Too much typing

Posted on January 26, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Aching, arm, Life, Looking, Mobile phone, Reading, Shaking, Thinking, Typing, Videos, WatchingLeave a comment

The last few days have been painful. My shaking arm is aching a lot more. I think it’s because it’s very tense, but also I’ve been feeling ill so I’ve been using my phone to look at various websites and watching my phone screen to look at videos a lot more. Why doesn’t your brain correlate things? The pain is worse when I hold or support my phone. Perhaps I should put the darned thing down a bit more often. It distracts me from being bored, but I it’s about time I started getting out and about more. Walking or reading books seem the best options.

Car saga.. Again

Posted on January 26, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Car, Life, Mechanic, old car, ongoing, Problem, Problems, Repair, starter motor, thankful, TimeLeave a comment

Plans, don’t make them! The mechanic was ill yesterday. He’s a lovely chap, and really helpful. But he can’t help being under the weather. So yesterday he said ring today and the car should be done. Unfortunately it isn’t. He fixed the problem with the earthing of the starter motor but today when he tried running it, it was very feeble. It’s worn out basically. So now he’s ordered another one for Friday but he can’t say when it will arrive. I explained ideally I need to go somewhere tomorrow, but as he said he has no control over the deliveries. I have to accept this (the world does not revolve around me). I’m just thankful it’s getting done.

Mike the snail

Posted on January 24, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Children's programme, Drawing, Fun, Life, Limerick, Sketching, Snail, the magic roundabout, TVLeave a comment

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was snail. I remember Brian the snail from the Magic Roundabout children’s TV programme, which I watched in the 1970’s. But this is Mike the snail. I decided to write a limerick for him.
“There was a snail called Mike,
Who decided to go for a hike!
He slid cross the table
To see his friend Mable
I saw him and shouted out YIKES!

Cat, a digital sketch

Posted on January 23, 2023January 23, 2023 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Artrage oils, Black and white cat, Cat, Drawing, Instagram, Life, Photodirector, Sketching, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

A digital drawing of a black and white cat, then which I then digitally manipulated to add textures and tilt the image. I used artrage oils free for the original drawing using a stylus on my phone screen, then photodirector to add texture and finally the editing tools including a sharpness option and tilting option on my Instagram account. I have also duplicated this image as four seperated cats, but that was done after I did this.

Car saga

Posted on January 23, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Battery, Breakdown, Car, car repairs, Cold, Life, motor mechanic, Problems, Repair, saga, Too difficultLeave a comment

The garage we took our car to is closing down! The owner is retiring apparently. We didn’t know when we left our car on the forecourt. I’m trying to find his mobile number so I rang another business that knows him. They might be able to get his mobile number for me but apparently he will be going there later today so all I can hope is that they tell him we have been trying to contact him or that he goes to the garage and sees the car!

We tried other garages, but I would need to take the keys to the one who could help and they are seven or eight miles away, or the local garage but they can’t collect it until the third of February!

All we can do is hope the mechanic gets in touch for now. I would go and bump start the car but I don’t know if we have the strength to push it as its on the flat.

Flight

Posted on January 22, 2023January 22, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artistic pottery, Drawing, Gladstone pottery museum, Life, Longton, Pigeon, Pottery, Sketching, Stoke-on trent, TV18 Comments

I just watched a programme about pottery on the TV. It’s set at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. I like it because people have to do challenges, tonight’s was to create three low relief birds, in a small medium and large sizes. Each one had to represent a real bird. One person did three macaws, another kingfishers, a third falcons. Each contestant made really interesting birds, the standard was very high. One person got Potter of the week, one got eliminated. Its good to see an art based programme with real skills.

The drawing above is a digital finger painting I dis in ArtRage oils a few years ago. It’s meant to be a multicoloured pigeon.

Random….

Posted on January 22, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Black and white cat, Cat, Dots, Drawing, Fun, Game, Life, Random, Tuxedo cat, twisterLeave a comment

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was ‘random’. Random cat drawing, they are so able to almost tie themselves in knots! I just realised the dots could be like that game ‘twister’! Felt pen and black ink fine line pen.

View

Posted on January 21, 2023January 22, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Eleanora street, Life, Photo, pot bank cafe, Reflections, Spode site, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, the QuarterLeave a comment

A combination of objects and their reflections inside and seating and buildings outside. This was three years ago when the place we were visiting was called the Potbank cafe. Now its owned by someone else and called the Quarter. Its based at Eleanora Street on the Spode pottery site in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.

Some of the buildings on the Spode site are due to be demolished and apartments are to possibly be built there instead. If it happens it will be sad to see our industrial heritage destroyed in order to build as many ‘units’ as the developers can cram on the site. The view out of this doorway may change, quickly or slowly, no necessarily for the better.

Broken car!

Posted on January 21, 2023January 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Battery, Breakdown, breakdown cover, Car, Cold, Frozen, Garage, Life, Winter, woesLeave a comment

The ice and cold have killed my car battery. I tried several times to start it (with gaps in between to let it rest). I turned everything off, had it in neutral, gave it a little gas to try and get the engine to turn over. Just a splutter or two, then nothing.

I left it an hour and tried again. No joy. The battery is probably four years old and has been struggling when I’ve used the car lately. I haven’t been out much and then only short distances so the alternator hasn’t had the opportunity to charge it up. Cold and damp makes electric power seep away somehow and this last few days have definitely drained it.

In hope I rang a local garage, they have the right battery in stocks, but they can’t fit it, you just need some spanners they said. Half an hour on trickle charge from the charger just brightened the lights on the dashboard a bit. No chance of getting it going.

I then remembered I have breakdown cover! We breakdown so infrequently that I don’t remember to use it. They can’t say when they will be here, but they are at least coming out. Hooray.

Framed

Posted on January 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Framed, Friends, Life, Memories, People, Photography, Reflected, wooden sticksLeave a comment

I think it’s a good idea sometimes to take a different view for an image. In this case my friend sent me a photo from three years ago. I used a mirror on the wall to frame the people in the photo. He also sent me a couple of other photos I’d taken, and completely forgotten about. Those both have photos of windows where the view outside and the objects inside are framed by the window. By the way I think the mirror was framed with wooden sticks?

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life