The trees by the lake cry wooden tears,
The sky glints grey and gold.
Silver shimmers, water waves,
Cold walk in sunset glow.
Category: Uncategorized
An Exhibition of Blue
The Exhibition of Blue opened tonight at Spode Site at Eleanora Street in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent..
As you can see from the photos there was a great variety of work on the breif Blue. Everyone had to produce art in Blue with only the addition of white, black and grey.
There were glass and resin pieces, acrylic pours and paintings. Drawings and photos, installations with blue lighting and wall painting and fabrics. We were also entertained by an artist with a beautiful voice who sang the blues.
There were also blue cocktails for people who attended the exhibition. The only real downside was the temperature. The Spode studios are inside an old pottery building. The place was once filled with pottery kilns so it was not built with much insulation. It can sometimes be colder inside than it is outside. The exhibition continues till at least Sunday. It may continue next week but it has yet to be decided.
Garden Centre blues
Inside the garden centre cafe, looking out over the Trent valley. A little patch of blue amid the grey clouds. The cafe lights reflected on the window are causing the two white patches.
We walked round and bought bird food a planter and some seeds for chrysanthemums, geraniums and other flowers to put in later in the year.
Most of the outside area was taped off with striped tape, a bit like a massive crime scene. This was a concrete area covered in ice and snow.
After a hot chocolate and a coffee we came back out into the freezing cold air and a low sun slanting it’s brilliant rays through the trees. You have to be an optimist if you do gardening. Looking forward to growth and new life. Thinking about opportunities for trying to grow new plants and exotic fruits.
I’m back home in the warm now. But going back out in the cold soon……
In the dark (part three)
I had walked into my bedroom and seen the shadowy figure of my partner sitting in a chair by the window. I tried to see his face but the full moon in the window behind him cast darkness across his face.
“What’s up with the lights?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
“I took out the bulbs” he replied..
That was something I had not thought of. “Why?”
“I need the dark” was all he would say.
I felt the chill air seeping into my body, something was wrong with the heating, it had been playing up before I went out to choir practice. Now it was as cold inside as it had been out in the night.
“It’s cold” I said simply. “Do you want a coffee?”
“No”
I was getting worried and scared, Henri was usually a happy, talkative man. His manner now was just not like him.
“I’m going downstairs” I said,
“No” again..
“Well this is stupid” I started to edge towards the door.
Then he opened his eyes….they were glowing gold….
I ran. Down the stairs, tripping and falling but catching the bannister I managed to halt myself. I felt a bone crack in one of my fingers, but I found I felt no pain, I just wanted to get out. Get back in the car, get away……
(To be continued…..?)
Waiting for tomorrow night
An Exhibition of Blue opens at 6pm tomorrow night. I know what I have painted but I can’t wait to see what others have done. I could have sneaked in to take a peek but I want to enjoy the suspense like waiting till Christmas afternoon before you open your presents or looking through an assorted box of chocolates looking for my favourite piece.
There are a lot of exhibitors ranging from glass and light installations to possibly found objects. I know someone has based their art on an old blue and white plate design (with a modern twist), I don’t know how my work will compare but it was a pleasure to work with the organiser to enter a painting to the exhibition.
The excitement is increased because I want to see how different people have interpreted the colour blue.
X
Stars?
No, this is a blurry picture of Venus, the Moon and Jupiter. Somewhere nearby was also Mars.
This was the view looking East from our house about 6am this morning.
You can’t see it but the sky was crystal clear and the planets and moon were twinkling behind the tree branches. My camera phone is good in low light levels but it has over exposed this. Add my hand shaking and it is not very clear. However it might make for an interesting painting.
There are various astronomy sites where you can find information about conjunctions of planets. I like the sky at night on the BBC. Also I have spaceweather.com on my mobile so I can see things like comets, auroras and near earth asteroids.
Our little solar system is tiny compared with the Galaxy and then the universe, but its quite an interesting place even so.
Clouds
Feathers, bold, blues new,
Trees and lamps, float above,
Mirror wings , fly out phantom birds.
Swoop over head, peck at the sky.
Field of blue, arching inwards,
Nearer than infinity, but far.
Find your reflection, on the wind,
Life eternal, changing, clouds scattered.
In the dark (part two)
It’s been suggested that I carry on with this, so I will try…
I closed the front door and reached for the light switch. Nothing, the house was in darkness. My partner was not about. I used my phone to light the livingroom while I tried to find the fuse box. But when I checked none of the fuses had tripped.
I tried the light at the other end of the room, but it was the same. Normally we leave a table lamp on if we go out, but this was off too?!
What was going on? The room was freezing and dark, the curtain was open on the side window of the house so a glimmer of sodium street light trickled in.
I walked past the barometer. The pressure had dropped. The snow was starting to drift past the window again. I could see snow flakes falling silhouetted by the street light.
I realised that I still had not heard my partner. I moved back to the front door and opened it. Any foot prints on the pavement had been covered by the drifting snow. What next? I walked through the kitchen to the back door. It was locked and the key was still it. Even so I opened the door to look out. I was not surprised to see a cats eyes reflecting back at me, there are always stray cats hanging around for hand outs.
But the eyes looking back at me looked larger than normal, bright gold, glinting. Perhaps a fox? I slowly closed the door, not daring to take my eyes off the steady gaze until it was locked shut.
Feeling dizzy and worried I used the light from my phone to climb the stairs. Thinking all the time that maybe I should have knocked on my neighbours door? The memory of people walking upstairs in horror films also crept into my mind.
“Hello” “you’re home early” my partners voice came from a chair by the window …..
(I’m not carrying on with this tonight, leaving it as a bit of a cliffhanger).
La Traviata
I’ve never seen live opera, but I just came back from seeing Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata at our local cinema – broadcast from the Royal Opera House .
The cast included
Ermonela Jaho as ViolettaValery.
Charles Castronovo as Alfredo Germont.
Placido Domingo as Georgia Germont.
The story tells the fortune of Violetta and Alfredo. Violetta is a Parisian courtesan. Alfredo is introduced to her at a party and they fall in love. Violetta has been suffering from tuberculosis and they decide to move to a country house where Alfredo can look after her.
Alfredo doesn’t know that Violetta is selling her possessions so they can afford pay their bills. When he finds out he goes off to Paris to try and raise funds himself.
In the meantime Giorgio, Alfredo’s father, arrives and asks Violetta to leave his son because his daughter is due to marry. Alfredo’s affair with Violetta would cause scandle and prevent the marriage. She begs the father to comfort his son when she has left. Then when Alfredo returns she asks him to promise he will always love her. She leaves the house and sends him a note to say she had gone.
Alfredo goes to Paris to try and find Violetta. He goes to a lavish party and gambles. Violetta and a baron who is involved with her arrive. Alfredo beats him at cards. Alfredo asks Violetta to come back to the country with him but she says no, so he throws his winnings at her and tells her that is to pay her back for the money she has spent. He has a duel with the Baron who is injured. Alfredo leaves Paris.
In the final act Violetta is dying of tuberculosis in a run down house in Paris. She sends her maid to watch the carnival and in the meantime reads a letter which Giorgio has sent her. It tells her that he has told the truth to his son and that Alfredo is coming to see her. Then her maid returns with Alfredo, she is ecstatic and suddenly feels much better but then collapses and dies in Alfredo’s arms.
The music is gorgeous, swooping, life affirming. I cannot explain how superb the singing was. Seeing Placido Domingo singing as the father Giorgio was wonderful. There was so much character and warmth in his voice. Charles Castronovo sang with gentleness and love. He was tender and fierce in turn as Alfredo. But above all Ermonela Jaho’s Violetta was outstanding, excellent. She not only sang the part beautifully but her acting was so intense.
I am so glad that I went. If there is another performance I will go again.
X
Feed the birds
We went out for lunch today at Barlaston in Staffordshire. We stopped at a lovely pub next to the canal. There were lots of hungry ducks on it as we pulled up. I decided to have a meal that would include bread so I could feed them when we came out. I got a crusty bread roll with my starter and put it in a napkin for use later on. After a delicious lunch we came out and went back to the canal. Now a couple of Swans had joined the ducks and moorhens.
Out came the bread roll. I broke it into tiny bits and tried to share it between all the birds. My hubby went off to buy a loaf of bread (by now the gaggle of birds had grown to around 20). When he came back we started feeding them. There were birds flapping and chasing each other everywhere. We kept breaking the bread up into small pieces so that it would get wet and not swell up when they swallowed it. Some of the moorhens skidded across the frozen ice on the canal when they tried to catch the bread. We finally managed to get rid of a whole loaf!
Recently signs were put up telling people not to feed birds with bread to stop them choking… Now there is news that birds are starving to death…..
I’m glad we fed the birds, even if it wasn’t the correct stuff. It was at least brown bread and they seemed healthy.
