New paintings and regular art updates.
I keep meeting her name
I see someone
They have her name
Each one a gut wrench
Bullet to my heart
Didn’t know how many
People I know
Had her name.
She’s gone,
But I’m reminded
Constantly
Surge of sadness
Bumps into my mind
Almost daily.
Goodbye forever
Twin.
Dogs or cats?
Sorry, I’ve always loved cats, I’ve had cats since I was a child. We never had room for a dog, I don’t think my parents had the time to walk one while they were looking after all of us children.
Cats always seem aloof, but once you get one, and start to understand it they can be very loving. I used to whistle a little tune to get our cats to come home. I’d do it when they were due to be fed, or at bed time, and I suppose they understood the reason behind the whistle so they would come. So cats can be trained. I had one which would jump from one gate post to another when I tapped the post and whistled. She was very special and liked climbing up on my shoulder and having a little ride around the house or garden.
Don’t get me wrong though, I do like dogs, it’s just that when you go out to work all day it seems cruel to leave them shut in the house or tied up in a garden. At least cats can use cat flaps and enjoy independence. And I know you can get dogflaps but they look like a burglar could get in through them…
Also, thinking about cats, I think they are not as expensive to look after, although when you have multiple cats it’s not cheap. Maybe one day if we suddenly have lots of money I might get a dog.
Apologies to dog lovers. X
A collaged image of a draughts board and chequers. I thought it had a slight look of a 1960’s pop music set. With this image hanging down as scenery behind a band like the new seekers, or Freddie and the Dreamers. I could imagine it on a black and white TV with microphone stands, guitars and a drumkit just waiting to be played.
I had a lovely afternoon out so I gave my friend this small painting to say thank you. It’s only about three inches square. We had gone to a garden center so I felt it would be nice to give her something floral. Poppies are my favourite flower, vibrant and silken looking. This is a simple painting in acrylic. Drops of dew or rain sit on the petals and shimmer in the light. A bud ready to burst sits next to the flower with it’s promise of further beauty.
Today I played chess for the first time in ten years. My friend has acquired a chess set, so we sat in a shady spot by a cafe and had a few games.
The result was 2 games to her 1 to me. Then I found out she’d been in a chess club at school and had been champion in one year! So I didn’t do too badly. I’m not trained so I made some surprising moves where she could see I should have done a different move. But it was fun.
We had a quick go at drafts but didn’t remember the rules. Anyway we will have another game in a few weeks. I need to find a set to practice. Hubby used to be good at it so we might play a game or two. Good for exercising the brain.
Some flowers are very complex and can also be bred with double the petals, they look very pretty. But bees and pollenating insects can’t get at their nectar and pollen. A massive bloom could make it difficult for bees to feed and collect food for their grubs.
So try and choose bee friendly plants, they often are labelled to help you chose them. And look for simple flowers like this where the central flower parts, anthers, stamens etc are easily accessible by the insects you want to attract.
You can also build bee hotels for solitary bees from grasses and sticks and small lengths of hollow bamboo. If you look you can find designs on line to work to. Have fun and support your local bees! I was speaking to a beekeeper today. He said one honeybee only makes about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime!
A drawing from a while ago. It was called molecules. I was trying to find an image that describes my tangled brain. I think I’m OK, then I don’t know. I’m trying to do things, but I’m tied up inside a cotton sack, trying to find the way out.
Am I being dramatic? Perhaps, I have lots of thoughts about what I want to do, but the procrastination gets me all the time. The older I get, the less enthusiasm I have. Sorry, its just one of those nights. I’m watching a sad film and it’s getting to me. I sometimes feel time is running out. Grief is a tight knot. Like a molecule, twisting and turning. Time for some rest perhaps…… I’ll be OK….
After the choir singing and procession I realised just how tired I was. We went into the robuck centre in Newcastle under Lyme and stopped at the cafe in the atrium. I wanted something to drink and somewhere comfortable to sit down and rest my ankles and knees!
The cafe was called Family Bakery Cafe. It was friendly and had cakes and pastries on offer this afternoon so I treated myself to a hot chocolate drink and a poppyseed pastry swirl to go with it.
The robuck centre has many closed shops but it sounds like more stores will be opening up. I hope so, the cafe is a good thing to have because it’s hand made cakes are delicious. But the way things have been no one has any money at the moment. I wish this small business all the best. X
Are you seeking security or adventure?
At my age I prefer security. I used to like adventure, but I’ve grown out of it!
When I was young we used to cycle all over the country, riding a bike or a tandem for miles. We would go out and ride at weekends to different destinations. We would also catch the train and then cycle from there to campsites or a place to visit like a castle or a forest. One of my favourite places was Grizedale Sculpture park. On that occasion we had got a car and the bikes were tied to the top of it. We parked at the campsite and used that as a base to cycle all around the lake district.
One day I was cycling home from a friends houss and was hit by a car. I ended up with a fractured skull. From that day I became nervous of cycling. After a couple of more years of riding the bike suddenly collapsed underneath me. It had been damaged in the accident and the brazing had broken on the bike headset. It took months to get my bike repaired by which time I had started to drive more frequently. My health got worse and I was not able to ride my bike any distance.
I think it was about then that I became more risk averse. I still liked to go and do adventurous things but I was more careful. Nowadays I am even more concerned with safety. Covid and the pandemic has made me more aware of my situation and my security. I guess that I realise my life has changed, and I can not do things I would have happily done in the past.
Artrage drawing with metallic and non metallic textures. Duplicated because I was thinking of the song ‘Daisy daisy, give me your answer do…’, I remember at the end of the film ‘2001 a space oddessy’, the computer Hal2000 starts to sing the song as its memory is being deleted by Dave Bowman, the sole surviving astronaut.
If you’ve never seen the film, or read the book (by Arthur C Clarke), I’m sorry for the spoiler. The book goes into a lot more detail, and several of the main parts of the story were changed in the film. Clarke went on to write sequels to the story from different protagonists perspectives. I can’t remember them all but they were good reads too. When you think how old the original book is you can forgive some of the odd, old fashioned ideas, and the film seems slow in comparison to films in today’s times, but it’s a beautiful piece of work. No massive cgi special effects or green screen, just well painted images merging in with the live action. Worth a read or a watch….. I won’t reveal the rest of the story….
Mallaband-Brown