New paintings and regular art updates.
A table full of delicious food. We just got back from Sawadee Thai taste in Stoke. We had Thai fishcakes and spare ribs for starters, then Thai green curry with fillet of Sea Bass and jasmine rice. Plus noodles with seafood (King prawns, Mussles and Squid). We really enjoyed it. Can’t say much more. At least I remembered to take photos!
Finds a seat, on anything, climbs net curtains, is lovable, purrs, attacks toes, eyes are bright, eats what it likes. Ignores consequences, follows its own path, pees in the bath, doesn’t know maths. Can eat its own bodyweight in tuna. Dances with wolves? No with kitties! By the light of the moon. Jellicles is a nickname. Fleas are to blame for its itches. Cats mighty have intellects, especially when it comes to food, sleep, and love.
The cost of energy in the UK is going up 54% in April this year. That means that the average household bill will be around £2000 per year. There are already people having to choose between heating and eating. All this in an age when we have been told (and rightly so) that we need to cut our carbon footprints. There are ideas and suggestions, being considered, but whether those will work no one knows. I am lucky to live in a first world country, but the poorest in the economy will be hit hardest by this price hike. They spend a higher percentage of their money on energy.
Why as an artist, am I writing about this? Partly because it means that creative people are being squeezed. If people have higher bills they can’t afford to pay for luxuries like art, music, restaurants, just anything that they have to balance their bills. It means that children are going to suffer more poverty. Life continues to get difficult.
So we face hard times, but what about the rest of the world? Life is hard, conflict increases, people have lost their homes, people starve. I have no solutions to offer, but I wish things were better.
Why do I feel hot? I’m melting. Not my age? It’s winter, I’ve got the heating on. But I’m hot. I’m not ill, I was, but I’m getting better. I guess it’s because I have been standing in front of the cooker making tea (evening meal). I was looking for a drawing to show how I feel and this one from a couple of days ago illustrates it well. As you get older life seems to get more complicated. I swear I think bits are going to start falling off me!
Anyway, I’m feeling a bit better. But even so, I think I will have an early night. Life, its wonderful but complex.
Strange lunch, orange flavoured Hot Cross buns with chocolate chips. We were having a big meal for our dinner and we had a big breakfast so I just wanted a simple, small meal to eat. Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Sunday Lunch so I did a quick sketch of these. They were tasty, but I think I prefer the original flavour. Less sweet and with Cinnamon. Also its very early in the year for Hot Cross buns. X
She sits and stares
The tabby cat
Contemplating your face
Will you open the treats
Will you give her some biscuits
Can she have a fish?
What will you put in her dish?
Staring, hypnotic, unblinking,
This tabby cat knows what she wants!
Oatcakes are comfort food for me. Warm and sustaining. My hubby went out to the oatcake shop and got us some cheese and bacon oatcakes for breakfast because I’m not feeling well (I’ve done a lateral flow test today and it’s negative so I think I’ve got a cold, sore throat, sniffles and aches). I added the dots of brown sauce to make a smiley face. A Stoke on Trent /Staffordshire delicacy, oatcakes are our pancake / tortilla /crepes. You can eat them savory or with things like jam and butter. Our oatcakes are big and floppy, not like Scottish oatcakes which are far smaller and drier.
Big head, tiny paws. An example of foreshortening. Those dark eyes do stare at me. You have to be a mind reader sometimes with cats. But they are persuasive. In this case its his ‘feed me…’ look. Then when he’s eaten he’ll be back out through the cat flap. Padding around in the dark, exploring his territory.
You know, cats are sneaky. They get humans round their little paws. They are incredible cheeky creatures!
I decided to stew four apples that were starting to soften. I wanted to use them up and also half a tub of clotted cream.
Ingredients :
Four medium sized eating apples
A couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener (or sugar to taste).
A level teaspoon of cinnamon powder.
A single measure of whisky, or you could substitute a small amount of lemon or orange juice.
About three or four tablespoons of water to stop the apples burning onto the pan.
A tablespoonful of clotted cream or whipped cream.
I roughly cored and chopped the apples and left the skin on. I put them in a pan with a little boiling water to stop the apple flesh burning. I cooked the apples for about 15 to 20 minutes till they softened. Stirring and mashing them until they were a chunky pulp.
I added a couple of teaspoons of sucralose based sweetener to make the apples less sharp. Then I added a single measure of whisky and a level teaspoonful of cinnamon and cooked the mix for a couple minutes more. You could substitute fruit juice for the whisky and leave out the cinnamon if you don’t like it.
Serve hot in a bowl with the clotted cream or whipped cream dolloped on top.
This reminds me of the Wassails we usually go on in January. They are to celebrate the local apple trees and wish for a good crop of apples the following autumn.
Our #bandofsketchers prompt today was sweet treat in honour of artist Wayne Thiebaud who died recently and who created art based on this theme (he did some beautiful work). Mine is Sweet treats. A bit dodgy because of my shaking arm and I was drawing on the back of a page where ink had bled through. Cup cakes in paper cases with icing and cherries on top…
Mallaband-Brown