New paintings and regular art updates.
Drawing of a Christmas tree bauble for Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt Festivities. I used various metallic and black ink pens. I haven’t got a Christmas tree up because the cats climb them when I put decorations up! My festive display is Christmas cards off friends. X
I think it’s a crab eating a shell? I want to do a painting of a crab as a late Christmas present. Basically I didn’t get my act together in time for a birthday present and then I promised to do it as a Christmas gift, and now look what’s happened! It’s been a hard year for me physically and mentally and I don’t seem to have the capacity to do things like I used to.
I must stop moaning and get on with things. But if you get a Christmas card off me in mid January, let me apologise now! X
‘Nah’ he said, ‘it’s not going to snow on Christmas day!’
His daughter looked upset, but her mum said ‘Dad is always right about the weather.’
She went upstairs to bed, it was Christmas Eve and she was 7. She believed her Dad but really truly wished for the snow to come. She wanted to get up and see if Santa had been yet, but it was only ten o’clock and Santa didn’t arrive till midnight. The stairs light was on and she tried to stare at it to keep awake. But she couldn’t keep her eyes open…
Suddenly she woke. The stairs light was off and she didn’t know the time, but there was a strange silence outside except for.. A scrabbling sound on the roof. A slithering sound, a tap and a rattle. What was it? And the sky was a funny orange colour. She had never seen it like that before? Soft noises tickled her ears again. She had a chimney in her room but the hole where there used to be a fire was boarded up. But she could hear something..
She looked out of the window, moving the net curtain to one side. The sky was still orangey grey and what looked like feathers were floating down… Was it? Snow? She put on her slippers and silently went downstairs. She saw it was five o’clock in the morning. Still dark and far too early for her parents to be up. Instead of looking in the lounge to find out if she had presents she walked through the kitchen and stepped out of the back door. Snow! Yes!
Suddenly a trickle of snow fell from the roof above her. Then a little avalanche. She heard scrabbling again so she looked up…. Just as the reindeer and sleigh leapt up from the roof and flew into the sky!
Mini mince pie with fifty pence piece to show the scale…. A nice nibble, but moreish. I didn’t want just one. I got these in the local supermarket because they didn’t have ant full size ones (about double or triple this). The crust overlaps the tinfoil cup shaped base, and the filling only comes half way up the inside. But it was a tasty morsel.
Coffee with sweetener, cream and whisky.
I don’t take sugar, which makes it harder to float the cream on top of this drink. The whisky is only a single measure of a blended scotch. The coffee is a decaffeinated instant coffee. If I had some in I would eat a sweet mince pie with it. It makes me feel like Christmas is on the way. I remember when I was first allowed one of these on a family trip to an Indian restaurant.
I sometimes have it without alcohol, it’s not always what I want to drink, but this is a treat. I think as the weather has got colder I’ve started to have more comfort food. I must watch my weight.
December comes and I fall for delicious mince pies again. These are traditional Christmas treats that historically have been eaten around this time of year. Nowadays they are made with mincemeat which strangely has no meat, but instead is a gooey, sweet mix of dried fruits like sultanas and raisins, possibly some lemon juice and lemon zest. In this pie which was shop bought had bramley apple puree in it too. The filling is enclosed in a short crust pastry dusted with a little icing sugar.
Shop bought are nice enough, but home made are lovely. I tried a couple made by a friend at the weekend. She made them smaller- less calories, and sugar free mincemeat. Tasty and healthy.
I’m not sure what they were made of in the past. I suppose I should look it up. Probably they were ‘fast food’ in the past. Served hot I think? I would imagine they became popular in the Victorian era when Christmas celebrations ramped up with the use of Christmas trees and Christmas cards… I know I should check all of this…. But I’m too busy eating my mince pie!
Illustration idea for a Christmas bauble to hang off the tree. Just a doodle really. Using sharpness and blurring tools, a bit of a texture tool. I guess it would be nice to have patterns printed onto baubles but I don’t know how. Anyway I like it. I would call it an illustration? I guess these patterns could have the hues changed and be put on Christmas cards maybe?
Buy this now! You know you want it! Eau de Parfum! Jewellery! Food! A new colour for a hair dryer, a new electric car, toys toys toys.
Everything the consumer wants. Chocolates, biscuits, turkey, wine, spirits with edible gold. Lots of lovely stuff… That most people in the world can’t afford. That they will never have.
Meanwhile at Cop26 deligates have not been able to agree on reducing carbon emissions. Rich countries are not helping poor countries with funding…
This world is selfish. The Christian idea of peace and loving one another doesn’t seem very evident. Will we ever care enough to think of others?
#30daysketchbookchallenge Day 16, something old.. A thirty year old angel Christmas candle has sat on our mantlepiece for years. I sometimes think of lighting it but then I stop myself….
Felt pens and coloured pencils….
I need to send some late presents. I didn’t receive my orders until a couple of days before Christmas so it was too late to catch the post to send the presents on. If things had been normal my sister would have come to collect them and taken them with her when she went to visit my other sister. But that wouldn’t work this time. I posted something to a friend well before Christmas and that took ten days to arrive. Goodness knows where it went in the meantime.
Giving presents means a lot to me, I like sharing things with people although I’m not bothered about receiving them. I usually try to fit the present to the person, but this year the things I’ve ordered are a bit more generic. Maybe next year I will be more creative. I hope things get better by then. We are living through a moment of history that cannot be helped but must be endured.
Mallaband-Brown