Pink cat!

Sunlight reflecting off her fur, on the windowledge at the top of the stairs, she looks out to check on what’s going on in the garden. Not long now to the winter equinox when the days will slowly start to get longer again. She’s so soft and sweet.

Cats know how to keep warm. The heat rises up the stairs so she is happy up there. This afternoon she’s gone out for a little walk round the garden, I think she will be back in again soon. Then she will either go back upstairs or sit on the cat tree by the radiator in the living room.

Morning Moon

Posted on December 10, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clouds, red clouds, red sky in the morning, Saturday, Setting moon, shepherd's warning, SunriseLeave a comment

I woke to a red sky and went downstairs for a cup of tea. Then I saw the moon setting behind next doors extension.

You can just see a little bar of misty cloud floating across the moon which looks tiny but almost close enough to touch. The red sky in the morning might be foretelling poor weather today, (this blog is getting very weather related). The bright reds soon started to fade, now the Sun is rising on the opposite horizon. Good morning all

Minus 10°C

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chilly, Cold, cost of living crisis, Freezing, Ice, Icy, minus 10°C, Poverty, UK, Weather, WinterLeave a comment

Ice or a plastic star? Just a Christmas decoration…. Its too cold outside to go and take photos, but the frost as sparkling on the pavement earlier this evening. I’d been out to panto rehearsal, and walked across the road to the shops and I had to hold onto a handrail because it was so slippery. There was a report on this evenings TV decrying the poor standard of housing in the UK and the cost for the poorest people to heat their homes. If you want to know its 10% in France and 18% in the UK.

So tonight it’s going to be minus 10°C in places. That’s quite cold for this country.

Crumpets for tea

Posted on December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bready, Butter, crumpet, Food, Honey, Hot, hot buttered, Jam, Jelly, malted, margarine, Tasty, Tea, Treat2 Comments

Hot buttered crumpets for tea! The little holes in the top of them allow the butter or margarine to trickle down into tiny tubes inside the crumpet. You heat them under a grill or in a toaster on both sides to heat them up. The base of them is solid so when you add your topping it doesn’t leak out. I only used to have butter, but recently I’ve added grated cheese and microwaved them for a few seconds so it drizzled inside them, also try honey or jam (America calls it jelly). Note these are NOT muffins, that’s a whole different bready food.

One large snowflake

Posted on December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, fleet, fluttering, Flying, frosty, Ice, Poem, Poetry, Santa, snowflake, snowing, Weather2 Comments

❄

We hear snow is coming

It’s wet outside

Falling on frozen ground

One large fluffy snowflake

Fluttered past the kitchen window

A fleet footed hexagonal marvel

Precursor to a flurry?

Who knows

White Christmas?

Too soon to know

Flitting across the sky?

Santa’s sleigh gliding through

White whimseys of snow…

Cards?

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Card design, cost of living, Fine Art, Ideas, Life, Painting, TeapotLeave a comment

I’m hoping to get some cards made from my pottery paintings. I need to start selling things, but it’s a balance between what I can afford and what I can sell. The cost of living is making life difficult for everyone. This painting is loosely based on a Burleigh ware design although it’s not an actual copy. It’s totally imagined so I had to decide on where the shadows would fall. The background is meant to look like wooden panels reflected in a desk or table. The minds eye is an interesting concept. I actually can imagine how things look, and by talking my way through things I can generally get a good idea of what I’m doing.

A Christmas Carol

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A Christmas Carol, Acting, Alistair Simm, Christmas, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Performance, StoryLeave a comment

This poster of our performance of a Christmas Carol has just been released. The painting was done by the organiser Glenn James. He’s a very talented artist and performer. If you happen to be around Newcastle under Lyme on these dates you might like to come and see us. The figure on the poster is a portrait of the actor Alistair Simm. He appeared in a film version of the story a long time ago (1950’s or 60’s), it was such a brilliant adaptation. I really love watching it.

Sunsets missed

Posted on December 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Hill, Life, shadow, Sunset, Thinking, Time, ViewLeave a comment

I live on the wrong side of the hill. On the other side is where the sun sets. If I see the clouds turning pink I jump in the car to try and catch a view of the sunset! I’ve only seen a few in the last few years, I don’t know when they will be happening. I guess I could look at the times that the sun goes down on line, then I could be there and see the beautiful view. I wish I could afford to buy a house over there.

Substantial

Posted on December 8, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, burial site, dolmen, Drawing, Prompt, Sketching, standing stones, WikipediaLeave a comment

My #bandofsketchers prompt today was ‘substantial’, I can remember seeing photos of standing stones with a flat stone on top. This was done from memory. I didn’t even know what they were called so had to look it up. Felt pen drawing. Wikipedia says: dolmen (/ˈdɒlmɛn/) or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or “table”. Most date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus (burial mound). Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance.^[1] In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone “skeleton”.

Abstracted plastic lid

Posted on December 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dimpled, Filtered, Fun, phon apps, Photograph, photography apps, plastic box lid, PurpleLeave a comment

A smoothly dimpled plastic box lid that I photographed and filtered through a few apps. I won’t go into detail but I’m pleased with the result, something between an x-ray photograph of a crystal lattice or a waffle covered in a purple fruit sauce?! Then with added scratches to give it an aged feel. I do love playing with images.