New paintings and regular art updates.
I don’t know how old this poster is, it was my hubby’s. It says “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon.
I think hubby got this before we met, in the 1970’s when he was at college. He always loved books and probably 3/4 of our books were his. We both had an eclectic taste in books. I need to declutter, but they are all old friends. X
Glass bottles on a windowsill, crinkled glass window panes behind.
Seen last night at the Greyhound inn at Penkhull. Such a simple idea but effective. Now I’m seeing colours better, I’m noticing things like this. Everything seems to sparkle and shine. I’m so lucky to have had cataract surgery. I hope people who need it get it too.
This weekend I went to Middleport pottery to sing with a choir to accompany a play called “Boats, Barrels and Bottle ovens”.
We sang seven songs. From different years over the time when the Trent and Mersey canal and the Caldon canal that is an offshoot of it were built by Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley. Each era was represented by the cast acting out scenes, first by the side of the Dane, a working narrow boat, then inside a bottle oven to represent the Harecastle tunnel in Kidsgrove. A scene at a boat club in the 1960’s where they discussed reopening the cauldron canal that was full of rubbish and weeds at that time and finally we sang in a scene from the 1980s and then up to date.
I’m not fit or well and this was challenging with freezing cold, wet and windy weather, uneven cobbles and slippery surfaces. I can only thank the people who placed chairs for me so I could sit down in safety when I needed to. Without them I could never have done it. X
It would have been our anniversary today. We lived together for years before we married. I painted him when I was about 20 and he still sits in this painting looking out at me. I did a lot of drawings and portraits of him over the years, I am glad there are visible memories of him.
What will happen when I go? Who knows what my relatives will want to do with all my art? Will a local museum take them, or will they just get skipped? I don’t know, I won’t be here but I would like to have some recognition. The trouble is I’m very eclectic, I paint for my self in these images. Ah well, more questions…
On our honeymoon we went caving! Today would have been our anniversary. When I thought of writing this it was our anniversary eve but I fell asleep and only just remembered to post something….
Time flies when you’re feeling sad. It rolls along leaving you behind. I keep imagining what things would have been like if he was still alive. Being on your own means having no one to discuss problems with. Yes I’ve got friends but it’s not the same. We went through a lot together. I wish we still could.
Bandofsketchers prompt “contained”. I can’t find my stylus so this is a finger painting of flowers contained in a jug using the Artrage app.
Lift your head up
See life
See the sky
Don’t just look at shop windows
See architecture..
Interesting windows,
Grooves and gutters
See the tree leaves
Waving in the wind
Xanthophyll and chlorophyll
Colours changing
Lift up your heads
See the setting sun
Falling with the leaves.
Put down your phone
And experience Autumn.
My friend often sends me photos on WhatsApp. I don’t know what is going to pop up in my messages until they appear. This time he sent me a series of pictures from Saltaire Food festival. Saltaire is near Bradford in Yorkshire. It’s got small, stone built terraced houses, mostly a living room and small kitchen and two bedrooms and a bathroom. I think they filmed the new version of “The Railway Children ” movie there.
At the end of summer it puts on a great market full of food stalls from all over the world. We went a few years ago and discovered Churos from Spain. Like a mixture of sponge fingers and doughnuts crossed with each other. We tried curries and paella. There was a giant lobster balloon. It was very busy when we went. If you are in the area it’s worth a visit.
The sky,
Thinking of the innocents that have gone to their deaths through war and genocide. But not just that, also plague and starvation. Cutting funding to medical programs is not helping, and using misinformation is particularly cruel.
What is there that we can do? How do we not weep constantly because of those losses? It’s overwhelming. From the past and into the future, there is no enlightenment. Very little truth and reconciliation. A few places have succeeded, Northern Ireland and South Africa spring to mind.
Maybe we should look at what worked or went well in those situations
Now Gaza and Ukraine, Yemen and Sudan are experiencing the horrors of man’s inhumanity to man. And it really does seem to be a male thing. But maybe I’m wrong.
There should maybe be a class in schools. Respect for humanity. I remember an experiment I heard about. A class of children were split in two. Half were given scarves and told they were better than their counterparts. For the day or the week they were allowed to lord it over the other half. But during the next week the other children got the scarves. Suddenly they had the upper hand. Both groups got to experience the indignities and descrimination of the underdogs. It apparently was a great success in improving how children behaved. Insight is so important.
Kneading my knees
Poddling I call it,
Old cat is keen to stay.
I don’t want him to go away.
His life is ebbing
Slowly by
Like a tide moving out
Taking his memory
In its grip.
No more head bumps
No more nuzzles
An empty space expected
Soon.
Mallaband-Brown