Thank you Keith!

Posted on March 28, 2024March 28, 2024 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Form, Government, Helpful, Life, Lovely, man, online, Phone call, satisfiedLeave a comment

So many things have gone wrong lately. I lost a letter from the government and didn’t know what to do. It had warned me I might get fined if I didn’t fill in a form.

First I rang the local council, they gave me a phone number. Yesterday I rang it but due to technical problems they were not accepting calls.

So today I rang back. I spoke to a lovely and helpful man called Keith. He said he could help find the letter and what form I needed to fill in but the system was down so he would ring me back…

A few minutes later he called back. He had found my account and could complete the form with me over the phone but I would have to submit it myself so he would save it for me.

I’m so glad he helped, the 20 questions were complex and vague at the same time. I tried my best to answer accurately. I think I did OK. Once we were finished he gave me a long reference number and explained what I needed to do to submit the form. I explained that I sometimes shake I can hit the wrong keys. I asked what to do if I went wrong. He said just ring the department back with the reference number.

Then he said he could stay on the line and talk me through it! He did so and the form was submitted successfully! Thank you Keith!

An artist!

Posted on March 28, 2024 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artist, Childhood, Colouring, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1891, Drawing, Etch-a-sketch, Figures, Life, Memories, PaintingLeave a comment

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Give me crayons, give me colouring books. Books with paper covered in dots that you wet with a paintbrush and colours emerge.. Dot to dot books, pages with squares on that I could turn into patterns. I might have been a bit older than five for some of these, but I always wanted art things for my birthday or Christmas. I must have heard of artists because I always wanted to be one. I got an etch-a-sketch machine to draw with, I loved that.

My sister wanted to be a musician, she eventually borrowed a violin from school. I got jealous because my parents said I was doing art and they couldn’t let me have a musical instrument, so I overtightened the strings on the violin and they snapped ( bad/very guilty memory!)…

Now? I’ve been an artist all my life. I started drawing when I was a child such as historical people in tudor dress, Asterix the Gaul, horses, clouds, all sorts of things. I still do that, anything is interesting to me.

Fish ‘n’ chips

Posted on March 27, 2024March 27, 2024 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Cold, Fish and chips, Food, Haddock, Night, Poem, Poetry, Potato, Purring, salt, take away food, Tea, Vinegar, WarmLeave a comment

Fish ‘n’ chips

For tea,

For me!

What a treat

So nice to eat

Warming food

To lighten my mood

Just the sort you

Add vinegar and salt to

A delicious meal

To make me feel

Purring and happy

And so is my catty!

Science

Posted on March 27, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Astrobiology, big bang, Chemistry, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1890, hard, Memory, Programme, Science, TimeLeave a comment

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Science is hard, it is very difficult to understand or often to explain. I think the world is split into people who get science and those that do not.

I don’t know if you have to have a particular brain? I found science hard, and being a girl didn’t push myself forward in classes. The boys always had their hands up shouting me sir, me! Answering the teachers questions.

And yet I eventually found I loved science. I used to watch a BBC programme called Horizon which had a great many subjects from Chemistry to Astrobiology, to the Big Bang as subjects of hourly shows. Suddenly my interest was piqued. I started to understand things and got more aware of science and it’s ramifications.

I also loved the Sky at Night, a monthly astronomy programme, it’s only short, 20 minutes, but really interesting. And then children’s programmes used to be informative, including the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. I remember seeing one about magnetic levitation of trains, it was a lecture by Professor Eric Laithwaite. Wonderful.

So my take from this is that you might not like science, but give it a chance, it helps you understand the world..

Squally shower

Posted on March 27, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged gusty, Life, March winds, Myth, Rain, Reality, springtime, Squall, Time, Weather, Window2 Comments

Wow, it’s just rained heavily. A real squall with gusting winds. The gutters were overwhelmed and water poured down the window. Now the sun’s back out and the dark grey clouds have blown away. I love the sound of raindrops clattering against the glass and the gusts of wind whistling through the gaps in the window frame. It’s never been properly airtight, but I don’t mind and in the dawn light I can hear the blackbird singing on the top of next doors chimney. Music of nature playing around my garden.

It reminds me of the myth or saying about the month of March and March winds… If it is a gentle start to the month it comes in like a lamb and out like a lion, while if it’s windy at the start of the month the opposite, in like a lion out like a lamb tends to be the case.

Digitally

Posted on March 26, 2024March 26, 2024 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, ArtRage app, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1889, Design, Digitally manipulated, Life, Pattern, Photodirector app, SketchingLeave a comment

How has technology changed your job?

My ‘job’ isn’t really one, I don’t make sufficient money to make it worthwhile so I guess it’s more like a hobby. But as digital technology has improved I have been able to include it more into my art and mark making.

This image started as a digital drawing in Artrage. I then ran it through filters on the photodirector app several times which came up with this image of a tree. I like being free to experiment with art and seeing what results.

Packaging

Posted on March 26, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, black bag, Box, Bubble wrap, Canvas, Cardboard, Fine, Life, Post office, Postage, wrappingLeave a comment

How do I send a canvas in the post? I have wrapped it in bubble wrap but when I got to the post office they didn’t have any boxes big enough. They suggested I put it in a bin liner and tape it well but I didn’t think that would be secure enough. I asked them if they had any old cardboard boxes and they gave me two small boxes with low sides. I will try and unfold them and use them to strengthen the front and back. I was then going to use a black bin bag, but I went in the petrol station to fill up. They were chucking out a large cardboard box so I asked for it. I will use that as outer packaging with lots of tape. I’m glad I called in. Wish me luck, and the canvas a safe journey X.

Ginger cat

Posted on March 25, 2024 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Cat, Fine Art, Floral, ginger cat, Memory, Painting, Stray cat, WindowsillLeave a comment

I painted this ginger cat a few years ago. He’s based on a stray that moved in with us for a while. He would sit on a windowsill and stare out at the garden. I decided to make his view a bit more floral, and almost Mediterranean.

Unfortunately we had to rehome him because he would fight with our other cats and ended up with an abscess in his paw. I spoke to the vets and they agreed to find him a good home. I hope he was happy and it was sad to say goodbye to him.

I don’t

Posted on March 25, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged ambition, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1888, Life, Memory, Poem, Poetry, Prompt, Stress, TimeLeave a comment

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

Look at the sky, it’s blue,

I love that wonderful hue

I could ignore it

Pass it by

Be driven hard

Ambition charged

But then I’d miss the best of life

While dealing with the anxious strife

No time to stop and stare they say

Is not, for life a good way.

Try not to stress

Though I confess

I walk on sometimes

And miss sunshines.

Koish

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, distortion, Fine Art, Fish, Koi, Memory, Painting, Reflection, Water2 Comments

Koi carp I pay a few years ago, it was part of my recent exhibition. I thought it was worth showing on its own here. I love painting reflections and the way some parts of the painting can be seen through so you can see the fish. Other things include the distortion of the window bars in the water. Acrylic on canvas.