Decorations up?

An angel and a moose reindeer ornament and a boxing hare, a string of red beads, some shiny holographic card and two cat ornaments? Will that do?

I don’t have a tree because of the cats, and I’m feeling very minimal this year. I will put any cards I get up on the mantelpiece.

No I’m not turning into Scrooge, just feeling a little flat and I can’t climb to hang things up. And if I did, then I’d have to take them down again afterwards. Oh well…

I remember years when I used to put up a tree, I have boxes and boxes of glass ornaments, Christmas tree lights, I would hang paper streamers, presents were put under the tree. Not much to put there now, a couple of calendars. But I don’t need anything, my house is full.

Kindness

Tell us one thing you hope people say about you.

I hope people see that I am kind

That I care about things

Wrap my heart and soul

Round those who need.

But if they don’t see it?

Not important,

as long as things improve

Kindness can be hidden too

Who needs recognition?

If you can help anyway.

And yes, I am soft hearted.

Doodle and texture

7 Yr old digital drawing put through photodirector.

I’ve found my favourite tweak in Photodirector after losing it for a bit. There were added tools and some of them have been relabled so it took me a while of looking through things to find the texture tools somewhere I wasn’t expecting. The original drawing  on the left was done in Artrage oils app 7 years ago.

New bed

Blimey! I’ve just had a new bed delivered. My old one way about Xx years old (too embarrassed to mention it’s actual age). What a palaver! Moving furniture and boxes out the way. Making sure there were no trip hazards in the way. Emptying divan drawers of stuff that could have come out of the ark, were those cushions from the 1980s? Then because I’ve gone from a king-size to a double do I need to get new sheets and a duvet? do I need new or will the old ones do? Will it be too soft or too hard? A friend of mine has given it me and she lives miles away so I didn’t get a chance to try it out. All I can say is that it looked comfy as the men carried it upstairs, but I’m too tired to get up there and try it out!

Zoom in

Playing with symmetry and light. The green is from an aurora a few months ago, the orange is from light reflected off the fence outside the kitchen window at night. I liked framing it in a circle, it looks like I’m zooming in on the centre of the space and it’s fuzzy enough to indicate movement. I like exploring ways of creating art and images. You don’t always know what to expect.

Moving stuff

It doesn’t look like much but I can see the floor. It means that the people taking some furniture out for me will be able to get through.

It’s taken me a year of grief to get to this point. I have had to get rid of things I might have wanted to keep. To say “goodbye” to things that have sat in the same place for years. The “that will come in handy” stuff, the “oh don’t throw that away, I’ll have it”, stuff.

I have also uncovered a large patch of damp under one of my windows, I will have to be responsible and get it patched up. Time, maybe, to stop ignoring things?

Reflected memory

From 2018, I don’t remember making this collage of blossom against a pastel sky, but thanks to Facebook it just popped up.

I like it, but it feels a bit too diffuse and fuzzy. Maybe the horizon between the two miffored images could have been placed higher or lower so that it became more defined. But it certainly feels watery. I do have fun doing these.

Spark plug machine

Memory of a prop for the Penkhull Mystery Plays, I think this was a couple of years before covid?

The inventor of the spark plug, Oliver Lodge, lived in Penkhull and there are two local streets named after him, Oliver and Lodge Roads.

I can’t remember exactly what happened in the show but we had to try and make this pretend engine start with a starting handle and inserting a spark plug into the top of the engine.

I do think the prop and scenery people were fantastic. I got to paint some of it and make some of it but there was a great team of volunteers including making things from willow and papier mache, seamstress and stitches and making towers and buildings from bits of two by four and 8ft x 4ft flats of hardboard.

Hopefully the Mystery Plays will return in the summer of 2025.