Silver Sliver?

Posted on March 7, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cough, Digital manipulation, Drawing, Filters, Flow, Life, mindful, Now, silver, Sketching, Sliver, Sore throat, Time2 Comments

When you sit all day feeling ill with a sore throat and a cough what do you do? I draw wobbly sketches! Play with filters, add colours, use metallic pens. Play with words. I think since I’ve been doing Esther Chilton’s blog challenges (limericks and five word challenges) it’s made me think more about words and how they work. It’s also taking part in #bandofsketchers prompts which gives me the chance to illustrate different ideas. Yes it is just a minor, wobbly, not very clear sketch, and I have put it through digital filters. But it keeps my mind busy and takes it off other thoughts, like feeling too sorry for myself. I think I experience flow, that feeling of time passing without you noticing, and being in the ‘now’? X

Distant

Posted on March 7, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Distance, distant, Drawing, Landscape, Life, Perspective, Sketching, two points of viewLeave a comment

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was distant. I used to like to play with perspective drawings, using either one or two vanishing points. Both show how buildings or streets dwindle into the distance, becoming distant. It’s also fun to make up your own architecture.

My autobiography?

Posted on March 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged autobiography, Biography, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1867, Jetpack, Prompt, Thinking, Writing6 Comments

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

“Life had been simple and uncomplicated until my blog page changed overnight.”

Yes, it had been OK, I could talk about my early years, and which schools I went to, but these days data can be mined. So if I do write my autobiography it will be in a book. At least then if you want my information you might have to pay for it!

Then there is the question of whether it’s an autobiography or biography? Would anyone care enough to want to write about me, or would I get someone to ghost write it for me?

Seeing the outrage and amazement caused by the recent release of information from the writer of Matt Hancock’s biography, thousands of pages from WhatsApp, I’m not sure I’d want to do it (although mine might be boring and not salacious).

Bring back bar charts!

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, bar chart, bells and whistles, Display, Feelings, Irritated, Jetpack, Learning, Life, Limerick, Poem, Poetry, preferences, viewing3 Comments

Well I don’t like this swinging line

To other users it might be fine

But irritating I think it is

To see stats displayed like this

It gives me vertigo like I’ve drunk wine!

…….

Oops! They are there! You have to slide the screen sideways!

Jetpack installed!

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Apps, catastrophising, Delete, Jetpack, Memory, New, Sad, Thinking, uninstalling, Why?, WordPress, Worried3 Comments

Installing jetpack was OK but sorting my phone storage out first was the problem. I felt like I was launching my phone at the moon, without a rocket to take it. I knew I would need to free up space as currently my phone is 85% full. But what to uninstall? Which apps are crucial to my phone running properly and which could I delete? I randomly chose a few I rarely use. I still need to upgrade my memory but my phone shop didn’t have the right chip in and needs to order them in. So my dilemma (and I was catastrophising I think) was would things work after I did it. Well clearly it did, but jetpack took a while to install, probably due to the amount of data it had to bring over.

Well I’ve done it. I don’t like the look of it. That’s just because I’m used to the old site. I felt sad uninstalling WordPress, it feels like I have cut ties with it. It’s strange how you become invested in something so ephemeral as a computer app. I hope I get used to this. X

Buds required

Posted on March 6, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Air, Buds, Bushes, dry, February, Garden, Gardening, Life, Nature, Snow, snowfall, Spring, Trees, Water1 Comment

Come on rain, its been the driest February for years. The trees and bushes need a good sprinkling of rain. I can see tiny buds on our willow tree but they aren’t opening. The branches and twigs are bare. We may get some snow this week. But I didn’t know that ten centimetres of snow is equivalent to one centimetre of rain? That’s because fallen snow is mainly made up of air (think of how snow flakes are crystals that branch and leave gaps and air pockets). Let it rain, for a while, water the trees, please!

Invisible

Posted on March 6, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Ideas, Invisible?, Life, Prompt, Sketching, ThinkingLeave a comment

Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was Invisible. I imagine the invisible man would have to be naked if he wants to wander about. Or would have to wear bandages or makeup. There was a series on TV with David McCallum. If he drank you might see the coffee going into his stomach-Etc! Until it was actually absorbed. I got the stomach too high up in this sketch.

New ideas?

Posted on March 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Daffodils, Environment, Flowers, Helibore, Ideas, Life, Mecanopsis, Nature, Painting, Spring, VincaLeave a comment

I’ve just been to the gallery where II have some of my paintings today. I thought they would be asking me to take some of my paintings away because they have been up too long, but they only wanted me to take one of a poppy field. But I do need to do some new paintings, to swap out with the ones I currently have there. I’m trying to think of spring images, maybe flowers? This is a Vinca. I was also thinking of doing a painting of a Blue himalayan poppy (mecanopsis) or other similar ones like Helibores. Also maybe snowdrops or daffodils. We will see.

And the moon landed on his head….

Posted on March 5, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, domed, Drawing, Head, hit, Hubby, Life, Moon, night light, Oops, Plastic, SketchingLeave a comment

One of my Christmas presents was a night light, about 18 inches in diameter that is based on the moon. It lights up as a full moon but you can also set it to gently run through phases like the real moon with a remote control.

Last night I couldn’t sleep. The nightlight gives enough light, if you sit up in bed, to read a book by. So about six am I got the novel I’m reading out and read for about twenty minutes. Then I lay down to try and sleep. I reached up to turn out the light with the little switch at the base of it. Oops! I pushed too hard, the large plastic domed moon slid off the little nail it was loosely hooked on, it slid sideways as I tried to grab it, and bump! Hit my hubby on the head. He was fast asleep but shouted out wha? Then fell back to sleep. This morning after hooking the moon back up, I asked him if he remembered being hit by the moon. He replied he wondered what had happened? I said the Moon fell on him!

Mad night snack

Posted on March 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beetroot, Cheese, Food, invention, Midnight, midnight snack, Odd, pringle, sliced, SnackLeave a comment

You know when you wake up in the middle of the night, feeling hungry for a light snack and you don’t have much in?

I had some ready salted pringle (saddle shaped crispy things) an old bit of cheese and a few baby beetroots left in a jar. So I sliced a few bits of cheese, then one of the baby beers into bits and stuck them on the pringle. Voilà baby beetroot and cheese on horseback!

I realised though that the beetroot stained my fingers red so switched them so the cheese was on top. Strange but tasty…