New paintings and regular art updates.
I just liked the way the light shone through my plastic glass tonight. Taken at an angle with my phone camera…. It feels like a jelly mold or reminds me of razor shells. Funny how shapes and patterns can mimic each other.
I like taking random pictures of things, I take picturesque photos but also enjoy playing with images x
What do you listen to while you work?
I’ve listened to BBC Radio 4 for years now. It’s mostly speech except for ptogrammed like Desert Island Discs.
In the 1980’s I heard the serialised version of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. And found the answer to life the universe and everything was 42. Then I listened to the Hobbit, and later the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Micheal Horden, Ian Holm and Bill Nighy. I even got the cassette tape version of it.
Other favourites include: I’m Sorry I haven’t a clue, the News Quiz, Dead ringers, the Infinite Monkey Cage, and many others.
I think you can hear a lot of these can be heard on the BBC SOUNDS ap.
A song I love. We are re-learning this soon, I’m used to the unison version, but this has harmonies. I don’t read music well. But we will learn it by repetition and copying.
I love the Simon and Garfunkle version.
I’ve been to Scarborough and it’s an old Victorian resort and fishing town although the majority of it’s trade is mainly tourism these days. It is South of Whitby in Yorkshire. As you come down towards it from the North you can see it’s castle standing on the headland. There is a north and south bay on either side of the castle. The town is mainly old Victorian terraces which are 3 or 4 storey and either hotels or bed and breakfast properties.
We stayed outside the town in a caravan site. There are plenty of places to visit, like an old museum set back from the coast which has information about the local geology amongst other things. A lovely park that feels sub tropical and I think I remember a car and motorbike racing circuit at a place called Olivers Mount.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
WordPress picture library doesn’t seem to find images I want….
I typed in fish and chips in the search bar and it came up with fairy cakes!
But anyway Fish and chips is my favourite comfort food. Particularly when I’ve been out all day and am to tired to even microwave something.
Does WordPress even know what fish and chips is? Battered or breaded white fish like Cod or Haddock, deep fried. Sliced peeled potato’s in strips about 1 or 2 centimeters square also deep fried. Both till nice and golden brown and crispy.
Salt and vinegar to taste. Sometimes accompanied with mushy peas or tartare sauce or both.
Food to make you smile.
That old Pareidolia kicking in again.
The dragons head upper left, then a thin neck and body, looking a bit like a viking boat. Finally a great sail of a wing catching the glow from the setting sun.
This was last Monday and it lingered on my phone until I found it today.
I don’t see sunsets very often because I’m on the wrong side of the hill. This was at the top of our hill and there are still buildings and trees in the way and as the sun drifts northwest as it sets in the summer there is more vegetation in the way.
I went to the one to one session with the opera singer. I explained that Parkinsons affects your voice and throat muscles so I’m trying to keep singing as much as I can. She got me to warm up my voice, showed me how to stick my tongue forward to relax it and allow myself to hit higher notes. I was surprised at how high I could get.
Singing in front of a professional musician was nerve-racking but she was so kind and very complementary about my voice. I don’t think I’ll ever be professional myself, but it taught me ways to improve my technique. And it was wonderful to try something new and exciting. It also made me feel less anxious about my health.
Of me painting.
Stitching an image together
Section by section
Gradually integrating
Joining blocks together
Like a jigsaw puzzle.
Pieces don’t always fit
They have to be adjusted.
The progress of a rake
Is in jeopardy!
Yesterday I went to an opera workshop as part of the project I’m in. My breathing can be bad because of my illnesses so I take any opportunity I can to keep my throat and lungs clear.
I’ve known for years that I’ve got an operatic voice somewhere inside me. Yesterday it escaped! We sang part of Nessun Dormo, which is actually about a man trying to get married to a Princess but she keeps killing off her suitors. She has to guess his name but he’s not sharing. I think she is called “Turendot”.
I managed to get a really high vibrato. I surprised myself because I got there late and hadn’t warmed my voice up. I’m amazed and going to do another workshop on a one to one basis but I’m not well, My Parkinsons keeps flaring up, I have various other illnesses. But I’m pushing myself, probably too much. I don’t want to just sit in front of the TV. I want to live as well as I can for as long as I can.
Today I painted a fire for the play Who is Molly Leigh…. Not the fire surround or the hearth, or the objects around it, but a piece of cardboard with a brick chimney backing painted on it and a coal fire burning strongly in the grate.
I asked another maker what she thought and she felt the flames should be more yellow and red, but the photo I worked from showed bright white flames surrounded by glowing yellow, orange, and red. It’s funny how people’s imaginations have stereotypical ideas of how things should look. I really enjoyed adding bright colours in between the coals to make it look really hot.
Someone asked me how to paint wood panels today so I got some cardboard and some acrylic paint and did this. It’s meant to look like oak, which I painted grey brown and added shading and highlights and a sort of wood grain effect… It’s quite deep looking due to the shadows.
Mallaband-Brown