Cat finds warm place

It’s warm on top of the armchair, now my radiator is fixed. And the new chair has a flat area at the top so the cat can happily fit. In the background is part of a large painting I did in our old house. It’s oil on a huge canvas. Like a lot of my art I forget it’s there sometimes. The little cat in the corner was one of the first we had when I moved there.

Storm Isha

90 mile an hour winds, storm surges, trees uprooted. Storm Isha, the eighth named storm this winter, bought disruptive winds and rains across much of the UK yesterday and today. Planes that were going from England to Northern Ireland were diverted to France after being unable to land in Ireland. Only to be refuelled and travelling back to Ireland again. One flight due to take 45 minutes took 9 hours including delays. Sea ferries, trains and cars have been delayed.

A few people have died. Trees have been blown over 48,000 homes lost power in Northern Ireland. Farmers fields continue to be flooded and winter wheat is dying in the sodden landscape.

And yet the British weather intrigues us. We are used to wild and wooly weather, just not this much of it!

Through the round window

Round window at Spode painted a couple of years, ago, the glass was held in a circular metal frame. I enjoyed trying to get a feeling of depth using deep shade, and perspective with the rows of bricks. I think they might be a bit exaggerated. I liked the way the concentric circles sink inwards and the shadows bend around the edges.

Umbrella mural

Umbrella mural I painted for the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in about 2006/7. Based on a design by Clarice Cliffe the Potter. The white line on the top left was a white ribbon hanging down that had been used to decorate the Arnold Bennett suite in the back room of the Leopard. About 3 x4 foot. Emulsion paint on lining paper which was glued directly on the wall. Sadly the hotel burnt down a couple of years ago and all my murals were lost.

Train time

Watercolour painting of the top half of Cheddleton Station near Leek in Staffordshire. I have travelled on the steam train from there several times with my hubby. Something I will really miss. He was a bit of a steam train fanatic and always had masses of information in his mind. He recognised the make and types of trains (and tractors and cars) he could tell the make of tractors by the colours they were painted. Old Fergus on tractors were grey ‘old grey Fergie’ he would say.

Here’s a link to their website:

https://www.churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk/