New paintings and regular art updates.
I duplicated the previous picture in Incollage then using most of the Instagram tools to change colours and hues. Then I adjusted the angles of the image to make it twist and turn.
It looks a bit rough but I like the idea of an off center image, it looks more interesting.
I decided to play with digital drawing again did a drawing in the Artrage app and them modified it in the Sketchbook app. I then used the incollage app to create a collage of the steps I had taken. Finally I used an Instagram filter to change the hues of the images. I did all of this as a finger drawing. I need to try using a stylus for a more controlled effect.
Someone just asked what people remembered of their grandparents house. I thought about the open fire in the hearth..
There was a coal fire, they used paper ‘spills’ to light it, my sisters and I would roll sheets of newspaper into long thin tubes which were the spills… Grandma once had a chimney fire. She used to ‘draw’ the air through the chimney with a sheet of newspaper held against the front of the fire. She would leave a little gap at the bottom and the wind above the chimney would draw the air up, and with it the flames from the kindling she had lit (usually small sticks of wood). Once she had it burning she would bank it up with coal and we would stare at the lovely warm flames. But I remember one day the chimney hadn’t been swept and the soot inside it caught fire! I think the firebrigade had to put it out. I remember being outside watching black smoke and flames coming out of the top of the chimney!
Other memories? A big tin bath on a shelf at the far end of the kitchen before they had an inside bathroom. And grandma’s handmade rag rug made by pushing short lengths of cloth through an old sack cloth so it made a shaggy cloth mat which lay in front of the hearth.
Our grandparents had a chicken coop in the back garden and I remember the hens too. I must have been very young… Vague memories…
What are you passionate about?
When I was a child I would make up songs to send myself to sleep. I can remember lying under the covers and singing lullabies. I must have sung quietly as I shared bedroom with my sister!
As I got older I sang with the school choir, but my voice was untrained and would flip between higher and lower registers. I think they liked me in the school choir for the volume I could create.
As I got older I would go to parties and burst into song, usually something like “Swing Low” which has a lower tune that I could hit (I found out I’m a contralto I think). Finally I decided to try and control my voice because I went to a Christmas Carol concert and my voice was up high and down low, hitting notes an octave apart.
I started singing lessons and did the basic grade exam, I was learning once a fortnight because I couldn’t afford more frequent lessons. It was expensive and then my teacher decided to move away. Thankfully my best friend at the time had persuaded me to join a choir on the weeks I wasn’t at singing lessons. Now 20 years later I’m singing in that choir and another one, I’m confident enough to perform in public and I’ve realised how it helps my mental health. Singing relieves anxiety, it’s like art, it takes your mind off things for that brief time when you are creating musical sounds. It is a true passion of mine.
There are some verses in the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien “The Road goes ever on”….
I wish I could remember it. I could look it up, but basically I’m too tired! The photo I took last year, at the Dorothy Clive garden reminds me of the verse, the road or path winds off into the distance. Who knows where it will lead as it rises and falls, but there is the possibility of adventure and even danger. I guess it could also indicate what happens to us in life, the ups and downs, you can’t forecast what is round the corner, it could be something nice like an old friend, or someone jumping out at you with malice. The path isn’t always sunny and bright. But we have to live it the best way we can.
I haven’t got the hang of social media food posting. I either take photos of the plates before I get the food or after I’ve eaten it!
We’ve just been for a birthday meal at Sawadee Thai taste in Stoke. It’s becoming a redular thing. Tonight we had starters of athai fishcakes and spare ribs, then red duck curry and jasmine rice. We used to have more food but I’m trying to be good as its all too nice but too filling! Plus I had some mango and pineapple pieces for afters. Full up and sleepy now…
I may be wrong, but I think this plants colloquial name is Fox and Cubs? I think you get a main flower then a number of smaller flowers around it. I’ve seen it growing as a weed, with dandelion style seed heads? But I may be completely wrong and it could be a different plant entirely? If anyone knows please tell me. I think we saw these plants at the Dorothy Clive garden last year when we visited in the summer.
Cold was our #bandofsketchers Tuesday prompt.
How to keep cool in hot weather. We don’t have air conditioning so we occasionally use a fan to at least stir the air a bit. I’ve imagined one with ribbons (which would probably get tangled up). Just a quick felt pen sketch.
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
When Aqualegia (grannies bonnets) and Daffodils and Tulips flower. When the winter rains and frosts abate. When insects start collecting nectar and pollen and the sun rises earlier and sets later. Spring is my favourite season.
Spring refreshes the world, a fizz of flowers shoot up and cover the ground. Leaves sprout and burst from buds, trees are clothed in green again. Not the dark green of summer leaves, but the pale lime greens of new growth.
Not everyone has seasons, towards the equator the day length stays around the same length. The growing season is continuous and forests and jungles can grow to huge sizes. Unfortunately that means that loggers and farmers destroy virgin jungles by removing the trees and replacing them with palm oil plants or growing other crops such as corn and maize. This is destructive and raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
So my answer is that I love Spring, it helps me keep track of time. It is enchanting and beautiful. I’m glad I live somewhere that changes, even if it is only for a short time.
Rhododendrons look lovely, but they can be an invasive species. They shade out smaller plants and the ground around them becomes bare. I know in some places they are removed. Rhododendrons are native to Asia but were imported by plant collectors in the Victorian era. They ‘layer’ themselves to spread, a branch can touch the ground and where it rubs against the soil it will send out roots (or layer). This also happens with other plants. Forest and parkland have to be managed to protect it from invasive species like this and others such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed.
Mallaband-Brown