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.
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!
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.
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.
Oh dear, I’m in a whirl again, lack of sleep isn’t helping. Someone was chatting with me today and yet again I found myself crying. When will I ever feel happy again?
It was raining this morning when I went out, so I decided not to wear a coat. Cool, damp, with a breeze, it was good to feel a little more comfortable. When I got home the fan went on, and that’s stirring the air up nicely. I’m going back out later, but for now I just had a nap (I must be getting old). The cat came and poddled away kneading my knees and then fell asleep too.
Shall I dream of life and loss again tonight? I don’t know. Its hard to control things when you sleep, then wake up in a tizz.
By the way the drawing on the right was based on the drawing on the left, just by sketching over it. I decided to turn it upside down to match my confused mood.
I like being logical and working things out. I’ve always been good at guessing who the murderer is in films and programmes like Miss Marple (you can tell from this I’m probably not young). I also enjoy trying to work out who is the criminal in novels like the Brother Cadfael Mysterys by Ellis Peters.
I’m interested in medical mysteries and I like working out what problems people have with their eyes for instance . You can tell by looking at how big their eyes look behind their glasses (bigger eyes-longsighted, smaller eyes-short sighted). So I was fascinated by the TV series House, and also the Mentalist.
I love Spock in Star Trek and have generally tried to be less emotional, but lately that has been hard to maintain. Even so my hubby calls me Captain Sensible!
Sometimes I overdo it. I’ve suddenly felt the need to pack my shopping bags precisely. Is this too controlling? I think I’m trying to control the uncontrollable, which is really illogical!
I’m interested in science and would love to have more knowledge. I enjoy learning and finding out things. So yes, this is my favourite thing about myself, which actually surprised me, because I thought I would have said art and creativity. But those are imprinted on my DNA. Knowledge though, intruiges me, and makes me want to find out more.
Another quick fingerpainting this time just in sketchbook app. You can vary the pens and brushes, there’s a large selection, but they are almost too numerous to work with. It’s hard sometimes to decide which to use. Thank heavens for the back button so I can delete what I don’t like. This started out as a quick sketch that I was drawing to show a friend how the app worked, but then I decided to finish it tonight.
Mallaband-Brown 