New paintings and regular art updates.
Borrowed July for today.
The last few weeks have been busy leading up to ur Mystery Play on Saturday the 5th of July. Then I’m getting involved in an opera about Molly Leigh the Burslem witch. That’s at the end of July. Between now and then I’m waiting for the results of my CT scan. Whatever happens I’ll keep going…..
Consider the lilies…. Don’t plant them near the front of plant borders, the pollen is poisonous to cats. They can shed a lot of pollen which cats can breathe in or it can fall on them and they lick it off when they wash.
But if you can plant them safely they are beautiful and showy. But beware of lily beetles. They are big red shiny beetles that can munch and destroy lilies. I’m afraid they need removing and squashing if you want to save the plants.
When the wind blows the sky changes. Heat is coming and clouds may be fleeing this weekend. Warnings of temperatures above 30`C are expected. High UV is predicted.
The British don’t really do ‘heat’, we go abroad for it, but we are more used to summers of wet weather, music festivals in mud, Wimbledon or cricket rained off. A summer can last a day as far as we are concerned. We even have Saint Swithens day. A day in July? If it rains on that day we can expect continuous rain for the next forty days and nights… And sometimes that seems to come true! One year I joked with friends that we should build an ark on high ground it rained so much….. Sunshine, nice for a day or two, but Britain appear to appreciate clouds. X
I don’t know what I was doing but I know where I was. At Etruria Flint Mill by the Trent and Mersey canal. How do I know? This picture came up on my phone memories. I love the rainbow flies across the sky with one brilliant end behind the chimney. It looks like a multicoloured comet. I Ts interesting how the area of cloud under rainbows looks paler than the area above. It must be part of the optics of rain storms.
It’s good to look back at old drawings as the days grow colder and shorter. Remembering warmth and colour, the view from the cafe there, then a gentle walk round the lake. Watching the place mature over the years, the trees have grown up so tall. Now Staffordshire wildlife have taken over running the site there has been a programme instigated to improve the area and make it more wildlife friendly. I saw four cormorants perched on a man made island there a couple of months ago. I thought these birds were costal, but maybe they are coming inland like gulls.
Must visit again in the near future, maybe if it snows…. Then I can re draw this scene…
X
As June turns into July
I see a bird rise up to fly
I see a cloud floating past
and a flag upon a mast.
I see buttered scones
and currant buns,
Ice cream cones
and happy mums,
dozing cats all curled, asleep
The carp from its pond does peek
People rest and take their ease.
Buzzy are the drones of bees.
Now that summers at its height
Feel the Sun in its might.
Mallaband-Brown