
You look old….
But the joke is new
How did that happen?
To you…
Is the joke on us
Or you?
Not antique
But imitation?
I’d have it!
And that’s true X
New paintings and regular art updates.

You look old….
But the joke is new
How did that happen?
To you…
Is the joke on us
Or you?
Not antique
But imitation?
I’d have it!
And that’s true X


Sultana scones with cream on a Calico Burleigh Ware plate for tea.
It was very tasty and filling. I decided not to have jam on them, it would have been to sweet. But I did butter them.
Burleigh Ware is a type of pottery made at Middleport pottery in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent. Calico is one of many pattern types made by transferring the pattern onto the pottery with transfer prints. It’s a skilled job to line up all the prints. They are mounted on paper and stick to the pottery when they are wetted, the print sort of slides off onto the piece. If you turn over pottery it will usually have the makers name and other details printed on the base. People who do this say they are in the ‘turnover club’ .

I only had an hour at art group today so I messed about and came up with this. It’s a semi abstract painting of a horse/zebra. I was concentrating on a limited pallette, green, burnt umber, a lighter brown, silver and white. First I painted the horse and highlighted it in green, then I added the gnarly tree. Finally I added textures, including the striped zebra idea. I think it has a vague medieval feeling. I’m calling it finished. Acrylic on canvas.

Semi celtic cat design
I love the way cats twist
And squirm
Paws and tail,
Mouth and leg
Shuffle over on the bed
You like to sleep
In my way
But I love you so much
You can stay!

An idea from 2017 for a design for a cat and moon and stars. It’s not a good photo but I like the idea and I wish I’d got round to sorting the design out and getting it printed off. This is only an initial design. I would have strengthened the black areas and line work. It’s nice to remember this.

I can’t remember when I did this but it’s certainly a few years ago. I do love spirals….
Fireworks, galaxies, water spinning in a plughole, staircases, tornadoes, cloud formations, patterns in art. Its a, recurring theme in my art and I also love celtic patterns and art nouveau designs….

These are my knees and a very patterned carpet. It’s been put through various style and texture choices in photodirector and also incollage. I like adding and changing textures in these apps, it makes things more interesting.

A whale that was made for the Penkhull Mysteries plays. It was used in the story of Jonah and the Whale and the story of the river Trent which rises on Biddulph Moor and travels through England in a North East direction to eventually flow through Nottingham and on to the Humber Estuary at Hull. This was made of willow withies held together with masking tape then covered with water based glue and newspapers (papier mache). It was painted white to block out the printing and then painted in grey black and white. The makers added serrated teeth and the jaw was articulated so it could open wide. I think the throat and tounge were painted pink and white. We made lots of props for the plays including a set of horses, butterflies, flowers, plants, and all sorts of other objects. I used to help paint some of them and also large flat boards that were joined together as scenery. I hope we get to do more this year.

I joined a small writing group today. There will be writing prompts which I might post here. Like a pile of off cuts on a table, I think I need to put the bits of paper together to create a coherent image. It is like seeing a Rorschach test and being able to tell a narrative based on those ink blots. I might try and see what else I can do with this? I can see faces and a bird and animals in this image. Pareidolia again.

When I finished college I still loved Celtic art so I tried very hard to create a Celtic cat including Celtic knotwork. This was really difficult to do.
I was pleased with the work and glad I did it. I don’t do such complicated things these days. Very difficult to follow the rules of knotwork so that the overlapping patterns need to follow. Oil on canvas think.