Lightning

I’ve been keeping an eye out for thunderstorms and lightning after they were forecast for us for the weekend, but apart from some heavy-ish rain tonight, which caused one of the cats to come in looking like a bedraggled wet otter, there hasn’t been much in the way of storms or anything else.

I do check the weather forecast online and noticed as each day came and went the rain symbols dwindled. But I also look at a website called blitzortung.org which shows real time thunderstorms and tracks them with detectors so you can virtually see lightning strikes within seconds of them happening. The strikes are also colour coded so you can see strikes from two hours ago in red, changing to orange and yellow for more recent ones and finally white for the last twenty minutes. So you can actually track where they have been and what direction they are heading in. I think it’s interesting.

I just looked at the UK which was blank. Then Europe where there seems to be a big storm over the toe of Italy. Then I looked at the overview map of the whole world and saw many storms scattered across North America. I hope they are providing much needed rain and are not as severe as the ones that caused major flooding recently.

SuperCat

I wanted to get a photo of my cat in this pose but he moved. The way he was sleeping reminded me of Superman in flight. The photo of him is transposed because he wouldn’t turn round for me. Now he’s asleep again on the arms of our chairs, he lies on a cushion that straddles the two armchair arms. I would like to do a cartoon strip about a cat. I had done one online a few years ago called the adventures of Tig, but that site is now defunct. When I think about it I have done a lot of art over the years!

Hand painted jug

I did this a few years ago. Living in the city of Stoke-on-Trent means there are places where you can pay to paint pottery with glazes and then collect the finished piece a week or so later. I found a place in Burslem which was about half the price of other potteries and the vase was double the size. I think it was called Stafford Pottery, its on the opposite side of the road to Burslem Town Hall. I gave the resulting jug as a Christmas gift. I usually paint cats but have been known to paint horses too… I know it’s mainly a kids thing, but it is fun.

No toes…

Our cat looked cute, but hubbies foot in a sandal was in the top right corner of the picture. I decided to try and hide it. I used my sketch app on my phone. Using the ‘chalk’ pen tool and the colour picker option. I carefully chose colours that corresponded with the parts of the mat that needed redrawing. I also drew over a metal tin that was in the bottom right of the picture. The chalk option was good because it gives a more mottled pattern to the mat. It’s not perfect but I’m reasonably happy.

Wet cat

He came in, soaking wet, plonked himself down without even a cat lick, and went to sleep. This cats not bothered, he just wants a rest after being out all day. I think he’s been mooching, playing in the rain with my other two cats, like a little pride of lions. Sometimes they chase each other up and down the trees. Getting excited and playing at who can climb the highest. Onto shed and house roofs. Then they come in, eat and sleep.