Trees

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I have a lot of trees in the garden but my partner always wants more. I tried counting them once. We have 3 leylandii, a crack willow, a walnut, 2 cherry trees. A couple of apple trees, a pear tree, an oak, a eucalyptus  a plum tree. Also a couple of Ash trees, and a mountain Ash. Oh and a silver Birch tree. A small beech tree, and a fir and Christmas tree. A monkey puzzle tree, a lilac tree, a sycamore and an acer. .. Too many .. Enough!! Plus there are bushes and shrubs….

It’s no wonder I can’t get flowers to grow. Its too shady and dry!

No more trees please,

That’s enough,

Growing tall.

Shades the ground.

Leaves a plenty,

In the sun,

Stops the flowers growing,

It’s no fun.

Give light a chance

Let daffodils unfold,

Bluebells flourish

Campions show pink,

And cranesbills cover the garden.

 

New Blue

 

I have finally got back in the studio and started a new painting. It’s called Jupiter in Blue and will be part of an exhibition at Spode called “an Exhibition of Blue” from 1st February 2019.

The painting will be for sale so if anyone is interested in it please drop me a line!

The price will be £300. Its 24×30 inches so its a decent size.

Better get on with it.

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1st layer done.

Copper Tears

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Now there once were giant people throughout the lands. The Southern Giants were strong and smart, they were made of copper and bronze and shone in the sunlight. But the Northern Giants were also strong, and as they lived in the winter lands they were made of ice as hard as Iron. They could breath ice and snow when they fought. Because of this they were known as the Ice Giants.

After many years of war, Ralf, King of the Southern giants went to fight with them. He knew that if he did not win his lands would be forfeit and his wife would be killed by his enemies.

Lora, his wife, was scared when he told her his plans, but she knew he would have to go to save their fellow giants.

She watched him leave and cried tears which fell into her lap and made a huge pool of liquid copper, each tear making a ripple many feet high.

As she waited she thought she heard him calling her, she stood up and the copper spilled onto the ground, making a lake of copper at the base of the mountains where they lived.

Meanwhile in the North the Giants fought each other to a standstill. Ralf was winning, but as the battle came to an end one Ice Giant hit a fatal blow against him. He was dying but he hit back and felled the last Ice Giant.

His wife foresaw his death and started to weep again, she could not bear his loss. Her tears flowed over the land. Then the wind strengthened from the North. Forcing Lora to stand and start to run from its freezing grip. She was so tall that her tears fell from such a great height that they froze solid and shattered as they hit the ground.

It is said that there is a land in the south where her tears sit like trees in a forest, they are so many. And if you are far away you see the autumn colours of their copper and bronzes glinting in the sunlight.

Studio rents

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New year, new threat of rent increases in the studios. Not by the cost of inflation, but possibly by 25% or more! Im not saying where I rent, and I’m not publishing this on FB. I’m just worried I won’t be able to afford it. The fear is that I will retreat back to home and have to give up my dream of being an artist. The increase would possibly mean people looking for cheaper alternatives.

The threat is not clear yet, some people are hoping for lower increases. Its just that its a blow for a little thriving community of creative people. I sometimes think that greed is at the bottom of everything. So frustrating.

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Sleepy

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I have been So tired lately. Whether it’s the low light levels or late nights. I just keep falling asleep in the day. I think I need to shake myself awake a bit more. But the last couple of days has found my partner falling asleep in the day too. So perhaps it’s something to do with the bug we have both just got over. I didn’t feel like drawing much so I used a stencil section of my sketcher app to put together a little picture.

Right, better get something done before the day is totally gone.

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Busy

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At the moment I should be busy painting. I’ve got something to paint by February and although I have the canvas I haven’t started. I guess its because I’ve been too busy online. Posting things on here and at Instagram. Putting a few things on Facebook and then playing online soduku when I get bored.

I know I’m on line to much because my shoulders are hunched and sore from holding my mobile .. So if I suddenly go offline it will be because I’ve decided I need to give this a rest. Also apologies again for not getting to read everyone’s blogs… I’m just struggling to keep up…

Glasses

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I’ve been wearing glasses for most of my life. I can’t see very far without them. It struck me how few peoples portraits include glasses. Yes I know they were not invented till a few hundred years ago, but people must have needed to wear them. I guess people take them off when they are painted or drawn. Mind you if I took mine off to draw the result would be really blurred! And yet sometimes I have to look at the subject through my glasses and look over them to draw. That is because over the years the lenses in your eyes get harder and the muscles that bring images into focus on the back of your eyes struggle to do that so people end up using reading glasses

It’s interesting to know most people’s eyeballs shrink as you get older so if you are short sighted your eyesight can actually improve!

And don’t get me on the subject of astigmatism… Misshapen eyeballs that mean verticals and horizontals can be off…..

Oh the joy of eye tests….want to know if someone is long or short sighted? Eyes look bigger behind glasses for long sighted and eyes look smaller behind glasses for shortsighted. I noticed that when I was young. You can always tell if an actor is wearing glasses just for the character because the glass is flat. You don’t see a change in the eye size and reflections on the glass are flat not curved.

I like painting glasses, they add character, I like noticing the shape of the shadows cast on the face and if the glass is tinted then you have to work out how visible the eyes will be……

Canada geese

img_20190106_004721 I’ve seen a lot of Canada Geese on the lake this weekend. They fly to Britain to overwinter where they can rest and survive over the winter .

I think they are smart looking birds with their black, white and brown markings.

They are certainly pushy when it comes to feeding them. When I was feeding the ducks yesterday the Canada Geese grabbed a fair share of the food. They are certainly bold!

I love the way you can go for a walk and see lots of birds at the lake. We saw small birds as well, Robins, a blackbird and a couple of wrens. Not close enough to get photos, but still close enough to see them.

 

Interacting online

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I’m feeling a bit down at the moment. A person I have spoken to on line has become annoyed by some of my posts. I understand why, because my thoughts are in opposition to hers, and I have probably pushed my opinion too much.

The problem is when you write something on line you have to be so careful, if you have a face to face conversation, or even a phone chat, you can hear the nuances in their voice or see the expression on their face, clearly you can’t do that in an online discussion.

What to do? I’ve apologised and said I won’t comment again. I feel it’s a shame because you should be able to have an open discussion about opinions. But nowadays things seem to escalate to arguments. When did life become so difficult? I think the problem is the Internet encourages differences of opinion, “us and them”.

I wish I had never said anything, but I don’t feel I should just agree with everything if I can see another side to the argument.

Sadly in this case I think my only option is to keep quiet and not say anything again. Plus profuse apologies.