Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was close-up. I decided to try and draw a close-up of some plaid cloth. I used a digital filter from photodirector to add some texture. I think it makes it look more interesting.
Close-up
Tag: Life
Doodles
Sometimes my pen drifts
Across the paper
Black pen and colour
Shading over the lines
Faces and a donkey?
Why not play
Create a design
Learn and develop
Experience and experiment.
Next doors TV.
I wish I lived in a detached house, not one with thin walls and a neighbour who’s TV is right next to the wall. We don’t complain because he is deaf and I think he would struggle to hear if he moved it anywhere else. Also you don’t want to fall out with your neighbours if you can help it. Most of the time it’s OK, especially when we have our TV on, but sometimes we like to read in silence and then, well if there is a football match on next door the volume is so high that we can tell when someone scores a goal!
I think the volume next door has gradually increased over a few years. You get used to it. But late at night it can also be disturbing. I don’t think there is a solution unless we have noise lowering insulation put in.
Quick
Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Clue. I only just did this one. I like trying to do the New Scientist Magazine Quick Crossword. I’d like the backgrounds of crosswords to be coloured, but the ones I try and do are always black and white.
Cyclamen
Apparently reflected (using the layout, symmetry app on my phone). These Cyclamen are flowering really well. As they fade the stems curl over and the flower heads start growing seeds that are then deposited in the soil to grow into new plants. This is a large indoor version but we have small groups of cyclamen growing in the garden. The colours go well with the Christmas cactii next to them. OK I think that’s enough about my kitchen window ledge!
A strange creature
A crab? A pouting face? A reflection of a dragon? You can do funny things with symmetry and photos. Christmas cactus turned into something surreal. It would be better if it was less blurred, but my arm shakes so much sometimes that I get camera shake. Still it’s an interesting image and it’s an example of Pareidolia (seeing creatures in a pattern that isn’t actually there). I have posted a few of these on the blog over the years.
Down the Rabbit hole
My friend reminded me today that two years ago we were having afternoon tea at the Rabbit hole tea room in Stoke. We had a lovely meal of sandwiches, scones and cakes and tea in porcelain tea cups and saucers. We had to book a table in advance. Obviously it was closed during lock-down but I believe it is open again now. It was a charming place and suitable for families having birthday parties. I hope it does well despite the cost of living crisis.
Swanning about
Swan from a couple of years ago, changing from plumage as a cygnet (young Swan) , I guess the brown helps camouflage it. I haven’t been out anywhere for weeks, so I have not seen many birds recently. This photo was taken on a walk round Westport Lake. More worrying is the prevalence of bird flu in the UK which was around in the summer and has been continuing over the last few months. Its frightening that so many birds and animals are being affected by disease. It says something about humans interference with nature that these things are happening. Recent studies have found that the bird flu virus survives in open water for months and that it is able to infect birds that migrate to those lakes and pools, making them ill when they arrive.
I hope this bird has had a good and healthy life. I don’t know how the disease can be prevented.
Belly
My cat last night
Upside down,
Playing with a toy
Belly exposed
Excited and charming
Relaxed and fat!
Funny and playful
Twisting and twirling
A black and white whirlwind
Happy and purring!
Dragon thoughts
Looking back on the first half of 2022, I was struggling to finish my Illustration course. But things weren’t too bad and I was OK eventually. Then in the last six things got worse through illness and loss. So I have decided not to make an actual resolution, but I have decided to be more ‘dragon’ this year, I will try and be stronger and more thoughtful, patient and brave (but no fierce temper!). The illustration is from a drawing I did last summer.
Mallaband-Brown 