New paintings and regular art updates.
I painted my cat sitting at the top of the stairs behind a flower pot several years ago. I just saw this on my Facebook memories as I no longer own the painting. She was a very loving cat and lived to at least twenty years old. (She was a stray when we took her in). She was very clever and used to ride on my shoulders when I walked round the house or the garden. I’ve painted and drawn many of my cats but she was the one I painted the most. X
Jug I decorated at a Stoke on Trent pottery for a Christmas present I did a few years ago. I think that this was done at Stafford Pottery in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It’s about half the price of the Emma Bridgwater pottery in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. I tend to paint flowers and cats on things like this. I decorated it as a tortoiseshell cat, black tabby and white. These tend to be female cats if I remember rightly. Something to do with their genetics.
You sit in a glass case
Short legged
Long bodied,
Tail raised
Dark and light brown stripes
Ceramic kitty
Strangely pretty!
Staring out in Saltaire
On display
To the world.
Over ninety days ago I started writing (and drawing) three gratitudes a day. I didn’t always remember until the next day. But I’m glad and grateful that I’m doing it. I still feel sad and upset about things, but maybe not as much. By writing gratitudes I’m forcing my mind into a different path. There are so many small things I can think of, like traffic signals staying in green, to the cat coming over to sit on my lap. Grateful for small helps and support from my hubby. It makes the world feel less worrying. It helps.
She’s lovely, she’s sweet.
She sticks her claws in my knees
Says hello, it’s very cute
But those claws are a brute
Holey trousers, ripped shins,
Make me weep, ouch and eek!
I love her dearly, so much more
But I think my knees don’t need he paw!
His paws are huge
Like a leopard or lion
Stretched out in a tree
Curled up like a kitten
I see him sleeping
Paws twitch, ears alert
Full of purrs
Running like a cheetah
Through a forest
Of dreams…..
Moira had noticed her cat kept staring up in a corner of the room. She could not see anything herself but she knew cats had better senses. Keener eyesight, a more acute sense of smell, hearing that was so much more able to notice small sounds.
Each night the cat would curl up to sleep, but then become alert, aware, interested in something. It would watch the ceiling for a few minutes, then close its eyes again and relax.
Moira started checking the time of each encounter with what was going on. Ten past eleven until seventeen minutes past. A precise time every night? Very strange.
Moira suspected that someone or something was playing games? She had friends that could do tricks, they had pranked her before, could it be them? But when she contacted them they denied any involvement.
It was on the eleventh day that she finally saw something. A drip of red running down the wall, slightly hidden by a picture. Could it be mould? Some old houses had problems with fungi? She decided to ring a builder if there was anymore problems the next night.
She sat down to watch TV the next evening. At precisely eleven ten pm the cat stretched and looked up. Then it did something new, it hissed! Moira looked up too, just as a disembodied foot pierced down through the ceiling. Slightly transparent, it paddled the air, not touching anything, floating, then simply vanished. The cat settled down. Moira didn’t!
Blugh! I feel tired and ill. Still negative for covid but getting fed up with my sore, croaky throat. It’s so annoying and it feels like it’s going on my chest. My body aches. It’s been so long since I’ve had a proper cold or flu, you forget how lethargic it makes you feel. I’m sitting with the cat poddling (kneading) my knee. Ouch, too tired to push him off. But it’s a comfort… And my nose keeps dripping like a tap. Hubby is cooking poached egg on toast. Hooray!
It’s another one of those nights. I lie down to sleep but my thoughts churn. I’m too hot, then too cold. I tried reading but hubby wants the light out, then he starts to snore. I came downstairs to get a drink, decaffeinated coffee, what a thrill?! I decided to treat myself to a slice of toast with hummus. Not very exciting. I know that at this rate it will be afternoon before I get up. One of the cats is on the armchair next to me, paw over his nose, keeping the light from the standard lamp out of his eyes. Oh to be a cat, curling up wherever you can. Warmed in a fur coat that is totally ethical. The house creaks at night, it’s old and not very well made. I think of my sister late at night. My chest does ache, but it might just be the cold I’ve had for the last few days. I guess I’ve got to learn to live with the loss. I’m still mourning her. Maybe tomorrow night I’ll get a better night’s sleep.
Using a digital filter can steady down analogue drawings. The splodginess of felt pens can get blurred out and the line work becomes more even. I used photodirector to change this drawing. I used the ‘effects’ AI filters and I think I used filter number five on the landscape choice. Somehow the top of the pumpkin looks like a bat….
Mallaband-Brown