New Years Cactus

Posted on January 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Christmas cactus, Indoor plant, Kitchen, Pink, Plants, Red, White, Window ledge, winter flowersLeave a comment

After watering these for a few weeks they are blooming. Christmas Cactii that I have on the kitchen windowledge. They don’t all flower at the same time. There has been a progression that started with a dark pink one before Christmas, then a pale white/pink coming up to new year and now these two. I’m not sure whether the light levels affect the flowering. I know I have one that won’t flower till sometime around Easter (if it’s an early Easter). I realise some people don’t like plants in the house, but to me it’s more about adding greenery to your life. The Cactii cheer me up. X

Penkhull Wassail!

Posted on January 19, 2022January 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apple tree, Cider, Dance, Eccentricity, gathering, Life, Music, Penkhull, song, Stoke-on trent, WassailLeave a comment

Memory of Doomesday Morris at Penkhull Wassail a couple of years ago. They danced and beat sticks to encourage the ancient Penkhull Apple tree to bud, flower and bear fruit later in the year. They were surrounded by a crowd of people, maybe two or three hundred. Some if us carried flaming torches to light our way. A walk around the boundaries of Penkhull and into local hostelries. I was part of the Mystery Singers choir who sang Wassail songs as we stopped off at the pubs…

Crowds and laughter, mad jolly japes, humans being gregarious. That’s what I miss. Thank goodness for Mysterious madness and eccentricity. Let’s pray to the gods of Wassail for this to come again one day, drink cider, jingle your bells, stamp your clogs, crash your sticks together! WASSAIL!

Don’t underestimate the common cold.

Posted on January 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Covid, Fed up, Ill, lateral flow tests, Life, Mask, shivering, sneezing, Time, Tired2 Comments

Atishoo! Atishoo! We all fall down?!

Three negative lateral flow tests, but my nose is blocked and I keep sneezing. I’ve started with a tickly cough… Feeling hot and cold and shivering.. You forget that there are other illnesses out there that can get you. A cold I think, not as bad as flu, but I feel rough. I want to curl up like a hedgehog and fall asleep for the rest of the winter.

Seriously though, I’m not sharing this with anyone. I’m going to carry on wearing a mask when I finally get out again. And make sure you get all your jabs, Covid and flu. Take care, stay well!

Using an ink roller

Posted on January 19, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, College, Design, Experiment, Fun, Ink roller, Life, Portrait, Sketching, techniqueLeave a comment

When I drew this, and a few other portraits for college I decided to use an ink roller. It’s one of those that you can use to cover over your address when you get rid of letters. It makes the drawing feel a bit like it’s been collaged with newsprint. I like using unusual techniques to draw. Why not?

Memory of devon

Posted on January 19, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Devon, Dolphin, Holiday, Memory, missing portrait, pod oof dolphins, Portrait, Sea, Swimming, Water, wild mammal5 Comments

I once swam with a wild dolphin, we’d been driving round Devon and came back to the seaside to find a crowd of people on the beach and a group in wetsuits about fifty yards out. They were all excited and we saw a pod of dolphins swimming away. But one stayed in the bay. I decided I would swim out a bit and got in the sea fully clothed minus my shoes and glasses. My hubby stayed on the beach. The dolphin swam backwards and forwards between the two groups of people. Because I was in the middle he ket swimming close to me. It was fascinating. He kept coming past me and I noticed large wounds on his sides. It was after half an hour of being near him that I saw he was male! I can only say that it was quite alarming and not at all spiritual!. The next day there was a sign up about him at the camp site. He was called Georges and he was an adolescent male. His scars were because he would get too close to boat propelers. It also said not to breathe near them as they can transmit airborne diseases from their blowholes.

When I got home I did an imagined portrait of him but unfortunately the painting is at my sisters otherwise I would share a photo of him leaping through the waves. X

Splash of colours

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Colours, Design, Dragon, Filters, Graffiti, Ideas, Illustration, Pattern, SplashLeave a comment

Oh I do love a filter, playing with colours. Adding layers, making the pattern slide around. Like Graffiti on a garage door. Splat! Somehow I am creating things that look medieval and Mexican or South American at the same time? I don’t know, but I’m enjoying playing with it.

Cats on boxes

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Boxes, Cat, closed box, open box, Photo, Settee, Sleeping, Tuxedo cat2 Comments

A comfy sofa, a place to curl up and sleep.. But my cat loves boxes. Open or closed. If it’s made of cardboard he will lie on it or sleep in it! Forget cat beds, I’ve got three or four, but apart from one very enclosed covered over one he would rather sleep on a box.

I’m expecting a bit of rivalry though, the space next to this box has a towel on it that my other boy cat has been sleeping on. When he comes in I will see what happens.

When you think you are blogging…

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, art page, Blog, Facebook, Me, misunderstood, Time, Understanding?2 Comments

Grr. I blog here and have this page linked to Facebook. Or so I thought. But because I haven’t kept an eye on my Facebook art page I didn’t realise they are not synchronised. I know my posts here are going somewhere. To my normal page I think. I’ve just opened my art page up to the public. It was just for friends, I may limit it again. I don’t know. Having this cold isn’t helping me think very clearly!

Facebook (meta?) has a tenancy to change things without letting you know. I’m not that savvy with these things so if I don’t see a notification about how things have changed I don’t necessarily know about it. Then I get surprised by things like this. Anyway… Sigh…. X

Loving Vincent

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged 1890, animation, Film, Fine Art, History, Illustration, Painting, Style, technique, Texture, Vincent, Vincent Van Gogh2 Comments

I saw this film late last night and was enthralled by it. Each individual frame is hand painted in Van Gogh’s style. The son of the postmaster where Van Gogh used to live goes off to try and deliver a letter from Vincent to his brother Theo, after his death. When he finds the brother is also dead he decides to take the letter to the Doctor who was treating Van Gogh before his apparent suicide.

The film covers the year after Van Gogh’s death and shows in black and white flash backs incidents that might have happened between Vincent and the people around him. This is told through a series of conversations between the postmaster son and various characters.

This is a visually sumptuous film in Van Gogh’s style. The Polish/British co-production is stunning and intriguing. The gradual understanding of what happened makes for a satisfying investigation of the circumstances surrounding his death.

Release date: 2017 (United Kingdom)Directors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh WelchmanMusic by: Clint MansellBox office: 42.1 million USDAwards: European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film,

Fluid

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Beach, Drawing, fluid, Life, Sea, Sketching, Texture, Water, Waves3 Comments

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was fluid. I tried to draw a beach scene from above. I used an image off the Internet to give me an idea. I watched an animated film called ‘love Vincent’ about the life of Vincent Van Gogh last night so I’ve also done this with texture. (see second photo).

Mallaband-Brown

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