New paintings and regular art updates.
On beach holidays I draw seahorses like this on the sand. I will use a stick to draw it out and sometimes use pebbles to decorate it. These drawings are ephemeral, disappearing on the high tide, tracked over by footsteps, lost in windblown sand. Seahorse is a half horse, half fish. I just draw, them for fun.
What things give you energy?
I’m trying to be honest with this post, I am honest when I blog but I don’t express my emotions here very much. What I will say is that when I’m down I get energy from love and friendship from family and friends. But what I don’t do is seek out those people when I feel sad. I guess I don’t like dragging others down with me. I hide away from them and instead of getting healing energy I feel lower moods.
But when I allow people to know what’s going on, I think I get positive energy from them. Which can lift my mood. It’s just finding a balance, it’s hard to do that.
I think I also get energy from doing art. It increases my enthusiasm to do more. It makes me feel free and able to use my imagination. I get a lot more energy from Art when family and friends enjoy what I do, in that way I know what I’m doing is possibly worthwhile. One thing I do have is imposter syndrome which means I feel like I question my validity a lot. Perhaps that’s why I blog.
So, we have equal amounts of day and night today according to this.
Days will get shorter than nights until the Winter Solstice around the 21st of December 2023, then lengthen again. In the Southern Hemisphere the days will get longer until their Summer Solstice.
I don’t like the lack of sunlight and the change from British Summer time to Greenwich Mean time also gets to me. We lose an hour of evening daylight in October, although we get lighter mornings. But studies in the 1960’s or 1970’s showed that overall there were less accidents when they kept British Summertime for three years. Sadly the change was abandoned.
Maybe we could revisit the idea? Saving an hours electricity in the winter evenings might even help the environment?
Which topics would you like to be more informed about?
I recently did a course in illustration and one of the modules was to do in depth research into a subject of our choice. I chose dragons.
I was aware of Chinese imperial dragons, and Japanese dragons, as well as western European ones. But I had no idea about the complexity of the subject. For instance how many wings they had (if at all), how many legs or toes? Whether they were good or evil. So much to know.
Then I found out about other civilizations, Australia, various African countries, ancient Greece and Rome, North and South America, each had versions of dragons (also called great snakes), The Australian one for instance was a snake that seemed to link rivers and water holes. The American ones might have been linked to dinosaur bones. How would they know they were fossils and not recently deceased? It was fascinating.
But that’s when I realised I know only very little about ancient civilizations. And watching I Claudius on television recently, I understand I know virtually nothing about the Romans, let alone the Celts, ancient Chinese, Vikings, and so many peoples from across the whole world.
I know I cannot gain an encyclopedic knowledge, but I want to learn more. I’m interested in finding out.
What would your life be like without music?
To be perfectly honest I don’t really listen to much music. I have not been to many concerts or watch much on TV or radio.
If there are quiz questions on TV I can sometimes get answers about classical music, but I’m useless at pop music bands or songs. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t engage my brain. I know the music from my youth, I could even name some of the groups, Ultravox, Blondie, Elvis Costello. They are linked to me becoming an adult, but after that there are very rare songs or music that stir me. Maybe Bowie, or the band Queen. After that, grunge, hip hop, garage, trance? They are all just noise.
I will listen to Desert Island Discs to hear the choice of eight records a celebrity would take with them if they were marooned on an island, but that’s more about finding out what they are like rather than the music itself.
I get irritated with loud background music on TV and radio. Sometimes it’s really distracting.
I would say I have an eclectic taste in music, just not a strong taste. But the fact that I love singing, that I love being in a choir, does mean that music has somehow got a hold on me!
I am a coffee cup
Drawn in photoshop
I was my owners friend
Until I got broke
My owner dropped me
And as I fell
I hit my limb on the floor
I had no handle any more
Our friendship has lasted though
Now I sit proud
I have a Christmas cactus to hold
On my gentle grey inside.
My first ever digital drawing using a mouse. I did it in 1999. I actually got it in my local open art exhibition. I guess it was unusual at the time although it is rather rough and ready. I found it on my Facebook memories. It isn’t as bright as the original. I’m not sure what happened to it.
Another painting of the Devon coastline. This is an old photo and I don’t know if I painted it in dark tones or if it was taken in a dark area. The headland in the distance gives you an idea of Devons rolling hills. It’s similar in Cornwall, hills that are rounded, climbing up to the moors. Dartmoor and Exmoor being two of them. Also in the foreground you can see golden sands surrounded by the dark jagged rocks that you see at many of the coves in the two counties. I hope I can visit again soon.
Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
I guess the worst thing I ever did was to burn a cake! I took the risk of making it up as I went along, but I didn’t think of the oven temperature. I set it at has mark 7 and cooked it for an hour. More than slightly crispy even after I cut the outside layer off.
That’s why it’s good to follow a recipe. You can learn from your mistakes. But once you have the basic idea THEN you can add your own twist. But remember not to over spice things. Especially if you know nothing about chilli and the varying types that you can get. I also didn’t know about deseeding them and not to touch your eyes if you have chilli on your hands!
One meal I wasn’t responsible for was a chicken casserole. I left my hubby detailed instructions and friends came round to enjoy the meal (not). I didn’t realise that he would translate my clove of garlic into a BULB of garlic. Not a pleasant meal!
The pulse has gone, all is lost. Communication has ended. A dull drone at the end of the phone. A murmuring has slowly died away. No more heat. Soulless sadness. I had to write.
I see your face, but can’t recall it, only imagination holds you in place. Anniversary gone, I must face my own troubles. But I look in the mirror and see your face, then you walk away into the distance, into the light… My sister, goodbye.
Mallaband-Brown