Locks

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Barges, Boats, Canal, canal lock, Dappled shade, Etruria, Memories, TreesLeave a comment

Lock at Etruria, steps up to the road and over a bridge at the top. When the snow is thick I actually think its easier to walk in than when it’s like this. Slushy and slippery. But snow doesn’t last that long these days. Last year was as hot as 2016, which was the hottest year on record in the UK.

It would be good to take a long walk along the canal in the summer. Under dappled shade from the trees. Watching canal barges and boats putter past with their gaudily painted castles, and roses painted red, gold and green.

Dappled sky

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Amber, Colours, Description, Gold, lilac, Moon, Photo, Sky, Sunset, too flowery?, TwigsLeave a comment

Washed with Amber and lilac, gold highlights. Twigs sweeping the sky. Painting it with their fronds. Clouds form flocks of flying sheep, running home as night arrives. A symphony of colours shifting as they are viewed. Blue darkens to black, the colour I’d drained out of the sky until one solitary glimmer remains. Then the light of stars spring out. Tiny pinpricks in the firmament. Moon rise. The glow of it shines through a lowering fog. Time for bed and dreams.

Football!

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged fa Cup, flying football, Football, Game, Games, Poem, Poetry, SoccerLeave a comment

Ball flying through air

Back of the net!

No, handball.

Or offside

Screams and chants

For the champs

But giant beaters

Beat giants.

It’s the magic of football

Soccer matches

FA Cup…

But I don’t watch it!

Walking tonight

Posted on January 10, 2021January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clouds, early January, Exercise, Landscape, Life, Photos, Skies, sunsets, WalkingLeave a comment

Another evening, another walk. Up the hill and right instead of left. Expanding the distance slightly. Hubby slipped and almost fell on the icy pavement. The view over Stoke-on-Trent from the top of Penkhull, first photo, was like watercolour splashed against the sky. Streetlights reflecting off the cloud base.

Each day’s walking is making me tired but happy. And it’s good to see the world turn. Sunsets getting slightly later.

Sailing

Posted on January 10, 2021January 19, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Boat, Boat Band, Carved, Digital art, Digital sketch, Fun, Life, Music, Photoshop drawing, Picture, Sea shanties, Singing, you tubeLeave a comment

There seem to be a lot of sea shanties at the moment, there is one, I cant remember the name, about whaling, that is on TicTok or Whatsapp or something. We have learnt a few over the last couple of nights with the choirs I’m in. Just a bit of a chorus. Haul away or something like that. I love singing and we have the lovely Kate from the Boat Band to teach us. Head over to Youtube and you can find their Cajun songs and music there…

Way hay me harties! singing is one of the best ways to relax and enjoy yourself . So many different genre’s .

sleep tight, let the sea be placid, and rock you gently over the deep….

Green

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #30daysketchbookchallenge, Art, Drawing, Felt pens, Green, Ivy, Landscape, Sketching, TreeLeave a comment

Today’s #30daysketchbookchallenge drawing is based on the prompt green. This is the ivy growing up a tree over the road in the factory grounds.

Eyes

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Eyes, Glasses, Learning, Life, long sighted, pane of glass, short sighted, view through glasses1 Comment

I was just talking about drawing glasses and how eyes look behind them and decided to do a sketchy diagram. I am drawing with my finger so the pictures are a bit wobbly….

When you draw the eye behind the glasses, always look to see if the face and eye look bigger or smaller. You can tell if they are long sighted (bigger) or short sighted (smaller). It makes it more realistic if you notice this sort of thing. If the eyes are the same as normal it means the glass is flat in the lens, not curved!

There is a film staring James Stewart called flight of the phoenix. One of the characters wears glasses. But the lenses are flat and the light glints off them like window panes!

Reflected in water

Posted on January 9, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blue sky, Bowls, cacti, Indoor plants, Kitchen, Life, Light, Photo, Sink, Sunlight, washing up bowl3 Comments

Morning, and I see the sky reflected in my washing up bowl. Two bowls gleam in the sunlight, and Christmas cacti stream downwards towards the bowl. Their flowers are still in bud, some have already flowered. You see how things are not as light as we imagine them. More mid tones than bright ones, only real highlights are on the bowls. Indoor plants help me stay happy….

Old hands

Posted on January 9, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cycling, Fun, growing old, Happy, Life, Memories, tandem, Time, Together, Wrinkles3 Comments

Old hands hold tight, remember smooth skin when we first met. Remember missing you when you went away. Riding a motor scooter forty miles to go home for the summer, and you cycled after me.

Smelling blossom when we walked home to the student flats. A stolen kiss. Our history, together. The cats we’ve owned, the cycle rides. Buying a tandem, selling a tandem because the chain kept falling off.

Camping at minus 7 near Clitheroe. Snowy nights. Two pairs of trousers and three jumpers under canvas. Bike trailers and cycle clubs.

Life keeps going. Work, houses, learning. We keep together, stay together.

Wooden

Posted on January 9, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #30daysketchbookchallenge, Art, Carpenter, day 9, grandad, metallic watercolours, Pencil, Sketching, Watercolour sketch1 Comment

Wooden puzzle box my grandfather made, he was a carpenter. I think I get my artistic abilities from him. It only opens one way. Watercolour and pencil on cartridge paper. It is a bit dark but I hope you can see it OK. Day 9, #30daysketchbookchallenge.