Some favourites from 2018?

Posted on January 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2018, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Gold, Gold leaf, Life studies, Nine photos, Owls, Paintings, Papier mache, Spode studio, Studio, Teacup, Willow patternLeave a comment

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Well I think it was 2018. Time gets mixed up in my brain. I enjoyed going to a life drawing group for a while then other things got in the way, the drawing of a dancer and a guitarist are from there. I had a go at using gold leaf on pictures, which is the picture of the crow or rook. The teacup with a willow pattern was a hat for our local panto. The owls was one of my first tiny paintings. The tree is one I drew while we were up in Yorkshire on the Keithley and Worth Valley railway. The houses ainting is based on a picture I had done in 1980. The photo of me in the mirror is in my studio.

So that was the selection from 2018. I might do one for 2019.

Two years!

Posted on January 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anniversary, Blogging, Life, Two years, WordPress, Writing4 Comments

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Two years! I’m still here, still blogging, still trying to come up with new ideas, poems, short stories, but above all art, including drawings, photos and paintings.

I don’t know what subjects I will choose. I’m in a bit of a void at the moment. I did a lot before Christmas, but now things have calmed down, and some of the paintings people asked for in December have been postponed because of circumstance (not on my part). So if you decide you want a painting doing please get in touch. I might be available to do some commissions..

Bunting

Posted on January 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bunting, Coloured, Design, Fun, Homemade, Pretty, Sewing, SimpleLeave a comment

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Cloth bunting in a cafe we visited earlier. A simple way to decorate and cheer up a room.

Easily cut out of old cloth or clothes using scissors or pinking shears. Fold over the top of the triangle and stitch up leaving a hollow tube to thread some wool, string, or a line of material through. Or stitch them directly onto the line so they are at regular intervals. I don’t think it would be difficult to make this at home and hand stitch it. A fun sewing project.

Whoever made this chose some pretty patterned and coloured cloth. It cheered me up.

Rafters

Posted on January 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blood, Count Dracula, Dark, Fear. Horror, Poem, Poetry, Rafters, shadowLeave a comment

Up in the rafters something stirs?

Bat’s in my belfry?

What can it be.

Scrawling

And crawling

And scratching around

I look about

to see what can be found?

Suddenly flowing

Drops of red blood,

Oh my dear lord

That can’t be good?

Now our of the shadows

Comes a caped figure.

Standing in front of me?

It is Count Dracula!

Pareidolia

Posted on January 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Landscape, Life, Seeing faces, Sight, Thought, Tree spirits, World6 Comments

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Had to look this up….

“Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus.”… “This often leads to people assigning human characteristics to objects. Usually this is simplified to people seeing faces in objects where there isn’t one.”

I definitely have this, whether it is a positive or negative thing. I see patterns in most things. I’ve drawn over this picture which I’d mirrored from a photo, so you can see the images I could see in it. I haven’t drawn everything I could see, and I’ve used a bit of artistic licence.

Little walk at Etruria

Posted on January 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chilled, Cold, Cold wind, Etruria, Etruria Industrial museum, Industrial heritage, Life, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, WalkLeave a comment

There is plenty to see on a short walk in the area around the Etruria Industrial museum at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent.

There was a very cold wind blowing along the canal towpath so we only had a short walk. We took a look at the cygnets on the canal, they were on their own so presumably their parents have left them now. I wish we had taken some duck food with us. There were plenty of other birds about including ducks and geese, a rook or crow and magpies.

Some of the industrial buildings in the area are more visible now the leaves are off the trees. One of these is the tall chimney that is on the industrial estate behind Jessie Shirley’s flint and bone mill, which is attached to the Etruria Industrial museum.

One of the boats on the canal had smoke rising from its chimney, which made me think of hot tea and toast. We soon got back to our car, and put the car heater on to warm up. Brrr

Table cloth

Posted on January 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blue, Colours, Design, Graphics, Lettering, Orange, Primary colours, Red, Surface pattern, Table cloth, White, YellowLeave a comment

Saw this bright and breezy tablecloth in a cafe today. I don’t know who designed it so apologies for using it. I really like sign writing and shaded letters so this appealed to me. It’s neat and tidy and eye poppingly colourful, with primary yellows and orangey reds. The dark and light blues add contrast, and the whites tie it all together. Is this surface pattern or graphics, or a mixture of both.

First drawing of 2020

Posted on January 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Artist, Drawing, Etruria, Etruria Artists, Life, Pencil sketch, Portrait, Trent and mersey canal, Warehouse2 Comments

_20200102_111654 My first drawing of 2020 on 2.1.2020. It’s red because we were at Etruria Artists in the warehouse by the canal. It was so cold we had the electric heaters on in the roof that glow cherry red. For those who know the person, I’ve got his nose too long. This is because he was moving.

The Etruria Artists are now meeting on a Thursday morning from 10am to 12noon unless we change it. Hopefully this will encourage more people to come along.

Sprouts

Posted on January 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cooking, Dinner, Food, Plants, Sprouts, Tasty, Vegetables12 Comments

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Sprouts to go with this evenings meal. I cut the bases off then cut a cross in the bottom of them. I don’t know if that’s what other people do but it seems to let them cook better. I put them on to boil with water from the kettle for about 15 to 20 minutes. I don’t like them over cooked.

I don’t have them very often. Usually just around Christmas and New Year. They are a seasonal vegetable, a winter crop. Some people think they have too strong a flavour and fry them with bacon. I don’t mind them at all. Definitely one of my five a day.

Shells

Posted on January 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beach, Coral, Food chain, Life, Photo, Seashore, Shells, WorldLeave a comment

In this case a bi-valve. Shells are made up of calcium carbonate. They need a neutral water environment to grow and survive. But like so many problems we cause, we are damaging the oceans. The seas are slowly acidifying them. The oceans are now weakly acidic which is slowly affecting the growth of shells and corals. They cannot lay down the material they are made of as easily in the current environment. If things get worse we could lose many of these beautiful creatures (yes they are animal not plant life).

More to work on in the coming decade. If we don’t a large number of animals that eat shellfish may be affected. We really do have to think about it.

Mallaband-Brown

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