A sketchbook page

Trying to draw part of a Renoir painting yesterday was hard work. I didn’t get the shape exactly right, and trying to use felt pens was hard too as I only had a limited range of colours. I didn’t do a good job of the hand on the woman’s shoulder, the felt pens bled and I really should have used a fine liner pen. But at least I completed a challenge.

Autumn woman

Painting from eight years ago, it came up on my Facebook page. I don’t know if I’ve ever posted it here.

Autumn Woman

When the leaves fall

From under leaf litter

You will slowly crawl.

Gleaming colours

Red, gold, green,

Are soft or brittle

A seasonal scene.

Then mists and fruits

Make subtle colours

And Autumn woman

Finds her full power.

Etruria Inustrial museum this weekend

This weekend at Etruria Industrial museum, steaming the Princess engine. Pleased they’ve used my painting of it to publicise the event. (28 and 29 Oct 2023). I think the opening times are on their Facebook page.

The industrial museum includes Jessie Shirley’s bone and flint mill. The Princess engine is a beam engine that ran the belts to grind the flint in large floor pans in the adjoining building. It’s steam powered and runs by using a beam to rock up and down like a seesaw. This uses steam to push a valve down and then the vacuum created pulls it up again. I’m not an engineer, but you could come and see it running.

Etruria Industrial museum

Kilndown Close

Etruria, Stoke on Trent

Staffordshire.

(on the Trent and Mersey canal).

Fear

I tried to draw an abstract image of fear. Everything is chaotic, your not in control, tight chest and gut. Swirling colours…

I’m not afraid of halloween or anything silly like that, but I’m scared to go out into our garden without my hubby. We have been through a series of thefts from our garden and now I can’t stop looking out of the window to check if anyone had come back. Hubby just rushed out because he saw someone on a bike like his, and I’m afraid to go into the garden incase someone is lurking, so many bad thoughts of what might happen!

Hence the drawing, a bit of self art therapy.

Settle to Carlisle line

Another image drawn on holiday, this one is from 1994 whan we were on holiday near Settle. We cycled around the area and I did this sketch in biro when we stopped to have lunch and look at the view I think. But this was 29 years ago so I may have misremembered. By looking at the notes it looks like I revisited in the October of the same year.