Forty years ago

Posted on March 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged cortauld, Euston, Forty miles, galleries, Late, London, national gallery, tate, Train, Travel, underground, WhitechapelLeave a comment

A memory of something that happened to me when I was at college just popped into my head. We wereon a London trip to look at Art galleries and museums. For some reason wewere given cloakroom tickets (raffle tickets) instead of actual train tickets on the way down. We spent several hours visiting the National Gallery, the Courtauld Institute, the Tate and the Whitechapel Gallery. But then I miscalculated the distance from another gallery to Euston Station via the Underground (the map is very beautifully designed but the distances are altered to make all the stations fit. And so me and my friend arrived on the platform at Euston as the train yo Stoke-on-Trent started to pull out. I ran but couldn’t jump up to the train door. We had to go to the station ticket office with our raffle tickets! After explaining they agreed we could catch the next train, two hours later we were off. But unfortunately it only went to Stafford, I don’t know how we got back from there but we did… Bus I think, yes, I couldn’t afford to get a taxi the twenty miles we were short on a student grant…

Six months…

Posted on March 14, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Family, Friend, Life, Loss, Memory, Pain, Poem, Poetry, Sister, Six months, Sketching, TwinLeave a comment

Six months since I lost you

Six months of sorrow

I don’t remember every day

But milestones on the way

Remind me of a voice lost

A physical presence gone.

When I feel down the loss is greater

I dispare that your life is over.

I still pray for you at night

And I wish with all my might

That you were still here

Even if you were not near

Sister, twin, friend

My love to you

I send.

Jupiter’s pole

Posted on March 14, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Astronomy, Clouds, Juno probe, Jupiter, Painting, Pole, SpaceLeave a comment

Probably my most abstract image, actually me trying to paint one of the poles of Jupiter taken by the Juno probe a few years ago. It just popped up in my Facebook memories. I find blending difficult for paintings like this. Acrylic dries to quickly to get a fluffy feel to the clouds. I might revisit this and add a bit more to it.

Cat

Posted on March 14, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1874, Poem, Poetry, Prompt, Tuxedo cat, what animal I'd like to beLeave a comment

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

If I could I’d be a cat

Eight meals a day

But still not fat

Treats on demand

From my owners hand

A bed in each room

For me to groom

And fall asleep

Warm and comfortable

Under the table

Or on the windowledge

Watching nature

Then outside

To chase leaves

And hide.

Would you like Marmite on that?

Posted on March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1869, Food, Life, marmite, Memory, minor question, Question, ThinkingLeave a comment

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

I hate marmite. I ate it once when I was a child and I never ate it again. Its a minor hate, it wouldn’t hurt me to eat it, but that’s how I feel about it. So if you asked me if I’d like Marmite on something I would not thank you.

This is why I took so long to answer this prompt. I don’t think I have a real question that I would hate to be asked? I guess there will be something but I haven’t come across it yet. I must lead a sheltered life.

Thinking of a question I would hate to be asked made me realise how lucky I am not to be in a situation where I would need to answer it. I think I will leave this here as I’m starting to waffle!

Back to singing

Posted on March 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, croaky, Found, Fun, Harmony, Lost, Music, Rings, Singing, Tired, Torch, voiceLeave a comment

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

After a couple of weeks off I went back to choir practice tonight. I still have a tickly cough and every time I tried to sing with any volume it set it off. It’s annoying because it’s hard to harmonise with a growly voice! It was throwing it down with rain, but there was a good attendance there. The first thing that happened though was I shook my hands because they were wet from the rain running down them from my coat, and the three rings on my right little finger shot off my hand and into a dark corner. I wouldn’t have realised that it had happened but they twinkled as they fell. Luckily the choir leader had a torch so I found them with a couple of other choir members help. I’ve lost weight and my fingers have got a bit thinner. Anyway, despite the problem with losing my rings, and the croaky voice, I’m glad I went out. It’s such a nice atmosphere there.

Climbing the shelves

Posted on March 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bookcases, Books, Digital manipulation, Filter, Old, Photo, Photodirector, toy owlsLeave a comment

When we had our bookshelves put in I could reach most of the books, now, twenty years later its much more complicated to reach the higher shelves. I can’t stand on the footstool because in not very balanced anymore. There are folding stepladders, but I need to turn them sideways and balance issues and holding on to them is the problem. My left arm shakes which makes it hard to hold on. Hubby makes it worse by not putting them back! Sometimes I can squeeze books on the lower shelves, but often they end up stacked on the floor and are then a trip hazard. There is also stuff in front of the bookcases because I can’t move it upstairs or to my studio. Life can be difficult. But I’m too attached to them to get rid of them!

Dear me at 100

Posted on March 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bucket list, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1873, Halleys comet, Learning, Letter, Thinking, to myself at 1003 Comments

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Dear me

I never expected to get to 100, although I really wanted to. I enjoy being creative and learning new things. When I was young I always got bored, so I found things to do. The more I did that, the more I tried to do. Art, science, astronomy, pottery, reading. Lots of nonsensical things too.

I think using my mind is important, I hope I still have all my marbles when I reach 100. I once met a woman who was in her mid seventies and said she had no room in her brain to learn more! Why? It doesn’t make sense. Finding out new things renews me. It gives me the opportunity to understand more. I hope that me at 100 can still take in information and keep up to date with what is going on in the world.

I really wanted to see Halleys comet return. I hope future me saw it? Its on my bucket list. X

Seven years

Posted on March 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Colour, Digital drawing, Digitally manipulated, Facebook, Pattern, seven years, TimeLeave a comment

Seven years ago I created this. I can’t remember exactly how. But it just popped up on my Facebook memories. It’s definitely my style, pattern and colours. I do love the idea of creating something like this, completely abstract using some elements from nature. I don’t know if there are enough pixels to make it work as a print. I’m not sure how many dpi it is.

Mill

Posted on March 12, 2023March 12, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Etruria Industrial museum, Fine Art, Harecastle tunnel, Industrial heritage, Jessie Shirley's bone and flint mill, Kidsgrove, Life, Painting, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

Small ‘Mill’ painting sold.

It was very good to hear that my small painting of Etruria Flint Mill had sold to a friend yesterday. It was another in a new style I am experimenting with. I’m using more lines and textures to emphasise the patterns in the bricks and sky and trees. The image is based on a photo of the Mill and Industrial Museum, but I added more white to give a feeling of when it was in use, and the site was dusted with the crushed bones and flints that went into Stoke-on-Trents bone China, their attempt to replicate Porcelain. The canal is brown with rusty water. If you visit Kidsgrove which is to the North of Stoke you can see the canal there is often very orange. The Trent and Mersey canal runs through the Harecastle Tunnel which is another interesting part of our industrial heritage.

I have other work for sale at Arts and Minds Gallery at Harper Street in Middleport opposite Middleport Pottery, Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.