Old work in progress

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This is my phone screen saver. It just cheers me up to see it. I only have it because someone asked me for a copy of a painting I did forty years ago.

You can see how I’ve laid the scene out and started filling in the image. I don’t tend to underpainting but go straight in with colour. I rarely sketch in the image, but because this was going to be a copy I had to fit the buildings on properly and also it helped with the perspective.

This is about four years old. I can confirm its new owner was very pleased with it.

Lilies and cats

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Lilies are beautiful flowers, but when I grow them I put them at the back of the border away from where the cats go. That is because they contain toxins that are dangerous to cats and dogs.

The Internet says :

Both calla lilies and peace lilies contain insoluble crystals of calcium oxalates (insoluble means the crystals don’t dissolve in water). When a cat or dog chews on or bites the plant, the crystals are released and directly irritate the mouth, tongue, throat, and esophagus.16 Sept 2021

So be careful what plants you grow, and try and be aware of what can be dangerous to your pets.

Radio 4

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What do you listen to while you work?

I first listened to BBC radio 4 when I was a teenager. I had a little transistor radio and used to listen to an Issac Asimov story ‘Foundation’ that had been dramatised for radio.

From that discovery I got a lot of pleasure and knowledge. When I was doing my homework Radio 4 would be on in the background. Then as I got older I went to college. I listened to shows like ‘The hitchhikers guide to the gallery’ while I learned to paint.

After that I had a job where I could not choose a radio station. The radio station was pop based and I hated it. Jingles and pop music irritated me. I’m definitely happier with speech radio.

Finally my job became much more professional, there was no radio to accompany my work. But when I was on visits to clients I would tune my radio in to 92.7 FM, which is radio 4 and also happens to be the BBC World Service outside the hours BBC radio 4 is being broadcast. There are a great deal of news, drama, finance, comedy and satirical programmes on the channel. Always worth listening to.

Flying ariels

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Surreal image just created by mirroring a photo of an ariel in front of a cloud. The angles of the ariels make them look like they are floating or flying. I’ve seen other people’s photos years ago doing a similar process. The images they created looked like strange insects, with wing cases apparently made of windows and antenna from TV ariels. It’s fun to create odd images like this.

Lovely afternoon

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We went out for an afternoon at the local pub to see “the boat band” playing cajun, west-indies and skiffle music. We had a great time. Actually saw a lot of friends and really enjoyed the lively music.

I got upset when someone asked about my sister. I started to explain, then started to cry, so had to tell my friend that I couldn’t talk about it. I don’t like how to feel but they were very understanding.

What I really enjoyed was the trombone playing in “Just a closer walk with thee”, really uplifting and energetic. Singing and music has a good effect on me mentally. I’m glad we went. After years of seeing hardly anyone it’s shocking to think how much time and friendships have been lost.

Orme summer challenge

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Orme summer challenge is to copy a section of a Renoir and aDegas painting. Then they will be joined together. It’s a challenge because we have to try and accurately match up with each others squares, but it’s up to the group members to choose what medium to complete the task in. These are my chosen sections. I will post my resulting drawings in the next few weeks.

Fish and chips

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What’s your go-to comfort food?

I couldn’t find a photo of a battered fish and chips but this was the best I could get off WordPress free photo library.

If its comfort food you want I don’t think there is anything better. The fish needs to be fried in thin batter, the chips soft on the inside crispy but not hard on the outside. Not too oily. Lashings (did I really write that? ) of salt and vinegar. Wrapped in greaseproof paper then newspaper for preference.

Why? It was a treat when I was a child. The chips and batter used to be orange coloured because they used food colouring where I came from. If you couldn’t afford fish you had “crispy bits” which were bits of batter that had come loose off the fish and were floating seperatly in the frying fat. In those days I think they used lard or beef fat to cook in.

So that’s my comfort food, my go to meal. I don’t have it very often, but when I do I really enjoy it.

I wish I could talk to her

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I wish I could speak to my mother, my sister, but they are gone. If there was a phone line, a way to communicate. Just to say hello. To get some comfort. To just say a few words and get some response. It’s hard to lose people, it leaves such an empty space. Even when I’m busy I think of them. I thought I would learn to cope, and I have to some extent, but the older you get it seems the more the regret grows (at least for me). Sadness, regret, pain, loss, mourning, they all crowd in on me sometimes.