New paintings and regular art updates.
In a cafe in Burslem a couple of years ago. I was surprised to see a bike hanging on the wall, spray painted gold. A nice decoration? Possibly. Hopefully it’s well attached to the wall. I guess it’s OK to do this. I’ve seen cart wheels and farm implements as decorations before so, yeah, why not?
A funny little painting of a yellow glass bowl with blue feet shaped like ammonites or snail shells. I loved the bowl and was really upset when it got broken. I created this picture so I would have a memory of it. Some people collect things, others hate clutter. I’m on the collecting side. Mostly because it helps when creating art. If I want to paint a little rabbit skull I have one I found on a walk, or I have ammonites found on the beach. Glass ware and ceramics. I don’t think anything is worth much money, but I do like collecting objects (and dust!)
Found my old cat toy while tidying up today. I will balance him on the back of the sofa but I couldn’t resist putting him on my old mat. Then I played with the texture to emphasise the fake fur on him. He has a gold tartan ribbon. I think I got him to go with a ‘merrythought’ tortoise soft toy that I won in a raffle years ago. That’s missing too, but I only just realised that because they are linked together in my mind.
Now my cats have come in. They want food! The toy cat has one advantage, it doesn’t need feeding!
Someone switched the light on?
Let the sun in
Opened the curtain
Star shining bright
Flooded with light
Flare of yellow gold
Shining through the cold
Makes me feel less old.
When you stand under a tree remember to look up. You might be surprised to see the pattern the branches make and how the leaves don’t always overlap so they can absorb as much light as possible. Spreading out towards the light (phototropism) is where plants bent their stems to move towards the light. Look at the different shaped trees make, depending on the species. Some even have nicknames. Ash trees are supposed to have branches like witches fingers. This was one of my paintings from about twenty years ago.
Digital doodled
Drawing a tree
Or a man?
Mark making fun
Ideas on screen
Thinking allowed
With colours
And patterns
Experience experiment
Silver foil and tippex collage. I used felt pens for details then digitally manipulated it in Photodirector. Finally added details in a sketching app. The first photo is a picture of the collage. The second is digitally edited.
Before my arm started shaking I was doing paintings like this. (for the last year and a half or so my left arm has been gradually getting worse with increased shaking ) Then I had to see the doctor and mentioned the problem. He said it was above his pay grade! I am waiting for tests. The thing is that art and particularly painting mean everything to me. I don’t know if lockdowns have knocked my confidence? Plus illness gets to you. Making it more difficult to complete work. I’ve got myself into a situation where I will do quick pictures and sketches, but I feel nervous of doing anything more substantial. I don’t usually talk about how I feel mentally, but I’m feeling down today. I will probably be OK tomorrow?
The storm hit today. We were on the northern edge and although its been windy with heavy rain I don’t think it was as bad as storm Desmond earlier in the week.
I’m staying at home as I have a sore throat and aches. I guess it might be the weather. It seems like you get different bugs depending on the temperature?
While I sit and watch the trees blowing about I believe that Britain generally gets a few named storms a year. Eunice is a bad one. It mainly hit down in the South of the country. A wind speed of 122 miles an hour was measured at the Needles, a series of cliffs on the Isle of Wight. Part of the canvas covering of the Millennium Dome was ripped off. Trains were cancelled throughout Wales. Major bridges were closed. Rooves were torn off and a church steeple blew down. I know Cornwall, Devon and Somerset have been affected and London Fire Brigade was inundated with calls.
There may be snow blizzards tonight in the North of England and in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They were saying 10 to 30 centimeters of snow may fall.
Meanwhile here… Its been a bit breezy. My city is about as far away from the coast as you can get, in the centre of the country. Our river is quite small here. It doesn’t create massive flooding, hopefully things will be OK. We may lose a few tiles, a chimney pot or two.
In from the storm,
Mud washed away
Pads cleaned
Claws neatly sheathed.
Paws glimmering white
Nose and head down
Curled up
Asleep on a cushion
Relaxed
Resting
Sweet
Mallaband-Brown