Penkhull Flag

Posted on June 20, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged 2020, Design, Flag, flag institute, Mystery Plays, penkhull village flag, winner of the world Cup of flagsLeave a comment

Since I’ve been talking about the Penkhull Mystery Plays I thought I’d share an image of our flag and information about it from the flag institute:

Flag Type: Village FlagFlag Date: 7th July 2018Flag Designer: People of Penkhull with Philip Tibbetts and Graham BartramAdoption Route: Popular VoteUK Design Code: UNKG7540Aspect Ratio: 3:5Pantone® Colours: Green 355, Yellow 109, Blue 286Certification: Flag Institute Chief Vexillologist, Graham BartramNotes:

The Penkhull Flag is a community flag proclaiming the unique identity of this district of the City of Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire).

Penkull is a hilltop village and conservation area within the city boundaries, with strong links to the Spode family.

Josiah Spode I lived in Penkhull, close to his famous Spode pottery works, while his son Josiah II developed the village as a dormitory suburb.

The Penkhull Flag features a golden saltire nowy charged with a blue oval bearing a golden rooster.

The green field evokes the rural nature of the village.

The saltire recalls the crossroads at its heart, while the blue central oval represents classic Spode tableware.

Meanwhile the rooster draws on the weather vane of St Thomas’s Church – a commonly used emblem in the village.

This winning design was chosen by popular vote, achieving just over 35 per cent of the poll, and flew for the first time as part of the Penkhull Mysteries event.

Faces

Posted on June 20, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Design, Fine Art, incollage, Life, Pattern, Photodirector, Texture, TimeLeave a comment

Playing with colours and textures. Who needs AI when you can play with things yourself? This time I started with an acrylic on canvas, then I used photodirector and incollage apps to play with the images. I’m getting some interesting effects.

Abstracted

Posted on June 16, 2025 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Apps, Art, Artrage, Colour, Design, digitally drawn, Fun, Life, Pattern, PhotodirectorLeave a comment

Abstract pattern. Is less more? Or can convoluted shapes be fabulous? It’s all about balance, nuance, things can still be beautiful even when they are strange. Pleasing to the eye. Artrage app and textures from photodirector. Simple and yet complex.

Feeling catty

Posted on May 26, 2025 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, ArtRage app, Cat, Design, Doodle, Duplicated, Fun, incollage app, SketchingLeave a comment

Just another cat doodle, this one is a finger drawing done on my Artrage app. And duplicated on incollage. I do love playing with these apps.

Old sign?

Posted on May 14, 2025May 14, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Antique, Art, Design, fake, graphic design, metal sign, Picture, Poem, Poetry, Question, realLeave a comment

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

Scone time

Posted on May 12, 2025May 12, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Burleigh ware, Butter, Calico, Cream, Design, Food, Middleport pottery, Pottery, scone, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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’ .

Horsing about

Posted on April 30, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Design, Fine Art, gnarly, Horse, Medieval, Painting, Texture, Tree, ZebraLeave a comment

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.

Cat design

Posted on April 28, 2025 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Bed, Black and white cat, Cat, Celtic cat, Curled up, Design, Life, Poem, Poetry, SleepLeave a comment

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!

Cat and stars

Posted on April 23, 2025 Posted in Cat, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, card idea, Cat, Design, Drawing, ife, Moon, Sketching, Stars, Tuxedo cat, Window3 Comments

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.

Previous spirals

Posted on April 9, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, art nouveau, Celtic art, Design, Digital drawing, Life, Memory, Pattern, SpiralsLeave a comment

Just found an old digital drawing I turned into a pattern.

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….

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Design