New paintings and regular art updates.
Sunday’s #bandofsketchers prompt was elegant. My elegant idea was to draw a sewing pattern with a figure in a dress. I was inspired by 1970’s patterns which had elegant ladies sketched onto the sewing pattern cover. But my drawing does not really get the feel. It’s more like something I would have drawn as a teenager! I’m also showing my age. I’m sure I had a stripey skirt a bit like this, that flared out when you moved.
I couldn’t sleep last night and watched a few short adaptations of some M. R. James ghost stories, including one called the Mezzotint. The writer who adapted them is called Mike Gatiss and is well known for his involvement in the Sherlock series of detective mystery TV shows and other clever stories.
I realised that A Christmas Carol is a ghost story! Sounds strange but I think of it as a Christmas story and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside rather than the slight weirded out shudder I get from ghost stories at this time of year. But then I prefer a taut, spooky, tension building story any day to a horror film, all lumbering zombies and nightmarish vampires. The ones where people Always run upstairs towards the danger instead of out the front door and to the safety of the police station (I mean a British police station, no guns, no odd sheriff who arrests you instead of looking for the real culprit, no hidden secret). No I prefer the subtle horror of a tap that continues to drip even after the lead piping connecting it to the mains water has been severed by a hacksaw… Or the gradual encroachment of a garden full of roses with sharp thorns and a deadly scent that can envelope an unwary new tenant attempting to cut back the thorny undergrowth.
And why do they put on these spooky little horrors at this time of year? Is it the lengthening hours of dark, dank, cold, mist and fog? The snow falling so that tracks can be left but then fade before an investigation can find them in the morning? Subtle screams muffled by an unseasonably rising tide? Its like a box of dark chocolates, with Evil centres.
I am quite particular in what I prefer. No evil dead films. More sneaking spooks, less fangs, more clues.
Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Car. I had drawn an abstract pattern and could make out the shape of a car in it. Not exactly inspired, but I had fun. A bit like graffiti. I could imagine it spray painted on a concrete road bridge. It does look like it’s been in an accident. Still got to do today’s prompt.. Maybe tomorrow.
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Europe. I had no idea what to do for this. I do love Gaudi the architect and I tried to channel the sort of colours and patterns he uses, but it’s all imagined and I have not used any reference.
A celebratory cartoon of the cast of A Christmas Carol by Glenn Martin who did a brilliant job playing Scrooge. We had a blow up turkey suit so the person playing the turkey was much bigger than tiny Tim. I only played one part today. We were due to perform outside, but freezing rain, and members of the cast with or getting this horrible cold meant that we performed inside the guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme instead. We were accompanied by a brilliant school choir and my hubby really got into his role of ‘the ghost of Christmas present’. I was due to play Mrs Cratchett but the lurgy had knocked me sideways. The audience appreciated the show. But what was upsetting was that one of the casts phones was taken. Very upsetting, spoiled the fun.
I laughed when I saw him this morning. Paws straight out in front of him, like he was going to gambole off the cushion and bounce on the floor! So comical. It reminded me of a diver spinning towards the water, or a trampolinist spinning somersaults. I took one grainy, dark photo and he woke, so I’ve had to edit the photo, because he moved into a normal, cat curled up, position. If I could I would print this on either side of a circle of card. Punch two small holes in the centre and run a loop of string through. When you twist and stretch the string the cat would bounce and twirl!
We performed A Christmas Carol play tonight. The cast was almost bigger than the audience, which was good, we didn’t feel intimidated. The scene where me and hubby played the Fezziwiggs was fun. We ad-libbed a bit and actually got a laugh. I guess that’s the advantage of knowing someone well, we could afford to take the mickey out of each other!
I stumbled over some of my lines and missed out one of them altogether! But one thing about doing plays is the cast are the only people who see the script. I realised that as long as you pass on the gist of the drama you can get through it. We got applause at the end, so we must have done OK!
One of the characters in A Christmas Carol is the ghost of Christmas Present. A big, jolly fellow in his robe and Holly crown, he leads Ebenezer Scrooge through the lives of his contemporary characters, we see Scrooges nephew and family enjoying Christmas merriment and wishing his uncle well. Then there is a scene with the Cratchett family, settling down to enjoy a meagre but happy Christmas meal. We see Tiny Tim, there little boy who is possibly destined to die because of the families poverty despite Cratchett working for Scrooge. When Scrooge asks what will happen to the boy Christmas Present says that unless there is a change in their circumstances there will be an empty chair where the boy now sits. He throws Scrooge’s words back at him saying if he is to die then it should happen sooner rather than later and decrease the surplus population!
I’ve got up because I needed the bathroom. I’m still suffering with the lurgy. Not Covid according to the tests I’ve been doing. So I still have a sore throat and a cough which is worse when I lied down. I can’t take some cold meds as I’m on tablets that contraindicate them. I can’t use lemsip because it has something that can affect your heart rate. Instead I’m drinking hot diluted blackcurrant cordial, it’s sugar free and very tasty when it’s watered down, it seems to coat and soothe my throat. That and paracetamol every few hours seems to be doing the trick. X
Goodnight x
Snoozin’ on my sisters blankets
But he likes to sleep on bags
A compromise of yarn
And a linen surface.
Paw over nose, keeping light out
Dreaming of who knows what?
Comfy and warm,
How many hours
Will he snooze?
Mallaband-Brown