New paintings and regular art updates.
Actually my small 2022 crop.
I only put in a couple of small plants this year so we have had about 8 or 10 tomatoes this year. I just haven’t had the heart. Then this appeared on my Facebook memories and I’m amazed at the sunshine. This last few weeks have been a succession of grey, wet days, Atlantic lows storming in with chill winds. According to the weather forecast September might be slightly better. I’d like something summery please, not too hot, not to cold. X
What’s your favorite time of day?
When the sun is overhead
Light shines down on bright flower beds
Makes the hazy colours shine
On plants and flowers and bees divine
At the stroke of noon I see
Primary colours, one two three..
Red and blue and yellow too
And the other colours hue
Make me want to paint and draw
All the beauty that I saw
Afternoon is the key
Makes my mind feel oh so free
Mornings are OK I guess
But post meridians are the best!
What’s your favorite recipe?
Trifle, my favourite treat.
A layer of jelly, a layer of blancmange or custard and a layer of whipped cream.
I make up a sachet of sugar free jelly with three quarters of a pint of boiling water and a quarter of a pint of port or sherry. I add that to large bowl and add chopped strawberries or raspberries or blueberries to make the jelly stronger when it sets (I don’t use trifle sponges as they are full of sugar) once cooled I put it in the fridge to set.
When the jelly is set I mix up a pint of blancmange with boiling milk (you can use custard) this comes in a variety of flavours. I use a sweetner instead of sugar in the mixture, one that doesn’t have an aftertaste. Once the liquid has been boiled and thickened I put the saucepan in a larger one filled with cold water. The blancmange cools enough so that it doesn’t melt the jelly when you add it to the top.
Once the middle layer is set I take a large tub of double cream and whisk it till it is stiff and makes peaks. This is spooned onto the trifle.
You can add decorations such as sprinkles (hundreds and thousands) or glacé cherries, grated chocolate or chopped strawberries etc.
I make it as sugar free as I can, but it is high in fat. You could use skimmed milk for the middle layer.
This is a Christmas or Easter treat in our house. And sometimes I make it for birthdays instead of cake.
I just answered a friends question about whether I have specific mugs to drink from depending on how I feel.
This is what I wrote: I have a ‘trust me I’m an artist’ mug, a ‘mug full of funny’ one which was bought from a charity, and a cat one with multiple cat cartoons. It has a crack in the top of the handle, so it wobbles slightly when I lift it, but it stays together and I love it. The ‘mug full of funny’ one is very bulbous so I can warm my hands on it. The artist one is wide and round so I can glug down coffee, and the cat one comforts me because I’ve had it for years and it is full of memories!
The featured photo is an image of a mug I decorated a few years ago.
Although I was not able to attend the Open day at a spode this weekend, I arranged to have one of my paintings Autumn Spring exhibited alongside other people’s artwork. I think it looks quite good. I was experimenting with an abstract idea in 2019 just before Covid arrived. The idea is a mixture of oblong and squares on the Autumn side, all jumbled and crammed together and is opposed to Spring which is more lyrical and fluid. Representing overwhelming waste and damage, and what we are doing to the Earth, and the renewal and regrowth that the Spring could bring.
Cat in a hat mug. My design that I draw to make children laugh if they are grumpy. I’ve been drawing it for years and so I decided to paint it onto a mug a few years ago when we went to a pottery to do some decorating. I don’t even remember where I did it, but the mug says 20, so it must have been three years ago. I have black and white cats but I always imagine this as a ginger tabby cat. X
What do you love about where you live?
Stoke-on-Trent is a city built on Art and crafts. From Wedgwood and Brindley and the industrial revolution.
Ceramics were the main manufactured goods in the city. So much so that it became known as ‘the Potteries’. Different pottery owners experimenting with different materials, trying to make pots that could stand up to the quality of Chinese wares.
Manufacturers had water, clay and coal from the local area. Pots were transported out of the city on the newly built canals that linked it to the rest of England and then on to the world.
Designs were transfer printed onto plates and cups, opening up cheaper wares to the general public. But other work was hand painted and lined with gold and other precious metals.
What was needed to make all the pottery? Workers, making, turning, transfer printing, painting. Numerous jobs including the famous Saggar Makers bottom knocker. (You can Google this). The work couldn’t be completed without skilled labour that could translate designs into reality. Some female paintresses were allowed to sign their names to their work. Like Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliffe.
So much skill in one city. Burslem school of art taught many of the artists that were to work in the ceramic trades. One famous artist, Arthur Berry, became a fine artist and writer and play writer. He was one of my tutors at college. That’s why I love this place.
Puss cat curled up at my feet last night. I wanted to put my feet up on a footstool, but he wouldn’t move! I think he’s trying to take care of me. He sits next to me on my chair arm sometimes. His brother on the other arm reaching a paw out to me every so often. It’s so sweet.
Then the queen arrives, she jumps up and nuzzles me, saying hello. The boys ignore her but she is nervous of their size, I think she’s a bit bullied by them, but generally they all get on well together and with my hubby….
What positive emotion do you feel most often?
Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone? Is that the old saying?
I come from a humourous town. Where I lived people took pleasure in telling long and I silly stories. They liked word play and puns. We would howl with laughter over some of the daft jokes people told.
Now, laughter is a little less frequent but still enjoyable. That’s partly because where I live now has a different sense of humour, harder, more direct. But I will not relinquish my old style. I might come over as sarcastic, but it can be very funny. (Just too tired to think of a joke now!)
How do you plan your goals?
I’ve got to the age where I take each day as it comes. I don’t plan so much because something will always come up and bite you just when you think things are going to be OK so you moderate your expectations.
A few years ago I had plans to finish work and become a successful artist. I am an artist, just not very successful! But I don’t intend to be a business entrepreneur. I paint and draw for pleasure not fame.
I wish I had the skills to plan goals, but when I used to be questioned at job interviews… Where do you see yourself in 5 years I was daft enough to say “still here”. I guess I like a modicum of security.
If you are going to make goals for yourself enjoy them, they may be simple or complex, just look after yourself. X
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