All you need

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I’m glad I have someone to love. He drives me round the bend, and I think I’d be OK on my own, but we are joined at the hip. We stick together somehow. Chemistry? Maybe, perhaps we are like an old worn pair of shoes. We only match each other. Foibles? We’ve got a few. I’m sure we would drive other partners mad if we ever decided to find someone else. I’m a believer in the wedding ceremony, richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. All it means is that you have to have give and take in a relationship. I don’t mean you should stick around if its awful, or put up with bad behaviour. There has to be some love. I’m glad I have a bit.

So yes, I love the Beatles song “all you need is love”, it’s my era and I’ve probably listened to it a thousand times, and if you can, try and love yourself as well as others x

Leaving work

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Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

It was a drastic decision, but I don’t regret it. Each time I thought I knew my job inside out the management changed things. In that sort of situation you could be doing the right thing one day and the wrong the next. That’s the problem with hierarchy, the top decides and the bottom has to implement rules even if they don’t make sense. And each time the goalposts move it’s not likely to be in your favour.

So I found myself out of work, but not regretting it. I had enough money to live on for a while so I set myself up as an artist. Of course I had grand ideas of sales and building a clientele, but at that stage I really didn’t know that my health would not be good. With that and the pandemic (no I haven’t had covid as yet) I found I really didn’t have a business. But I don’t care, I’m away from the humdrum, I’m not being made miserable by rules I don’t like and don’t want to follow. I have had more freedom to be myself than I ever had during the rest of my life. I guess I’m what they call semi retired. A hobbyist? I’d rather paint than do anything else.

Would I reverse the change? Never. I’ve only been back and seen my colleagues a couple of times. The past is the past, let it be!

Magnetic bags?

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What is it about cats and bags? I caught the cat trying to get his head in a small paper bag yesterday, it hadn’t had food in it but he was intrigued anyway. They like the cloth bags from the local supermarket, but even get in the orange plastic carrier bags if I leave them on the sofa while I’m unloading the groceries. Sometimes though if I use the bag again they go off it (it must smell different).

What other things do they sleep on or in? Cat beds, a cat tree, cushions and chair throws, basically wherever they want and can fit. Occasionally they even sleep on the sofa or our chairs, but that’s usually after we have gone to bed. Yeah, cats rule round here!

Heads up

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I’m imagining the back of a playing card with a pattern on it like this? Two profiles facing each other, one turned upside down. It’s based on the idea of the two heads on the King, Queen and Jack cards. Are they designed to read from both top and bottom to make it easier for all players to read them?

I am not a graphic designer so I am not sure what criteria I would need to actually make these, but I’m having fun as I experiment again.. Hope you enjoy my scribbles x

Unidentified Flying bush?

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The way the winds blowing I could see this flying past my window!

It’s actually four collaged photos. If you take a photo with an interesting corner you can create images of things apparently floating in mid air. I didn’t take the picture deliberately to do that, it was more about the pinks and oranges of the sky…

It was cycling

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What’s the most fun way to exercise?

When I was a lot younger my then boyfriend (now hubby) encouraged me to buy a bike because I couldn’t afford a car. We would cycle short distances but gradually I got fitter and we found we would go off into the countryside to enjoy the landscapes or put the bikes on the train and visit our families (both about forty miles away).

But then we started to cycle to and from the family homes, we had both got to the stage where we had got fit and healthy. It’s a great way of getting around and we eventually bought a second hand tandem which was actually two bikes welded together! We manages a hundred mile reliability trial, despite a pedal falling off because one of the chain wheels had been put on back to front. We then got a Gitane tandem, it was much better but the chain was always too slack. We could get up a good speed on it. We would cycle along and down country lanes. Once we ran into a boy scout jamboree, and also a pony trek with ponies stretched across the road up in the Staffordshire moorlands.

My regret? I got knocked off my bike and ended up with a fractured skull. I carried on cycling for a year. But then one day I was cycling up a hill and the bike collapsed underneath me! I took it in for repair and the cycle shop lost my bike for a year! I got it back eventually but I’d got a car and although I still cycled work got in the way and I didn’t use my bike as often. I now can’t get my leg over the bike because my hips are too stiff. I regret losing that fitness and a wonderful exercise.

Background

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I’m playing with oil colours in Artrage. I wanted to create a geological, rocky sort of image, like a slab of slate. Then I decided to split it into a collage, like five pieces of cake. It was interesting to create an abstract pattern, and I love the blues and reds as they smudged together. If I had oil paints I would try and recreate this as a real painting. I don’t know how I would do it though.