New paintings and regular art updates.
When I promised to cut down
On sugary foods
I didn’t notice this cheese cake
Lingering just
Out of sight
The chocolate dot
Sat on the counter
Looking for a companion
To contrast with the cherry swirls
Give me strength
Never to return
To this cafe
On pain
Of chilli sauce
Poured on my dessert!
Flowers in a pot decorated with music. I went to the singathon at eccleshall yesterday and all the tables in the cafe had these lovely posies on them. You can’t see the black musical notes that were placed in the pots because I cropped the photo.
I loved the combination of colours and shapes. So delicate and intricate. I hope you like them too.
I have some paintings up at Etruria Industrial museum. The museum is open this weekend (31st May and 1st June 2025).
Red horse. This is a painting I did a few years ago, acrylic on canvas. From a friends photograph. I had her permission to paint it.
The Canal festival has all sorts of activities including music and canal boats on display and usually morris dancing. I’m looking forward to it if the weather is OK. I might struggle to walk around but will try my best.
Last week I went to Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent. This cake was a bit blurry but nice. The cream calmed the sweetness of the carrot cake down. We had intended to have sandwiches and salad. But when we got to the cafe it was a bit too late to get anything savoury.
It was nice to get out of the house and go for afternoon tea with my sister a few days ago. I’ve been ill for a few weeks now, I’m OK one day, then I’m shattered the next, so I really enjoyed the trip out.
Carrot cake seems to have become a British classic along with fruit scones and banana bread. Others include black forest gateau and Victoria sponge. All of them are real treats.
If you don’t have a lid what can you do?
Knives and forks and gilding.
A menu clipped to a board,
Light through a window
And cast down from a chandelier.
Chairs and tables
Scrubbed and clean
Let’s get a coffee
With lots of cream.
What is your favorite place to go in your city?
A working pottery at Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It also includes a museum, with lots of industrial archeology. They sell various tableware in the pottery shop, there is a large selection of patterns for sale. There is a good cafe that overlooks the Trent and Mersey canal. There are small studios for artists and potteries, and a row of shops opposite the entrance to the pottery with small galleries and crafts for sale.
There is also a handsome bottle oven facing the canal that was covered in bright red ceramic poppies to commemorate Rememberence day a few years ago. You only have to pay to go round the museum section. Tucked towards the far end of the site is a working steam engine which runs at various times. I’m not sure exactly when? Worth taking the time to visit if you can find it (it’s tucked down some narrow side streets.
It also hold pottery classes and was also used for the great pottery throw down a few years ago to before it moved to the Gladstone pottery in Longton.
Peeling paint on a table
I took lots of photos of plants today but I decided to take a picture of a table at the cafe as I am a member of the peeling paint appreciation society on Facebook. I might try and play with this image later. Bit shattered after a very tiring and long weekend.
Photo by my friend Lin, she met up with me yesterday and we popped over to the Brampton museum and art gallery to collect some of my paintings and have a drink and a scone each. It didn’t help that as I cut mine in half my hand shook and I dropped the bottom half on the ground.
Bother! We shared the other scone and had another quarter each.
But what comes first on a scone? Cream or jam? I always go jam first, then cream on top (preferably clotted cream, but whipped cream also works). It just spreads easier. In this case we also didn’t have butter, but to be honest I don’t think you need it. The scones were moist and didn’t have too much of a flavour of baking powder. 10 out of 10. Tasty.
We just had tea at Middleport pottery. Hubby had coffee cake and I had a fruit scone with clotted cream.
I took a photo because of the blue plate. The cafe at Middleport uses it’s own pottery, so there is a delightful mix of different patterns.
The cafe overlooks the Trent and Mersey canal, and there are plenty of benches, tables and chairs to sit outside on when the weather is good. As we watched cyclists were going past on the tow path on the other side of the canal (literally where horses used to tow the barges in the 29th and early 20th century). We also saw two canal boats as they went past. A lovely afternoon despite the drizzle.
My willow pattern painting of a large platter is up at Etruria Industrial museum now. I used two different reference photos of two separate patterns to make it more unique. I also designed the surrounding pattern myself. I tried to make it look like it was on display on a shiny surface, hence the reflections…. I’m feeling a bit better now so might have to go shopping. Oh what joy. But the fridge is empty. The eating machine (aka hubby) has been snacking again…
Mallaband-Brown