New paintings and regular art updates.
Drawn from my imagination. Half a dragons head drawn in tippex correction fluid on black cartridge paper. Mirrored in a photo edit, then stitched together as a whole head. My first Dragon of 2022. I’m just wondering when the Chinese year of the dragon is. Their images are amazing. I need to find out about their history x
I decided to stew four apples that were starting to soften. I wanted to use them up and also half a tub of clotted cream.
Ingredients :
Four medium sized eating apples
A couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener (or sugar to taste).
A level teaspoon of cinnamon powder.
A single measure of whisky, or you could substitute a small amount of lemon or orange juice.
About three or four tablespoons of water to stop the apples burning onto the pan.
A tablespoonful of clotted cream or whipped cream.
I roughly cored and chopped the apples and left the skin on. I put them in a pan with a little boiling water to stop the apple flesh burning. I cooked the apples for about 15 to 20 minutes till they softened. Stirring and mashing them until they were a chunky pulp.
I added a couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener to make the apples less sharp. Then I added a single measure of whisky and a level teaspoonful of cinnamon and cooked the mix for a couple minutes more. You could substitute fruit juice for the whisky and leave out the cinnamon if you don’t like it.
Serve hot in a bowl with the clotted cream or whipped cream dolloped on top.
This reminds me of the Wassails we usually go on in January. They are to celebrate the local apple trees and wish for a good crop of apples the following autumn.
Capturing tree abstract ideas today. I saw a wonderful silhouetted tree on my slow, short walk this afternoon. Looking at the world is important. You have a chance to see things that you wouldn’t if you just stay home. But getting out is not always simple.
Life can get in the way. My knees ache now. But I’m glad we went. The air was clear and cold. I enjoyed walking and Ben managed a short bit of uphill walking.
Sunset
Branches reaching
Like Michaelangelo’s
Painting of God
And Adam
Stars of the Sistine,
The branches reach out
In a sinuous curve
Do the limbs and twigs
Touch, spark
Set fire to the coming night?
The sunset blazes on….
Stained glass window like
Beauty.
Two photos of one of the cats. There are lots of clashing colours on our setee so I chose a black and white filter to unify them. It also creates a more obvious wave pattern in the crocheted background. The pictures are slightly blurred bacause he was moving as I took them. He’s got beautiful gold coloured eyes. As I write this he is lying down and snoring!
#bandofsketchers prompt today is hands.
Insomnia struck and I wanted something to do so I drew round my left hand as I used to when I was a kid. Then I filled it in, wondered what it would look like with nail varnish. Finally added a pattern so it looks like it’s resting on something. X
Tree branches and twigs, grey sky, a street lamp partly hidden. Got up for a decaff coffee. Still having trouble sleeping. I half think it’s my toes. I’ve got achy feet and have problems with the weight of the duvet. So I throw the bedding off my feet, then they are too cold. Perhaps I should wear bedsocks, but then won’t they put pressure on my toes? So instead I’m up and about, watching the slow change in light iin the sky, listening to the radio, trying to sit comfortably on an armchair. Playing with my phone. Oh for a decent night’s sleep.
Self portrait, abstract face, imagined radio telescope, contrast, thinking, list, try to write tags as a blog, imagination staccato, broken, poem lacking poetry, no rhyme, anxious, calm? Satellite, image, lost memory, solarize, a brief history of what? Experience and experiment, conscious, concentrate. Observe words, expected explanation. Nonsense. Uttered. Rambling, waffle…
How lucky to have glasses, to be able to see. I didn’t always wear glasses. My poor eyesight was only picked up in eye screening at school. I don’t remember things being blurred or hard to see. Did I sit at the front of the class? I don’t know. I remember my first glasses. They had beautiful blue frames. I learnt to be patient as the optician looked into the back of my eyes. Shining a light so I could see the blood vessels reflected somehow onto my retinas.
Rugby ball shaped eyes were the diagnosis. Short sighted. Suddenly I could see the world clearly. I felt freed from a struggle I did not know I had been going through. I only realised how bad my eyesight was when I learnt to swim. I couldn’t wear my glasses in the swimming pool and I could not recognise my friends unless they came close.
Now I understand why I got lost on a beach a few years before! I could not see my family when I wandered off. And why I got lost on a caravan site. I could not see the numbers on the vans…. Yes I am lucky. I wish others could be too…
When I look at this I see my mistakes..
I’m watching a drama documentary about Van Gogh. I decided to try and do a quick study of one of the women from ‘the potato eaters’.
The documentary is about Vincent Van Gogh. It is by Alan Yentob and stars Benedict Cumberbatch. It is about Van Gogh’s life and creativity. His mental health and the art he created. It’s a BBC documentary and might be available to see. I’m enjoying it.
Mallaband-Brown