New paintings and regular art updates.
Part of the set up for the play we went to see were the cars. Old and new. My favourites were the Austin Maxi in mustard yellow, and the bright red Audi Quattro. Both were just inside the door as you came in, together with an old caravan. It set the scene so well. Fascinating.
The D Road is a play we went to see today about a woman affected by the D Road.
The D Road is a dual carriage way that runs through Stoke-on-Trent and joins with the M6 motorway North and south of the city making a D shape.
The play is written by Debbie McAndrew. The story unfolds as an elderly lady is frightened by a man hanging around her house. Her grandson catches him and demands to know what he is up to…. The answers change all their lives…
Very enjoyable. Put on inside the Meadows suite at Spode. It was quite cold as its an empty factory, so we were given blankets to keep warm. Very enjoyable.
I was given a Helium balloon by a friend for our anniversary and its gradually losing Helium as the days go by. Helium can escape because it has the second smallest atom in the periodic table, and can diffuse through the skin of the balloon. Helium is also inert so unlike Hydrogen that has the smallest atoms, it won’t burn. (Hydrogen on the other hand is very reactive and burns with Oxygen in the atmosphere to make water).
The balloon has gradually sunk in the air as its buoyancy has reduced. We gradually cut off the ribbon on it and as that reduced its weight it flew higher. Its also following air currents and drifted around the house. Rather like a drop of water floating in the international space station the balloon has drifted up and down the stairs. When it gets above a radiator it ascends, and when it drifts out of the warm air it descends again. At the moment it’s bobbing around the living room, like one of the giant bubbles in the 1960s series ‘the prisoner’….
A not very interesting anecdote…..
It’s been a few months since I used my old tablet, so when I installed the picsart app in my new one I wasn’t sure how it would work. I think I’m getting the hang of it although there seem to be lots more options than before. I’m still finding my way round it but I liked being able to put this photo in a frame. To write text and place and resize it easily, added a heart sticker. I also drew the whiskers in a bit more although it was hard to know which pen icon to use and how to change the pen thickness and opacity. But as I already partly knew the app I was soon using it again. I would advise playing with the app, using different tools and filters until you are more confident with it. Remember – you don’t have to save your work if you don’t like it.
X
For years I’ve used an app called ArtRage oils which is free, but when I got this new tablet I decided to go mad and get the full ArtRage app. I’m having a lot of fun with it, new tools to use, a colour picker, and various other things to do. Now I just need to learn it a bit more so I can try and do realistic art, and I have a stylus….that’s really much better than finger painting.
X
I’ve got a new tablet and I’ve merrily been uploading some of the apps I used to use. This one was called sketcher free. I played with the various pens in the app and tried to create something a bit more abstract to how I normally draw.
I was also trying out different colours, vaguely graffitiish if that’s a word! Its exciting to experiment with art.
They might not look like much yet, but I’ve just blocked in three small painting that I sketched out over the weekend. The middle one is of a cat curled up on an armchair. The chair will be covered in a holly pattern.the cat on the window ledge will have a blue and white vase next to it, and the pottery is an imagined view in the snow,
I’ve got a busy week so I might not be able to get online much. Also I’ve got toothache!
This isn’t the tablet but a drawing of the screen. I installed lots of software today. What a mess! I have different passwords for each app. It confused me! Had to reset some. I wanted to do lots of stuff today but I’ve spent four hours just learning how to use it.
Anyway the photo is for day 21 of the 1″ inch challenge for October.
X
I did these sketches tonight because I’m part of urban sketchers. These were drawn at the Mystery play barn dance up at Penkhull village hall. The band laying were called the Shropshire Hero’s and the barn dance caller was Baz Parkes.
It was excellent fun although I was helping behind the bar for part of it. Just watching people dance was great. Some do well, others make mistakes. The worst thing that happened was someone accidentally stood on my foot. But that was because I was drawing, and I think I was a bit in the way, so I wasn’t looking and got stood on. I was more worried because the dancer almost fell over me!
The other problem with drawing dancers? You guessed it.. They don’t stand still!
X
Have you heard of Panto? Or better known as Pantomime?
No? It’s something that goes on here in the UK around Christmas time.
Usually seen in a theatre it consists of brightly coloured sets, with brightly clothed people, messing about, telling an adventurous story while telling awful jokes and singing contemporary songs.
We do this in Penkhull, but for the at two years someone from the group has written the panto/pantomime, rather than buying in a script.
We started rehearsing last week. Lots of people who have done it before, greatful to get a couple of lines and be able to play act again. Most modern pantos seem to have commercial sponsorship, but in our case we just mention local shops. We don’t have advertisements in the panto, unless it’s jokey ones in the programme.
This time we are doing Aladdin. Set to open for four performances (too many for’s?) in February 2020, so the cast can take Christmas off!
Oh yes we can!
Mallaband-Brown