Peony

Our old peonies didn’t flower this spring but a new peony has come into bloom and its a pale creamy pin. Is a bright spot in a very overgrown jungle! Hubby asked if it was a poppy and I thought it would be until he showed it to me. I don’t even remember planting it.

Gardening takes hard work and effort. I wish I had the energy to do more of it. The garden needs a serious hacking back. Bringing light back in and reducing shade… Its actually quite frightening.

Jubilee time

Jubilation and celebrations continue throughout the land. Not everyone is a royalist, but I think 70 as head of state is quite important. I don’t have any bunting or flags up. I do think that some of the money given to the crown should be used to support the poorest in society. Trickle down, the idea that giving to the rich let’s money get down to the poorest doesn’t work. People with money put extra money in the bank. People with no money will spend any extra, probably locally because they can’t afford to go anywhere else.

So congratulations ma’am, enjoy your celebration. But please government, try and be a bit kinder to the poorest in society, don’t keep overlooking them.

Crab, work in progress

Art is whatever someone wants. This is a painting I promised to do a year ago, but then I got busy with my MA and I never seemed to find the time to work on it it’s only small, about A4, acrylic on canvas. It needs work on the light and dark areas and I want to get a bit more texture into the sand. But it’s a good start. It’s 3am so I’m putting down my brushes for the night.

Bubble

Awesome bubble created by a large hoop of string drawn through bubble mixture then wafted through the air. This was taken during Etruria Canal festival a few years ago. I love the filmy colours created because the thickness of the bubbles skin is only a few atoms thick and acts like a rainbow refracting the light. A bit like the thin layer of oil you sometimes get on a puddle that causes rainbow colour effects that swirl and create fascinating patterns.

Bay/ Bridge

#bandofsketchers prompt again… Today’s was Bridge/Bay. I did the white bridge at Etruria a few weeks ago, and a bay in Devon as part of my college work so I decided to draw a Bay horse instead. And why not. Felt pens again, two separate sets. I’m using ones that don’t bleed through to the other side of the paper as I don’t want to ruin other drawings…

Work up in Stone

Just been to Stone in Staffordshire, to the Artisan Boutique on the High Street there. Its a lovely cafe and also sells artwork. I’m prt of a six person show together with other members of the Orme Art Group. The exhibition runs throughout June and the works are for sale.

I will be visiting to have a proper look at the place soon and maybe stop off and have a cup of coffee. The shop also has seating outside so it’s a pleasant place to visit when it’s sunny.

Scarecrow trail

Penkhull village in Stoke on Trent is holding a scarecrow contest for the Queens Platinum Jubilee. Several people around the village and surrounding streets have created celebratory Scarecrows.

I think there is a prize for the best one and there is a leaflet with a map of the trail. I want to find them! This is British eccentricity!

Giant cat?

Look at the size of the hand in the background, apparently stroking this cat? If it were really that size the cat would be as big as a pony! How does this work? The cat was very close to the camera and appears large, the hand is my hubby’s, he sat about a foot away and this is his right hand, furthest away from the cat. It’s a bit blurred because it’s at the back. This is called depth of field. If you think of a photo as being in layers from the closest layer to the lens going backwards in slices then the deepest part of the feild of view is at the back. If you have a shallow field only the things at a certain distance will be in focus. With a deep feild all or most of the photo will be in focus. This is most noticeable in the deep field view of the universe with the Hubble Space telescope. In the pictures from that you can keep zooming in to see more and more detail. Sorry for the non technical explanation!