New paintings and regular art updates.
Random stamps seen at Spode studios while I was at a meeting today. We were deciding on when to hold the next open studio day (August) and these were on the table. Someone must be a philatelist there. Three cents seems very cheap today, but I wonder how much that would be in today’s money. And I have no idea what the exchange rate would be between New Zealand and the UK.
Argh! My handbrake seemed to be slack so I took the car in the garage today. What was going to be a simple job turns out to be worse than we thought. The brake calliper on one side has been leaking brake fluid. The problem is the car is old, so parts are hard to get hold of. If they put the calliper back together it might fail and if I’m on a hill, or even just driving it I could run into someone! So the car is staying at the garage till at least Monday!
I guess I just have to be glad that it’s held this long and I haven’t had a bump in it! Phew
Write about your first crush.
I was seven, he was eight. I think his name was Henry? We were in the same school. All the girls liked him. He had a nice laugh, he was tall, (about 3 ft 6 inches?) and he had blond hair. He was in the class above me.
I can remember playing tick and chasing round the playground after him. I remember standing on the wide shallow steps where we waited to go into school after breaks and jumping down them because he encouraged us to play tinker, taylor, soldier, sailor. Many old nursery rhymes had games made up to go with them. I don’t think he was bothered about me with my hornrimmed glasses and pudding bowl haircut. But it was only a crush, I was far too young to have any real interest in boys. I think I liked him because he was clever and kind…
I think he moved to a different school when he left junior school. I don’t remember ever seeing him again. It’s funny how you don’t think of anyone for years and then a prompt like this sparks a memory and there you are back in the past…
Just rememberd another nursery rhyme:
Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away!
And I remembered my grandmother has a teacup with a cartoon of this rhyme on it….
Today was the Summer solstice, the longest day here in the Northern Hemisphere. In Scotland it was Dawn before 4am and after 10pm … 19 hours of daylight. From now on the day length will start to shorten again until we reach the shortest day in December.
So in the next ten minutes before British summer time midnight I shall cherish those extra minutes of light. I hope we have a good (and cool) summer and that we don’t get mad temperatures like last year, but I doubt it, we have already had a hot June and it’s not over yet.
Think about climate change and the things you can do to help keep overheating down. Hugs, happy solstice.
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Voyage. I loved drawing galleons when I was a child… I was all at sea with this challenge till I thought of that! Felt pens again…. A galleon ship sailing off along the sunset…
I tried to add a pattern underneath my kitty because he carpet he is lying on was dark and you couldn’t make out the outline easily. But I couldn’t finger paint around the cat very easily. Still I did an OK job. I wanted to add a black and white pattern to this photo of one of my black and white cats.
I love cats , they can be good companions and they are not as aloof as they are sometimes portrayed. I used Houndstooth check which seemed like a good choice. I should really try doing this in photoshop but I’m too tired to fire up my PC.
Great minds think alike?
I drew this this morning but hadn’t published it. I was just going through the reader section of WordPress and found someone else had done a very similar image. I did this digitally, playing with a drawing that I had been altering over the last couple of days. The other person’s art is four different female faces, using a totally different technique. It’s so interesting that artists come up with similar ideas from different beginnings. I like her style and work, good to see the creativity here!
What countries do you want to visit?
As a non flier, and someone who isn’t keen on ships I’m rather limited to where I would like to visit. I have been over the Channel on a ferry once and visited a few countries, but things like the Herald of Free Enterprise sinking put me off the idea, and going in a very long tunnel? No thanks.
I’ve enjoyed visiting Wales, I still do, but I’ve only got as far north as Carlisle in England and not even into the Scottish Borders. The thing is Scotland is a big country, there are Highlands and Lowlands, and all the beautiful lochs. The biggest mountain in the UK is Ben Nevis, and that’s in Scotland. Also the summer days are longer there as it is nearer the North Pole (not much closer) but it does affect the day length. And you are more likely to see the Aurora Borealis in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK.
Scotland had it’s own kings, and King James the sixth of Scotland became James the First of England when Queen Elizabeth the first died. There have been other famous Scottish Royals including Bonnie Prince Charlie.
I would like to visit the capital one day. Edinburgh is renowned for it’s yearly arts Festival, and it together with Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness are it’s main cities.
Scotland has world fame for it’s Whisky brewing and many fine Scottish Malts are distilled on the mainland and also on numerous islands about the coast.
I’d like to paint the scenery and visit some of its famous landscapes. I’m sure I could spend a great deal of time exploring. Maybe one day we will visit.
Smudge and fudge
Please don’t judge?
Abstract face
Drawn with pace
Quick and messy
Like graffiti, breezy…
Oily marking
I might be larking
Around with sprays?
No, finger plays
On screen, I did it all
Digital!
Tonight’s rehearsal was fun. We discussed our performance on Sunday at Middlewich and agreed we had done well to cope with the Loud music from across the road at a local restaurant. Our choir leader was pleased with us and told us people had come up and shook her hand!
It was also good to perform alongside her and her friend Esther from the Boat Band. When you normally sing a capella and without microphones it’s difficult to tell how things are sounding, but we didn’t cause any whistles or squeaks or feedback….
So tonight we were planning which songs to sing in a mediaeval event in July, we started singing a French song and a few other old favourites. It’s surprising how things come back to you even if you haven’t sung them for years…. We were sounding quite good by the end of the practice session.
Mallaband-Brown