From bad to worse?

Not this one…

But while I was having tea tonight I realised one of my rings was missing. One hubby had given me on our anniversary a few years ago. I’d had to wait for it because the one in the shop was a size too big. I eventually got it, gold with some diamond chips.

I suddenly looked down at my hand and felt something was missing. I did a double take and squinted, not realising it was gone. Just thinking it had shrunk….?

Searching, in bins, no, going through the recycling, no, but it must have slid off. I’ve lost a bit more weight and all my rings are getting loose. In the pedal bin, no, in the kitchen, on the floor? No…. Panic, where was it. Coat pockets, no, dressing gown pocket? No. Another bad thing today… Looked on the floor and swept up. No. Can’t vacuum incase it gets sucked up.

I remember a senior manager getting some students to search for her diamond ring through full vacuum cleaner bags! That was years ago.

Oh where are you? Handbag, got a torch… A GLINT of GOLD!

Oh great!!! I won’t need to contact the places we visited, or our insurance.

Where is it now? On my other little finger, crammed between two other ones. Hopefully safe now.

Red sky tonight

A drawing of the view

I saw the sky this evening

Turned bloody orange

As if on fire

Light streaming through

Branches and trees

Illuminating a landscape

Still dry from lack of rain.

The hedge behind us

Was split by the light

A shaft of red and gold

For telling bright weather

And clear skies

And stars

For the night ahead…..

Bust doodle

Doodle in gold and silver pen. Originally a contoured drawing in three quarter position, I added chequered squares to fill in the spaces. That left the image surrounded by blank paper, so I added silver triangles. The gold ink had covered some of the original drawing so I added black pen shadows. I thought this was a fun idea.

Decorated doorway

Doorway at the Thai temple. So beautifully decorated. Golds and greens, amazing patterns. The celebration was outside so we didn’t go in, but I would have liked to. The skill and artistry is outstanding. I imagine the sort of skills you would need to carve church screens, or old furniture. Those skills are being replaced by computers or 3d printing. But hand carving and painting adds something special. Not clean and accurate, but human and possibly slightly flawed. It is fine art. X

Draco in a Storm

Mid way through this painting, the background blue is actually (and strangely) a mixture of deep green and dark violet. Who knew that would happen? I will calm the pink down and add more gold to make it more regal. I painted Draco in a storm, its tail and wings are being blown by the storm winds. I hope to add more detail as I work on it.

A glass world

Glass paperweight

Like a water world with tiny golden islands on an ultramarine sea.

I have a few paperweights but this is my favourite. I look into it and am enchanted by how they managed to embed gold leaf into it. They must have gathered the blue glass and rippled on the black layer, then put gold leaf on and blown into the glass to make it split up or maybe just let loose gold leaf fall onto it? Then gathered (added a layer) of clear glass on top.

I’m only guessing about the technique but however it was done, it’s beautiful.

Vase painting

My attempt at painting a Japanese style vase. Using gold and lots of flower and leaf patterns I tried to recreate the feeling of a Cloisonné or Satsuma vase. I’m no expert but I just wanted it to have complexity and stature. My love of pattern really helped. This was taken when I had almost completed the work. I placed it on the floor to try and catch the sunlight illuminating it. One of my favourite paintings, it went to a very good home.

Sailing

I wanted to use the ‘knitting’ pattern that I had drawn as a background for another image. Flip it over, mirror it and crop it, draw over it and add a boat and its reflection. I think it actually works quite well. The sea looks calm as a mill pond despite the wind catching in the boats sails. I added white lines to dilineate the surf as it flows onto the beach.

Energy

I keep doing abstracts! This one is based on electricity and uses gold leaf for the sparks!

Gold leaf, gold, grey and black felt pen, bits of paper that held the gold leaf. For the prompt for today for #bandofsketchers which was ‘energy’.

I enjoyed doing this collage, but the gold leaf was fiddly. I cut out a star but it didn’t work very well.