Another doodled character from the Penkhull Mystery Play this year. The White Witch. I’ve done three so far. I don’t think the people will actually look like this but I enjoy the creative challenge.
Doodled character
Category: Uncategorized
Making art
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
I love painting (oils, watercolour, acrylic) , drawing, digital art, printmaking, pastel and charcoal drawing. Pottery, jewellery making, creating fused glass. Collage, scenery painting, illustration, photography and more.
I’ll try and do anything once. I’ve even tried drawing with boot polish and had a go at melted wax art. (I’m quite old and don’t like getting bored). Even had a go at brass rubbing once!
Melusine
While I was looking up “terpsichory”, I came across “Melusine”. I decided to share the Wikipedia explanation. I just liked the idea of such a strange creature, hope you think so too.
For other uses, see Melusine (disambiguation).
Mélusine (French: [melyzin]) or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a lamia or a mermaid). She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails, or both. Her legends are especially connected with the northern and western areas of France, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries.
Morris dancing
Etruria Canal festival. Doomsday Morris dancing by the side of the junction of the Trent and Mersey canal and the Cauldon canal. I love watching them. They have a small group of musicians playing and clash sticks together as they dance. You can hear their boots stomp and the bells they wear jangle loudly. They dance in intricate patterns and whirl and twirl in convoluted ways. A brilliant display of ancient terpsichory.
“In Greek mythology, Terpsichore is one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus. She lends her name to the word “terpsichorean”, which means “of or relating to dance”. Terpsichore is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre, accompanying the dancers’ choirs with her music. Her name comes from the Greek words τέρπω and χoρός.Wikipedia”
Sold!
Kingfisher painting that was up for sale at Etruria Industrial museum today. Please to say a friend bought it. What a nice surprise and I know it’s going to a good home. Kingfisher feathers look blue but are actually brown. It’s the irridecence of their feathers that makes the colour glow.
Etruria Canal Festival
I have some paintings up at Etruria Industrial museum. The museum is open this weekend (31st May and 1st June 2025).
Red horse. This is a painting I did a few years ago, acrylic on canvas. From a friends photograph. I had her permission to paint it.
The Canal festival has all sorts of activities including music and canal boats on display and usually morris dancing. I’m looking forward to it if the weather is OK. I might struggle to walk around but will try my best.
Kindness
What quality do you value most in a friend?
Kindness in friendship is important. You don’t have to have money to be friends but it’s good to care. People need kindness and compassion.
When you are in a bad spot having someone be willing to give you a hug can really help. Being understanding and non judgemental is important. You can say the wrong thing but be forgiven.
Time passes and life changes, people die and kindness helps. Thinking about it I needed peoples caring and kindness so much over the last few years. Thank you to them and I hope I can give some of it back.
Doom scrolling
I keep picking my phone up
Looking at the screen
A blip of endorphins?
Another look…
Gradually it builds
More reading
More reposting
Soon I’m overwhelmed
So much sadness, evil,
No compassion.
It hurts
Stop
Now
!!!
Flat glasses
Have you ever noticed how eyes look behind glasses and how the glass catches the light?
I just watched an old film called “flight of the phoenix”. The actor playing an engineer wears glasses, but as it’s a desert location the sun is very bright. Every so often his glasses glint. But you can see it’s a flat surface, no curve on the glass. That means they are not assisting his vision. Also his eyes are a normal size behind the glass. He is clearly using them as a prop to indicate his intelligence.
You can tell how short or long sighted people are by looking at the faces through the glasses. Short sighted people’s eyes look smaller behind their glasses. Also if you look where the edge of their face sits behind the lens the face will appear to go inwards and not line up with the face edge above and below the glasses frame.
Long sighted people’s glasses look different. Their eyes look larger. The side of there face is wider behind the glasses. Almost extending out beyond the spectacles lens.
These amounts vary depending on how good or bad their eyesight is. I don’t know when I noticed all of this, but I think it goes back to seeing flat lenses in a film…
Dinotime
I went to a garden center a couple of days ago. It’s full of all sorts if stuff, a bit like temu in a big shed. To get to the plants you have to walk round lots of displays. There used to be a way through to avoid them but they’ve blocked the routes. If there was ever a fire I think we would be trapped. There’s jewellery, glass ware, pottery, clothes, shoes, houseplants, garden furniture and other stuff. Once you get to the plants there are a miriad of different garden plants (dinosaur included). I didn’t buy any as I need to sort my garden out first. On the way out we looked at toys and sweets and cakes. There were also three separate cafes/resteraunts. It was full of people, that’s where I think I caught this sore throat.
Mallaband-Brown 