Category: Sketching

New prime minister (PM)

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Our PM is finishing tomorrow. Another PM will replace him. He or she (probably she) is being chosen by 160,000 Conservative party members not the British electorate. We might have a general election until next year or the year after. Our old PM has been found to have lied and broken laws. His popularity meant his party got an 80 seat majority in the 2019 election and are changing electoral boundaries to make it difficult to defeat them. It also seems Scottish voters may try and go for independence making it virtually impossible to get the Conservative government out of power.

I think of our PM as a Trump mini-me. He even thinks he can get back in power! The new PM will probably be Liz Truss. She does not seem to know what she is doing. It seems the rich and entitled rule. The rest suffer.

Cartoon I did last year of our PM as a schoolboy, I was protesting the lack of support from his government of the arts.

Stairs

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Look up Whitby steps on the Internet and you find out there are 199 steps from the town up to Whitby Abbey at the top. Dracula by Bram Stoker was set there. The town has many tourists visiting because of this. There is also a history of jewellery making in the town because it is the home of Whitby Jet. This is a black, fossilised substance that was originally ancient monkey puzzle trees. The steps or stairs offer a spectacular view down over the harbour and bay.

For #bandofsketchers prompt today ‘stairs’

Gratitudes

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I’m getting some help with my mental health and one of the things I’ve taken up is to do a gratitude diary. Basically you write down three things you are grateful for every day. I do it before bed, and I remember small things that have made me happy during the day. Not big dramatic things (today was a bit of an exception because two things were slightly more important) on other days I’ve included the cat on my lap, or standing in the garden full of flowers.

So why do it? It appears to rewire your brain, cutting down on negative thoughts and turning them positive. I have been advised to do it for at least 28 days. I’m not suggesting anyone else does it, but it’s helping me.

Bright pattern

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Changing ‘curves’ in digital photo editing apps can really change colours and make them ‘pop’. Initially you see a square with a diagonal line on it and also a series of squiggly lines underneath that indicate how much of the spectrum is in what part of the box. If you click on the diagonal line you can change the shape of it. Raising the line by dragging it makes it your image lighter (you can watch the image change as you drag on the line). Pulling the line down darkens the image. But altering the line into a flowing curve also changes the colours without altering the underlying pattern or shapes. You can also change colours in other tools. Have a go. See what happens.

Column

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Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was column. I’ve layered up sketching, lines and flood fill tools to create some sort of Greek or Roman column. It’s very sketchy and sort of rustic. I might change it and add leaves to it. I haven’t decided yet. Other column ideas were light and newspaper. I wasn’t sure what to do. But it was an interesting experiment.

Profile in digital art

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Found my stylus so tried using it on a dotted drawing I did a while ago in ArtRage oils. ArtRage has a metallic slider scale so you can make your drawing look metallic and as it says in the name also has pens that look like oil paint. ArtRage oils is a free app. I actually bought ArtRage which is the full app and it has lots more pens and tools, but I keep forgetting it because its on my tablet, and that’s in a cupboard. Oops! Must get it out and charge it!

It’s not real, honest.

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Hubby was playing with a model aeroplane yesterday. The trouble was the shutter on my camera reacted a few seconds after I pressed it, so the plane was not in the picture. I had a silly idea. I would superimpose a model plane on the photo. Problem, I don’t have that sort of software on my phone. So I drew a plane instead. Its badly drawn and I had to erase bits of it to get the general shape. But you get the idea of what was happening in reality.

Light

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Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was light. I drew one of my blue glass candle sticks in felt pen. There’s too much clutter on the shelf so the shadow is imagined as is the candle. I have drawn smoke from the wick which is also visible in the shadow. I could have added a flame but don’t have a memory of how it would look.

Fuel price cap

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Later today the United Kingdom is going to be told the new price cap for Gas and Electricity which will affect the cost of bills. The price is set to skyrocket to about £2300 a year in October but then £4200? Per year in January! Bills are going to be unaffordable for the poorest in society and the question of whether to heat or eat becomes very bad if all you can afford to buy is cheap tinned food but you can’t heat it up.

The UK is supposed to be the sixth richest nation in the world but we seem more interested in giving the fuel companies shareholders masses of money instead of supporting our citizens. Our government is currently deciding who will replace Boris Johnson by letting 160,000 members of the British Conservative party choose the next prime minister instead of doing something about the cost of living crisis. Note to Liz Truss who is likely to win. If you cut taxes that’s fine for the rich, but a lot of people don’t pay them because their incomes are already too low. A 1% cut of nothing is nothing.