Acrylic on canvas. Devon beach and rocks on an overcast day. I think its near Plymouth, but the painting is probably 20 years old.
The rocks on this part of the coast are dark and craggy. The water makes them darker, with a slight glint to them. They form layers that slope down into the water and there are plenty of rock pools with barnacles and limpets. There might be small crabs lurking under seaweed in them. Between the rocks the sand is sandy coloured (goldish grey). With flat flakes of rock and stones and pebbles in discreet lines rolled into place by the tides. There are also strands of seaweed left at high tide where sand flies and sand hoppers dwell.
I took this photo of an old door at Spode pottery five years ago. I guess you could call it shabby. I would not have seen it but there was some work going on at the main entrance to Spode studios so we had to use a side entrance.
I only found this again because of the marvellous Facebook memories. I don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of photos I’ve taken since this, but not that many get put online, so this one must have felt special to me.
I think this might have been a pottery mould store, there was a collection of several thousand old pottery moulds that were a historical record of the shapes of the ceramics Spode used to make. Unfortunately I think they were destroyed a couple of years ago because they were not going to be used again. I think that sort of destruction is unforgivable.
Little bridge over a rocky chasm, (a small split in the rocks), another feature at Biddulph Grange. I’d forgotten this photo. I think we walked over the bridge, but to be honest I can’t remember. It seems to teeter over the gap, and I get vertigo, so maybe not! The approach up to it isn’t fenced in, so I’d be nervous just walking up to it…
Christmas carols bring tears to my eyes. I can’t explain why. Some affect me more than others. Hark the Herald Angels sing, oh come all ye faithful and oh little town of Bethlehem particularly. Choral music especially when it’s in close harmony is wonderful.
I think its from hearing them in childhood, their sentiment stuck with me. That gentle music touched me. Sung at school and church. The music raises my spirits.
I know that when I hear the Christmas service of nine lessons and carols on the radio I have to stop and listen to the beautiful sweet voices singing wonderfully. I love going Carol singing with friends and that can make me feel teary. I can’t really say any more than that.
Koi carp, big goldfish. Did you know goldfish grow to fit the size of their container, they stay small in a bowl, but can grow much bigger in a lake or pond. These were at Biddulph Grange garden a couple of years ago. You could climb down some steps near the top of the lake and see them swimming. I think the shop there sold fish food? But I don’t really remember. They certainly came up to the steps when people stood on them.
I think fish must be able to think. Not just have three second memories, their behaviour makes me think they can learn. I wonder what it’s like to be a fish? And I think carp can live to quite old ages. Anyway that’s all I know about them!
Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.
I talked to my hubby about being deaf.
What’s it like being deaf?
I have gradually lost my hearing over several years. It can make me feel grumpy, angry and lonely.
When did you first notice it?
I first noticed it when I was working in heavy industry for several years, but I was the child of a mill worker and the children had a creche at the mill, so I was always in a noisy environment. I really noticed it while working at my final job in a warehouse. There were conveyor belts everywhere and trucks, with loud music blaring out.
What can you hear?
I can hear very loud noises but without my hearing aids speech is just a wah wah wah noise.
How do you cope?
I have to try and lip read sometimes unless someone has a really loud or low voice. I can’t hear the higher registers of singers and music is distorted. It frustrates me when people have to repeat themselves and I know my hearing is diminishing. My mind retreats into childhood memories, it’s very isolating and now I’ve retired every day flows one into the next.
What about entertainment?
Subtitles on the TV help but I have to turn up the volume sometimes. I can use a hearing loop with my hearing aids but we don’t go out much anymore to the theatre or cinema.
What other things bother you?
Sometimes I get tinnitus or burbling noises like rushing water. I think that’s the blood pulsing in my ears. It’s hard to sleep when that happens. Also I think my brain fills in the gaps in the silence, I sometimes hear my name being called, or loud noises when there are none, it can be very disturbing.
We hadn’t really talked about it much so I’m glad I answered this prompt. It’s given me a bit more insight into how things are for him. I get frustrated that he can’t hear me, but it must be so much worse for him.
I can almost see a koala bear in this collaged photo. Above and below that I can see eyes on stalks. It’s called Pareidolia, and it’s something I seem to do all the time.. I saw patterns in wallpaper when I was young. Roses became teddy bears somehow. Green leaves became fairies. I could see faces in bowls of fruit. I think I’m weird!
Almost metallic, huchera leaves look like copper in the moist air. The pattern was achieved using a symmetrical collage tool on a photo I took a few years ago. I need to do more of these, it’s fascinating to see how the symmetrical pattern enhances the shapes. This could almost be a bowl with a drain in its centre.
What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?
So I could draw it
I had to do a drawing prompt for an art group that I’m in and I wanted to draw something old with ‘nooks and crannies’ which was the prompt.
I love the phrase, I think of old buildings, of old corridors and priest holes that people could hide in. Like Cavaliers hiding from Roundheads. Of hidden treasures, or pirates gold doubloons.
Mow Cop Castle is actually a folly, it was built on top of Mow Cop Hill that looks out over the Cheshire plain. It was never a ruined castle, but built to look like one, with the walls built to appear like they are tumbling down, and it’s silhouette is very striking as you look up to it. If you go up to it you can see the Jodrell Bank Observatory over at Holmes Chapel.
The drawing is not a good representation but it gives you an idea of how it looks.
Mallaband-Brown 