Pastel workshop

Posted on January 26, 2019January 26, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, art workshop, beer, Blending, brewing, Design, Drawing, Fun, Humour, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Orme Art group, Pastels14 Comments

I was going to have a quiet day today. But I got up and there was a bit of a disaster in our kitchen. My hubby had decided to brew some beer. But he had added some extra sugar to the brew. Then he has put the bung in upside down. Beer had turned into volcano. Half the brew was all over the kitchen. It had hit the ceiling, there were puddles of ale on the cupboard tops, it was all over the cooker. Basically half the kitchen has been inundated with beer….

After about an hour of cleaning up I decided to go to the pastel workshop with the Orme art group. Basically to escape! The workshop was run by Sandra Orme (no relation).

It’s difficult to describe what we learnt, it was complicated. I’ve added a few photos of the two pictures I did. First you lay down colours in soft pastel on fine toothed pastel paper. Once you have enough pastel on you blend them together, then build up layers using smaller more intricate marks, gradually blending and adding. Sometimes only lightly pressing on the pastel, other times blending more. The direction of the marks can make a difference to how it looks. You can use the edge of your hands, your palms, your fingers or blending tools (like a brush but with the bristles replaced with a rubber tip).

Im pleased with the results. I’m even thinking of getting them framed….

An error has occured

Posted on January 25, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Computers, Errors, Fun, Humour, Life, Poem, PoetryLeave a comment

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An error has occurred:

With your words
With your mind,
With your computer,

An error has iccured:

With your link
With your ink,
With your printer,

An errer has inccured:

With your font,
With your print,
Its too faint.

An irritation has infected:

With your mind,
What you find
Computer error!!!

Shadows and light

Posted on January 25, 2019January 25, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Blue, Fun, Learning, Painting, Painting with acrylics, ShadowsLeave a comment

Sorry about the quality of the picture. But this was a painting I did a couple of years ago at the Orme Art group.

It was a still life set up by members of the group which we all worked on. Shadows were cast in two or three directions so it was a challenge to work out how to depict them.

Also the glass vase threw a coloured blue shadow with the ripples shimmering on the wall.

I’m not sure if I got the scale of each object right. The vase must have been really big or the teapot very small?

One problem with looking closely is that you can look at each object and not always the whole. That’d why it’s important to literally and metaphorically take a step back to check.

Mussel shell.

Posted on January 25, 2019January 25, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Fun, Humour, Internet, Mother of pearl, Poem, She'll6 Comments

Lots of things inspire me. The mother of pearl colours in a mussel shell interested me. Could it grow a pearl? Is it only oysters that grow them?

Mussel shell, mussel shell

Is a pearl growing there?

Does the grit you spit

Make a sand orb that shines?

Mussel shell, what muscle makes you

Grow a seed of shiny

Mother of pearl?

You are clamming up on me!

Bit of a makeover

Posted on January 22, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blog, Blogging, Change, Changes, Computer, Design, Facebook, Fun, Instagram, Learning, Life, Painting, Reflections, Social media, Twitter2 Comments

Things are changing on planet Mallaband-Brown so you might notice a few tweaks here and there thanks to my friend Mike from @staffsdesign.

I wanted to update my social media and make it easier for people to follow me. Being an artist has made me a lot happier and nows the time to try and make it work.

I didn’t realise amalgamating all my Web pages and sites would be so complicated and I’m so pleased to have had someone to sort everything out.

This is also a test to see whether it posts to my new Facebook page.

You should be able to follow me on the Internet at @mallabandbrown !

Panto rehearsal

Posted on January 20, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acting, Fun, Humour, Maid Marion, Panto, Panto in February, Pantomime, Penkhull, Robin Hood, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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Help! The pantomime is getting closer “oh no its not!” it’s on in a month “oh yes it is!” and we are supposed to be word perfect and know the songs and dances… “oh no we don’t!”

Well last Fridays rehearsal was cancelled due to snow and this week a couple of the main cast were away or had injured themselves so some parts had to be read in. There are lots of things to remember for the whole cast. Like when to come back on stage for a crucial part of a song which we all missed! I don’t know how long 16 bars is! It’s a case if standing around muttering rhubarb rhubarb (to pretend we are talking) while the main characters act out the story.

It is funny (honest) but it’s hard to describe. It’s good that one of the cast has actually written and I’d directing it. She’s so clever to do it. Plus organising over 20 children. I don’t know where she gets the energy.

I won’t tell you all the story, but Robin falls for Marion, some Goons cause mayhem on behalf of the Sheriff of Penkhull who is cleverer than Prince John. Marion is Scottish and the panto has her travelling to her home land. However all ends well. …

Penkhull Wassail

Posted on January 19, 2019January 19, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Clay Chorus, Dancing, Fun, Life, Penkhull, Staffordshire, Stoke, Village, Walk4 Comments

There’s not many places in Britain where you can wander round with flaming torches (but no pitchforks). But today we did just that round Penkhull Village. From Penkhull village hall we walked down the road to a garden with an ancient apple tree. The Domesday Morris danced and poured cider over its roots, Wassailing (shouting Wassail) to bless it and get it to flourish in the coming year. Domesday Morris danced, the Clay choir, which I sing with, sang Wassailing songs such as ” The old Cornish Wassail” and “the Penkhull Wassail” ( written by Duncan Bourne). Penkhull village brass band and the Penkhull Ukelele band also played.

Once we had drunk warm cider down at the garden we walked back up the hill and on to the local pubs, the Marquis of Granby, the White Lion, which was closed for some reason. We then went to The Beehive pub on Honeywall which had laid on some sandwiches. Then back across the hill to the Terrace pub and up to the Greyhound pub and Manor Court ale House where we finished singing and dancing. The Morris group were brilliant with their decorated hats, bells and boots. When they start dancing their sticks fly and swirl and clash together in time with the music So exciting to watch.

We went over to the village hall for hot soup. Some people stayed for a barndance, but as we were tired out we came home to get warm and have a hot coffee.

No monsters or zombies were affected by this Wassail.

Amaryllis

Posted on January 18, 2019January 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Amaryllis, Blogging, Bulbs, Colour, Flowers, Fun, House plants, Life, WateringLeave a comment

I have 4 Amaryllis flowers growing this year. The bulb sends out a long shoot after it starts to grow leaves. This flower spike will grow rapidly as long as it gets plenty of water. There can usually be 1 to 4 flower buds. All my Amaryllis plants have deep red flowers but they do come in other colours.

We got another plant in a deep glass vase which was in flower. Now the flower stem has gone over (died back) but its putting out leaves. I have two more plants that I have kept for years. One still has a long leaf on it from last year. Both are responding to being watered by starting to come into leaf again.

A tip, Amaryllis go dormant for a while from autumn. You need to start watering again mid winter to get them to start to grow. If you need to repot them only go up one size. They like to be quite tight in their pots. Use a good house compost, maybe a bit sandy to stop them getting waterlogged. Then sit back and enjoy the amazing flowers.

Finding poetry

Posted on January 16, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Digital poem, Found poem, Fun, Humour, Playing, PoemLeave a comment

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Up until a couple of years ago I didn’t write poems. Then I came here and decided to have ago.

One way of generating words is to write a short sentence then hit the middle key of the suggested words in the spellchecker. Occasionally you have to try a few times if it comes up with a symbol or something completely unusable. Sometimes you get interesting results:

A found poem on my tablet,

what do I think,

So why was it fished?

if feathers cut

So why add sound?

So if typing

I’m The drawing

The quality commission,

The drawing was created

this was very sad

So what happens in the fridge?

I know this completely bonkers but I enjoy the surreality of it. X

Street names.

Posted on January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Fun, Life, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Street names, The potteries2 Comments

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One thing I do notice is street names. There is a Christine Street in Stoke-on-Trent and other names that are part of my family.

But one thing I have seen is where names have changed. For instance this name was changed to Spark Street. But what was it before?

It starts with P, but that’s all you can see… As I’m an incomer I don’t have a memory of it changing. I suppose I would have to look at old maps. If I do I think I will find a few more changes. I’m guessing it might be from when the six towns became a federation and turned into the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The towns are Stoke-upon-Trent, Burslem, Hanley, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton. Also known as “The Potteries”.