Merged,
Me and he
Forty years together
Him and me
Us.
Blue and brown eyes
Beard and bare face
White hair and brown
Smile and frown
Friendship, partners
Together.
Thinking of you
And me
Life sentences
Words
Time.
Merged
Category: Uncategorized
Chinese dragon
A dragon 🐲 in the Chinese style. Head and tail are large. The body thin and snake or worm like with a sinuous shape. Four legs, clawed feet. Apparently Imperial dragons had five claws and normal dragons had four.
I once made a dragon bowl in pottery class. I’d made the bowl in a mold and I carved a dragon like this inside. I gave it five claws and toes on each foot and it was carved to show the scales. I had it biscuit fired and it survived the heat. No cracks or blemishes. Then I glazed it. I can’t remember what colours, but I looked forward to seeing the result after the Christmas break (about thirty years ago). Unfortunately when we came back it was missing! The consensus was it must have been stolen! Soon after that I left the pottery class because I was so disappointed.
Comfort food…
Oatcakes are comfort food for me. Warm and sustaining. My hubby went out to the oatcake shop and got us some cheese and bacon oatcakes for breakfast because I’m not feeling well (I’ve done a lateral flow test today and it’s negative so I think I’ve got a cold, sore throat, sniffles and aches). I added the dots of brown sauce to make a smiley face. A Stoke on Trent /Staffordshire delicacy, oatcakes are our pancake / tortilla /crepes. You can eat them savory or with things like jam and butter. Our oatcakes are big and floppy, not like Scottish oatcakes which are far smaller and drier.
Cat again
Big head, tiny paws. An example of foreshortening. Those dark eyes do stare at me. You have to be a mind reader sometimes with cats. But they are persuasive. In this case its his ‘feed me…’ look. Then when he’s eaten he’ll be back out through the cat flap. Padding around in the dark, exploring his territory.
You know, cats are sneaky. They get humans round their little paws. They are incredible cheeky creatures!
Cold
I’m sitting here with my fleece on and a dressing gown on top of my normal clothes. It’s not that cold, around freezing outside. The heating is on, and a little oil heater. But it’s drafty. When it gets this cold in the house I sometimes put my gas cooker on. I can cook a meal and warm the house up. If I get too cold I’ll go to bed and read a book. We have a radiator on in the bedroom. I am trying to save energy. Gas and electricity prices which have been capped are set to rise around 50% in April. Many people will struggle to pay. One energy company recently gave some energy saving tips:
‘cuddle a pet’, ‘eat porridge’ and ‘do star jumps’! It’s nice to know they care.
Meanwhile our ruling political party seems to have turned into a ‘Part-aaay’ over the last couple of years! Marvellous leadership… Not.
Wordless cartoon
I can’t remember the story behind this or whether there was a prompt. I drew it last year. I had to draw something with four panels for my college course. It starts with someone by a campfire. The fire goes out so they go to get more wood, But instead of it all being sticks, a snake, which had been asleep wakes up. I like the simple style I drew it in and the minimal images in it. But now I look back at it I worry that the snake would have been burned or might have woken up before being put on the embers. Even with a simple story you have to be aware of consequences!
Don’t look at me like that?
Taking a photo and playing with it. I discovered one side of my face looks older and more dour than the other one. My face frowns and my mouth turns down, there’s more lines. I might have to get a haircut too, but it doesn’t really matter. I think observing yourself is part of being an artist, self portraits tell a story. Distorting them can ask a question.
Some images can be more distorted than others! Making the image black and white helps me concentrate on the features.
Relief
#bandofsketchers prompt on Thursday was relief. I wanted to draw a comic relief red nose (a charity that collects millions of pounds for people in need all round the world) but I can’t find one, (been buying them every couple of years) so I tried to draw one from memory. The telethon has been going for years and mainly relies on comedy to encourage people to donate.
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Little Earth painting
A couple of years ago I painted this picture of Earth. I was trying to get the shading right so the clouds sit above the surface was difficult. This is North America, Canada and part of Mexico and the Caribbean.
I hope the cloud shapes work and you can see the weather patterns. I wonder if anyone would be interested in paintings of worlds. It’s something I’m interested in. I’ve painted pictures of Jupiter and other astronomical images. I don’t use an airbrush for painting so it’s quite hard to get the granularity and softness of space and planets.
Westport mist
Sunset over Westport Lake. We drove there through a cold fog and emerged into a thin mist hanging over the lake. The wildfowl came towards us wanting food but we had gone there on the spur of the moment so had no food. The visitor centre had just closed so we couldn’t get a warm drink. Westport Lake now has parking machines so we had to pay for the privilege of going for a walk. We took a short flat walk around the lake its not far, but far enough for me at the moment. I got left behind a few times but I managed to get round. It’s a start to the new year.
Mallaband-Brown 