New paintings and regular art updates.
My friend always sends me a photo of cards or things we send him so we know he’s got them. But I was surprised when this popped onto my screen. My hubby had sent a card of a black cat that I had printed last year. I had been experimenting with lino cutting and I had forgotten that I had made them. It’s a surprise and nice to see one of the again!
I keep seeing cartoons of people with tiny heads, small bodies, long legs and big feet. Why? it’s fashionable I guess, artists and illustrators are as susceptible to that as anyone else. But is it lazy, or is it what clients are demanding? I can imagine a conversation, “we like your work but can you tweak it?”, “how would you like it?” can you exentuate the feet and make the face small? “,” OK “….
I can understand the concept, the viewpoint is low down, a bit like when a child looks up to a parent. It also makes the subject figure appear stronger because it towers over it’s surroundings, like a giant with seven league boots striding over a diminished landscape. But to me? It’s getting boring. There is no nuance, the parts of the figures are like cut out pieces of paper, no real shading.
There are various illustration programmes that allow you to stitch together a figure by dragging and dropping various elements to ‘build’ a figure and it’s environment. Like other AI and tech systems it’s taking over from real artists and real interesting designs. It’s basically safety as opposed to unique ideas. Dumbing down another profession. I appreciate it makes life for clients easier, but where is the innovation?
The falcon works in Stoke has an emblem on the wall of the old derelict pottery, it is a Goss hawk. I took a photo of it and painted it onto this wooden planter from Project 2000?in Stoke on Trent. I painted on all the individual bricks too. It’s been outside for a couple of years and it’s still looking good because I put a thick layer of yatch varnish all over it to protect it.
Who is your favorite historical figure?
Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Wikipedia
I had to look up some of her details as I could not remember the spelling of her maiden name. She won the Nobel prizes for Chemistry and Physics. She found both Radium and Polonium within tons of a mineral called Pitchblende. She slowly dissolved and precipitated the mineral so that the Radium and Polonium was washed out. She and her husband Pierre Curie worked in an old shed attached to the Paris University to do the work.
It took her a long time to be accepted on her University course because she was a woman. And after her husband died after being run over by a horse drawn omnibus she continued to work on the discoveries of radiation. She worked with Ernest Rutherford who had discovered Gamma rays when he found photographic plates had been fogged despite not being exposed to light. Curie managed to concentrate Radium which was used to paint onto watch dials and hands. The paintresses who used the luminous paint used to point their brushes with their lips and many of them got cancer in their mouth and Jaws because the damaging effects of radiation were not understood.
Marie Curie had daughters who ran an Xray ambulance in the first world war, I can’t remember if Marie Curie was involved with that.
I’m sorry I don’t know all the details, but she was certainly a strong roll model for female scientists and helped grow a whole new branch of Chemistry and Physics.
The bracts are developing to a purple blue. Such a lovely plant. It’s sitting in the yard but I think we will move it towards the house so it gets more light. I remember my grandmother having a hydrangea but hers was pink. I painted a portrait of her in front of it years ago. It grew in a big pot under the living room window. Just seeing this brings back memories of a strong and forthright woman. She knew what she thought and what she wanted.
Reflected pink stains my cat
He’s happy to sit and purr
He poddles his paws and stirs
The cover. Pink throw
And green throw,
And purple cushion.
He sits and fits
well in the space
But soon he’s gone
Off on a mission
Nuzzling bees
Climbing trees
He’s a big cat
Not fat
Just jolly…
In the restroom at Spode. Lots of plants adorned the old windowsills. I gave them all a bit of water as they were looking very dry. I didn’t pour a lot of water in them as I didn’t want to disturb someone else’s regime of watering. It’s lovely to see them surviving as the space is boiling hot in summer and freezing cold in winter, but still the plants survive.
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….
Mallaband-Brown