🌰 Chesnuts

Posted on December 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bang!, Chesnuts, Christmas, Cooking, Eating, Food, Heat, Memory, Oven, Snack, Superheated2 Comments

Memory from seven years ago on Facebook. Hubby decided to bake some Chestnuts- but they were not cooked so he put them back in the oven- 10 minutes later- BANG! One had exploded, he was shouting ow- so I came down to find him taking the roasting dish out of the oven- and using my jumper as an oven glove, he proceeded to try and break them open first with the garlic press, then with the nutcrackers- the chestnut did not pop- it exploded all over the work surface, I grabbed some kitchen towel and we used that to wrap the superheated chestnuts to break them open….

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Posted on December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Christmas, Element, Frankincense, Gold, History, Incense, Metal, Myrrh, What are theyLeave a comment

I know what Gold is, a precious metal but I had to look up Frankincense and Myrrh were. According to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov :

Frankincense and myrrh are two olive plants from different species and genera. Frankincense is a hard, gelatinous resin exuded from the trunk incisions of the frankincense tree, Boswellia carterii Birdw. or other species in the genus Boswellia of the family Burseraceae, mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia, and India
Myrrh is an oily, gelatinous substance exuded from the bark of Commiphora myrrha Engl. or various other species of Commiphora, and can be classified as natural myrrh or colloid myrrh. Myrrh exists mainly in tropical and subtropical areas, such as Somalia, Ethiopia, and the southern Arabian Peninsula

Taken from:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles ›
So now you know!

Another doodle

Posted on December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, ArtRage app, Christmas, Digital doodle, Elf, Fun, Profile, SketchLeave a comment

And now I’ve tried doodling in another app. This is meant to be an Elf? I guess for Christmas. I can draw faces from life and from photos . But from my imagination? I’m out of practice, especially on digital devices. I quite like this, its in the ArtRage app and I like the metallic effect you can get. But again, I’m lacking in knowledge of how it works, I’m not proficient yet.

Does anyone like drawing digitally? Have you got any tips or have I got to go and look at a lot of YouTube videos to learn? I ask because I learn by playing, but then don’t know basic skills like how to use layers in photoshop properly….

Continue reading →

Dresdener Streizelmarkt

Posted on December 5, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Christmas, Chrustmas market, Half hour sketch, Life, Painting, Watercolour, Watercolour sketchLeave a comment

Today I joined #uskstoke for half an hour and painted this watercolour for the Saturday virtual sketch out. There were only a few of us but it was a nice chatty time. Good to catch up with people. I liked the colours and interesting architecture. Painting the letters was most difficult, trying to add white paint on top did not work brilliantly.

Cactus pot

Posted on November 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ceramic, Cheap and cheerful, Christmas, Christmas cactus, In from the cold, Indoor plants, Life, Pottery, SavedLeave a comment

A cheerful, colourful, square pot I have a Christmas cactus in. It was outside earlier in the year, but I noticed the glaze was coming off the other one so I bought it in (I think frost and rain got to them). This one’s a bit messy round the back, but then I just have the good side facing out. You can make anything nice if you position it well, even if its cheap and cheerful.

Baubles

Posted on November 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bauble paintings, Christmas, Colours, Decorations, Fun, Ribbons, Tiny paintingsLeave a comment

Last year’s tiny paintings that I did of Christmas baubles. I sold them at a Christmas craft fair. I added ribbons and painted the backs of them black so they could be hung off Christmas trees. People seemed to like them and I sold three of them. I wish I could be doing the same this year. It was pleasant meeting new people, chatting, enjoying the spirit of the season. Not this year though. So I shall try and remember the good times and hope they come again next year. X

Will Christmas be cancelled….?

Posted on November 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Christmas, Covid19, Doctors, Government, Lockdown, Protect, Scientists, Thinking, Warnings, WorryLeave a comment

Christmas is coming but will it happen? Our government is locking down the country from Thursday until December 2nd. This is after being advised by the scientists and doctors to bring in a lockdown about three or four weeks ago. No, they didn’t want to harm the economy, close schools, so they decided on a Tiered system, one, two and three… But that doesn’t seem to be working, hospital admissions and deaths are escalating again. So now it’s a lockdown. But then a minister has come out to say the lockdown might extend past four weeks. I don’t know where we will be at Christmas.

The whole thing seems to have been dealt with so indecisively, instead of keeping on top of things we were all given free rein, people travelled across boundaries.

I’m fed up, but I will continue to stick to the rules. I will be careful, I will wash my hands and I will continue to wear a mask, not just for me but also the people around me. Meanwhile the government needs to get its act together. Money is not more important than people.

Ivy

Posted on October 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Berries, Christmas, Garden, Gardening, Holly, Ivy, Photo, Plants, Winter, WreathLeave a comment

I like ivy, it covers the ground, grows up trees, makes berries birds can eat. Places where birds can nest where it grows up walls. This is a mixture of plain and variegated varieties. It’s mature because it’s growing berries now. There is a Holly Bush near it which is also making berries. I might even make a wreath for the door when it gets to Christmas.

Collected mugs

Posted on October 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Christmas, Design, Emma Bailey Ceramics, Middleport, Middleport pottery, Penkhull, Penkhull flag, The flag institute, VexillologicalLeave a comment

This is one of the mugs I bought from Emma Bailey Ceramics. She’s done a run of them to celebrate Penkhull Winning the #WorldSeriesOfFlags from the #theflaginstitute. Great fun. Bonus, if you live in Penkhull you get a discount!

So pleased with them. Its also good because we won the #FACupOfFlags. I helped design the flag as part of a competition a couple of years ago. That’s some Christmas presents sorted out.

Soon it will be autumn

Posted on August 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Blogging, Christmas, Colours, Fun, Leaves, seasons, Veins4 Comments

The leaves will turn soon, green turning to golds and oranges, the wind blowing through the branches, stripping them until they are bare. Cold and frosty mornings crisping the leaf litter. So that eventually the skeletons of their veins are exposed. Children making prints from the leaves, painting them and pressing them down onto paper. Making them into patterns. Making them into wreaths and table decorations. Using gold and bronze spray paint to cover them. Adding a bit of Holly or Ivy and a red candle for Christmas cheer.

After autumn, Winter chills, usually wet now instead of snow. The branches bare until Spring arrives. Then buds, expanding into leaves again. Back to Summer, heat, flowers, scents, shimmering haze. Life.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Christmas