New paintings and regular art updates.
Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Green. Forgive me, but I do like drawing weird green men ideas. This has been drawn in the Sketchbook app on my phone. Then IĀ added textures in photodirector. It’s a bit of a monster! I’d say this is more of an illustration than a pure sketch.
Interview someone ā a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman ā and write a post based on their responses.
I talked to my hubby about being deaf.
What’s it like being deaf?
I have gradually lost my hearing over several years. It can make me feel grumpy, angry and lonely.
When did you first notice it?
I first noticed it when I was working in heavy industry for several years, but I was the child of a mill worker and the children had a creche at the mill, so I was always in a noisy environment. I really noticed it while working at my final job in a warehouse. There were conveyor belts everywhere and trucks, with loud music blaring out.
What can you hear?
I can hear very loud noises but without my hearing aids speech is just a wah wah wah noise.
How do you cope?
I have to try and lip read sometimes unless someone has a really loud or low voice. I can’t hear the higher registers of singers and music is distorted. It frustrates me when people have to repeat themselves and I know my hearing is diminishing. My mind retreats into childhood memories, it’s very isolating and now I’ve retired every day flows one into the next.
What about entertainment?
Subtitles on the TV help but I have to turn up the volume sometimes. I can use a hearing loop with my hearing aids but we don’t go out much anymore to the theatre or cinema.
What other things bother you?
Sometimes I get tinnitus or burbling noises like rushing water. I think that’s the blood pulsing in my ears. It’s hard to sleep when that happens. Also I think my brain fills in the gaps in the silence, I sometimes hear my name being called, or loud noises when there are none, it can be very disturbing.
We hadn’t really talked about it much so I’m glad I answered this prompt. It’s given me a bit more insight into how things are for him. I get frustrated that he can’t hear me, but it must be so much worse for him.
I can almost see a koala bear in this collaged photo. Above and below that I can see eyes on stalks. It’s called Pareidolia, and it’s something I seem to do all the time.. I saw patterns in wallpaper when I was young. Roses became teddy bears somehow. Green leaves became fairies. I could see faces in bowls of fruit. I think I’m weird!
There’s a chill in the air
And it’s only September
Autumn already
Shorter days
Longer (cold) nights
I will not switch on
The dreaded boiler
Until my lips and fingers
Pinch in the cold.
Layers of clothes
Must be the answer.
Use the cat as a blanket.
Coats on the bed
I remember that
When I was a child.
One of my cats has become allergic to certain foods. The trouble is we don’t know what. I’m concerned it might be cat treats because he’s had something different recently.
I rang the vets, they were closed so I got an emergency vets number. They would see him but it’s 5 miles away. I haven’t been out the house for a month or driven so my stress is really high. I asked about pet transport but non of them were suitable. One wanted Ā£90 to come over from Lichfield. Another was fully booked. Friends were out. I couldn’t get any help.
I could have waited till tomorrow, but the cat needs seeing. Finally I decided I would take him. The step out of the front door was a challenge and I took my crutches. We had to go on a big main road and I managed to drive OK just very nervous and driving below the speed limit!
So I’m sitting waiting with hubby. It’s going to cost a lot but it needs sorting out…
He’s been seen, he’s been given an injection and a gel for his damaged skin where he’s been scratching. Only 1/3 of the cost was the medication, the rest was the out of hours consultation. I won’t say how much… š
Got home, it took me ages to get back in. But I feel happier now, and the cat is sorted out.
Almost metallic, huchera leaves look like copper in the moist air. The pattern was achieved using a symmetrical collage tool on a photo I took a few years ago. I need to do more of these, it’s fascinating to see how the symmetrical pattern enhances the shapes. This could almost be a bowl with a drain in its centre.
How are you feeling right now?
I tried to draw a cat yawning, which made me realise how tired I am at the moment.
If I were a cat I’d have yawned and fallen asleep by now. But I’m doing things, I’ve just eaten my evening meal, and I’m going to be doing things till well after midnight.
But cats have more sense. They come in when they are hungry or cold. They curl up on your lap, or in a little quiet place, a cat bed, or a chair, and then they get up and go out when they have rested. I read somewhere that cats sleep for up to 16 hours a day? I get by on barely 5 usually. Sometimes I’ll catch up. But these last few weeks have tired me out. I realise sleeping on the settee doesn’t help, but I still can’t climb stairs. I wish I could trans(mogg)rify into a cat! I’d get all the rest I need.
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was pose. I was going to try and draw a statue but this figure appeared. I’m not sure whether she’s an artists model or fashion model. I struggled with the hands, I drew the top hand with the thumb on the wrong side to start off with. Just a black and white Artrage app finger painting.
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?
For a year I wrote down three gratitudes each day, I spent time thinking of three things I was grateful for even when they were only small things, like traffic lights turning to green at the right time. But when I hurt myself I stopped. I don’t have a spare book to write in. I have almost forgotten what it was like to do it.
I don’t think I do have another habit that I can mention. I haven’t thought about it before. I think life is too chaotic. I’m hoping that when I can get another notebook I will start again. I’m concentrating on getting well again. I’m really looking forward to starting again.
Moon doodle
It’s not blue and it’s not really super!
There is a super blue moon tonight and tomorrow night. All that means is that there are 13 full moons in this twelve month period and this August there are two in the same month. This is the second and ‘blue’ moon. The moon also happens to be at its closest approach to the Earth, a few thousand miles closer, so it appears slightly bigger in the sky. The moons orbit is elliptical, so it has two centres of gravity and so sometimes it appears closer and sometimes further away. The next super blue moon will be in 2037. There are lots of articles on the Internet about it today.
Mallaband-Brown