Early morning

Posted on October 7, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white photo, Ceiling, Early morning, Filter, Memory, Settee, shadow, Time, woodchip paper2 Comments

Early morning, looking up from the settee where I’m currently sleeping, I can look over at the ceiling and see the shadow cast across it by one of the living room lights. It’s in black and white because the colours were washy yellows, and I thought this looked more dramatic.

The fact you can see the woodchip patterned paper on the ceiling which is not very flat shows the poor decorating skills of the builder who put it up there almost 30 years ago! I’m never going to take it down, it’s hiding a multitude of sins including bad plastering and cracks I think.

This was around 6am or maybe later, I just liked the stark, long shadow.

More tiles

Posted on October 7, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Blue, Church, floor tiles, Minton tiles, Orange, Penkhull, Terracotta2 Comments

I thought I’d show you the other photo of the church floor I took last night. It’s a bit blurry but this is the main block of minton? tiles. It’s hard to tell what the central section depicts. I love the contrasting blues, oranges and terracotta colours. Using complementary colours makes the image pop even with using only blue and orange.

Blue to Red

Posted on October 7, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blue, Change, conservatives, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2081, Labour, Life, loyalty, Memories, Red, Time4 Comments

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

At 18 I voted blue (Conservative). That was how my family had always voted, we spoke about it, and I was supporting our first woman prime minister. How I regret it now!

After the election I moved out and started to learn more about the world around me, how people struggled and how the new prime minister was making things worse for people not better.

I went through several general and local elections over the decades but I never voted blue again. I had completely changed my mind. Sometimes I don’t like Labours policies, they can seem to be Tory lite, but I’ve never not voted for them. Sometimes they get into power. But for the last thirteen years Conservatives have been in power. They have had five prime ministers, some of which were not elected by the populace but by their fellow MPs. They make promises but they don’t keep them. Cancelling projects which were expensive and that have been massively over hyped. All blue policies…. From privatisation to selling peerages…

So I’m Red through and through. I think I always will be. The biggest change of mind and direction in my life.

Sun and Moon

Posted on October 6, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Fine Art, Friend, Glitter, Metallic paint, Moon, Painting, Sun, University4 Comments

Old paintings I gave a friends daughter when she went to university. I have no idea where they are now. Small square canvases about 6 x 6 inches. Acrylic on canvas, Depicting the Sun and Moon. I may do some similar ones and add a star one. They were fun to do

Church tiles

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Architecture, Art, Christmas concert singing, Church, Life, Minton, Pugin, Tiles4 Comments

I was rehearsing for our Christmas concert (we are doing it to fund another pantomime in 2025). I saw these tiles up by the altar. I think they are Minton tiles. I also think the church was designed by Pugin?

The acoustics are very good in there and we had great fun trying to get the right harmonies for silent night. The concert is due to happen on the evening of December 15th this year. As well as traditional carols there will be rock and roll songs and some solos and duets. There may also be recitals of poetry.

There are other tiles in the church, so it might be an idea to listen to the concert and have a good look round.

Green hair?

Posted on October 6, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Ceramic head, Gardening, Growth, Life, Planting, Plants, pottery class, Sculpture, Yard6 Comments

I found a photo of a ceramic head I made several years ago at my friend Claire pottery class. It must have hung on the same nail in the back yard for at least 20 years!

The weight of the face squished the space inside it in a bit, but it still is a good planting pocket. It has a crack in the back from the firing, so when I plant it up I use plastic to line it but make sure there are holes for drainage. I put different plants in each year, this time I have some sad snapdragons still clinging to life. Maybe next year I will try Sempervirans? (house leeks).

Quite often

Posted on October 5, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2080, Eyes, imposter syndrome, Lost, map reading, Maps, short sighted, Time, WorkLeave a comment

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

I was a child and because my eyes were bad I couldn’t see where my parents were on a big beach. So I got lost, but luckily someone found me and I got back to my family. Then they found out I was short sighted, so I ended up with glasses.

Later I got lost trying to map read while my mom drove. I wasn’t very good at it, so we took the right road, but headed south not north. Eventually I realised I had gone wrong and we found our way home. After that I studied maps (on paper), so I knew where I was.

But feeling out of place can also be emotional. I used to do an important job and did it well, but I didn’t fit in with other staff members because they thought I was too soft with our customers. I started to feel very out of place. I think I suffered from imposter syndrome. I second guessed myself all the time, thinking I would get caught out for doing things wrong.

I’m glad I’m out of it. I want to feel I have a real place to be,

Trumpet playing

Posted on October 3, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2078, expert, Learning, Music, Playing, skill, Sound, Trumpet, valves4 Comments

What skill would you like to learn?

I started learning pre covid, but I couldn’t afford frequent lessons. Then the pandemic happened and I stopped learning. I thought I would pick it up again, but I’d got out of touch with people.

I don’t know whether I will try again, I need to make a decision because if I don’t I will never know if I could have done it.

So I’m going to have to get my trumpet out when I’m well and see if I can make the right noises. It’s not just my mouth, but my arms need to be in better condition to be able to hold the trumpet and manipulate the valves. If I can’t I won’t be able to play it.

If like other skills it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, it means it’s highly unlikely that I will ever be much good. But I can try.

2.10.2016

Posted on October 2, 2023October 2, 2023 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged 7years ago, Art, ArtRage app, Design, Digital drawing, Digitally manipulated, Memory2 Comments

Digital art memory from 2 October 2016. I have no memory of how I did this. I think I used a free app called Artrage oils. And I must have used the old layout app, but I don’t know how I achieved the different colours. Anyway it’s definitely a piece of my digital art. 7 years ago.

Street

Posted on October 1, 2023 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, ArtRage app, copy of a painting, Life, Prompt, Sketching, Stoke2 Comments

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was street. I painted a street scene when I came to Stoke 40 years ago. I did a copy of it recently and I have a photo of the work in progress on my phone. As this is a digital sketch it’s not accurate and rather messy, but I thought I’d give it a go. Artrage app drawn with a stylus.

Mallaband-Brown

Category: Memories