New paintings and regular art updates.
Helibores are flowering,
Snowdrops soon will bloom,
Then will follow crocuses
With the light of the moon.
Daffodils and Tulips, all in a row,
Then come the wind flowers,
Wood anemone,
Finally in sunshine
Bluebells, for to see….
Spring will alive
With flowers for you and me.
Driving through Wales last Year. My sister took us out into Snowdonia, past lakes and mountains. Along streams. Through wooded valleys, over mountain passes. Seeing the scree tumbling down. Sheep climbing jumbled piles of broken slate. Then down steep hills back to the coast, along tunnels bored through the mountains, back to the flatter lands of North Wales (flatter not flat, its not Cheshire!)
The beauty of the country of Wales is amazing. I’ve only really explored the North of the principality, I would love to visit Cardiff for instance, which is in the very South of the country.
The adult chorus are trying to learn three dances. Don’t stop believing, Spice up your life, and another one about Prince Ali from the Aladdin film which had Robin Williams in. We haven’t started yet.
The Plan is to sing and dance. Which is like that old trick of patting your head while rubbing your stomach. I’m sitting this out as my hip is still sore!
Only five weeks to the show, I’m scared!
One of my favourites. The centres of these are a multitude of flowers with petals round the edges (think of sunflower hearts). There are oxeye daisies and osteospermums, cone flowers, asters, all sorts of types and colours. Life in all its variations can be wonderful. This photo is of Rudbeckia I think, taken at Trentham Gardens in the autumn. What I like about daisies is the length of time throughout the year that they flower. They cheer me up.
Have you ever made daisy chains? We used to when we were kids. Pick a daisy and make a hole in the stalk with your fingernail parallel with the stalk, then thread another daisy through till the flower head is in contact with the stem. Then do again till you have a chain. (I’m not suggesting you do this, just how we did it, you shouldn’t pick wildflowers).
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Day 17 of the challenge on Facebook, today it was an ethical tee shirt design. I said I would like the world to concentrate on finding peace, and supporting nature by cleaning up the environment and taking the climate crisis seriously. I did think of adding flames but that seemed too much. My only concern is the tee shirts would have to be ethically sourced, carbon neutral and any workers paid a living wage. Too much to hope for?
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Before dawn someone in will die. The wolves are howling, it is not safe to go out…
So said the old man as he sat in the shack in the woods. He was with his best friend, a man twenty years younger, who had decided to visit for the weekend. I have my gun loaded, said the old man, I will protect us.
But no one has been killed by wolves in a hundred years, said his companion. Why do you think it will happen? Because of the blood moon came the stern answer.
As they settled down for the night clouds drifted over the moon, soon the storm hit. Snow fell deep, piling onto the shacks roof. One foot, two, four, finally eight. The snow was suffocating them, the fire had been allowed to burn low and suddenly snow fell down the chimney. The roof started to collapse, snow sifted in like sugar, through the cracks…..
The younger man woke with snow covering his face, cold, wet and smothering. It was pitch black, then the feeble rays of the blood moon penetrated the dark. With its help he struggled free. He had to locate his friend, the man was breathing, but unconscious. He dug him out with his hands and the help of the rifle.
Outside his truck was covered, it would take him ages to dig it out. Until then there was no chance of shelter. The shack was a jumbled mess.
All he could do was keep digging, hoping to get to a door, though whether his key would open the lock he doubted. It might be frozen shut.
A howl drifted through the night. The sound startled the digger who fought harder to shift the snow. The howl was closer, creeping towards them. He checked his friend, still breathing, but deathly pale and cold. If the wolves didn’t get them the freezing wind and snow would.
But slowly he was tiring, he had barely moved a few feet of snow. The sweat he was generating was freezing on his body. He started to shiver and his teeth chattered.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the glowing eyes. First two, then four, then more. He closed his eyes, waited for the bite….. It didn’t come. Instead he felt the warmth of one of the wolves leaning against him, then another on the other side. Wolves are large creatures and the weight of them pulled him down to the ground. The warmth after the cold was making him drowsy.
In the morning the search party found both of them, fast asleep. There were indentations in the snow showing where the wolves had lain down. A rough count showed that twenty or so wolves had slept around the two men, helping warm them.
Later the old man admitted he didn’t believe it, but it must be true. The gun would never be used again…
( don’t try this at home folks, it’s just a story,).
Blurry photos, we are doing Aladdin for our panto this year. Someone else started it but I then asked if I could help. It’s bright and breezy and as colourful as I can make it. Im not publishing this on Facebook so you are getting a sneak preview. This is the Act one scenery.
Widow Twankey is Aladdins mum. She owns the local laundry and here is the market stall she has in her village. Expect excessive silliness!
When this is finished I will be doing the scenery for Act two. That’s is of a cave in the desert. I might add palm trees. At least its got me painting again, I was a bit down but this has helped.
The North Wind doth blow
and we shall have snow,
and what shall poor Robin do then?
Poor thing.
He’ll sit in a barn,
and keep himself warm,
and hide his head under his wing,
poor thing….
Image from my post on the 64 million artists January challenge, I cut out a shape of clouds and drew a face puffing out wind and used that to frame the view of our annamometer and weather station.
I’m enjoying doing the challenges, some require more ingenuity than others, but it’s making me think.
If it was summer
The dawn would be arriving,
If it was autumn
The sun would be up in a while
But winter fails the light
Sun stays abed
Darkness rules
And my mind
In need of peace
Stays awake
And I stay with it
Up late
Before it’s early. Tired
Dozing in a warm glow
of remembered sunsets.
Unexpected item in the bagging area…
I’ve been thinking about using automated tills. I decided if there are cashiers at checkouts I queue. If there are none and you can only use an automated one I just take my time. It is after all my time that I am using. If it takes ten minutes to scan three things that’s how long it takes. I used to try and do it quickly but now, I don’t see why I should. For instance I can take a minute finding the bar code, and another bit of time picking up my groceries after I have scanned everything.
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