Walking today

Posted on June 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Aching feet, Bee, Cat, Exercise, Fun, Hill, kilometers, Miles, Time, Tired, WalkingLeave a comment

Three walks around and about today totalling 11.97km (almost 7.5 miles)

Two were around the university then a late walk once things had cooled down this evening. I walked up our steep hill and saw the sunset, I didn’t get a good photo of it, then on and around the top of our hill before descending again. I know I’ve gone far enough because my feet and ankles are aching.

I came home to an errant bumble bee. We tried to put it outside but it must have flown back through an open window because I caught one of my cats looking like it was about to pounce on it. In the end I used the mug and envelope technique and it was transported safely out of the back door and flew off onto the night.

Degree show

Posted on June 10, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cartoons, Degree shows, Drawing, Fine Art, Interesting, Painting, Panels, Staffordshire, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

We visited the Fine Art and Cartoon degree shows at Staffordshire University today, and I have to say that I was very impressed. I think they were probably the best I’ve seen in years. I haven’t included any images because of copyright. In the Fine Art section there was a lot more figurative work and portraiture than I’ve seen in years. There was also a lot of diversity which was great. In the Cartoon section there were a lot of fun ideas and comic strips. I chatted to some of the students there and they were very helpful explaining what they do.

I realised as I went round that the work is relevant to my illustration course. I really enjoyed the day.

Negative

Posted on June 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Covid, fine art shows, Health, lateral flow test, Life, Negative, NHSLeave a comment

We are going to our local University Fine Art shows so we had to take lateral flow tests. I didn’t think there would be a problem but we went and had the tests today to check. The test centre was local and easy to find. The staff were friendly and when we arrived we were the only people there. After giving our details we each sat at a table and were shown a diagram of where your tonsils are at the back and sides of your mouth, not at the upper back. Then we were given a swab to rub on your tonsils and then up your nose (yuk). Then the wait, they said it would be half an hour. My hubbys came back negative by text, but no sign of mine. I had to walk back round and get a photo of the form that said negative so I can prove I’m OK!

Fine art shows.

Posted on June 9, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Degree shows, Fine Art, Fun, Life, Painting, printmaking, Sculpture, Staffordshire University, Video?Leave a comment

This years fine art degree shows at Staffordshire University are on this week. Thirty nine years after I got my degree. I’ve visited almost every year except 2020. This year it’s on but you have to book a time slot and have a lateral flow test before you can go…. So I had to frantically find somewhere to have one done with enough time to spare to get to the shows afterwards. Anyway I’m looking forward to it. Great to be able to go and see real art in a real gallery space.

What’s in a name..?

Posted on June 9, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Alaska, diphtheria, Dog, dog team, huskies, iditerod, Name, Nome, Photo, Seppala, sled, surnameLeave a comment

Image from Wikipedia, I hope I am not infringing copyright.

A name popped up on TV today, an unusual surname, but one I know because I have a friend who has that name.

Have you heard of Leonhard Seppala (spelt with an h). He was part of several sled teams in 1925 that got serum to Nome in Alaska to save people from diphtheria. He went 261 miles in a snow storm to help get the serum to them. The dog sleders efforts was commemorated by the Iditorod annual dog sled race.

I hope he is related to my friend. I think Seppala is a Scandinavian name? It will be interesting to find out.

Holly leaf

Posted on June 9, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Arteza metallic watercolours, Drawing, Gardening, Holly, Life, Nettles, Painting2 Comments

Watercolour with Arteza Metallic paints for the #bandofsketchers prompt for Tuesday ‘sunlight,’. A holly leaf caught in the sunshine. The painting was done from a photo, I painted it straight away without drawing it out first.

I need to do some gardening at the moment, the nettles are taking over so I need to cut them back a bit. They are good for butterfly 🐛 caterpillars but if they sting you as you walk past they do need attention. The Holly bushes are a little overgrown too. It’s turning into a bit of a mammoth task, and I’m a bit nervous of taking it on!

Just sat down

Posted on June 8, 2021June 8, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged flag irises, Fun, Gardening, Life, Plants, Pond, Stream, Walking, YogaLeave a comment

It’s been a long day. I went out this morning and I’ve just sat down at 11.30pm. In that time I’ve been out and then later went and collected some flag irises that someone was giving away. They are now in our pond. We got stuck in traffic on the way to the place, so six miles took about forty minutes to drive there. Then later after doing work around the house I went to a yoga class, came home, went on a zoom meeting about college, then a choir practice. We went out for a walk, then I went shopping and finally cooked our evening meal. So that’s why I haven’t been online much today. The odd thing is my step counter doesn’t seem to have included the walk this evening. I know I’ve walked further than it is showing? Perhaps it’s a glitch. I must get a rest. Sorry for the boring post!

Panels in illustration

Posted on June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white, Drawing, Fun, Icecream, Life, Sketching, speech bubbles, thought bubbleLeave a comment

Now we are learning narrative art at college. Learning how to lay out panels. I think you are meant to have an idea and base the shapes of the panels on what we are drawing, but as usual I did it back to front, drawing the panels first, adding the speech and thought bubbles, then adding the people. The ideas for the story came last! My mind is strange. Anyway it worked quite well. I would try and make it neater if I were to do it again and perhaps import it into photoshop to tidy it up? Overall it was relatively painless to do. Note to self, why has the mother’s dress changed?

Twisted

Posted on June 7, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Digital art, Digital drawing, Fun, Pattern, thorny, TwistedLeave a comment

Playing with my old photoshop app. It’s a few years old but I can’t afford a new version. The first corner was the drawing, then I used different filters and rotated the images to make this pattern. It could be a vine or a thorny rose. This was for the #bandofsketchers prompt ‘twisted’ for Sunday.

Horse

Posted on June 6, 2021June 6, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Animal, bay horse, Day out, Fun, Horse, Life, Photo, Staffordshire, Visit2 Comments

When we were out yesterday we saw this lovely horse in a field. There wasn’t much grass so we pulled some up from our side of the fence and the horse came over and tugged it out of my hand… It soon wandered off in search of some more. I think the colour was Bay, its coat was very shiny and well groomed. It was good to see a different living creature. We usually only see cats, dogs and people.

If we go back we might take an apple, although I’m not sure if you can get in trouble for feeding it?

Mallaband-Brown

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