New paintings and regular art updates.
Watching the film Seabiscuit on the TV. I decided to try and draw a horse so I used Artrage to draw it, then I edited it in Instagram and also Photodirector apps. It’s a bit smudgy and indistinct but I quite like it. I drew the mane blowing in the wide and it’s tail up in the air. Brown with a white blaze on his nose. Digital drawing.
What are your favorite brands and why?
Things cost too much so I try and be selective in what I buy. I go to a few different shops and try and buy what’s cheapest, but of a reasonable quality. I don’t want to buy a tin of beans only to find out half of its weight is tomato sauce.
It turns out a lot of own brands can be as good or better than the more well known ones. So they can be cost effective to buy. I also buy food close to it’s sell buy date, it means there are savings to be made there too. I live close to shops so I can pop out and top up with things relatively easily.
As to other things, anyone who knows me knows I’m not into fashion or expensive objects. If I have money it gets spent on bills or repairs or art supplies.
I hate adverts, I never buy things I see on TV or online. It doesn’t tempt me to see expensive perfume or clothing. I’m not a brand buyer, I can’t be bothered with merchandise like handbags or shoes.
So that’s your answer… None.
I don’t know what’s causing this, but I think its because I’ve had my washing up water too hot and I might have used too much washing up liquid? I’m taking time with washing up because I’m struggling to hold onto things and when I use washing up liquid bottle I have to squeeze really hard to get it out. So really I’m using too much. I think I might put it in a smaller container so I don’t get as much on my hands. I’m leaving my rings off for a couple of days and I will try using a little eczema cream on my fingers. Has anyone had similar problems?
Something was rattling loudly in my washing machine! I opened the door and found this! One of my agitators in the drum has broken off…
If you look underneath it you can see where the plastic bits have snapped off. I guess when it spins the weight of the clothes must put a lot of pressure on them. I looked into the empty washer and saw a small metal flange was sticking up so I got my hammer and pressed (not hitting) the metal down in line with the drum. The metal was quite thin so malleable. I’ll have to see if that works, I can’t imagine it will rip anything. The broken agitator is not reattachable as the lugs on it are sheared off……
Going through my art trying to find images with sunlight in them. I came across the this semi abstract portrait of a Steam Punk. It’s from a photo I took at The Etruria Canal Festival either last year or the year before?
I like experimenting, especially since my arm shakes, so I can integrate that into the paintings, or try something even more different if I want?
Padded paddle feet on a Coot. Their feet actually look bluer than this in real life, their legs are yellow. I’m posting this because an American friend wrote about their Coots which have similar feet, but yellow coloured.
I’m always getting Coots and Moorhens mixed up. But Coots have a white blob on their forehead and their beaks are white too, Moorhens have a red blob in the same place plus the top of their bills are red, and they have similar feet and legs to Coots, but they are yellow. Maybe they are related?
I was out with my friend and wanted to take some photos of the birds in an aviary, but my phone camera was playing up. My friend sent me a few of her pictures. I like this photo she took of a pheasant? Mostly I like the composition, it reminds me of a Mondrian painting and although the bird is not square or oblong shaped the red black and white add a pop of interest in response to the more muted colours in the background.
Taken when we were having tea and scones at the Brampton museum and art gallery in Newcastle under Lyme a couple of weeks ago.
An innocent day, a year ago. We were out at a Rode Hall, walking through the bluebell woods. No sign of the troubles ahead.
I wish I could hold the hand I held for 43 years, so firm and strong, walking into sunlight with you. Taking each step carefully along the path. You leading the way, supporting me.
I heard the birds singing and felt a gentle breeze that shook the bluebell heads. Nodding in the dappled shade. All ready for some fairy parade when we were gone.
I drew this later from a photo, I wish I could go back in time.
I painted this mural several years ago on the wall in the Arnold Bennett suite in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building sadly burnt down on 22nd January 2023 and remains a burned out husk of the former historical hotel.
It represents the Burslem witch Molly Leigh.
Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town. Wikipedia
Born 1685, died 1746.
Her grave is in a Burslem church yard and is set at 90° to the other graves to indicate witchcraft.
My painting shows her old cottage and medicinal plants such as foxgloves. It’s a moonlit night and I painted a ring of icy cloud around the moon to make it more spooky. The ancient woman depicted is actually based on a French peasant woman by Theodore Gericault.
Confused, muddled, incoherent. Gobbledegook.
Like double-dutch it’s a word that tries to describe the kind of word salad some people talk rather than a measured and clear explanation.
If you have ever seen “Sir Humphrey”, the political private secretary in “Yes, Minister”, and “Yes, Prime Minister”, the BBC series from the 1980s and 90s, you will know he would used gobbledegook or flimflam (another lovely word) to blag his way through telling the Minister important information without telling him clearly. It’s in this case a method of obfuscation, using a long tangle of incomprehensible words that is sneaky and makes the story he is trying to tell virtually impossible to understand.
It’s an informal noun and according to Google it is defined as :
language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms.
“reams of financial gobbledygook”
I hope you enjoyed this word!
Mallaband-Brown