I love steam

Small painting from 2018 that was on display at Etruria Industrial Museum. I used an image off the Internet to work on. I think it was from a photo of a pumping station in Derbyshire? I loved trying to get the metallic reflections. I looked at the price and I wad only selling it for £25! The amount of work I put in means I constantly undersell myself, but people just don’t seem to have money for art these days. As to what it is I think it’s a regulator? Ith weights hold the arms down if it starts to spin too fast?

Umbrellas

Memory from 2017 of a mural I painted in 2007. This was at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I have a strong connection with Burslem from doing a series of murals in the hotel. Who knows whether I will do anymore?

I would love to do a bit more mural painting, or scenery, or large paintings. I’m hoping if I can get my shaking arm under control I might be able to do it.

Memories are a great thing, but also they can be tinged with sadness when you think of all the things you could have done. I do wonder about the pandemic times. Could I have done more to keep my art business going? What things can I do to actually sell my work? I’m not a sales person, I’m an artist…. I don’t think I’ll ever have a USP!

Gratitude

I’m due to see my doctor about anxiety and my hubby has ptsd so I need to find strategies to cope. I think counselling helps but I’m going to try and keep a gratitude diary, where you write three minor gratitudes a day every night for at least 28 days. It helps rewire your brain towards more positive thinking. I’m going to start a little sketchbook and do simple sketches of them. Like the traffic lights stayed on green for me yesterday when I was going somewhere and was late, so that was a little gratitude, I met someone who gave me this idea, that’s a small gratitude, and someone cleared away some flytipping in the alley next to our garden, that’s the third. I will add small sketches to illustrate mine. I think it might help my creativity and give me new ideas, but if it doesn’t I’m not worried because I think it will help me cope. You don’t record big things, just small gratitudes.

Gratitude for seeing beauty could be one thing for my diary.

Magic money tree?

A money plant on our windowledge that has become very contorted. The wizard and black owl in a magic hat below it seem appropriate because they represent magic. There are glass paperweights next to them which I also think look quite magical. I could paint it, not sure, it maybe looks like an illustration from a children’s book….

Pattern

Drawn in ArtRage oils. A picture made up of dots then mirrored to give it symmetry. This took about half an hour to draw the pattern (a quarter of the image). I used the metallic pen option. The colours are darker with this but you get a rippled affect on the surface. I decided to draw a rainbow of colours that gradually move across the screen. It could also be used as a pattern on fabrics.

Hand painted jug

I did this a few years ago. Living in the city of Stoke-on-Trent means there are places where you can pay to paint pottery with glazes and then collect the finished piece a week or so later. I found a place in Burslem which was about half the price of other potteries and the vase was double the size. I think it was called Stafford Pottery, its on the opposite side of the road to Burslem Town Hall. I gave the resulting jug as a Christmas gift. I usually paint cats but have been known to paint horses too… I know it’s mainly a kids thing, but it is fun.

Had to…

I saw a dragon

Hiding in plain sight

Standing by graffiti

Under a street light

But when I looked away

And looked again

I say!

The dragon it was gone

It decided not to stay!

I just wanted a pic

On my phone

But it was too quick!

So sadly all I have

Is its tail- just the tip

And a shower of loose scales

One of many epic fails!

Goodbye dragon

And now you’re gone!