Fenton cenotaph

Fenton Cenotaph. Fallen soldier, from the 1914-1918 first world War. I was out with Stoke Urban sketchers today. We were outside Fenton Town Hall. A very cold wind was blowing so I just did a small sketch. I chose to use pale blue and yellow because of what is happening in Ukraine. The news continues to be terrible. The Russians had offered a ceasefire and escape corridor for civilians to get out of Mariapol but they haven’t stopped shelling the city.

Annoying

I keep getting messages on my Instagram account that I have won an iPhone. The trouble is I don’t want one and I’m fed up after a couple of months of being spammed. I will never click on a link. I’m not daft, I’m not tempted, I will keep blocking the posters. I think I’ve had fifteen or twenty messages so far. If I’d won that many (from all different peoples Instagram accounts) I could make a great deal of money selling them all. But I’m NOT INTERESTED. I keep blocking them and reporting them. OK that’s enough, I’ll stop spamming you xxx

Filtered design

Just a filtered version of the vintage dress I drew yesterday. Trying to keep my mind off Ukraine πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ and what is happening there. Russians fired on a huge nuclear power station and set part of it on fire. It made me think of nuclear chain reactions if it blows up. It could be worse than Chernobyl in 1986. Funny how a pattern can spark ideas. I pray for peace.

Cat Woman

Doodle in ArtRage oils free app. I’m so busy drawing with felt pens that I forgot that I have it on my phone. I’m sort of sticking with blue and yellow as my main colours. Why, because Ukraine is on my mind. I guess this isn’t brilliant but finger painting with smudgy drawing tools can be difficult. I don’t know what made me draw this, but it was fun..

Sunset last year

Sunset, watercolour, February 2021.

I had been for a walk with a good friend and walked a lot further than I thought I could. Oh what a difference a year makes. I couldn’t walk a third of that distance now. Every time I think I’m going to go for a walk something seems to stop me. For instance this weekend was lovely, but I had an upset stomach (too much information?), so I stayed home. I’m getting increasingly frustrated by this. I want to be out there, walking, painting, being back to normal. Instead I’m just burbling away here. Spinning out my old memories into a web of comfort that doesn’t equate to doing things for real.

Destruction

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was destruction. The Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, was destroyed by fire just a few weeks ago. This is a sketch from a photo by Stokie Bloke (I can’t face visiting the Leopard Hotel). Not very accurate. You can see the roof has gone. There were more photos including the room where my murals were. The walls are still standing, but there are just blank ashy grey spaces. So sad.

awake 6.30 am

playing with paper and felt pens

Sitting here- pondering what to do about college work, I never seem to get a minute to myself. I couldn’t sleep, I’m either too hot or too cold or someones elbow is sticking in my ribs, but because I woke up and started typing, now hubby is up and ready to go for a walk! For heavens sake can’t I get a quiet moment to myself?

I’m seriously thinking about single beds! you know you are getting older when you think that comfort outweighs companionship. No more knees in your back, or elbows in your ear, or your shoulder being used as a pillow.

No I’m not doing college stuff, I’m just trying to chill for half an hour. No doubt I will go back to bed soon!