New paintings and regular art updates.
I wish I could direct my dreams, if I could, I would travel to the seaside, or to a hilltop above a wood. I would look over at the setting sun. Red auburn hair of clouds wrapped round the bright orb. Wind blows streamers of air across the waves, or treetops, glistening light flickers over the boughs and branches. Gulls rise, then fall to roost. Night ascends, stars glint as shimmer. Sleep deepens. I doze.
We all agreed after completing the thirty day challenge that London Urban Sketchers had put together that we would like to continue. We have a new list of about 37 challenges, which may well see us out of the lockdown.
Today’s challenge was ‘local to you’.
I was going to draw all the lovely terraces up the hill behind us. But I failed to realise how much next doors bushes have grown. So this is the cat and the 70’s houses behind us. Then someone walked into the bedroom opposite. It was like a scene from the film ‘rear window’ so I retreated!
I have the list somewhere. I’m setting the daily challenges. A few people have joined in so far.
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The cat sat in the box.
Not on a mat,
or in a hat,
not on a roof
or under a hoof.
Not in a car
or on top of a door.
Not up the stairs
or on the chairs.
But in a box
where it lived,
or died.
It was Schrodingers
purring..
Cat.
A sketch of the inside of the Liverpool metropolitan cathedral. This is the Catholic one. There is also an Anglican one. This was our Saturday ‘sketch out’ with urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent.
We did this on Zoom again, although I couldn’t remember how to log on. So although I could see people talking and hear them I could not interact. I decided to sketch it quickly as I was late to the conversation. I tried using blocks of strong colour. The lighting in the cathedral is bright and colourful. This image was taken off Google maps as we are not allowed to visit these places yet.
Imagine my delight when I saw this yesterday. My lovely friend Stephen Talbot (his copyright ©) has been doing a series of caracatures and this is the one he did if me, in the guise of Miss Marple played by Margaret Rutherford.
If anyone hasn’t heard of the author, she was Agatha Christie. She wrote many detective books, with sleuths like Miss Jane Marple, and Hercule Poirot.
In addition to the books there were several films, made from the 1950’s onwards. Some of them starred famous actors, like Elizabeth Taylor.
There have also been television adaptations, of which my favourite was Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.
Recently the BBC have done a few adaptation of Christie mysteries. But the most recent strayed a long way from the book it was based on. I’ve forgotten what it was called… I think they tried to over simplify the story,, so removed some of the characters.
I would love to see “murder at the gallop” again, its an old film, with wonderful music. Lots of fun.
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Baked beans and sweetcorn with added hot curry powder and breaded chicken fingers.
It’s not what I would normally cook for a meal, but it was definitely filling.
Not much else to say about it, except the sweetcorn was frozen. I served it on pretty Portmeirion pottery plates.
Well, I don’t think I’ll say anything more except it was orange coloured! I guess I could do a series of pictures of different coloured food combinations, green cabbage and brocolli maybe, with green cheese sauce?
Perhaps not!
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The urban sketchers challenge (Stoke-on-Trent) has just finished. We had to do quick three minute sketches each hour to show how our day had gone. I didn’t see the days challenge until just after two, because I got up late. Its amazing how fast an hour goes when you have to document it. And my day was more varied than I thought it would be considering I didn’t do any gardening today. I finished at midnight. Tomorrow we are doing a sketch through Zoom, the meeting app, of Liverpool cathedral. I might try and do a drawing of it. If I get up in time!
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“Remember Felix?” she said.
“Yes, he was a good cat”, he said.
They sat quietly and remembered their adventurous cat.
“Remember that Saturday, when he came through the cat flap with a sirloin steak?” he asked.
“yes” she replied “I had to take it off him!”
“And a week later he came in with half a chicken?” “yes, I think it was from the neighbours?, I couldn’t tell them, and I think they blamed their own cat!”
“I still miss him, he was cheeky”.
They looked at each other.
“I bet he’s in heaven”, he said.
“You don’t believe in that stuff do you?” she said.
“bet he wangled his way in, and there’s a big ginger cat up their sporting a pair of wings?”
“maybe” she smiled.
About seven years ago I was doing digital drawings regularly at a website called sketchfu which closed down. I had a notification on my Facebook page because my drawing of Amy Winehouse popped up on my memories. I thought I would put some of these on here.
These were drawn with simple tools, no layers or filters. Just five different sized pens, a colour picker, a pallette, an eraser and opacity and transparency options. I’m sad it closed because it was somewhere I could share my art and enjoy the community of fellow artists.
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That feeling of being trapped, a prisoner. But should that be our first feeling? In these weird times we can use ideas to try and cope. I’ve been talking to a friend, and I said that I thought being enclosed in a home is more akin to being a priest or a nun. Let me explain. I don’t mean in a religious way exactly. But if your home is safe, then it’s like being closed off from the rest of the world. Even to the extent that some people became hermits. Clearly this is not out of choice. But the point is you don’t have to feel imprisoned.
Yes it’s frustrating. I would really like to go to a restaurant or a pub or go out for a walk. And because I can’t go out I think about it more. But it is a temporary situation. It’s bad, but it’s not going to harm me to stay home. Stay safe.
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