Yesterday’s prompt, post.

This is the drawing I did today for yesterdays band-of-sketchers prompt, post.

Was thinking of drawing a pile of paperwork and envelopes but decided to draw today’s post. I put it back into the letterbox so I could make it look more interesting. I’m glad I got a gold pen to draw the door furnishings.

Tomorrow is October and there will be more prompts to draw.

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Memory (car toy)

Talking about artefacts, here’s one off my bookcase. It’s a Spectrum pursuit vehicle I think, based on the vehicles in the 1960’s TV show, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. I was a fan as a child of Gerry Anderson Supermarionation puppet shows. They including : Four feather falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5Captain Scarlet, Thunderbird, Stingray and then with live action included Joe 90 and UFO and Space 1999. There are probably more. I don’t remember seeing all of them, especially the first two. I think I got into science-fiction from watching them.

Memories cheer me up.

What is an artefact?

The dictionary says:

‘ an artefact is an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest.’

As ppart of our course we have to design an artefact that supports our professional practice as illustrators. Commissioners might be interested in something different. Something that is eye catching. We discussed what an artefact is and came to the conclusion that it could be anything. It might be the simplest thing but if it’s buried and then dug up by an archaeologist it could become significant.

The ideas for artefacts ranged from scarves, tee shirts, books, toys, cards, games, even old game boy consoles. Very interesting.

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Did I ever share my Boris Johnson cartoon here?

Hear no Art, See no Art, Speak no Art.

Cartoon created as part of a project on my college course. My copyright.

It was something I drew in July 2020 I think but it seems more valid now since the Arts are in such a perilous position and the question as to if something is a viable job seems to be a kick in the teeth to the creative industries.

This is Boris Johnson as a boy, based on an image of him as a teenager. I have then surrounded his face with hands and arms, which prevent him (apparently) from seeing, hearing or speaking about the plight of the arts in school, but also in wider society. Very clearly he can see what is happening but seeks to avoid giving the situation his full attention….. The fact that his own government, since 2010, have made cuts in spending totalling billions does not seem to matter to him. He talks about levelling up as if the damage done to society has nothing to do with him. As another yellow haired person on the other side of the ocean presides over crazy policies. I think it is the era of yellow maned fools!

The Arts?

From a friends Facebook page, I think I agree with the sentiment. It’s a bit apocalyptic, but things are getting bad for artist and performer friends.

Next time there’s a lockdown, nobody is allowed to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime or any other platform.
You must NOT listen to music or read a book.
Free online concerts from the biggest stars in the world? Nope, they’re out too.
Learn an instrument? Banned
Dance Classes? No
How about listen to an audiobook? Not a chance!
The UK Government have ordained the Arts as low skilled and, therefore, of no value.
Now imagine life without them

SupportTheArts #savethearts

(copied & pasted) feel free to do the same.

Too much fat in my pear cake

Tasty but a bit too greasy.

I decided to make a pear cake with a couple of large pears off the tree. I didn’t have a recipe to hand so followed the one on the back of my bag of self raising flour.

The ingredients were:

150 grams each of self raising flour, butter and sugar.

Three medium eggs

A small amount of water

This was to make a Victoria sponge. I decided I would add raw sliced pears into the base of my glass flan dish (I don’t have a cake tin or grease proof paper).

Method. It said cream butter and sugar together till its light and fluffy, then add the eggs and a bit of water. Then gently fold the self raising flower in.

Problem. I can’t eat sugar. So I used sweetener that you can bake with. The amounts were questionable. 150 grams when you don’t have scales. So I guessed the amounts and I think I put about 200 grams in. The sweetener said 200 grams was five tablespoons, so I used four instead. Then the eggs? I used three, but they were large. Finally I guessed a mug full of flour would be about right….

I creamed the butter and sweetener together and made it softish and fluffy. Then I slowly added the eggs. The mix started to curdle. I tried adding a bit of flour and it started to look like undercooked scrambled eggs! I got my hand whisk out and tried to beat some of the lumps out. Then I folded in the flour, I made a batter, but still saw flecks of butter in the mix.

So I spooned the mix over the pears in a well greased Pyrex flan dish. I put the cake in the oven on gas mark 4 (medium heat) initially for thirty minutes. When I checked it, there were bubbles of gas coming out of it and it was still pale. So I put it on for another twenty minutes. The bubbles were still happening but the surface felt fim and was golden brown. When I tapped it, it sounded hollow, and when I pricked it with a knife that came out clean.

I eased the cake out of its case. Some of it broke up because it had stuck in the dish. It was greasy, but I cut a section out and it held its shape.

It tasted eggy but nice. The pears had cooked through.

Next time I might start making it with flour, then rubbing the butter into that till its like breadcrumbs, adding sweetener, then making a hole in the flour before adding the eggs. I wish I’d remembered that before I made this cake.

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