New paintings and regular art updates.
I had to buy a new mat today, the old one was worn out. The cats love it, they have burrowed underneath it, scratched their claws on it, played with a tiny toy and a ball, (both under the sofa now). The mat is where we walk by the sofa and one of the cats has decided he wants to sleep on it, but as I’m walking backwards and forwards over it he’s had to move. No doubt he will sleep there tonight! The cat will be sleeping on the mat. X
It is foggy today, the mist started this afternoon, a cloud coming down low, covering the sun as it set. Blurring and shadowing the skies colours. Now it is more dense, I drove up our hill and the lampposts disappeared, like white smoke was hiding them. It was hard to see through the fog, obstacles hidden until you were almost on top of them. There’s a set of traffic cones half way up our hill where a car partially knocked a wall down. I didn’t see it on the way up! I came home along a different road to avoid it.
I’ve collected some seeds from seed heads, including poppies and nasturtiums and marigolds. I need to store them in a cool dry place and I think they will be OK in a kitchen drawer. I need to remember that are there, if not they will be wasted, also when to plant them, I guess I will Google that, or look on the back of seed packets when we go to a garden center.
Starting a painting of a beach and the sea from above. It’s going to show the surf and the pebbles and sand. I want it to be gentle, a meditation, no words, no footsteps in the sand, just the quiet lapping of water as the waves roll in and out. A peaceful memory as a painting for a friend.
Loud mouth women singing at a local supermarket today, we sang on the car park then inside the foyer of the store. After a long hiatus of performance it was great to be out singing with my friends again. Some of the ladies are a little camera shy so I have blurred their photos. We had a lovely time, and it was good to get applause and smiles from customers.
One of my cats sleeps on the armchair arms between me and my hubby. He’s there now curled up. Snoring and purring. He’s a big strong cat, and he knows what he wants and where he wants to sleep. In a while he will be sitting by his cat food bowl (not rattling it, just staring at me, eyes half closed), then when he’s ready he will explore the garden and come in again later when we have gone to bed. Sometimes he sleeps half way up the stairs, then we have to watch out incase we step on him, you can see the problem, thank goodness he has a white patch on his back!
Matchbox sized dinosaur. A stegosaurus. I hope the lady who asked for it likes it. A bit fiddly because holding a mini canvas whilst trying to paint and having your arm shake made for a few smudges and bits to repaint. But I’m proud I can still do things like this…. I called it Stegi.. X
Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was ‘date’ I was going to draw an old mechanical calendar (one that you turn round to change the date) but I can’t find it. So then I decided to sketch a log, cut in half, to represent tree rings (dendrochronology) you can count the rings to find out the age of the tree and as the widths of the rings change with the weather you can also work out the years it was growing.
Industrial,
Smoke belched high in the sky
Soot fell on childrens faces.
Clogged lungs
Cotton fell like dirty snow
From grey clouds
Skudding on a raw east wind.
Blast furnaces glowed
Brightening sullen grey clouds
Into false, rosy sunsets
Men walked, doubled over
In the black and dusty mines
Water dripped hot and dirty
Down bent necks
whilst picks and shovels
Hewed at the coal.
Then suddenly
Worlds changed
Smoke and smog was banned
Cholera and typhoid alleviated.
Government and Unions United for once.
Health for all, insuring life.
Workers deserving clean air and water.
Post industrial, jobs went
To other places, other lands
Workers not so lucky
Breathing a centurys old air
Forced to work for a pittance
One people taking the place of another
Supporting our modern, post industrial life
And money travels upwards
Into more billionaires pockets
On post industrial beaches….
Earth is clean for those that can pay.
I managed to sell about six mini paintings, a medium sized one and a little jigsaw at our Orme Art Group Exhibition today. A small profit when you take into the cost of producing them. I also made a small sale at Middleport at the Arts and Minds Gallery. I just wish this was more of a regular thing. At the moment my business is really just a nice hobby. X
Mallaband-Brown