
Leaves leave
Leafy loss
Trees shiver
Bare branches shake.
Wind blows
Northern ice
Frost burns
Firey colours
Through your crown.
Here today
Gone tomorrow….
Gold, red and green….
Brown
Mulch.
New paintings and regular art updates.

Leaves leave
Leafy loss
Trees shiver
Bare branches shake.
Wind blows
Northern ice
Frost burns
Firey colours
Through your crown.
Here today
Gone tomorrow….
Gold, red and green….
Brown
Mulch.

ArtRage oils sketch, edited in Sketch app. 2019. Digital drawing.
I like editing things in one application and then running it through one or two more. In a similar way to using different filters on Photoshop.
I have used lots of different apps over the years but I don’t always remember what I did in each of them which is why they look different each time. I want to find the best selection of drawing tools that I can. I hope they look OK.

Digital doodle, using the Sketcher app on my phone. Instead of lines I used a tool that creates small oblong. Then a ribbon tool for the whiskers. Using a pink background and a dark green pen tool makes an interesting colour combination. With delicate lines I think it gives an ethereal effect.

I mmust have been feeling cheerful when I did these paintings plus a batik picture of some fish. The first bottle oven painting is an attempt to do a clarice cliff design. If I did it now I would make the building more curved. The batik is sort of a Pices idea. The dragonfly was an interesting compositon and the half bottle oven is meant to be mirrored by blue sky or water in a canal. It is slightly remenicent of a yin yang symbol. The exhibition was held at the warehouse at Etruria industrial museum at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent three years ago. At the moment we cannot use the building because of covid19.

I was talking to a fellow artist about drawing and painting glass. We discussed whether it has a blue tinge like water but I disagreed. I suggested he looked at the reflection on glass. Sometimes glass is tinted slightly, uranium glass for instance is yellowish, I said I thought it depended on what is added to it when it’s manufactured. I think if you were to put a glass and a plastic bottle next to each other as an exercise and draw what you see you would probably notice stronger reflections on the glass. Also look at shadows, glass, though usually transparent, throws a shadow…instead of using blue to define it I said try using a bit of grey. Observation is very important.

Todays challenge was to draw ‘glass’. I decided to do something colourful and as I like experiments, I drew in my Sketch app.
I tried to build up layers of colour using the spray paint tool first of all, then an eraser for the label and then paint brush tools, fountain pen and a text tool. It’s a bit wonky donkey, but I don’t think it looks too bad. I used a stylus to try and make neater marks. I might do a few more like this. I’m enjoying these challenges.

Photo of my eye duplicated then edited in photodirector. Using a brush tool and a style tool. It might not be pretty but I hope it is interesting. I could imagine turning it into a print. The more I play, the more I learn. I like the colours, the shading, the contrast of marks even though they are created by an algorithm. To me it’s fun.

Are they? I think they are. Seen by my friend during a walk. They were in a garden along the canal. These were such a bright colour she took a photo of them.
Flowers are wonderful thing, such amazing structures, with colours outside of the visible spectrum that attract insects to pollinate them. They sometimes use the ultraviolet end of the spectrum to show insects where their nectar is. The trouble with flowers like these is that there are so many petals that the insects can’t get at the nectar. The human intervention of breeding flowers could have a detrimental effect on insect life. There are plants that are advertised as bee friendly, but sometimes that’s all it is, an advert. Single flowered plants are probably best.

Everything is spreading out, the flowers are still blooming and huge leaves are sprouting from the courgette plants although I haven’t looked at them for a few days. My morning glory plants have survived a few cool nights, but still no flowers. I probably planted them too late in the season. I really need to dead head the plants but it’s so cramped along the yard its hard to get down there….. I have noticed the blueberries are ripening. I must pick them soon… I need to get my act together.

One of the best things this year have been the begonias in the hanging baskets.

I’m not certain, but I think there are male and female flowers. Because some are big and blousy and the others are smaller and more simple. Whichever they are, they have been beautiful this year. The colours are subtle and amazing. They have also lasted a long time. I’ve only had to dead head them a few times. I’m hoping the weather does not get cold too soon so I can enjoy them for a few weeks longer.
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