New paintings and regular art updates.
Not enough time to draw it, so I did a rubbing with a soft red pencil instead. You can see which areas are raised on it. A different version of mark making but it is interesting to vary how you produce images. This was at the Waiting Room gallery this morning. I think I might play with this image, duplicating it or adding more texture, even changing the hue of it.
Felt pen drawing of my Mother taken from a painting I did of her several years ago. She passed away after I did the portrait. This was for todays prompt, Mother, as it is Mothering Sunday in the UK. The felt pen colours were a bit dark so I’ve adjusted it a bit. #bandofsketchers
Colours red and green
Meats and basil
Taste of Spain
Plus olives and more
Tapas, tasty
Plates of colours
On display.
Just had an enjoyable morning at the Waiting Room gallery in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent. We looked at paintings based on Spanish ideas, tiles and their moorish influenced patterns. Our friend Eve gave a talk about her pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. There was also some Spanish food to taste. It was very pleasant.
If cats had wings like dragons or bats what strange creatures would they be. Able to leap and fly over tall buildings to get to the kitty food on the other side. Sharp claws to grab rodents and then fly them up to eyries High up on the rooftops. Would they play with TV ariels or sit in satellite dishes?
Would they fight in mid air? Fur flying and showering people below. Maybe they would be entirely feral and not have owners. I’d hate to have to try and catch one to take to the vets for a checkup? And I can imagine them snuggled up, wrapped in their wings when they sleep?
Yellow and orange. Large flower heds. In front of the house. Cheerful and bright. They delight me when I come home. Signs of spring are showing everywhere now. The trees are starting to blossom, buds are swelling on the branches in my garden. I’ve seen blossom on the trees along the canal. But it’s been dry and sunny, it’s been exceptionally warm for this time in March. I worry because the temperatures are due to fall next week and frost might nip at the buds. But if it stays dry they might be OK. What we need now is rain to swell the buds and start the growth process. Cells expand when they absorb water, the become turgid and then, they start to photosynthesise. We are at the turn of the year.
Tonight the clocks go forward. It means that sunrise is an hour later and sunset also an hour later than in the winter. This is BST or British Summer Time. We revert back to GMT or Greenwich Mean Time in autumn. The idea was adopted in the second World War to give farmers extra time to get crops in? The zero meridian runs through Greenwich, England, and is where the world’s time is set. As you go round the globe there are time zones set covering sections of the globe going forward or back in hourly segments.
At one stage in the UK they kept British Summer time in the winter. This was for two or three years in the 60’s or 70’s. It was darker in the mornings but lighter in the evenings. They found less traffic accidents involving children because although they were tired at the end of the school day they were able to see cars better. There were less deaths. But the government decided against keeping it because people in the far north weren’t having sunrise until 10 or 11am if I remember correctly.
There have been more recent suggestions of creating double summer time, where the clocks would permanently go forward an hour all year round, but then in the summer the clocks would go forward another hour. The idea is that this would save energy. However it has not been approved by Parliament.
I went to our Art Group today. It was good to kick-start myself back into painting again. Struggled a bit because of my shaking arm. I’m like a wobbly jelly.
It was going to be a different painting, but when I got to the venue there was no WiFi available so I couldn’t find the reference photo I wanted to work from. This painting took about three hours so far. I’ve got to work out the reflections and the sky.
Image from an edition of The Yellow Book by Aubrey Beardsley. I’m drawing images with strong black and white areas for my report and portfolio. I admire Beardsleys skill with lines and curves. Everything is slightly exaggerated. The blocks of black and white are so strong. But there is a delicacy with the details. It’s so neat and precise. I can’t remember if this is art nouveau?
We went to a coffee morning today and a new friend from the group had a smartly dressed bear with her. I had taken my sketchpad so I decided to draw it.
Took about fifteen minutes to draw. Black ink fine line pen. Tomorrow I might try and do some actual painting!
Mallaband-Brown