Cyclops, looking at you,
What does he see?
One stern eye facing you..
Checking you out?
Staring deep.
Into your eyes,
Dazzled by your smile,
Ancient sight
Blinded by your brilliance
Or your insolence.
Category: Uncategorized
In the dark (part one)
As we came out of choir group tonight it was cold and icy. The snow that had fallen earlier had turned from slush on the car park to hard ridges and furrows and ice.
I walked across to the car, managing not to slip. The car started reassuringly. The cold air from the heater took a few minutes to warm up. Then the screen started to demist. A car flew past in the dark. It’s headlights were not switched on so I flashed mine to try and get their attention.
I carefully drove off the car park and onto the road. Luckily it was wet but not slippery. The gritter lorries had clearly been past. Up to the traffic lights, turn right. Now I was on the main road, safe for a moment to drive at normal speed. But I live in a hill so I wanted to park up facing downhill. The only way to do that was to drive up the other side of the hill But I had a plan. Drive halfway up then take a short, flat, side road through the housing estate to get to my street half way down the hill. .. Well I got to the side road, and it was covered in a thick icy snowy layer. Solid, slippery. A steep slope to one side. I dropped into a lower gear. I did not want to slide across the road, on black ice. Keeping to the centre of the road, I drove at the slowest pace I could. Parked cars on either side made me fear hitting their wing mirrors. Nothing happened. My car slid and glided past, slowly and gently. My heart was thudding and I felt my neck tensing. Half way. A road bisecting my slippery route…. Anything coming fast up the hill and I would not have been able to stop safely. Now the road started to twist and turn. The slope increasingly downhill. The grip between the tyres and the asphalt was reducing. I applied the breaks gently. Close to the hill where I had to turn down onto my street. Nothing coming. The snow transformed into moisture, salted and defrosted. Slow turn. Almost in slow motion. It was too dark to see any frosty patches. So I carefully drove down hill in first gear. I got home slightly shaken.
I got my partner to read this. He said “it’s a bit boring” which is honest.
Baintree and Bocking station.
This is a drawing of a railway line plan my husband drew in 1969 when he was about 16. He has always loved railways and was on the last steam train to leave Manchester Victoria station to Rochdale in 1968. He tells me this was a Stanier black 5 steam engine 460 (which means 4 leading wheels, 6 driving wheels and no trailing wheels).
He actually made the minature railway layout , including bushes and trees, a signal box and a station building and railway tracks on Triang 00 guage.
He had a Jinty 060 number 47606 3F class, an 040 diesel and a GWR single, Lord of the Isles. I guess any railway enthusiasts out there will understand this, but others won’t.
A Jinty was a nickname for a particular type of engine that did shunting, banking, pilot duties and local freight. This was a small type of engine which had a short wheelbase and could get round curves easily. It was designed by Sir John Fowler.
47606 is just its running number which identifies it. 3F means its power classification (3 freight).
040 diesel is a small dock shunter used by the sea or rivers to carry freight from ships.
A GWR single has a 422 wheel configuration. It’s classed as XP, (express) and could travel at 80 Miles an hour. It could pull up to 400 tons of passanger coaches ( 6 coaches including the guard’s van).
He has so much knowledge but its locked up in his mind. when I asked him it all came out, how do people learn all this stuff!?
Yellow bowl.
Since I did so many posts about Blue I thought I would write a random poem about yellow. ….
Yellow bowl,
full of custard,
Bananas
Yellow bandana.
Rifle through my brain…
Yellow ochre,
yellow belly,
Lemon yellow.
Polka dot bikini.
Cadmium yellow..
Corn on the cob
Belishia beacon,
Beaches of golden yellow sand,
Yellow wands of willow,
Yellow cotton pillow
case…
Painted yellow face?
Hello yellow jello
no need to bellow…
Yellow….
I was going to include an American politician in this but thought better of it….
Old writing 7 years ago….
This popped up in my Facebook memories today. I have removed my partners name….
Another Sunday morning, my partner went off about 15 minutes ago, and me and Molly cat are here waiting for the sun to rise. The sky had gone from coal black to a dark shade of Paynes Grey, in fact in the few minutes since I sat down it has lightened considerably….. The cat is happily lying on the desk next to the computer, turning over to have her tummy tickled, she doesnt like being ignored and keeps trying to sit on my drawing tablet that also acts as my mouse! that knocks the text off so I have to reposition the cursor every couple of minutes…The blackbirds were singing in the garden at 6.30, hubby went out to listen and one carried on while the other Pink, pinked its alarm call… the song continues high and beautiful, shapely whistles that vary over different combinations of notes…. I am staying up in case my partners bus does not arrive,. One last look at the sky, only slightly lighter, blue grey, no glimmer of sun yet and overcast with lowish cirrus? clouds…thank goodness for the prospect of a warm bed and a book if hubby does not come back. (It has happened in the past when the bus driver forgot to get up!).
(I think the photos were taken a bit later on the same day.)
Finished at last..
Finished Jupiter Blue. This painting of one of the poles of Jupiter is what I have done for an Exhibition based on the colour blue. It looks more blue than the original photo because of this. The picture brush strokes are not as soft as I wanted, in fact it seems to have taken on a Van Gogh feeling. Come and see the result in the flesh at “an Exhibition of Blue” at Spode Site, Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent, at the artists studios. Starting 6pm on Friday 1st February 2019. There are over 20 artists exhibiting.
Collage
I did this a couple of years ago. A collage of the view outside the art group meeting hall. I did a small sketch and then drew out the tree on the back of wrapping paper. I built up layers of paper and glued them one on top of the other, starting with the background trees in a pale purple and two individual trees on top of that. I then did the chain link fence out of silver holographic paper. Finally I cut the tree out of a darker patterned Christmas paper. The blue peices of paper on either side are meant to represent curtains.
I think making things like collage is quite creative. My example is very simple but you can go into much more detail. All you need is a pencil, paper and a pair of scissors. Maybe something to do on a wet weekend?
Willow pattern painting
These are a couple of photos of when I painted a willow pattern plate painting. I did it because I had moved into my studio at spode and I had done a series of paintings of pottery.
I looked at various tiny images of the willow pattern pottery by various manufacturers and selected about 3 plates to do the design from. Sitting holding my phone in one hand with the canvas on a table easle is quite difficult, trying to look at photos about 2 inches Square. I made up the outer border mostly from my imagination.
Can’t wait for summer flowers.
Every year I get some hanging baskets from a local nursery. They create beautiful collections of flowers and you can specify what plants you have in them. I love combinations of lobelia, begonias, fushias and pelagoniums amongst others. I’m planning to get out in the garden soon to tidy it up for the spring. The old baskets get recycled and replanted to save some of the cost.
Looking at these sunny colours has bought me a bit of joy in cold January. I hope they have for you too.
X
More blue…..
More work. .. Coming back to finish tomorrow… Hopefully …. I need thinner lines I think…..
