New paintings and regular art updates.
Hubby gazing across the canal at Etruria festival today. I should have used two pages to show what he was gazing at! But he moved too much so I just got a quick sketch in…Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was gaze.
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
He often sits up in the tree
Ot atop a chimney pot
He starts to sing
His voice raised
In skirls and slides
Whistles and trills.
Old blackbirds sing longer
And better, complications
Added each year.
Attracting and announcing
Territory and partnership.
His music gives me joy
Taking the time to listen
Releases peace,
Simple and sweet.
Another couple of drawings/experiments, I do love learning and playing with art, but then I want to know how do I optimise my photos on my phone? My old antivirus used to do it, but now I’ve changed phones I can’t seem to work out what to do.
Should I use something in settings, or will there be an optimiser in my gallery. It’s worrying because my media here keeps telling me it’s full. When I upload optimised photos it’s not as bad. And along th e same lines, how do I sync my phone and my PC? It would help sort things out….
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
Sometimes I’m on my phone for hours, scrolling, flicking between pages and videos. Watching, absorbing, wasting precious time!
How to stop? I have to think about the time. I look at the clock and if its after 1am I leave the sites I am on, close them. Retreat back into reality.
The trouble is it’s cozy having online friends. People that think the same way, or slightly differently to how I do. Lucky to not have too much animosity. I know when to ignore rude comments, not get drawn in. But the Internet is easy to get embroiled in. You just have to switch off “and go and do something less boring instead” as the phrase went on an old TV show called “Why don’t you?”.
My little table was packed with paintings and a few glass necklaces today. I sold a few things, including one of the necklaces.
There wasn’t a lot of footfall and people were looking but not really buying. I guess they don’t have their shopping heads on at a health gym. They want to sit down in the cafe after doing their workouts!
The company was pleasant though. I had a lovely chat with the young woman who had the stall next to me. She was really friendly and we chatted about craft and art fairs and whether to try and get cards made from some of my paintings. She certainly had a lot of work, and was selling greetings cards, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pompoms, and other lovely creations. It helped the time pass to chat with such a friendly person.
My stall was dwarfed by the other people’s. It’s only three or four feet across, and with everything lying flat my stall didn’t have as much ‘oomph’ as some of the others. I might try and get some stands for the paintings. I had some metal ones I’ve used before but they are too heavy and sharp.
Don’t dip your paintbrush
In your hot, sweet tea!
The colour isn’t good
And it makes stains
On your teeth
Or canvas
You can’t paint over
Makes it taste of oil
Or leaves a green scum!
I’ve often paled
On drinking ‘green’
Or ‘red’ tea!
Coffees the same
Not good
For me
Or thee!
I’m struggling with this imagined landscape. I want to get the reflections realistic and it’s just a bit too splodgy. The painting itself is about 5×4 inches approximately. I was trying to paint a vaguely historical scene, but that would need smoke belching out of the chimneys and a canal barge. Still I can do more work…
What quality do you value most in a friend?
I almost said loyalty, but if I do something wrong I hope a friend would let me know. I do think that’s really important. I guess I need to think about it though. One person’s honesty might be someone else’s severe criticism. I would prefer to know what a friend honestly thought without it breaking our friendship.
What that means is that we could mutually agree to disagree if politics or some other belief was coming between us. For instance having mutual respect if you followed different religions. I can’t see why that would end a friendship. Unless of course one of you had inhumane ideas. In which case I don’t think we could be friends in the first place.
By the way I apologise for pontificating in these prompt posts. But they make me think about things, and they are here to be answered….
Why not loyalty? Because that might mean the friend backs you up even if you’ve done something wrong. I’d prefer them to nudge me and say they think I’ve made a mistake. OK I’d prefer constructive criticism in that case (what a polite world I want to live in)! Sometimes though I honestly need a serious criticism. Nobody is perfect after all…..
My friend sent me a photo of some alliums and it reminded me of a firework. The tiny flowers look like stars. This is a bigger painting (4x4inches) and it comes with a little wooden frame which I might paint.
It’s a work in progress. I need to improve the details. It’s getting dark in the house so I will have to turn on the lights to continue. I also want to paint some more unusual images…
I’m painting tiny pictures, flowers, a cherry, vases, lots of ideas. I didn’t realise how much my shaking arm would affect me. I usually use an easle these days but you have to hold the tiny canvases. I want to do quite a few little paintings, but they have to be of good quality. Wish me luck..
Mallaband-Brown