Cat on stairs

Posted on February 15, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, In the way, Night, obstacle, Purring, Sleeping, Stairs, Tired, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

The cat came in and plonked himself down to sleep in a quiet place last night, partway up the stairs! He settled down to snooze, which was fine, but at bedtime, he was in the way. However cats have pride of place here, so because there was room to put a foot next to him we let him be. Then during the night I had to come downstairs a couple of times. He was still there, curled up. Luckily he has a white band across his back so I could see he was there. This morning? Still having a kip. I gave him a couple of cat treats which he ate. We are letting him be, I checked and could see no injuries so he must just be tired. X

Panto time

Posted on February 14, 2023February 18, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Painting, Pantomime, Penkhull, Robin Hood, Scenery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Penkhull Pantomime this year is Robin Hood. It will be on in Stoke on Trent again next week, the Penkhull group is performing at our local village hall. I was not able to take part in it this year because of my ill health, but I am pleased that they will be using some small paintings of scenes I originally did three years ago. I’m trying to source some fibreboard so I can do a final painting, it will be based on a celtic design that I found and as it’s about Scotland there will be thistles and a stags head. I haven’t painted it yet but no doubt I will post about it when I’ve completed it. The photo here is me waring a mob cap in a performance I was in back in December.

Final photo

Posted on February 14, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Beach, Commission, Fine Art, lapping, Ocean, Painting, Rocks, Sand, Sea, tide, Water2 Comments

I asked for a photo of my beach painting from the lady who bought it (it went to the person who had commissioned it and I had forgotten to take a picture). She was really happy with it. I tried to get that feeling of water washing on and out, flowing over the sand. A few dark rocks sit in the bottom right hand corner and I really tried to get bright sunny colours into it. I found the blue hard to get right, so I used a turquoise hue to get that marine feeling.

Happy Valentines day

Posted on February 14, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Digital drawing, Drawing, Friends, Friendship, Love, Sketching, valentines card, Valentines day1 Comment

It’s Valentines day here and a friend put a card through our letterbox wishing me and my hubby a happy Valentines day. I think it’s really sweet of her. I think it’s a nice idea to share love between friends as well as couples. Why not? A token of friendship and care and love? The idea of a more inclusive world where everyone gets something from it. After all not everyone wants to be in a relationship. They are normal people, they shouldn’t be deminished because of their choice. X

Twelve years ago

Posted on February 13, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged acrylic on plaster, Art, Bedroom, children's, Commission, Life, Mural, PaintingLeave a comment

When I used to paint murals I did a series of cartoon characters for a friends son. This was Fun to do! This was done about twelve years ago. I enjoyed painting it. I remember using acrylic on the walls, with a matt varnish on top.

Red sky tonight

Posted on February 13, 2023February 13, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black, Bright, Colour, Evening, Gold, Night, Orange, Poem, Poetry, Red, silhouettes, Sketching app, Sun, SunsetLeave a comment

I saw the sky this evening

Turned bloody orange

As if on fire

Light streaming through

Branches and trees

Illuminating a landscape

Still dry from lack of rain.

The hedge behind us

Was split by the light

A shaft of red and gold

For telling bright weather

And clear skies

And stars

For the night ahead…..

Grapes

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Drawing, Food, Fruit, Grapes, Life, Pencil sketch, SketchingLeave a comment

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was grapes. Imagining a bunch of grapes and trying to draw them is hard! But I tried x it’s a pencil crayon drawing and so I added the pencil as part of the sketch.

Chocolate and oatcakes

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bird flu, Birds, Feeding, Food, Geese, Hot chocolate, marshmallow, Nature, Oatcakes, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Afternoon tea, a couple of cheese ant tomato Staffordshire oatcakes with a dab of brown sauce and a hot chocolate with squirty cream, marshmallows and a tiny jammy dodger biscuit with a ram heart at its centre, presumably for valentines day? (which I have hubby). We had this at Westport Lake visitors centre. We sat on the balcony in a slightly chilly breeze, overlooking the lake. The geese were calling, I think they wanted bird food. But we couldn’t feed them because there us bird flu in the area and feeding a flock can help spread it. The latest news is that it has jumped species to small mammals which is very worrying. Anyway, sorry to put a downer on this post!

Today’s amble

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Day out, lakes, Photo, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Visit, Walk, Westport lake, wildlife centreLeave a comment

Two lakes, the smaller in front. One is a quarter of a mile to walk round, the other a mile. Its at Westport in Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire. A bit of a haven for water birds. It’s also a reservoir for the Trent and Mersey canal I think. It’s a flooded area of old coal workings or marl pits I think? Sorry not to have better information, I shall have to check. Its run by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. There’s a cafe there and wildlife csntre. The only thing is the local council have bought in car parking charges (it used to be free). Its sad because in this day and age people might be put off coming because of the cost of living crisis.

Tree views

Posted on February 12, 2023February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bund, Day out, lakes, Life, Photo, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trees, Visit, Walk, Westport lake, wildlife centreLeave a comment

Trees on our walk today. (somehow I seem to have posted the same thing twice so I’m editing this into a new post). Anyway this was at the far end of the big Westport Lake where a large plot of land has had tons of hardcore rubble placed on it I don’t know if its an industrial site or housing, but they have builf a huge bund (piled up slope) hopefully to hide it from the lake. Previously it was a muddy rocky mess adjacent to the nature reserve and the main train line that runs to one side of the reserve. I’m glad these trees have been left to screen off the area.