New paintings and regular art updates.
They are just about hanging on, and starting to develop flowers! The rains coming down most days and is starting to soak the soil too much. If we get a frost it’s going to destroy all the plant cells, and then, no more tender plants like these. The thing I’ve learned? Plant the seeds a month earlier, get them warm and germinating and get them out in the sun a month earlier too.
Snuffling, rushing past, got me rattled. Some sort of noise being created by a thing out in the garden. But the gates locked and the sheds shut. Bowls are rattled, things clash, is it the wind, a burglar, a rat, or a hedgehog? I guess hedgehog…. They like standing on the edges of their bowls to get at the cat food we put out for them. Not sure about the rushing past though? I think it’s the cat doing that…. Anyway we had a good walk round in the rain and the dark… Nothing dangerous seen… Maybe we’ve got badgers?…..
How did you get up there?
I’d like to know?
Did you fly.
we’re you blown?
Did someone drop you
From a plane
Or parachuted
Thrown by a base jumper?
High up
Like a seed, swirled
Into the air currents
Green Square shape,
Points on corners
are leaves.
Who cares?
You are there….
You can’t escape them. If they want to climb up your leg and stick their claws in, or jump across the room to get on your shoulder? Then they will spring athletically with powerful muscles and grip on like grim death!
Food? You want to share? No… But they look at you with those great big eyes and you are hypnotised. But they are such good companions (which means when it suits them, not you) it’s amazing how a three to four kilo animal can pin down a human, who then apologises when the time comes to move them. Dead weight? Surely cats weigh more!
Cats have their own minds. They don’t like being controlled. You can’t pick them up if they don’t want to be. They squirm, and watch out for the claws!
They have their skills, catching rodents. But why do they have to leave you a ‘little gift?’ that cartoon image of a mouse with crosses for eyes springs to mind.
I painted the leather seat if this stool/box about thirty years ago. It used to hold all my old oil paints but they dried out years ago. I unearthed it recently. One of the problems with being an artist I have found, is collecting art materials. I have stuff that goes back years. I tend to think one day things will come in handy. Is anyone else here an artist? Are you the same? Materials cost so much its almost a sin to throw things away.
This is a cat on a mat on a parquet floor. As you can see even then I loved patterns. It’s varnished, but you can see where I must have left a thinners can on the surface that left paint rings…
Sleep
Sixteen hours
Curled
Curved
Paws over nose
Twisted
Tummy stretch
Yawn
Pounce
Sleep again
Dreaming
Twitch
Warm
Purr
Pure love.
Seen it all before,
Eyes closed,
And repeat,
My grandad was a carpenter and made this many years ago. I never met him as he had died before I was born. But he carved the lytch gate at the parish church where I came from, and the altar rail in the Central Hall (Methodist Chapel). This is carved out of a peice of oak with bits of thick card nailed around the sides and tiny cannon along the sides. Maybe one day I will get it restored. I think I got my artistic ability from him.
Todays ssketch for our band of sketchers prompt was transport…
My old viking queen bike. Bought when I was twenty… I was still cycling a few years ago. Now I’m too nervous so it sits in the living room and gathers dust….Still a great bike, only a small bike frame, but it was chosen because it was just the right size for me. I wish there was somewhere flat I could practice round here…
Houseplants are good for you according to recent research. Apparently just a glimmer of green in an otherwise plain and boring magnolia painted house can improve your mood. If you are locked down in a house or room, having that bit of green can help.
This is a badly watered succulent plant we have at the top of our stairs. I look out over our garden and feel infinitely lucky to have that patch of green.
X
I made this today to use up some of the glut of pears and cooking apples we had in.
Ingredients:
1 large cooking apple
2 large pears, both sliced and de-cored
A knob of butter,
Lemon juice
Sweetener or sugar to taste
A little water
Shop bought ready rolled pastry
Egg to brush the top.
Method:
Butter a Pyrex glass dish or flan case.
Bakethe pears and apples with a bit of lemon juice and water, add a sprinkling of sweetener, or a tablespoon of sugar over the fruit. Gas mark 6 for twenty minutes in the middle of a heated oven.
Remove from the oven with oven gloves (it will be hot)
Add the ready made pastry to the top, cutting round the shape of the flan dish. Cut two small holes at the centre of the pastry and put the rest back on the fridge to use at a later time. Brush the top with egg and if you are using sugar sprinkle another teaspoon or so on top.
Cook in the oven again on gas mark 6 (just about a middle hot oven) for around twenty more minutes, till it goes golden brown.
Remove carefully from oven and place the flan case on a wire rack to cool. If using sweetener sprinkle it on the top now.
Serve and enjoy on its own or with custard, icecream or cream.
Note: ready made pastry will probably contain WHEAT unless otherwise stated. Always check for allergens. Egg and sweeteners may not be suitable. Use what is OK for you.
Enjoy x
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