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Combining drawing apps

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The first three drawings are based on a drawing done in a kaleidoscope app. Then I changed them in picsart using the stretch/spiral tool and then the colour curves tool which allows you to change the hues and tones.

The fourth drawing background was done in ArtRage oils which is a free Google play store app. It was then drawn over with sketcher free which allows you to draw with different brushes. I used the ribbon option to draw a masklike face. The fifth drawing was a quick sketch of a face, drawn in a sketching app. In this case I used picsarts colour curves to change the levels of colour, then a stretching app to change the shapes. Finally I used a tool to create an embossed feel and then the mask option to layer up lighting effects.

I’m using my phone a lot of the time and I tend to forget there are more options on my tablet. Then today I realised that there was a drop down menu on the masks option, so I found a whole new section of the app to play with.

What I guess I’m saying is don’t be afraid to play with drawing apps, you learn more when you do, and you can come up with some really interesting ideas.

I used digital art as a sketchbook. I may not use it in the analogue world of oainting, but it fascinates me.

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Film review “I Daniel Blake”.

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A film came out a couple of years ago called “I Daniel Blake”. It’s about a man who has had a serious heart attack and who is trying to get a sickness allowance because he is too ill to work. But because the state now seems determined to persecute those who need benefits he is constantly stopped from getting what he needs. He ends up in an impossible position where he is fighting the system. He meets various other people with similar problems. It is a sad reflection on todays society that people are allowed to get into this situation. In one scene he and a young single mother he befriends have to visit a food bank to survive. The young woman starts eating food from a can because she hasn’t eaten for days. The film takes a close look into poverty and deprivation in Britain today. I think it’s important that films like this are available so that people see the reality of the system today.

Afternoon walk

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It was grey and cold, but after visiting a hobby shop for train track for my partners model railway we decided to get a warm cup of coffee then go for a walk.

The local lake (actually a canal reservoir) is around a mile in circumference and nice and flat. We picked up some duck food and strolled around in the cold..

The light was fading but the birds were still around and raced across the lake to get the food we were throwing out for them. My hands were getting progressively colder as I fed them and then took photos of their antics. The images were a bit blurry, but I also took pictures of the trees. Their empty branches and twigs reached up like fingers to the sky. I’ve taken too many photos as usual but I was able to make some interesting patterns from them. Glad to be home and warm again.

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Gallop

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I remember a children’s programme I used to watch when I was a child. The theme song included the line “on white horses”, but I have very little memory about the show or the rest of the music. sketch-1546645322237.png

There were many programmes with horses then. Including the Lone Ranger. A children’s TV show called Follyfoot I think, and another called the adventures of Black Beauty based on the story by Anna Sewell.

I remember always drawing horses. My favourites were dappled grey ones. It’s not as frequent an obsession now, and as there are fewer horses and ponies on TV, I don’t get the chance to look at them very often….. Other memories include going on holiday to Dorset as a child and seeing a white horse carved into the hillside, and hearing that a rough sea with white topped waves was said to have “white horses” on it.

Life does seem to move at the gallop now. So many things change as you get older. I suppose we are living in the most technologically rapidly changing times in human history. Not long ago horses were used on farms to haul plows. Dray horses to pull brewery carts, and even to work down mines and pull canal barges. How times change

Where are you?

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I look out of the window, see the scudding clouds blowing along parallel with the coast. The house is too quiet, no sounds of you around the corner, or upstairs or outside in the garden .

You must have gone out before the sun rose, before the moon set, while I was asleep curled up in bed.

The door was locked tight after you. I searched for my keys and dressed quickly. Now I need to decide whether to look for you or wait?

The wind is blowing stronger now, the clouds are black and the rain falls in great engulfing rivers, like all the world’s grief descending from the sky.

Two hours of darkness followed the dawn, then gradually a glimmer of sunlight stole under and through the cloud layer. Now I can go and look, now  I can see over the sea out as far as the island. Now I might see him? Standing on the pier, holding onto the metal handrail slick with water. I watch, and wait.

(This could also be called “which tense are you writing in? Past or Present?”)

Meandering

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I sometimes start a blog on one theme and for some reason meander off in a completely different direction. Like a river meanders randomly, curving one way then the other.

Curving frequently, tributaries joining,

Increasing the flow, sinuous,

Like a snake, swallowing its own tail,

In places becoming, forming  through sediment,

A famed oxbow lake, a tiny part of the whole, trapped and landlocked.

When it reaches the sea all its strength is dissipated.

Numerous streams wander a delta down to the water.

Seagulls trim their wings

And fly fiercely overhead.

My story meanders again,

As a gull steals my chips ……

I started at point A, wove around and ended at point B. Strange how like a journey we can be transported by words, drift along into a story or a song… .

One Whole year here!

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It doesn’t feel like a year! I’ve posted over 600 blog pages and over 10,000 views….. How did that happen?

I do varied posts, from art to poetry, small short stories and hopefully funny stories. I didn’t think I could write so much and such varied things.

I think it’s worth being on here and as long as I continue to enjoy it, and don’t get too foxed by things like blocks and the new Gutenberg editor, I will carry on blogging.

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Orchids

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Recently I’ve been buying orchids. I think they have beautiful flowers and the way they grow is fascinating. I’m no expert but I’ve noticed they like potting in transparent pots. I think it’s so light can get to the bark. The plant sits in loose bark and you can get orchid food, which you add to the water you use for them. I don’t think they like tap water, but that’s all we have got.

The pink orchids pictured are a new addition, they are supposed to be scented but I could not smell any perfume. They seem to like a bit of warmth and I’m worried that it might be too cold in the kitchen.

One of the orchids I bought about a year ago has grown lots if ariel roots. It’s had quite a few flower spikes. First they grow bulbous buds which open to form magenta flowers. I’ve cut back all the dead growth and repotted them. I have 5 orchids now. I think they are 3 separate sorts. Hopefully I can keep them going!!