Dove

Posted on December 16, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Dove, Drawing, Helo, Icon, Love, Peace, Safe, Sketch, Sketch app, SymbolLeave a comment

Someday Peace and Love will be more important than War. Nature and the Environment will become recognised for how important they are. Maybe symbols of peace, like the dove, will get the message across. We need to take these concepts seriously. We need to stop being selfish and realise we shouldn’t be self centred. People in all walks of life, in this country, and abroad, are struggling. War wastes resources and ruins lives. We need to support each other not attack and deplore. As the song says. Let there be peace all over the world…

Cats and trees

Posted on December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baubles, Cat, Christmas, Christmas tree, Climbing, Fun, Humour, Idea, Jumping, Life, Watching funny videos, YouTube4 Comments

When you have cats sometimes you can’t have Christmas trees. Baubles and tinsel are just too tempting. Cats who climb will be up to the top of the tree in seconds. There is also the danger of them chewing on the tree lights wire. Also you don’t know if they are going to chomp on some of the traditional toys, like tiny Teddy bears, that might have been handed down from generation to generation. Granny’s baby jesus or the angel with real feathers can be casualties! I’ve seen a few videos of anti cat tactics, and the one of hanging the tree from the ceiling looks pretty good. One solution I once did was to cut out the shape of a Christmas tree and container and stick it to a wall, then sticking real baubles and ones you have drawn onto it. Make sure any baubles are stuck on well and are anti shatter. Other ideas include a bauble free tree… But it might still get climbed!

and finally

Posted on December 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, Drawing, Dream catcher, Memory, Poem, Poetry, Sketching, Summer2 Comments

Memory of summer

Im there again

amongst the scents

of floral heaven.

baskets of joy

lavender spikes

cornflowers glowing blue.

heady pinks

nasturtiums

and twining vines.

Over all

an angel

protecting and

providing

sunshine

rain

and light.

pink

Posted on December 15, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Digital drawing, Learning, photoshop7, Practice, Random objects, Sketching, Still lifeLeave a comment

Well its sort of finished….digital drawing on wacom tablet- oh Im out of practice….Random found pink objects with a green background for contrast and beige speaker and table top to show up the pink better…

a few years ago I would have been able to do better than this.. you know what practice does? It makes you do things better. In my case I used to do digital drawings virtually every day. I knew what buttons to press, what brushes to choose. So now I have to learn again and im definitly going to watch some videos on using photoshop and get a later version, this was done in Photoshop7… my very old version, I just don’t like the idea of paying a monthly fee to use the newer versions….

Digital drawing WIP

Posted on December 15, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Digitsl draeing, Drawing, Random objects, Sketching, Still life, Stylus, Wacom, Work in progressLeave a comment

Trying to draw on the computer using my Wacom tablet. It’s hard because I usually doodle with a finger on my phone or with a stylus on a tablet. I actually find this harder to do, and I need practice. This is for a #bandofsketchers prompt for today. If I get it done I will post it here. Back to work…

🌰 Chesnuts

Posted on December 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bang!, Chesnuts, Christmas, Cooking, Eating, Food, Heat, Memory, Oven, Snack, Superheated2 Comments

Memory from seven years ago on Facebook. Hubby decided to bake some Chestnuts- but they were not cooked so he put them back in the oven- 10 minutes later- BANG! One had exploded, he was shouting ow- so I came down to find him taking the roasting dish out of the oven- and using my jumper as an oven glove, he proceeded to try and break them open first with the garlic press, then with the nutcrackers- the chestnut did not pop- it exploded all over the work surface, I grabbed some kitchen towel and we used that to wrap the superheated chestnuts to break them open….

Are gulls magnetic?

Posted on December 14, 2020December 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Canal, Funny, Gulls, Humour, Life, Magnetic, Nature, Photo, Picture2 Comments

A line of gulls on posts, all pointing south. They say birds have a way of using the Earth’s magnetism as a way to navigate. But these were acting like a compass needle! Next time I’m trying to find my way I might watch which way the gulls are facing!

Shardlow?

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Canal arm, Distance, Drowned, Memorial, Mile post, Preston Brook, Shardlow, Timothy Trow, Trent and mersey canal, WalkLeave a comment

I have no idea where Shardlow or Preston Brook are, except they were 54 miles and 38 miles respectively from this mile post. Shardlow is South, Preston Brook is North. There is another one of these on the road where I live. Why? because a branch of the canal used to run from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent by the Spode factory, alongside London Road and think it went through Newcastle-under-Lyme. In fact a man called Timothy Trow jumped into the canal to save a child from drowning, but got into difficulties and drowned. There is a stone memorial about it on London Road.

History is strange and interesting. I must find out about Shardlow and Preston Brook and what parts they played in history.

Waiting

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold ground, Colours, Earth, Flowers, Gardening, Growth, Plants, Poem, Poetry, SpringLeave a comment

For daffodils

For tulips

For helibores

And hyacynths

Start with snowdrops

And irises.

Crocuses

And primrose.

Pushing up through

Bare. Cold ground

Warmth arrived

Each. Flower head

Brings. Spring

Closer.

Cygnets

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cygnets, Environment, Life, Nature, Photo, Swans, Weather, Wet, White, Wikdlife, Wildfowl, Wind2 Comments

When do Cygnets become Swans? When their feathers turn white. We saw this one swimming up the canal yesterday. It had its wings slightly up and the wind was pushing it along like a small sailing boat. Every couple of seconds it’s legs sculled the water, giving it a little buoyant push along. When it saw me trying to get my camera out of my pocket it headed towards me. But sadly I had no food for it. If we walk that way again I will take some food along with me. As we walked along we saw two more and two adults. I don’t see too much wildlife in the city so this was a pleasure.