New paintings and regular art updates.
ello, ow art yow?
I’m reet tired duck.
Why’s that my dear Mon?
Been down’t farm t’feed heffers
Check t’ ducks ‘n’ chuckhens
Made some chayse,
Layd a hedge
Milked t’owd goat
Brought in’t corn,
Flailed t’ barley
walked ower t’ orchard
Brung sum coookin apples owm.
Made a napple pye fer tea.
Then strode down tut pub
fer a pint of scrumpy cyder.
Drank tow much
Cayme owm legliss
Fell ower.
Slept in’t oss trough.
But I’m fine.
Enamel kiln at Gladstone pottery museum, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. These burn hotter than a normal pottery kiln. This is to create enamel from powdered glass, fired about 1400°C. There is a working enamel kiln at Stevensons in Middlewich on the banks of the Trent and Mersey canal. Enamels are used from jewellery to bathroom ware. This is because it has to be stronger and not chip or crack.
The industrial heritage of this country is hanging on. Places like the Black Country museum in Dudley in the West Midlands give us a place to see how the past was. Manufacturing changes and evolves. Soon robots and AI might be the only way things are made. But despite the old dirty polluting past may have been bad, it still stirs memories and romantic ideas of the way things were.
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His figure appeared in the doorway, upright, paws out, head tilted to one side. A zombie cat? Lurching towards her out of the dark. Not the sprightly pounce and jump, but a shambling gait past the books on the landing. She thought of running past him out of the bedroom, but he was to tall to jump over and she would have fallen down the stairs. Instead she backed away and stood on the old armchair. He stumbled as he entered the room, sounding a vicious growl as his back paws twisted sideways. She lept from the chair, caught the handrail and ran and jumped downstairs….
She hadn’t considered there might be zombie mice in the lounge
…..
Added features to this mask, I’ve given it lines and salt and pepper hair. My hubby says it’s scary. When I suggested he could go out and rob somewhere, as a joke, he didn’t appreciate that. I think he’s very brave to wear it. It’s very hot and he will be wearing it for the first scene of the mystery play, although he does have issues with anxiety so he feels this will help hide his emotions. He’s said he won’t do another play as it makes him too anxious. I tried to suggest it might help his confidence but he’s not sure. Anyway at the moment he is still going to do it, but I do keep having to reassure him.
It’s that time of year again, two weeks of tennis on TV. I could sit in a darkened room and watch it all, mens, womens doubles and wheelchair matches. There is a lot of excitement especially towards the end of the tournament and that’s not including the risk of a heavy downpour of rain stopping play.
This year court one has a retractable roof so it offers shelter to players in the same way as the centre court.
Wimbledon can be engrossing, intriguing, spectacular. Human bodies getting bent and stretched into shapes never normally seen in real life. The commentary helps you understand what just happened when tennis balls are travelling across the court faster than you can see.
But I’m getting interested. It’s on in the background. I’ve got things to do. People to see. Switch it off…. In a few minutes, at the end of this game…. This set…. This match….
As June turns into July
I see a bird rise up to fly
I see a cloud floating past
and a flag upon a mast.
I see buttered scones
and currant buns,
Ice cream cones
and happy mums,
dozing cats all curled, asleep
The carp from its pond does peek
People rest and take their ease.
Buzzy are the drones of bees.
Now that summers at its height
Feel the Sun in its might.
A few years ago we did a mystery play which had to include the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This horse was made by my friend Kate and I painted it and another one in a Picasso style to give it an angular and aggressive look.
As time goes on and we get older we are doing less complicated making, basically because we are spending less time doing it. For myself I would like to do more. Anyway I’m off in a bit. Lots to do…
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Playing with duplicated images, me and my hubby. I want to visualizer us without the clarity of a painted portrait.
Most faces are lopsided, by duplicating and flipping them you can get an interesting mirror image. I used the layout app on my phone to do this.
Anyone who has seem mirrored images of Edgar Allen Poe will see what I mean. He has a very lopsided face, one side stretched and the other side slightly shrunken. When you see his face mirrored on the right then left side it looks like you are looking at two seperate people.
In my case I changed my selfie to black and white, then I drew over it. The second picture had the exposure altered as well. Then I flipped the right hand side top to bottom but not left to right.
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The cats are inhabiting the bathroom while the weather is hot. I’ve got a board to sit on because I struggle to get into the bath. Although I’ve started to do yoga to try and build up my core strength. It’s easy to leave the board there and put a cat mat on it. My boy cat likes to lie there at night as there is less insulation in our extension so it cools down quicker (not so good in the winter). The other smaller cat likes it too but she gets pushed off by the bigger cat so she ends up on the corner of the bath.
Yesterday was really hot and they slept on the floor on the cool tiles for some of the time. Today it’s cooler though still hot and they have resumed their places. Not for long though. I want a nice cool shower.
Time is flying. Today is the last day of June. For the last nine days the day length has been reducing slightly in the Northern hemisphere. The summer lags behind the day length as the atmosphere and ocean temperatures heat up but take a couple of months to get fully hot from the sun because they are so large (In the same way it takes longer to heat a whole house than one room in it).
Halfway through the year. Summer then Autumn then the start of Winter in December. The world turns. It seems to turn faster every year, blink and a year has gone. I don’t like how I’m getting older, more worn out, achy. Each year seems to flash by. Where do they go?
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