Garden pictures

Posted on April 7, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Cat, Daffodils, Fun, Garden, Gardening, Photos, Plants, Summerhouse, Sunny, woodyLeave a comment

Oh its coming on…. I’ve been cutting back a few bushes and tidying up. The summer house is full of junk so it needs clearing out. I’m keen to go out there and paint. The weather has been lovely, we’ve not really had any April showers yet. I guess they will be in the way.

Oh I ache from trying to cut back overgrown buddlias and ivy climbing up the cherry trees. When the cherry blossom is out I will try and share photos.

By the way the cat is Woody, he’s the outside cat we look after. He’s really enjoying lying in the sun now the weather has improved. But we have tomato plants, so I’m scared he will squash them!

Today in the garden

Posted on April 6, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Drawing, Flowers, Fun, Garden, Narcissi, Plants, Sketching, Spring, Spring flowers, SunshineLeave a comment

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I drew this today, sitting in the garden, looking at a jumble of narcissi and other plants ( I’m not sure of their names).

Another of the USK Stoke thirty day challenge. I’m really enjoying this series of sketches. Every day a different way of stretching our practice. So many different sketches by different artists. I hope you like this.

Finding the sun…

Posted on April 5, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white, Black and white cat, Blogging, Cat, Fun, Photo, Photograph, Sleeping cat, Sunlight3 Comments

That’s what my cat does. He lies in the sun and keeps himself warm, and hides his head under his paw (an idea from the poem about a robin). Apparently cats sleep about 16 hours a day, but usually somewhere quiet where I can’t easily find them. But this morning, there he was in a Ray of bright sunshine. I had to reduce the exposure because it was so bright I was losing details.

Day 18,urban sketchers challenge

Posted on April 5, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Black coffee, Drawing, Fun, Indoors, Life, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stay indoors, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketching, VirusLeave a comment

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This one is ‘hanging on the wall’ as you can see I’ve got a lot of stuff on the mantelpiece and on the wall. I haven’t drawn the dust! I don’t move stuff around much. I think it would all fall off if I did. I’ve also missed out the crack in the chimney breast.

I’m really enjoying this 30day challenge and hope we continue to do more once this month if work is over. It’s interesting having prompts. I might not like some if them, but it gives me ideas for things to sketch. And also the opportunity to translate them into what fits in around my life.

I’ve reconnected with drawing more over the last couple of weeks than I had done for years. My only sadness is that my eyes are not as acute as they were. I have presbyopia, which means the lens in your eyes doesn’t change shape as well, so it’s harder to focus in on close stuff. I have reading glasses, but when I want to look close, then at distance it’s a bit annoying. Anyway I just peer over the top of my glasses. Plus my lines are wobbly.. But you can’t have everything. It’s just a sketch xxx

Abstract art

Posted on April 5, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Decisions, Design, Digital art, Fun, Pattern, Selling, WorkLeave a comment

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A feathery or furry picture in blues. I would like to set up a service where I can print things off for people, but I’ve always been a bit nervous of etsy and shopify. I almost dipped my toe in last weekend, but the cost of it, in these difficult times, put me off.

It’s difficult to find a balance between art and selling. I really think I need a manager. At the moment I do things myself. That’s the reality, I have to try and get things right……

I did have contact with a company a few years ago who offered to take my designs and pay me 25%. But when I looked into their practices I found out they were slow paying artists and the things they made were sometimes of a oor quality. That was another thing that put me off.

We HAD…

Posted on April 4, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Drink, Fun, Had, Have, Humour, Love, Micro poetry, Poem, Poetry, Thinking2 Comments

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We HAD Gin in the house…

Now we have none,

We HAD tonic

Now that’s gone.

We HAD food in the house.

It has been eaten

We HAD warmth in the house.

It has escaped.

What HAVE we got left?

Our LOVE.

Purple swan

Posted on April 4, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artrage oils, Doodle, Fun, Play, Purple, Sketch, Swan1 Comment

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This was a drawing experiment a few years ago. It was an ArtRage oils drawing, using colours then mainly the dry marker to subdue the strength of the original brushes. You can use a sliding scale to alter the brush sizes and strength of the metallic colours, so sometimes the colours look shiny and other times matt. It’s worth playing with different tools in apps, it increases your knowledge. I’ve found some apps really difficult to use, especially if I don’t use them very often. But I will modify what I do, and play around with things to see what results I get. I end up with a series of images, then edit out ones I don’t like. Sometimes I keep all of them so I can show how my work progresses.

Cheers x

Love

Posted on April 2, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged ball, Cat, Fun, Humour, Love, Loving, Playing, Sleep, Tennis ballLeave a comment

She likes climbing up on the airer to have a love, she rubs her cheek against my hand, pushing her nose into my palm. The tower of trays in the background is where she sleeps, curled up above the warm radiator.

Paws on the towel, staring at me. Looking for a cuddle, or sometimes her cat biscuits. She’s a lively cat. She chases toys like a professional footballer. Rolling a tennis ball along with one small front paw. Goal! She pushes it under the sideboard. I act as goalie and fish it back out again.

A graceful gracious cat…

Fish

Posted on March 31, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Doodle, Drawing, Etruria, Etruria Artists, Fish, Fun, Project, Sketching, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

I’m in another Art group called Etruria Artists. We usually meet on a Thursday but because we are in lockdown we are trying to keep going by doing weekly projects. I was interested in drawing a fish or fishes and this drawing was the result. I tried to show the way water moves and ripples. The fish is a bit weird I’m afraid. Let me know if you have any projects on the go…

Alphabet

Posted on March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Alphabet, Colouring, Colours, Design, Doodle, Drawing, Evening, Fun, Glitter pan, Italic pen, Late night, NightLeave a comment

Late night doodling over a couple of nights. Staying up late, listening to the news and drawing at the same time. Used contrasting colours to try and bring out the letters, plus outlining things in black. It’s a pleasure to draw things.

I think this looks like an old fashioned sampler and could imagine it in embroidery on canvas or linen. One way of relaxing in these stressful times. Why not create your own?

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Fun