I love steam

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Small painting from 2018 that was on display at Etruria Industrial Museum. I used an image off the Internet to work on. I think it was from a photo of a pumping station in Derbyshire? I loved trying to get the metallic reflections. I looked at the price and I wad only selling it for £25! The amount of work I put in means I constantly undersell myself, but people just don’t seem to have money for art these days. As to what it is I think it’s a regulator? Ith weights hold the arms down if it starts to spin too fast?

Umbrellas

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Memory from 2017 of a mural I painted in 2007. This was at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I have a strong connection with Burslem from doing a series of murals in the hotel. Who knows whether I will do anymore?

I would love to do a bit more mural painting, or scenery, or large paintings. I’m hoping if I can get my shaking arm under control I might be able to do it.

Memories are a great thing, but also they can be tinged with sadness when you think of all the things you could have done. I do wonder about the pandemic times. Could I have done more to keep my art business going? What things can I do to actually sell my work? I’m not a sales person, I’m an artist…. I don’t think I’ll ever have a USP!

Gratitude

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I’m due to see my doctor about anxiety and my hubby has ptsd so I need to find strategies to cope. I think counselling helps but I’m going to try and keep a gratitude diary, where you write three minor gratitudes a day every night for at least 28 days. It helps rewire your brain towards more positive thinking. I’m going to start a little sketchbook and do simple sketches of them. Like the traffic lights stayed on green for me yesterday when I was going somewhere and was late, so that was a little gratitude, I met someone who gave me this idea, that’s a small gratitude, and someone cleared away some flytipping in the alley next to our garden, that’s the third. I will add small sketches to illustrate mine. I think it might help my creativity and give me new ideas, but if it doesn’t I’m not worried because I think it will help me cope. You don’t record big things, just small gratitudes.

Gratitude for seeing beauty could be one thing for my diary.

Where have all the clouds gone?

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Parts of Britain and France are turning brown, fires are burning in France. Its happening across Europe. Its happening in America. Where has the rain gone? Crops are withering in places where the monthly rainfall has dwindled to almost nothing. Will the climate recover? Will rainfall be abundant again? The weather has only been overheated for a short time, but the damage is being done. What will happen in the future if we don’t reduce Carbon emissions and slow the increase in temperature we are currently experiencing? We are such a destructive species and we have started to overwhelm Earth. We only have one planet. Let’s try and take care of it.

Magic money tree?

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A money plant on our windowledge that has become very contorted. The wizard and black owl in a magic hat below it seem appropriate because they represent magic. There are glass paperweights next to them which I also think look quite magical. I could paint it, not sure, it maybe looks like an illustration from a children’s book….

Pattern

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Drawn in ArtRage oils. A picture made up of dots then mirrored to give it symmetry. This took about half an hour to draw the pattern (a quarter of the image). I used the metallic pen option. The colours are darker with this but you get a rippled affect on the surface. I decided to draw a rainbow of colours that gradually move across the screen. It could also be used as a pattern on fabrics.

Hand painted jug

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I did this a few years ago. Living in the city of Stoke-on-Trent means there are places where you can pay to paint pottery with glazes and then collect the finished piece a week or so later. I found a place in Burslem which was about half the price of other potteries and the vase was double the size. I think it was called Stafford Pottery, its on the opposite side of the road to Burslem Town Hall. I gave the resulting jug as a Christmas gift. I usually paint cats but have been known to paint horses too… I know it’s mainly a kids thing, but it is fun.

RIP Raymond Briggs

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My version of the Snowman character as Briggs work is copyright

Rest in peace Raymond Briggs. Author and illustrator of ‘the Snowman’ ‘Fungus the Bogeyman’ ‘When the Wind blows’ and ‘Father Christmas’ among others.

Briggs was 88 and a respected cartoonist who had a cheeky, irreverent style. His books included Fungus the Bogeyman who squelches around his home and environment in a grumpy way, Briggs created a stinky lovable character. Father Christmas is not happy climbing down sooty chimneys and would rather live in a warmer climate. When the wind blows is about an old couples life during a nuclear attack. Its scary and thought provoking. Finally the Snowman, which is a classic Christmas story is about a boy that befriends a snowman and flies off on an adventure. It’s been on the TV many times.

He was a fantastic illustrator and made his characters come alive. He will be missed and lots of obituaries have already been published about him.

Bull?

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Stained glass window in Burslem School of art. Its on the stairs, halfway up between the main floor and the upper floor. It has a history, but again I was in a rush and didn’t get the details. But it was created by the head of art there and his students. Its mainly painted on the glass and does not have a lot of lead segments like church windows. I think it’s beautiful and poignant, and a great memory to cherish.