good podcasts, and I will try and catch them?
Mallaband-Brown