My cat print!

My friend always sends me a photo of cards or things we send him so we know he’s got them. But I was surprised when this popped onto my screen. My hubby had sent a card of a black cat that I had printed last year. I had been experimenting with lino cutting and I had forgotten that I had made them. It’s a surprise and nice to see one of the again!

Profile with orange

Another quick fingerpainting this time just in sketchbook app. You can vary the pens and brushes, there’s a large selection, but they are almost too numerous to work with. It’s hard sometimes to decide which to use. Thank heavens for the back button so I can delete what I don’t like. This started out as a quick sketch that I was drawing to show a friend how the app worked, but then I decided to finish it tonight.

WIP my friends dog

To reduce my stress levels I decided to start a small watercolour of my friend Martha’s dog. I’ve been promising it for ages, but with everything that’s been going on I decided to wait until I felt slightly happier. Anyway, the floodgates finally opened today and I was able to finish two portraits. So why not make another start. It’s nice to use watercolours again. Hard to keep the colours light enough. I shall post it soon, about A5 size.

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Honestly? Honesty

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I almost said loyalty, but if I do something wrong I hope a friend would let me know. I do think that’s really important. I guess I need to think about it though. One person’s honesty might be someone else’s severe criticism. I would prefer to know what a friend honestly thought without it breaking our friendship.

What that means is that we could mutually agree to disagree if politics or some other belief was coming between us. For instance having mutual respect if you followed different religions. I can’t see why that would end a friendship. Unless of course one of you had inhumane ideas. In which case I don’t think we could be friends in the first place.

By the way I apologise for pontificating in these prompt posts. But they make me think about things, and they are here to be answered….

Why not loyalty? Because that might mean the friend backs you up even if you’ve done something wrong. I’d prefer them to nudge me and say they think I’ve made a mistake. OK I’d prefer constructive criticism in that case (what a polite world I want to live in)! Sometimes though I honestly need a serious criticism. Nobody is perfect after all…..

Saltaire fair

I want to go

My friend sent me this via WhatsApp and I wish I could go, but Saltaire is too far, it’s near Leeds, and I can’t drive that far. I also already have something on on 3rd June. However in the interest of sharing news I thought I’d post this here.

Saltaire is having all sorts of activities this summer. There is a food festival, and it has Salts Mill, a famous Mill that was built by a Victorian industrialist and benefactor. Salts Mill has a bookshop and Gallery and restaurant. It also has a collection of the artist David Hockneys art.

The Green Man?

Who would you like to talk to soon?

I would like to speak to a mythological person. The Green man. I would ask him how he manages with leaves growing all over him including out of his mouth? Is he rooted to the ground or can he move around like Treebeard the Ent from the Lord of the Rings Story by Tolkien? I would also what literature he appears in so I can find new things to read….

It’s a weird question though, I could say a relative or friend, but no one here would know them, so I could say anything. I could make things up. The same goes for famous people, how would I know what to say to a rock star or a TV personality and of what relevance would my opinions have for them, or theirs to me?

I would like some answers about insurance or council issues, instead of having to deal with a bot or an answer machine. At least when you speak to a human they can understand nuanced ideas and arguments. Having to talk to a chat bot can limit communication, particularly if it can’t understand your accent. Sometimes I talk to a AI voice on the phone and it will think I said No when I said Yes. When I rang up the cinema for local showings of films it thought I asked for Edinburgh! So yes, the Green Man, why not?

Found card

I found this in a pile of old letters a few days ago. We knew exactly who to send it to, a very old friend who comes from the south west. It’s about the Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow railway.

The railway line was very curved, the corners were tight, so very few engines could travel along it. It was closed to passengers in the 1930s. It was one of the earliest railways and only very short wheelbased engines could used it. It was mainly used for transportation of China clay across Bodmin moor in Cornwall to Plymouth. The track bed was laid with a camber so the engines could get round the curves. The engines were 240 Beattie Well tanks. They were usde to lower the centre of gravity (Information courtesy of my hubby).

Five years ago

Five years ago I sketched out a design for a cat sculpture and my friend Charis Jones who is a brilliant blacksmith made this wonderful creation for me, by interpreting my doodle. She called it Eshers cat and it has been sitting in our garden looking smart for the last five years. It’s lovely and makes me smile every time I look at it. Now it’s a little rusty from the weather. I’m thinking of using rust resisting paint (if that’s a thing) to give it a new coat… Literally! I just love it x

Martha’s Gallery

https://marthakennedy.wordpress.com/portfolio-of-available-paintings-by-martha-ann-kennedy/

My friend Martha Kennedy has created a portfolio of her work that’s for sale.

She’s a talented artist and writer who lives in America. I love to see her paintings of ‘the big empty’, with mountains in the distance. And a ‘refuge’ for Sand Cranes and other birds and animals.

Living in a city in the UK I can only imagine the wide open spaces she sees. Or what I would call wilderness. X

Take a look…..