Twins in masks.

Posted on June 30, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Design, Digital art, Flipped photo, Fun, Humour, Life, Mask, Papier mache, Photos, TwinsLeave a comment

Playing with duplicated images, me and my hubby. I want to visualizer us without the clarity of a painted portrait.

Most faces are lopsided, by duplicating and flipping them you can get an interesting mirror image. I used the layout app on my phone to do this.

Anyone who has seem mirrored images of Edgar Allen Poe will see what I mean. He has a very lopsided face, one side stretched and the other side slightly shrunken. When you see his face mirrored on the right then left side it looks like you are looking at two seperate people.

In my case I changed my selfie to black and white, then I drew over it. The second picture had the exposure altered as well. Then I flipped the right hand side top to bottom but not left to right.

Last day of June

Posted on June 30, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Half way through the year, June is over, Six months till the end of the year, Time, Time flies, Time passes, Where does it go?Leave a comment

Time is flying. Today is the last day of June. For the last nine days the day length has been reducing slightly in the Northern hemisphere. The summer lags behind the day length as the atmosphere and ocean temperatures heat up but take a couple of months to get fully hot from the sun because they are so large (In the same way it takes longer to heat a whole house than one room in it).

Halfway through the year. Summer then Autumn then the start of Winter in December. The world turns. It seems to turn faster every year, blink and a year has gone. I don’t like how I’m getting older, more worn out, achy. Each year seems to flash by. Where do they go?

Snake

Posted on June 29, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Animal, Blog, Blogging, Cold blooded, Environment, Snake, Words, WritingLeave a comment

Slither, slink, shuffle, slip, slide, glide, gliding, snaking along the ground, writhing, side to side. Your scales patterned like strange jewels. You sniff with your tongue, viper split, sensing the air.

A tube of muscle, constrictor or viper with poison bite. Fangs deep in my flesh pierce my heart. Cobra or mamba, rattler or adder. Bringer of fear to some.

Tiles in the church

Posted on June 28, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Colours, Design, Geometric shapes, Life, Minton, Minton tiles, Tiles2 Comments

Today I got some photos of Minton tiles in St Thomas’s Church penkhull. I’ve got to paint some for the Mystery play so I needed to see the genuine article. I’m hoping I can get a realistic look to them. They are in a scene where they have to be sold to raise money.

What I like are the simple colours, browns, pale ochres, blues and white. The interesting geometric patterns and curves. I may struggle to replicate them. But you have to try!

Sunlight

Posted on June 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Brightness, Environment, Heat, Joy, Light, Poem, Poetry, Sunlight, WarmthLeave a comment

6am, sunlight creeps in

and bathes the dusty books

with a golden glow

chases away the cobwebs

sings loudly by the door

breaks vases with a sparkle

finds dust motes in the air.

Sunlight cleans and bleaches

exposes over and over

till red book covers are faded

now salmon pink

Sunlight tinged with heat

warms your head

tickles your feet

raises a smile

makes you feel alive

a photosynthetic dash

of vitamin D

Sunlight is Life.

Reduced to clear

Posted on June 26, 2019 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Cat Food, Cats, Food, Life, Out of stock, Pets, Petshop, Reduced to clear2 Comments

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So that’s it then, no more cat food for my cats. It took me weeks when they first arrived to get food they liked. They only eat one sort, and only one flavour. So I went to get more today and its reduced to clear. Great I got lots of it, then asked at the till what does it mean? Oh we are no longer stocking it…. Bombshell, they are the only store I know that stocks it!

I asked if they would reconsider and was told it would be a buyer way above their pay grade that decided. But I said my cats will starve to death! ( You don’t know how fussy they are). Well you can buy on line. No I don’t buy anything online, how do I know it’s safe to do so?

Turns out the store might order it in for me and as long as I order over £30 they will get it for me……

I’m going to go to our local, small, petshop and see if they can help.

I think the big chain store, pet shop, has just lost a customer.

🤔

Blueberries

Posted on June 21, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blog, Blogging, Blueberries, Ericaceous, Garden, Gardening, Plants2 Comments

One plant is doing really, the other is partly dying off. I wonder if its too shaded out. I’m going to move it into a brighter place.

Anyway one of them is covered with blueberries which are starting to ripen, the other has a few flowers on it. I might also clear the slate off the top of the pots to allow the compost to breathe a bit more.

Brick built

Posted on June 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Blue brick, Brick, Building, Environment, Life, Photo, Red brick, UniversityLeave a comment

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Bricks are a wonderful building material. They are baked hard clay that lasts for centuries.

Bricks are ceramic, the clay becomes vitrified (turned to a hard substance though heating in a kiln).

Bricks change in size through the ages. From small and thin in Tudor times and getting larger closer to the present day.

My favourite sort are Staffordshire blue bricks. These are dark blue/grey and often covered in dimples on their upper and lower surfaces which are visible when the bricks are used for paving garden paths.

Red brick is also used in building and there are “red brick” universities in the middle and North of England. These are not as posh as places like Cambridge and Oxford but their courses are as good as the ancient ones. Examples of red brick universities are Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield.

The photo on this post is from my collection of photos manipulated in an app called Layout.

Music and singing

Posted on June 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A capella, Blogging, Choir, Education, Enjoyment, Fun, Learning, Life, Music, School, SongsLeave a comment

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I’ve been to a choir workshop on Sunday where we learnt songs and short pieces over a four hour period, then tonight I was learning songs for the penkhull mystery play which is being accompanied by Clay Chorus, a choir I’m part of. I’m a member of the cast of the play, so I might not actually be singing all the songs but it’s good to learn them.

It is quite tiring doing so much singing. It takes concentration and the ability to listen closely to your fellow choir members and the choir leader. We learn a capella so we often don’t have any accompaniment.

I also went to a concert on Saturday night and later today I will be watching a live broadcast of the Pirates of Penzance at our local cinema.

Music can transport your mind, calm stress, but also excite and enthral. Music can be raucous, noisy, loud, rhythmic and ugly. It can also bring tranquility and peace.

I think music should be taught more, to all ages and abilities. It should not be elitist and should not be for the privileged few. Music broadens the mind and the senses.

Cat doodle

Posted on June 15, 2019 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Blue, Cat, Cat drawing, Contours, Design, Heavy paper, pet cat, Shading, Windsor and Newton sketchbook, YellowLeave a comment

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I’m trying to do at least one drawing a day, this is actually the second picture I did but I’m posting it because it’s slightly different. Firstly I used a blue glitter brush pen to draw one of my cats. Then for slight shading I used a plain yellow brush pen. When it was dry I decided to use a 0.6 tip fine line black pen to draw in darker areas. I then drew lines over the darker areas and decided to do the lighter ones too. Finally after adding the lines in the background I drew a line round the edges of the blue and yellow areas and picked out any patches of white that had been missed with the blue ink at the start of the process. I didn’t take any work in progress photos. The drawing is in a Windsor and Newton sketch pad, heavy weight wire-o, A6 size. 50 sheets 170gsm /80lb.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Blogging