
A lovely, friendly older dog I met today. The heat was bothering him and he went to sleep so I decided to quickly sketch him. I’m not sure if he is some sort of rough terrier. He is a real character X
New paintings and regular art updates.

A lovely, friendly older dog I met today. The heat was bothering him and he went to sleep so I decided to quickly sketch him. I’m not sure if he is some sort of rough terrier. He is a real character X

A sunny afternoon.
And the seats were out
Waiting for the sun
To come round
But they were empty
No more fun
No one to drink it in.
The bar is closed
Convivial loss
No one to stand and drink
The place is shut
So don’t walk in
To sit and sip
A cool one.

Got this from my Facebook memories. It’s a finger painting of a duck using the Artrage oils app. I like how it has a metallic sheen if you use the slider on it. The brushes on it can also create textures. I love drawing and this gives me the freedom to sketch if I don’t have a real sketchbook with me. I’m pleased with the colours that I used.
By the way”duck”is a well used friendly greeting between people in Stoke on Trent…

My little table was packed with paintings and a few glass necklaces today. I sold a few things, including one of the necklaces.
There wasn’t a lot of footfall and people were looking but not really buying. I guess they don’t have their shopping heads on at a health gym. They want to sit down in the cafe after doing their workouts!
The company was pleasant though. I had a lovely chat with the young woman who had the stall next to me. She was really friendly and we chatted about craft and art fairs and whether to try and get cards made from some of my paintings. She certainly had a lot of work, and was selling greetings cards, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pompoms, and other lovely creations. It helped the time pass to chat with such a friendly person.
My stall was dwarfed by the other people’s. It’s only three or four feet across, and with everything lying flat my stall didn’t have as much ‘oomph’ as some of the others. I might try and get some stands for the paintings. I had some metal ones I’ve used before but they are too heavy and sharp.

The cat greeted me this morning. Sitting on the windowledge, stating at me and purring. I knew what she wanted, breakfast. There is just enough space for her to sit next to the glass paperweights I’ve collected over the years. The cats calm me down. They cheer me up. They help me when I feel down. They look for love and give it back in return. Although they are not like dogs, because their love is not unconditional! They tend to want food and can be quite demanding. But when a cat slowly closes its eyes at you in what they call a ‘slow blink’ you know they are sharing their feelings with you.

Met a lady with this beautiful girl today. Its a shitzu crossed with another dog, but I’m afraid I can’t remember what that was. Such a nice natured dog, she was interested, intelligent, listened to her owner. Was friendly. Had no ‘snappiness’ even when the singer who was entertaining us had a crackling microphone which disturbed his own dog. I think she’s really pretty and asked permission to take a photo. This might turn into a painting.

Cafe and shop at Bovisand Bay, sitting next to the car park above the two parts of the bay. The cafe and shop used to be separate but have been joined together so you can explore a range of beach wear, body boards, sun lotion, crafts, etc, etc on one side and the cafe on the other. It seems like a nice set up. The people there were friendly. I think we will go again if we can.
I hope that they get good custom now that covid, which is still on the increase in the UK, is at least milder. One day we must get over it? I hope so.

He got a bit of a scratch on his nose from somewhere. I’ve wiped it with some washing up liquid and salt water. He’s a big cat but gentle. He doesn’t fight much, just stays still and sometimes gets scratched. The look in his eyes is very loving. I think he’s a really sweet cat, but slightly bonkers! He purrs loudly at my other two cats and they all get on together. X

My two boy cats last night, sleeping on an armchair and on the arms between the two armchairs. I’d got up to get a drink because I couldn’t sleep again. First one came up to say hello, after he’d been cuddled he went to sleep on the chair where the bigger cat usually sleeps. Then the big cat came in and seeing his usual space was taken jumped up next to me on the chair arms. Eventually he settled down too. It’s so good to see them getting on so well. The big one could bully the others but he doesn’t, they all three are pretty respectful of one another. If you are wondering where the third one, the small female was, she was upstairs curled up in the cupboard!

Today, for the first time in about three months I walked around the top of our hill (I drove up as I’m still nervous of putting pressure on my calf muscles).
It still had a little uphill section at the end (we walked downhill at the start). But I managed OK. I’d decided to go out early, before the sun set, and the sky still had some colour in it when we got down to the area of school playing fields that spread down into the Trent Valley.
On the walk we saw two dog walkers, one with a French bulldog and a Staffordshire bull terrier, the other with two beautiful golden retrievers. Both pairs of dogs wanted a fuss so that delayed us getting to see the sunset. It was only a couple of thousand steps but as I had already walked into town and back I at least got my 5000 steps in. On a cold breezy day it was good to blow the cobwebs away at last.