Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was slope. I drew a cat sloping off the page, with a sloped back walking down a slope. Three digital variations…
Slope
Tag: Life
Fruits
Oranges, pears and plums. Tasty treats. I might get some set Greek style yoghurt and have a sliced orange with my cereal in the morning.
Fruit is healthier than fruit juice because instead of giving your body a quick hit of sugar (fructose), it takes longer to absorb if you have the fibres of the fruit to digest to release the sweetness. I learnt to my cost when I was younger. I was drinking a lot of fruit smoothies every day. Very nice, but it affected my health after a couple of years of drinking them. It really is a case of everything in moderation.
We are lucky to have fresh fruit here, but not everyone can afford it. It’s cheaper to buy sweets or food with too much sugar added. A poor diet really is bad for you, but if you are poor it’s not easy to be healthy.
Yes
Have you ever broken a bone?
I’ve broken a few bones in my life. Luckily they mended.
I don’t know if I should give personal information out about my health, and yet I have shared before. So I will talk about something that happened more than thirty years ago.
I will talk about one injury which was very painful. I slipped on the top stair of a friends house and bumped down every single step on my bottom. Instead of sympathy all my friends just laughed! I realised I had hurt myself, so went to the accident unit at the hospital., in those days you could get checked over much more quickly.
After about four hours of standing up (I couldn’t sit) the doctor diagnosed a fractured coccyx (your tail bone). He said he wouldn’t xray the area, but that it would take six to eight weeks to get better. In the meantime I needed padding to support my weight, so I bought a blow up swimming ring. It was very strange going to work and sitting on a blue ring covered in goldfish. I got some smart and silly remarks from colleagues. But eventually I was OK…
Five years ago
Five years ago I sketched out a design for a cat sculpture and my friend Charis Jones who is a brilliant blacksmith made this wonderful creation for me, by interpreting my doodle. She called it Eshers cat and it has been sitting in our garden looking smart for the last five years. It’s lovely and makes me smile every time I look at it. Now it’s a little rusty from the weather. I’m thinking of using rust resisting paint (if that’s a thing) to give it a new coat… Literally! I just love it x
Dorothy Clive garden today
A few miles from Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire countryside is the Dorothy Clive garden. We went there today because I knew the rhododendrons would be in flower and also I wanted to see if I could drive that far (my arm is still shaking and very sore and it’s hard to drive). Luckily I was OK and it was a gorgeous day and a lovely place to visit. You walk up from the car park at the bottom, past the pool, up a steepish slope covered in trees and flowerbeds. There is a cafe at the top and a dry garden and quarry garden at the top (where the majority of the rhododendrons are). There is also a stag sculpture and a waterfall. From the top of the garden you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Worth a day out….
Retired
How do you balance work and home life?
Balance, what’s that?
Retired: bored or busy?
Sometimes life sucks
Other times it’s lovely.
Time passes quickly
Flowers grow, and fade
Trees shed leaves
And bud.
Stay up late
Lose the daylight
A twylight time?
Prevaricate and regret…
Loss of what’s left…
I should work more
But my mind is tied
In gossamer threads
Of nothing…
Frustrated by
My lack of
Vision and
Determination
To do more…
11 years ago
About 11 years ago I drew this self portrait. I was with a group of other people who went to a pencil drawing workshop. What strikes me the most about this is how chubby I was, it reminds me how I’ve changed.
The sketch was done using a small makeup mirror and it was impossible to see my whole face at once, but I did my best. In one section of the drawing I almost rubbed through the paper trying to remove some of the graphite. That’s why there is a dark smudge on one of the cheeks.
We were told the drawings would be used for the London Road festival in Stoke. Imagine my surprise when I was driving home one day and this was attached as a 6ft square banner on the front of an empty shop. I now have it at my studio at spode.
Parking
I just realised my parking pass is due to expire and I’ve only just realised it. In the past out council used to send out a reminder. No more. They have closed the building where you could apply for them in person. Now the choice is either via email, or by post.
The postal service only has a 74% next day delivery rate, and there is no assurance that it will arrive in time.
My email is not working yet. I’m booked to get it done on Monday (long boring story, the repair man has been ill). But not everyone has email addresses. Not everyone with a car is online.
So I rang up for the address to send my information to. It’s a PO box, meaning there is no physical place for me to hand deliver my documents to. If it goes to a PO box, then the council courier service needs to sort the mail and deliver it, meaning there is another time delay added into the mix!
Better get my email sorted out!
Landscape
Collage of three versions of my drawing of midday. By flipping the central image it created interesting effects where the edges join. One side seems to travel along a dark tunnel, the other into some sort of tree temple? I used photodirector for the textures and incollage for joining the images together.
A top I bought ten or twelve years ago?
What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?
It’s nylon and cotton. A maroon and white striped top. It has a couple of pockets. I bought it for work, I now wear it as something comfortable around the house.
Why not? I’ve lost weight, but it’s one of those baggy tops that doesn’t look bad even now. My thoughts are that I’m not bothered about fashion. If it fits and it looks OK I’m not bothered if its old. I don’t understand why people buy clothes every few months or weeks. I know people can get addicted to shopping. But in a time of austerity, why spend on clothes that might fall apart after a few washes. It’s also harmful to the environment to waste resources on clothes. If it covers you and keeps you warm? Then it’s OK.
I probably have older clothes, but I don’t remember when I bought them. They get washed on low temperatures, then folded and put away till I want them. Some are in a dusty cupboard, I might have some eighties classics!
