A painting

Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).

Not these

I don’t think my insurance company would appreciate me giving out details of what I bought and how much it cost. This post may be fun, but it’s encouraging people to share information that might just be tempting enough to cause a theft.

Yes I know I might be overreacting, but my Jetpack account gets shared to other social media sites. People here might not know where I live, but others do.

I’d like to know who writes these prompts? I try to answer most of them, then I wonder if I’m being foolish? Yes it’s more content for my page, and it saves me having to think about a topic sometimes. But am I letting my guard down too much! I can chose my own topics and be circumspect, but answering others questions can be too enlightening for your own good. Beware…

Globes?

Lined up in a row, like geodes waiting to be cut. Ceramic globes and fragments at the British Ceramic biennial exhibition last weekend. How quickly time flies. I wanted to share another photo that I took. There are too many to share but I likes this set of objects, like the cores of planets. I imagine them with hollow centres and amethyst crystals.

Art

What was your favorite subject in school?

Forever and ever, Art.

Art at school. I studied many other subjects but Art had my soul from four or five. I used to hang my drawings on strings across my bedroom because I didn’t have enough wall space. My mom would show off my Art to visitors to the house. School sent one of my paintings to our twin town in Germany where it was exhibited. I was asked to do a portrait of a group of school children when a headmistress was leaving.

Art wasn’t the thing to do in many ways. I needed to support my family as we went though some bad times, but my mother supported my wish to go to college. I felt so lucky to be allowed to leave home and learn more about art.

I found out that my ability helped in other aspects of life and jobs. I notice things others miss. I can look at the world and imagine it as a painting. I am good at colour matching, composition, I love to experiment and being an artist makes me more involved in lots of ideas and thoughts.

Would I recommend studying Art to someone? Definitely, cover other bases too, but it has made me a well rounded person. Career choices could be architect, designer, print maker, painter, technical design, surface pattern, ceramicist, sculptor, editor, illustrator, graphic designer, digital media, computer game design, and many more subjects. Go for it if you can. X

Dead frog?

Photo from the BCB

A giant lies upon it’s back

It’s hop has gone, it’s knocked flat!

A human male looks on

At where nature has gone?

Ceramic frogs don’t jump

They don’t have a heart to pump.

But life has a way of staying

If we from nature aren’t straying.

So give frogs a chance

Put in water plants

Dig a new pond

If of frogs you are fond?

Protect anphibians

Their survival’s in your hands!

More BCB ceramics

One of the things to do at the British Ceramic biennial was to have fun making clay tiles that will grow in a wildflower meadow next spring. We made unfired tiles made to look a bit like Minton floor tiles. The clays were chosen to be different acidities so that they suited wild flower seeds. The clay was mixed with hay and pushed into moulds, then we had to make holes and push the seeds into them. Finally we pressed a shape into the top of the tile and fill the resultant spaces with different coloured slips.

Artrage

What are your favorite websites?

My favourite websites are art ones. A lot of them don’t have much in the way of tools. Often the drawing is already there and you just use a fill tool. They are boring. But I found a free app called Artrage oils which I used for several years till I got a new phone. Then I upgraded to Artrage which has a lot more tools, sketchbook app which has different tools and a few other ones that are good for editing, like photodirector. I now use them all in combination. It’s fun!