New paintings and regular art updates.
How has technology changed your job?
My ‘job’ isn’t really one, I don’t make sufficient money to make it worthwhile so I guess it’s more like a hobby. But as digital technology has improved I have been able to include it more into my art and mark making.
This image started as a digital drawing in Artrage. I then ran it through filters on the photodirector app several times which came up with this image of a tree. I like being free to experiment with art and seeing what results.
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
Look at the sky, it’s blue,
I love that wonderful hue
I could ignore it
Pass it by
Be driven hard
Ambition charged
But then I’d miss the best of life
While dealing with the anxious strife
No time to stop and stare they say
Is not, for life a good way.
Try not to stress
Though I confess
I walk on sometimes
And miss sunshines.
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
I have a strange ability to do with time. If I’m cooking something in the oven and set the timer for whatever length of time the dish needs cooking I will have an urge to get up and check the time at exactly one minute to go! It happens virtually every time. It’s weird.
Other timely abilities included knowing when my hubby was coming home from work no matter what time his shift ended. I could not relax until a few minutes before he got home. This was despite the time not being a regular thing and no phone calls (he wouldn’t use a mobile phone). (One of my cats was always waiting for me when I came home, the same thing?).
Finally, I can be sitting at traffic lights and if I count to ten, the lights will usually change before I finish counting. I’m not sure why but it seems to work say about 70% of the time.
My thoughts are that I’m living time backwards! I can’t understand how it works. I know we humans have ‘timing’ cells in our brains that regulate our ability to measure time. Perhaps my cells are very accurate? It’s a mystery.
What is your favorite type of weather?
Kite flying on a breezy day, enough breeze to lift the silk or nylon covered structure up into the air.
We went to a kite flying festival in Wales years ago. I had made a kite out of bamboo tied together with melamine silver plastic taped to it. I’d painted a Japanese symbol on it, I can’t remember what it was (this is about thirty years ago).
It wasn’t just breezy, it was very windy, and most kite flyers had decided not to bother. But I tied a tail onto my kite and tried to fly it. It wasn’t very happy so we added a plastic carrier bag! Then it flew, horizontally, just above the beach, but it flew. I was so proud!
The next day there was a gentle breeze, I took off the bag and the kite rose high into the air. I have always loved kite flying weather since then.
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
My geography teacher influenced me a great deal. I can’t remember his name and I gave up geography when I had to choose my subjects for my exams. I couldn’t carry on because the lessons clashed with art which was always going to be my main subject.
The reason for the influential effect was the thoughtfulness of the teacher. We learnt a broad range of things from the crops some countries grew, to vulcanism, plate tectonics, details of maps, and lots of other information. The lessons were interesting, the teacher got our attention. He explained things clearly, he was patient and understanding. We got an insight into the geo politics of the world.
I wish I could remember his name but despite my poor memory I think he was most influential.
What do you wish you could do more every day?
Get up in the morning with my cats
They are running around like bats
I mean silly rushing
Each one pushing
The boundaries of reason
But it’s the spring season
Jumping about then resting
And they’re always questing
To find a nook and cranny
To hide in like a canny
Cat, ready to pounce
Or at least flounce
Off in a huff
Which can be rough
To their friendly mate
Who’s left in a state
Of shock
After a sock
In the face with a paw
When they were calm before
Getting all het up
When they meet up
On the bed
They sort of see red
And chase
Yes that’s the case!
Hi jinks
When a claw sinks
In your nose
But it’s fun I suppose!
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
I think, if I ever got a tattoo it would be of a wild animal, maybe a Tiger? Something that is threatened with extinction. I would NEVER try and own a wild animal, or use part of its body for medicine. I’m so disgusted when people pay masses of money for products made from Rhino horn or Elephant tusks or Tiger skins.
Give the animals their freedom, don’t keep them as pets or use their anatomy for medicine. If you want to do something dangerous which includes an animal get a tattoo!
Where to have one? I don’t want it to show. So it would be on the sole of my foot!
What is one word that describes you?
I decided to use the form of a limerick poem to describe the one word ‘eccentric’ that I have chosen for myself. The painting is of me as a green woman…
I’m rather eccentric, that’s me
I prefer that to ‘mad’ you see
I love paint and mess
With nothing to stress
And my mind is a buzz, like a bee!
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
I was with a friend on a training course once. We were in a hall with a piano and she decided to play. I started singing along, ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’.
Part way through another friend came in and complimented my friend for her singing, assuming that it had been her voice not mine. She pointed out it was me. He said something like, ‘oh I didn’t realise you could sing like that!’ and ‘you were very good!’. I wasn’t sure how to take it. Should singers look a certain way? But I think it was the best compliment because he judged it on my voice, not my appearance.
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
Hopefully I could share the trip with a friend as I don’t drive far these days. Cross Country would be a limited journey, probably into Wales, the Peak District or a bit further afield to Devon or the Lake District.
We are very lucky to have beautiful countryside in the UK, I guess because it rains so much it keeps the plants watered most of the time. But things have got a bit worse over recent years with droughts and flooding.
The UK is about the same size as the American state of Texas, but the geology here is very varied, so you can enjoy all sorts of interesting and also historic places on this hypothetical cross country trip. From ancient monuments like Stonehenge, to Scottish battlefields and great mountains. I’d also recommend places like the Welsh village of Portmeirion, an Italianate style village on the coast near Snowdonia. It was built by an eccentric architect and appears in the 1960’s adventure series “The Prisoner” which is equally eccentric.
I would not use a plane, train or bus to travel, I prefer to stop when and where I want, so it can take a long time for me to get from A to B, (probably taking in C D and E at the same time). But these days I keep my carbon footprint low, so it’s not going to be a frequent thing. If I was young and healthy it would be by bike. I have fond memories of cycling through the English countryside, but that’s another story.
Mallaband-Brown