New paintings and regular art updates.
Your wheel eyes stare
Soft feathers steady your body,
Feet reach forward
Toes and talons stretched
You swoop
Then up
Pushing down strong wingbeats
A small mammal caught,
Food for yourself or your fledglings.
Soft you whisper across the darkening landscape,
Home to the old barn.
The storm blew in from the North like a runaway train. The wind threw water against the houses. Cars were lifted up by the flood and were caught on the top of the neat hedges that lined the sides of the street. Out of the maelstrom came a figure of a small man dressed in a black raincoat. Water streamed from him, it flowed out of his sleeves and trouser legs. Tears streamed in rivers from his eyes, nose, mouth and even from his ears.
He was called Beck and he was from the North. He was a water god and he had decided to show mankind his might because of the way the World was being treated. He was angry and the storm was growing into a tornado. He had seen the way forests were being cut back, cars clogging roads, ships travelling half way across the world to deliver the cheapest sweatshop goods.
Beck lifted his arms, words bubbled up from his mouth.
Learn or die! He screamed in a high voice. Learn, or, die !
On my kitchen roof
Bouncing around,
Pesky magpies and pigeons.
I like them,
Don’t get me wrong,
But just as I’m about to
Pour a coffee
THUD patter patter,
Or get the bread out of the oven…
THUD patter patter
Delicately lining up some icing
THUD! Patter…. Patter!
Do you have to?
You make me jump…
THUD!
I took these photos a couple of days ago outside the studios at Spode. Su Hurrell is an artist there and she works with urban garden planting. She works with other artists and uses objects like washing machines, old chairs, a chest of drawers and other objects.
Other places are being greened in the town centre. There is Spode Rise garden by the China Halls in Kingsway, Stoke, and then some wild planting along London Road and Hartshill and in Lonsdale Street.
I enjoy seeing these plants, it’s great to see people using planting in exciting new ways.
The cats are inhabiting the bathroom while the weather is hot. I’ve got a board to sit on because I struggle to get into the bath. Although I’ve started to do yoga to try and build up my core strength. It’s easy to leave the board there and put a cat mat on it. My boy cat likes to lie there at night as there is less insulation in our extension so it cools down quicker (not so good in the winter). The other smaller cat likes it too but she gets pushed off by the bigger cat so she ends up on the corner of the bath.
Yesterday was really hot and they slept on the floor on the cool tiles for some of the time. Today it’s cooler though still hot and they have resumed their places. Not for long though. I want a nice cool shower.
Slither, slink, shuffle, slip, slide, glide, gliding, snaking along the ground, writhing, side to side. Your scales patterned like strange jewels. You sniff with your tongue, viper split, sensing the air.
A tube of muscle, constrictor or viper with poison bite. Fangs deep in my flesh pierce my heart. Cobra or mamba, rattler or adder. Bringer of fear to some.
6am, sunlight creeps in
and bathes the dusty books
with a golden glow
chases away the cobwebs
sings loudly by the door
breaks vases with a sparkle
finds dust motes in the air.
Sunlight cleans and bleaches
exposes over and over
till red book covers are faded
now salmon pink
Sunlight tinged with heat
warms your head
tickles your feet
raises a smile
makes you feel alive
a photosynthetic dash
of vitamin D
Sunlight is Life.
Looked out of a friends window at the weekend. I decided to take a photo. I love the delicate frame with thin wooden sections to allow more light in. Shrubs and perennials surround a neat lawn. Mature trees grow up on the boundaries of the property. The large spiky leaved plant is Gunnera I think.
I’d like such a beautiful view (apart from the cars). I would love such a beautiful house. It will never happen though. I could never afford anything like this, but I can dream.
X
Wife. You left the hose on last night.
Husband. Did I?
Yes,
Well the garden needed a water.
You’d left it in the pond.
Oh
It’s overflowed.
Oh, but it’s OK
How do you know?
Why?
Have you looked?
Well no……
You know the waterlily
Yes
I found it under the hedge.. and..
? And
And the Canadian pond weed
Yes?
It was by the summerhouse.
Is that it?
No
What else?
The floating fountain had flushed down to the folly.
There’s something you are not telling me?
Yes?!
What?
The goldfish.
The goldfish?
The goldfish!!!
What’s happened to them?!
I found them inside your wellies. The cat was trying to fish them out.
Oh, that’s OK then!
Bricks are a wonderful building material. They are baked hard clay that lasts for centuries.
Bricks are ceramic, the clay becomes vitrified (turned to a hard substance though heating in a kiln).
Bricks change in size through the ages. From small and thin in Tudor times and getting larger closer to the present day.
My favourite sort are Staffordshire blue bricks. These are dark blue/grey and often covered in dimples on their upper and lower surfaces which are visible when the bricks are used for paving garden paths.
Red brick is also used in building and there are “red brick” universities in the middle and North of England. These are not as posh as places like Cambridge and Oxford but their courses are as good as the ancient ones. Examples of red brick universities are Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield.
The photo on this post is from my collection of photos manipulated in an app called Layout.
Mallaband-Brown