Original pattern from 9 years ago. I’ve just duplicated it to extend the pattern. It was originally drawn on a site called Sketchfu which sadly closed a few years ago. As a pattern lover I liked the simplicity of the site. You could draw a lot of things with a few circular different sized pens.
What are the most important things needed to live a good life?
Obviously we all need the basics of life, food, water, shelter. Without them people would struggle. They are the basis of a good life. But on top of this I think education is important too.
The more you learn, the more you can do things. Simple biology is useful for growing crops, understanding how to maintain and feed them, how to breed them so you get better crops over the years.
Learning languages can help you to understand other countries, their communities, the ideas behind their beliefs. And also help prevent things like xenophobia. The more you understand the less anxious you should be.
What about mathematics? You would struggle to run a business without basic arithmetic and if you want to understand marketing or the reach of your products you probably need an understanding of statistics too….
Fishing? Ecology would be a good subject.
Designing cars? Either Art so you can draw a design and work out how it would fit together, or engineering if you want to get down to the nuts and bolts…
So many things to learn, and in some places that could cost a lot of money. So I think education should be free and paid for by the richest people in society.
Of course not everyone is educated to a reasonable standard. But it’s generally understood that the better educated you are, the better off you will be. You might not have a rich life, but hopefully a good life, a life of knowledge, discovery and understanding. And an improved wellbeing.
A wizard figurine hides behind our money plant upstairs. If he was originally a real wizard something has minaturised him and turned him into resin! Anyway if he’s casting a spell he’s not being very successful!
I do have lots of weird ornaments, but this one, and another of a roman soldier on a downstairs windowsill are both my hubbys choice. They go along with all the trains, tractors, and model cars. I guess we are really just hoarders at heart….
Shade from trees is wonderful in this hot and humid weather. We walked along under them and they shaded out the sun’s heat. The trouble is the leaves have started to fall…. It’s only June but I think the heat stress and lack of water isn’t helping. As I looked up into the tree canopy I could see some of the leaves were curled up and crispy…. Please let it rain….
Today was the last day of the Fine Art BA (honours) degree shows, and art foundation show at Staffordshire University. It’s an annual event and I have tried to get there most years since I graduated from there myself.
I think this year the body of work was excellent. There seemed to be a resurgence of painting and there was some beautiful art. There was quirky, humourous and poignant art too. Dotted throughout the show were “Mushroom Creatures” for a piece called “the oddity of connection”. They were small felted wool figures with mushroom heads or hairstyles. Very unusual. A bit like mythological creatures, I think they had won first place in the degree show.
I’m so glad I was reminded to go to see the shows. And lovely to see such a variety of styles, it takes me right back to when I was there all those years ago.
We used to buy more plants in the summer, this is a poppy from four years ago. I loved buying plants, but apart from ordering some hanging baskets for my birthday I don’t think we will have as much on show this year. But the trees are growing up and so are bushes. I might try and get some foxgloves…
As he spoke, the stems pulsed and coiled. Pink and red cells seemed to glow. Each second the plant or creature was getting larger. Then like a coiled spring toy, a slinky, it tumbled down the stairs…
Run she said. As trailing vines skittered across the floor… But he was rooted to the spot, a tendril found his ankle.
To reduce my stress levels I decided to start a small watercolour of my friend Martha’s dog. I’ve been promising it for ages, but with everything that’s been going on I decided to wait until I felt slightly happier. Anyway, the floodgates finally opened today and I was able to finish two portraits. So why not make another start. It’s nice to use watercolours again. Hard to keep the colours light enough. I shall post it soon, about A5 size.