Two clicks and a crop

My earlier ‘hope’ drawing with one lot of added texture, a smudge of gundge, then cropped to cut out my writing at the top. It’s amazing how quickly you can change something by just altering them slightly in an app. In this case I used photodirector. It’s OK, some of the stuff on it is too advanced for what I want, but I just use the simple stuff that’s free. What I don’t like is how a lot of art sites charge a monthly fee instead of letting you buy a package like you could in the past. Over time it adds up, and I can’t afford that.

Remember summer

Actually it was probably September or October when I took this. Now the leaves have withered, just a few cling on to life. But come the spring I hope to transplant some of these plants into pots. I think the fushias will have survived because they have woody stems. Then the hanging baskets will go to the local nursery to have them filled for the next season. It’s always at this time of year that I start to think about spring. That is until we get to the cold blast of January to March. That’s when hubby gets enthusiastic and plants all the seeds we bought and collected in Autumn. Sadly the plants either don’t emerge or die off because they are too cold. Or he puts a whole packet of seed in one small pot! It’s amazing we get anything to grow!

Snoring

The cat is gently snoring next to me. I wonder why he snores? None of my other cats ever have. He doesn’t appear to be ill. His nose is warm and dry, he doesn’t have any discharge. He is big and slightly overweight. But he’s also fast and able to look after himself, we often see him leaping around the garden and recently he’s started playing with cat toys.

After being abandoned and left to fend for himself he stayed in our garden until we adopted him, I guess he’s bound to have some health problems. But he does not like being picked up. I have tried getting him in a cat carrier before now and severely regretted it. If the snoring gets worse he will have to go to the vets. But at the moment I will forgive his mild snoring. X

Hope….

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt. What to draw for hope? I saw the sunset yesterday and hoped one day I would see a beautiful starling murmuration. But as I drew it I also thought of the Greek myth of Pandora and her accidentally releasing all the ills into the world until only one thing was left… Hope.

I wonder if the name Pandora is linked with the word Pandemic? As with many myths it seems like a woman always gets blamed for causing the trouble! By the way it took over an hour to add all the dots!

Have a great and safe 2022! X

Reflected sky

I love doing this, mirroring a sky in layout app so it looks like the sky has been reflected in a calm sea or lake. I should try and draw on it to attempt to make the lower part look like real water. Possibly by adding slight wavelets or sparkling reflections. This was today’s sunset as the hill being our house was silhouetted by the growing dark.

Super realism?

This is NOT meant to be super realistic.

I do try and be accurate with my paintings, hopefully getting good realism. I was once criticised in a newspaper review about an exhibition I was part of, they said if I wanted to be a super realist I should have tried harder. The thing was, I wasn’t trying for super realism! If the journalist had actually spoken to me I would have told him that. I do work from photos sometimes, particularly if it’s a commissioned portrait or painting of a landscape. If I do a painting of a steam train it’s got to look right, you can make it up. I love painting, which to me is the accurate manipulation of liquids on a surface. I do try. X

65

A mobile my friend did for my hubby for his 65th birthday. It hangs in the bedroom window and I just happened to notice it as I took a photo of today’s sunset. I think she did a splendid job. The mobile above it was another one she did of ygdrasil, the world tree. She’s the person who has done wire weaving for some of the glass jewellery I made. I might do more in the new year.