New paintings and regular art updates.
Staffordshire Pikelets, cousin to the Staffordshire Oatcakes. Made with the same oat batter, but smaller and thicker. With added dried fruit (currants, raisins, citrus peel).
Toasted under the grill then added butter and as it was shrove Tuesday yesterday I added some lemon juice from the lemons I got for my pancakes. All hot and tasty.
Different parts of the country have different special foods. This one is very tasty and filling!
Ladybirds sleep,
Tucked in the crook of a branch.
Butterflies hang dormant,
asleep in shed roofs.
Frogs start to spawn
ignoring the cold and ice.
Plants hunker down,
below the ground.
Fish are deep in the pond,
torpid, sleepy, quiet.
Where are the bats?
Hibernating in a loft,
huddled and shivering,
waiting for warmth.
Last years temperature was 21°C
Today it is 3°C…….
Cold garden
chilled fingers,
icy wind,
frozen nose….
There was a programme on the radio this morning called ‘the light scientific’. I only caught the end of it but it was interesting, they discussion was about human perception. The scientist had been responsible for the gold/white dress or black/blue dress controversy that went viral a few years ago. She explained that when the image was released she had no idea what a massive argument it would cause between people. Her team had taken a black and blue dress but photographed it under a mixture of yellow and pale blue lighting. When the viewer looked at it their brains subtracted the lighting in different ways, and their perceptions were distorted or changed. As she acknowledged some of the different perception could have been due to the quality of the displays people were viewing it on. So they tried the real dress and carefully lit it. People were then allowed to view in real life. Amazingly they saw one or the other versions. The explanation is that we all perceive colours differently. My red could be your orange. Add to that some people are colourblind. Makes for an interesting world.
So what us my image. It’s an edited view of a window on the new twenty pound note. Not a figure in a funny hat (which is what I see).
We are living through a bad patch of weather. A couple of named storms, then more rain. Now the forecast is for snow and ice or hail. Watching the news tonight there are towns on the river Severn which are flooded. The flood defences that were put in to protect properties next to the river in one in a hundred years storms have been used many times in the last few years. At the moment the county of Shropshire is affected. Shrewsbury is badly flooded in places. Bewdley and now Ironbridge (heart of the industrial revolution) are in danger. In two places Red, danger of death, warnings have been issued. The defences are being overtopped. That means people who have refused to move out are in danger.
Our society makes things worse by building on flood plains, laying concrete and brick ‘features’ and parking spaces in our gardens, not maintaining the countryside and removing trees and hedges. Even in the light of all the floods we still want HS2 (a train line whichmeans people will be able to get from Manchester or Leeds to London about 20 minutes more quickly. In the plans for the train line ancient forests will be dug up and villages demolished or cut off. All for the massive cost of over £100 billion! Maybe we should spend that on greening the environment instead.
Now I’m waiting to see if it snows. Whatever happens I hope for respite for the flooded areas.
As I read social media, and the comments my friends make, I think how kind and good they are. And yet some of them are being bullied by eople in this country because they are not from here. They say things like the atmosphere has changed, and that they might leave and go back home!
This is I think part of the ‘hostile environment’ our country is perusing. Treating people like those from the Windrush generation as if they are second class citizens and deporting people only because of the colour of their skin!
Now with Covid19, it seems like they (right wing xenophobic people) have another excuse to bully incomers.
The world wasn’t split into countries by some infinite being. We are where we are mainly through luck. You don’t get to choose your place of birth.
I was bought up to think this country was caring, compassionate and fair. I don’t like the ugly way things are turning. I can say “not in my name” but can I get people to revert back to some sense? I don’t know….
I hate getting colds, but it’s that time of year….
So my sister visited and showed me a website that does something similar to the adult colouring books you can buy these days.
Now I think I’m addicted! It’s certainly taking my mind off the cough I’ve developed. It does mean I’ve wasted a lot of time doing nothing. But I need a rest. I’m hoping whatever it is, it doesn’t develop into anything worse. In the meantime, back to colouring.
X
Now the panto is over I can share the scenery paintings I did. The market scene was painted with the help of John who started it, (he’s one of the stage cew) and he helped me with the sky on the desert scene. The flat figure came back out of the “mangle” after the character playing a policeman crawled through it in search of Aladdin. I also added clothes to the front of the “washing machine”, the man playing a second policeman crawled into it, and after a few seconds a child climbed out, as if shrunken, but with a full sized uniform!
I had a lot of fun doing these, and I may be painting a mural in Wales now I’ve finished doing this.
X
In months my garden
will be aflower,
floral fancies,
blooming anew.
But sadly now
the sight is of grey hue.
Cold sprigs of twigs
leaden coloured,
deadened stems.
Give them some sun,
some warmth
some food?
Then they will improve their mood.
I wait and cry
with many a sigh,
Looking around
For colour on the ground.
Daffodils and Tulips
Crocus and Snowdrops.
Then Bluebells and Violets,
will stir the air,
colours will flare!
Brighten the world,
set bees abuzz,
and waken my love,
of nature.
Everything’s cleared up and tidied away….. Chairs stacked and put away, empty glasses and plastic beakers cleaned and disposed of. All the sweet wrappers and crisp packets that had been left on the floor were cleared up last night. The changing rooms (four garden gazebos) were taken down today, clothes will be washed and the ones that were rented will go back to their owners. At ten thirty last night the people we had hired the mikes off came to collect them, only to be told they would have to wait a quarter of an hour because we were doing an encore!
Comments made include our panto was better than the professional one held in the city centre at Christmas, and that out cast were good. The only complaint we got was that the radio mikes kept dropping out. The panto has been filmed so hopefully I can get a copy.
It was worth all the months of hard work. If you want to see one of the sketches we did look up “if I were not upon the stage” on YouTube. It’s not our version but gives you an idea of what we did.
X
So instead of taking photos I decided to draw members of the cast. Less issues over copyright when sharing here because no filming or videos are allowed of the actual panto and I don’t like sharing people’s pictures randomly.
I’m slightly dreading doing two performances and remembering my lines. At least it’s finished today so I can have a rest tomorrow. Then I will get back to blogging here, which I have been neglecting this week.
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