Eurovision is on!

Eurovision is on tonight. A four or five hour song contest with European and a few non European countries challenging for the win. There are forty countries that compete in semifinals then twenty five in the final. Half the votes in the final come from the voting panels of each country and the rest come from a phone vote open to the public. The results take almost longer than the singing part. The singers can get up to twelve points from each judging panel and voters, so the total can rise well over a hundred or more. I’d like the UK to win but we got NO points last year. As we can’t vote for our own country I will be voting for Ukraine. They have a very good song called ‘Stephania’ I think, by the Kalush Orchestra.

Abstract called feathers.

Many digital processes, I won’t list them. I use the same apps, just over and over so that you get different effects each time you add a layer. I think it looks like a flurry of feathers after a pillow fight! Or even fireworks exploding. I used a blur tool to get the fuzzy effects.

When will they flower?

My orchids occasionally flower, but they haven’t for ages. The new one I bought still has flowers on it, but the buds soon fell off. I’m trying to feed them but I think I need to get bigger pots for them and new orchid compost/ fibre. I probably don’t water them enough and I don’t spray mist them. But I have had them for years. They have lots of ariel roots, there leaves are mostly green. So I will try and pamper them more.

Cats

I must do more ‘real’ or analogue art. I mean physical art, not digital drawing or photography. I loved doing these lino cuts as part of my MA final major project. I liked trying to learn a new skill. I could also create cards for sale by doing this. I would maybe use acrylic paints instead of ink? Then I could play with the colours. And by using a lino cut twice but by offsetting the print slightly I could get interesting fringes of colour around the images. Lots of ideas. I just need to do them.

For Friday 13th

Digitally manipulated photo of a cat goblet I had given to me. The glass globe in the top of it is a paperweight. The texture and light highlights are from using photodirector. You can position the highlights over and over so I chose three lots, each placed where they would be reflected off places such as the cats eye. I chose to make this because its Friday 13th which is a day of superstitious fears in the UK.

Spirals clouds or scales?

Your choice. Multiplied image initially drawn in black ink pen, then I added black grey and pale brown shading to give the effect of layers of paper. Finally I twisted each section in my layout app to create a symmetrical pattern. Having done work on my MA based on dragons and Asian art can’t help feeling that a dragon may emerge. I would have to add a layer on to create this. Something to experiment with.

Two years ago

Two years ago I was at a workshop. I was making a peice of a flag to celebrate Philip Astley inventor of modern circus born 1742, in Newcastle under Lyme. Belinda Latimer ran the workshop. Good fun to try a different craft. I don’t do much sewing or embroidery so this was quite enjoyable. I used a sacking type of cloth on top of a type of canvas cloth. I never did see the finished flag as there were different workshops to bring it all together.