Busy time…..

Posted on November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Day off, Houseplants, Long day, Painting, Photo, Rest, TiredLeave a comment

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Suddenly I’ve got a million and one things to do, a commission here, a sketch there, painting for an open day, painting for an annual exhibition. Also a craft fair… What do I do.. I decided to rest today. I felt stressed and worried so I thought let it be for a day. Instead I repotted old houseplants and went to choir practice. I’m still tired after that, but I don’t feel rushed off my feet. You can only do what you can do. I’ve also told the people who want flat pieces of foam board painted with landscapes that they will have to wait.

The result of resting was some photos of the plants I have potted up. As usual I played with the images. Being creative is so important to me.

Now it’s 2.30am, a cold wind is blowing round the house. Sometimes you can hear the wind whistling through gaps round the windows. But at least I’ve had a break. Tomorrow I’ll try and get more painting done.

Bringing the houseplants in

Posted on November 19, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Cold, Garden, Houseplants, Outside, Plants, SummerLeave a comment

Our houseplants have always sat on the kitchen window sill but they had to be unceremoniously chucked out while we had the kitchen and bathroom replaced. Some of the plants had been here since we moved in about 24 years ago. They were old, battered, pot bound, but they had survived. Anyway the upshot was they all sat outside in the hot summer sun and got watered when the other plants outside were fed and watered. They were all close to the house with lots of plants surrounding them so they were sheltered.

It’s getting cold finally this autumn The forecast is for cold weather and winds from tomorrow. The other garden plants are fading so it was time to get them back in.

What we found were plants that had outgrown their pots, or ones where part of the plant had crisped and died, but the other side was covered in new growth. So they are all back inside now. Tucked into new pots, with found objects as trays underneath to stop water leaking onto the window ledge. I’ve used a couple of old teacups for the Christmas cactuses that Richard bought a few weeks ago. They are already in flower.

So we have a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom full of plants ….. They might go outside again next year.

Canal

Posted on November 18, 2018November 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Digital doodle, Light, Memory, Reflections7 Comments

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Yesterday I was chatting with an artist from Spode. He had done a lovely painting of trees on the macclesfield canal, with light streaming through the leaves. I didn’t take a photo but it looked a bit like this drawing. With blocks of pale green and yellow shining through the vegetation. I can only give a slight idea of what it looked like with this technique. The artist had used a Palette knife to create depth and slanted shadows .

I realise I can’t get an accurate representation. But it gives you an idea of how it looks.

Angry voices

Posted on November 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angry voices, Noise, Nuisance, Peace, Public house, Short story4 Comments

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1am, the pub opposite is letting people out after a night of music and booze. I hear, but don’t see the clatter of bottles being thrown in the skip. The punters are waiting for taxis or a lift. Then one ugly angry voice is raised. I won’t go and look. I know that they sometimes get really rough over there and I don’t want to intervene. I have heard fights in the past outside our door, women screaming at each other. But I’m fearful of reprisals, my car is out there, near them, old and battered it doesn’t need any more damage.

Shouts, angry voices swearing and cursing. Oh go away, get your taxis home. Unfriendly men with a chip or two on their shoulders . Car horn peeping, laughter and a fairwell. Diesel engine growling. Headlamps shine in through the window as a car three point turns….. Its getting quieter Some voices fade off into the distance. Others shout goodbye. Another Saturday night is over.

Grey brown and blue

Posted on November 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ghosts, Industry, Poem, Spode, Spooky, StokeLeave a comment

Your bricks and windows are staring down at me,

a cold wind picks up the few scattered leaves that have invaded the space.

As the sun sets the air glows frozen grey blue,

Pouring cold into green grey tarmac surrounded by factory buildings.

Water droplets frost the car windscreens sitting on the parking lot,

“We are watching you” you seem to whisper, and, I look up to see what may be there.

But just blank and broken windows look back in a long black stare.

Getting in my car I carefully wash away the mist, old buddlea branches scraping the paintwork,

left and left again, into the street, and away from old creeping ghosts and memories of Clay.

When the sun sets

Posted on November 17, 2018November 17, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Earth, Eclipse, Moon, Photo, Spode, Spode sunset, Stoke-on trent, Sun, TwilightLeave a comment

The sun was setting and the sky turned pink at spode today. I looked up and saw the moon. A tiny bit bigger than half moon and I realised that you could work out where the sun was setting. Basically imagine you were shining a torch on a ball. If the torch was directly to the side if the ball the ball would be exactly half light and 🌗 half dark Now if the torch was lower but shining directly on the ball it would be half light and half dark but tipped at an angle depending how low below the horizon the torch (or ☀ sun) was. Now imagine if the torch was level but was shining slightly to the side of the moon nearest us? Then the line between light and dark would shift and curve. The line shifts every night till full moon, then as it passes full moon the shadow starts to get cast on the other side. This leads to the understanding that when we get an eclipse the Earth gets directly between the Moon and the Sun… . Oh I know all of this is simple, but I’d never actually thought it out for myself……

P.S. now 5 hours later the angle of the moon is tipped up so that the curve is on a slant … so the sun is clearly lower down and the moon has moved. .but it also shows the world is rotating too…

Spode floors

Posted on November 16, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Photos, Spode, Stoke-on trent, Studio 21, Studios, Views, WindowsLeave a comment

If you want an abstract image you don’t need to go far in spode studios. Just look down at the floor. The yellow stripes and turquoise patches make a fine design. I don’t know what the building was like before they put studios in on either side of the corridor but perhaps the blue green areas were where machines were sited.

I took a couple of pictures today but couldn’t help getting my foot in one….

I think if I painted these they would have to have a thick varnish so that they have that sheen that the floors have. So many ideas that I can think of, I love the way there are views and images at the old spode site that evoke the history of the place.

Here are two more photos. This time pictures out of the windows of of the studios.

At stoking curiosity

Posted on November 16, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Jupiter, Painting, Spode, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Stoking curiosity, TryptichLeave a comment

Wow there’s a lot of things going on down at Spode today. The Stoking Curiosity event is very busy. I’m down at studio 21 and hoping people will pop in. There’s just been a call for a poetry workshop (I’m having lunch at the works canteen cafe) then will be back to continue painting Jupiter today and tomorrow.

So if you get the chance come down and see what’s going on today and tomorrow

Crossed cats paws 🐾

Posted on November 16, 2018 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Animals, Blog, Cat, Fun, Humour, Life, Paws, PoemLeave a comment

You sat a while, washing, paws crossed in contentment. A tiny leaf near to you, ready for the swift pounce when you see it again. Then dance around the room, catching, lifting it up in the air, only to see it fall again. Your eyes gleam as you lick a back leg, plotting a swift twitch of your paw. A substitute mouse or bird, but far less cruel. Cat you have got cattitude!

Silver and frost

Posted on November 15, 2018November 16, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apps, Digital doodling, Instagram, Picsart, Sketch, Sketcher freeLeave a comment

I found these a few days ago. I think I did them in an app called sketcher free. Then edited in picsart and Instagram. There are so many ways of manipulating images today that would never have been possible even a few years ago without something like photoshop. But also having these images could stretch my painting skills. Trying to replicate this in paint would be a real challenge.

I’m not sure how I would do it but I think I would need to use a thick impasto of paint, even using something to press into the paint to create texture. You can get modelling media that thickens paint so you can almost sculpt it. Plus use metallic paint and use different shaped brushes.. Fun!

Mallaband-Brown

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