New paintings and regular art updates.
Not a good photo, but my hubby is lending some train models to the Etruria Industrial museum for the weekend. We may donate them as they have a display case they can be shown in. We have too many bits of collections and sometimes we have to declutter. It feels strange letting objects go. But like paintings, you can’t keep all of them.
Bit of a bad photo but I had some good news today!
Great to hear I’ve sold this which was on exhibition at Etruria Industrial museum. It was only a small painting of the governor on the Princess beam engine at Jessie Shirley’s bone and flint mill at Etruria, Stoke on Trent. I took another painting up which was also based on a photograph that I’d taken at Etruria at its last steaming event.
What questions do you ask the net?
Today I asked what type of car was in the Randall and Hopkirk TV show from the 1960’s. Where is a train station that was on the TV? Turns out the answer was near Newcastle upon Tyne.
Then I asked about the profitess Cassandra. I had done a drawing and wanted to ask about the title I was going to call it. I’d also recently asked about Atlas holding the world up. I use the free images on Jetpack sometimes, but they often don’t come up with the image I’m looking for.
I have to admit, I don’t believe half of what I see on the Internet, but I think Wikipedia is not too bad. I also consult a site called Snopes.com which is a fact checking service.
I think its important to ask questions, knowledge is important. I won’t always remember the answers, but I try.
What’s the story behind your nickname?
I don’t have a nickname anymore. I used to have one, but I’ve forgotten it. I’ve changed as I’ve got older and only my hubby would use a nickname for me, and he stopped that a few years ago.
So when I was a child I was called nicknames by the school bullies. They took my surname and changed it to blueband (there was a margarine by that name) and used to shout it at me. I hated that. So I was pleased when I moved up to senior school and the bullying stopped.
As I say I had a nickname given me by my hubby, it was something silly, but I truly can’t remember it. So I guess I’ve answered and not answered the question.
Plus, what if I use my ex-nickname as a password for my computer, some of these questions rely on you being honest, but what if someone else reads it and uses the data? That’s a good question. Thankfully I’ve never used blueband as any kind or part of my passwords (plural), and now I’ve mentioned it I never will! Put that in your thesaurus and smoke it!
Etruria Industrial museum is steaming it’s engine again I think this weekend.
Wet weather is still in the forecast, but we might go up and see what’s happening. It’s good to see historic things like these old barges. It’s amazing how they can stay strong when effectively they are half in and half out of the water. Every few years mu friend used to put his barge in dry dock to recaulk the gaps between it’s wooden planks. You can get steel hulled barges, and I think they last longer?
There is a whole art of decorating barges, look up roses and castles if you are interested. They are traditional designs that are often painted on barges together with spectacular lettering for their names and the companies they belonged to such as Fellows Moreton.
The canal system in Britain has been greatly improved by volunteers that help keep them going. This after years of neglect until the 1960’s and 1970’s when groups of people got together to restore them. We have a lot to thank them for X.
Drawing and doodling, I had fun dig this, just playing with layers in my Artrage app. The Green eyes give her a spooky look. I imagine this woman as some mythological person. Perhaps Cassandra who Wikipedia states:
Cassandra or Kassandra in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate prophecies, generally of impending disaster, are not believed. Wikipedia
I was interested in Greek and Roman mythology when I was a child. I think I read about Cassandra then.
‘That’s obsolete!’ She said.
‘Why? It still works?’
‘You can’t get the parts anymore!’
‘Well, it’s still useful’ he replied ‘and what about make do and mend? You think about it, make it last and you don’t have to waste limited resources.’
‘But what about the manufacturers?’ she asked ‘if they make less things, they won’t be able to keep going? they will close down and you won’t be able to build a replacement if your object breaks.’
He thought for a while ‘they could charge a slightly higher price? Or they could mothball plants until they are needed again. It would be a difficult balance to make, but we need to stop wasting materials and energy.’
It’s a conversation that needs to happen. The world seems to think growth is most important and is the only thing to do. But perhaps we should stop and think.
My dad bought home a bulb from work which was in our bedroom. It never broke, it was still working when we moved house. Imagine stopping built in obsolescence. The act of making things with a built in shelf life. So your kettle only lasts two or three years, your car only ten. Why not make things like that longer lasting?
Today I went to a breathing workshop, I’d been invited by a friend. It was good, I was with other people who had different health problems to me, but I felt welcomed. We eventually sang some songs and the participants and although they were not a choir as such they were really good!
My friend had asked me to bring my small paintings so we could raise some money for the organisation she volunteers with. I was only selling tiny paintings, so I donated £1 per painting (between 20% and 50% of the prices). But it didn’t matter because they were wanted and liked. It was a good morning.
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
I’m not good at yoga, and I only do chair yoga once a week, but I think it helps me a bit mentally as well as physically. I can do standing poses and balances with the aid of a chair. I can’t get up and down from the floor, so sitting on the chair gives me support as I try and adapt the poses.
My physical problems make it hard to bend and twist without feeling dizzy, so I have to try and keep my balance and not over extend the positions I try and achieve. Problems with my arm mean I struggle to extend it. That’s why I like yoga, what we do is not competitive but collaborative. That too means a lot to me.
The yoga class happens before choir practice, and I’m sure that has a good impact on my mental health. Sometimes I don’t go because I’m not feeling well or feel down. But I’m trying to do the best I can. Life can be difficult so it’s worth trying to find something to do that helps.
Well the plants are getting well watered by the rain that has poured down here from the start of July after a hot June.
I wish I could send some of this rain south East towards the Mediterranean and its Islands. Plus Portugal and North Africa where there have been more wildfires. People have died. Meanwhile we are dripping wet.
I’m not complaining, as things go I prefer a cooler summer but I’m not sure how the climate will change in the future. We has grass fires here last year…. I would like to think if we can get our act together climate disaster can be avoided
Mallaband-Brown