Calligraphy

Posted on March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Calligraphy, Ink, Learning, Write, Writing3 Comments

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A couple of years ago I went to a calligraphy workshop. As well as doing English Calligraphy we also tried doing Arabic script (I don’t have much memory of it). I do remember we used sticks cut down to make a chiseled edge to write with. Then like children learning the alphabet we wrote each letter over and over again until we started getting the shapes right.

I enjoy drawing patterns so it was really interesting to see how this style of writing worked. The artist who taught us showed us some beautiful calligraphy. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of his work. Calligraphy is clearly an art in its own right. I would love to learn more.

Tonight’s sketches.

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beehive pub, Drawing, Fun, Honeywall, Life, Portraits, Sketching, Staffordshire, Still life, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketching1 Comment

These are the best of the bunch of sketches I did at the Beehive pub in Honeywall tonight. Some of the others were not too bad, but when you are trying to draw moving people it is difficult to get enough information down rapidly enough. That was what happened with the other ones – I was not speedy enough.

One image I do want to get is my friend Kate playing the trombone. It’s a wonderful sound in a small pub. I’m also in love with the gleam and reflections on it. Next month I will try and get closer and do a better drawing if I can.

These drawings were done in a Seawhite of Brighton Plein Air Sketchbook size A5 with watercolour paper. Using a Bic grip roller black roller ball pen.

Trentham lake

Posted on March 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Lake, Landscape, Painting, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trentham, Trentham Gardens2 Comments

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I painted this out in the open air a couple of years ago. It took a couple of hours to paint. As you can see the day was very overcast. This is a small acrylic on canvas. I don’t actually know where it is. I have a feeling that I sold it?

I’ve painted from this position a few times, looking down the lake towards the Italian Gardens at Trentham. The end of the lake at this end is next to Trentham monkey forest where they have two troops of macaque monkeys.

I hope to go back soon and try and draw some of them. They are beautiful animals and they are so cute when they are babies.

In the meantime I’m feeling a bit better so over the next few weeks I will try and get some new paintings done.

Rocking horse

Posted on March 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Horse, Illustration, Life, Long ago, Love, Memory, Missing it, Poem, Poverty, Remembered, Rocking horseLeave a comment

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Did I once have a rocking horse ?

How fast did it go,

Over hills, over fields,

Up mountain paths,

Down into dales and vales.

If I had a rocking horse

Where did it live?

In stables or a farm yard

Or the back bedroom in our house.

What colour was that rocking horse

Was it a bay?

A white maned charger

A gentle, dappled grey?

I once had a rocking horse,

So long ago

I don’t remember anything-

Where did it go?

Cats play

Posted on March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cats, Fun, Play, Pounce, WaterLeave a comment

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Our female cat loves playing in the bath, chasing drips or drinking water out of the tap. She can be really silly and pounce on anything, including my feet! She doesn’t seem to mind if water drips on her head.

Both my cats love chasing each other. I’ve seen them hiding down behind a shoe then a swift pounce and they are off chasing. They also stand on their back legs and sort of box with each other. Sometimes they start washing each other then one decides it’s all too much and it results in a squabble.

But I would not be without them. I’m sure my blood pressure has improved since we got them.

Painting

Posted on March 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Artists block, Creativity, Life, Painting, Poem, Poetry, Rescue, Stuck, SubduedLeave a comment

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Sometimes my creative juices freeze

then like a bird I flit and flitter

from one path to another

sit and shiver.

Like a lonely lark.

Sometimes they thaw

but not enough

so the thought is there

but cannot reach from my brain

through my heart

to my hands.. ..

In other times my mind is woken,

colours flow

shapes fly from my fingers

hot sharp ideas stagger me with their invention.

Later, all is quiet again.

The mood has stormed its way through me.

Calm descends and I am lost in fog again.

Almost midnight

Posted on March 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Creative writing, Fantasy, Green glow, Life, Sci fi, Short drama, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

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The green glow outside had intensified and was visible in her living room now. It was almost midnight and she knew if anything was going to happen it would be soon. He heart was pounding and she felt sweat trickle down the side of her nose. All she could do was hide.

She stepped into the old oak cupboard, pulled the door shut and hung on to the catch.

Suddenly the rushing noise outside was everywhere. She stuffed her hand in her mouth to stop screaming.

Gradually the noise calmed down, it quietened there was a moment of a shrill scream and then silence.

In the morning it was on the news, her neighbour dead of a heart attack.

She never saw the green glow again…..

Classy lighting

Posted on March 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chandelier, Guildhall, History, Lamps, Life, Newcastle-under-Lyme, VolunteersLeave a comment

Having taken a photo of an old gas lamp in Rhyl last year, I came across these today.

The lamps seem to have almost the same design as the lamp in Rhyl. But these are in much better condition because they were protected inside the Guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme and seem to have recently been restored.

Each lamp sits at the bottom of a sweeping curved staircase that splits at the top and comes down on either side of an almost circular lobby. Above the upright lamps hangs a formidable, eight branched chandelier with curving arms. Both the lamps and chandelier are lit with electric light bulbs. But looking at them they appear to have had gas mantles in the past.

Presently the guildhall at the ironmarket in Newcastle-under-Lyme is being run by volunteers. They are holding a cake making competition on Saturday 9 March 2019 for the finish of the fair trade fortnight. They are always looking for new volunteers.

As a bit of extra information apparently the hall was once used for grand ballroom dances. With stairs and lamps like this I’m sure it’s true.

Tea kettle?

Posted on March 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Ceramic, Chinese, Glaze, Kettle?, Lustre, Ornamental, PotteryLeave a comment

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We saw this amazing peice of ceramics today. It was on top of a cupboard so hard to get a close look, but I think it was over two foot high. Ceramicists will probably know a lot about it? It seems to have red calligraphy on the front, and what is the branching handle supposed to look like? Perhaps like a chopped tree branch.

There are drips of coloured glaze over the body of the pot the handle and the spout, it appears to be some type of lustre ware.

Sitting next to it are some figures on a boat? This plate seems to be a based on Chinese landscape painting.

I love the accessories people choose to decorate places. I know the fashion is to declutter but I think having interesting objects can make the world a more varied place. I would love to give this space in my home.

Inner child

Posted on March 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Childhood, Fun, Games, Kerplunk, Ludo, Marbles, Mousetrap, Snakes and ladders2 Comments

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I remember playing snakes and ladders as a child. The snakes wound round the ladders and if you landed on a snakes head you slithered down and were dumped down to the lower end of the board. It could get very frustrating if it kept happening. Sometimes you got really lucky and climbed a really long ladder.

Can you remember kerplunk? That was a game where you stuck sticks in a plastic tube and filled the it up with marbles. Then you took turns to pull out the sticks and you lost if the marbles fell. We didn’t have that game but one of my friends did and we always asked to play it

One of the most marvellous games was called mousetrap. You built up a complicated marble run out of lots of plastic pieces At the end was a trap to catch your mouse which was a sort of cage that dropped down to catch it. I only saw it once at a friend’s house and I cannot remember how the game worked. Another one was Ludo. Both my partner and myself have vague ideas of how that worked….

My inner child is in there looking out, wishing she could go back to a simpler life when the world was full of learning new things then coming home and playing games. I guess second best is at least being able to remember.

Maybe I will find a second childhood where I can enjoy these games again.

Mallaband-Brown

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