New paintings and regular art updates.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was window. I decided to do a quick sketch of the hanging baskets and plants in the back yard with the lampshade and plant inside in silhouette. My black felt pens are running out so I had to layer them up with brown, blue and purple .
Basically windfalls, five rough pears, two apples, three green walnuts and a single green tomato. The wind must have been blowing.
For the first time we have a good crop of apples on the main tree, the pear tree is bent over with pears that are growing slowly larger. The walnuts are being stolen by squirrels who bury them and the tomatoes are growing in a hanging basket and in a grow bag surrounded by other plants. They are all having to take their chances while there is less rain, but they are well established plants and I think the fruit trees have deep roots. We plan to do some pruning of the garden. The blueberries are gradually ripening, the gooseberries have all been eaten as have the raspberries. I saw no strawberries this year, but I think they have been shaded out by other plants. We even have redcurrants although I misidentified them as woody nightshade (not a good idea). Earlier in the year we had a small crop of cherries and we might get a few elderberries. So all in all not a bad year of fruit and veg.
I’m trying to be more positive and to retrain my brain at the moment. The idea is that every evening for at least twenty eight days you try and write three gratitudes to get on a more positive train if thought. They shouldn’t be massive things that are overwhelming, but small things, little things you recognise as something to cherish. I’m on day eight and I think it’s helping a bit. I’m trying to encourage my hubby to do it too. Of course I have included sketches, it makes things more real.
I didn’t know what to draw for Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt but I’m watching climbing on TV so I drew the TV and its surroundings. Very quick sketch, five minutes in felt pens. Just used a bit of colour on the screen.
Sitting around being bored. Shops shut, nowhere to go. Listening to the radio, parents doing the washing in a boiler and a spin drier in the kitchen. Steam coming up and then patterns in the water as the spindryer vibrated the bowl that caught the water. No fridge, just a cold pantry, food was usually bacon and eggs for breakfast and tinned peaches and evaporated milk with sliced bread and butter at teatime. It was always the same. Things did change, life got more interesting, but only when my parents got transport, which was two small motorbikes. Memories are strange, they suddenly appear, then what do you do.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was skyline. I’ve been trying to see the perseid meteor shower that is currently happening but the moon has been too bright and has drowned things out with its light. I was hoping to see something because it’s been warm enough to stand outside late at night.. Felt pen drawing filtered in Photodirector.
I’m in another group of artists who come u with challenges to post to every week. The pictures don’t have to be recent (thankfully). This was for #safari, I painted it about four years ago and it went to the local ‘Lions’ club which is a local charity. What else can I say? It’s acrylic on canvas, about A4 size. I don’t paint every single hair or piece of fur, but I try and get an impression of how the animal looks. I generally do cat and dog portraits but am not too bad at most animals x
Pat and bat
Vat and Mat
So many words
Rhyme with Cat.
Like sat and drat
Fat and splat
Is it the at
On the end that
Makes what
I write flat
ter…
ing
Memory from 2017 of a mural I painted in 2007. This was at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I have a strong connection with Burslem from doing a series of murals in the hotel. Who knows whether I will do anymore?
I would love to do a bit more mural painting, or scenery, or large paintings. I’m hoping if I can get my shaking arm under control I might be able to do it.
Memories are a great thing, but also they can be tinged with sadness when you think of all the things you could have done. I do wonder about the pandemic times. Could I have done more to keep my art business going? What things can I do to actually sell my work? I’m not a sales person, I’m an artist…. I don’t think I’ll ever have a USP!
I’m due to see my doctor about anxiety and my hubby has ptsd so I need to find strategies to cope. I think counselling helps but I’m going to try and keep a gratitude diary, where you write three minor gratitudes a day every night for at least 28 days. It helps rewire your brain towards more positive thinking. I’m going to start a little sketchbook and do simple sketches of them. Like the traffic lights stayed on green for me yesterday when I was going somewhere and was late, so that was a little gratitude, I met someone who gave me this idea, that’s a small gratitude, and someone cleared away some flytipping in the alley next to our garden, that’s the third. I will add small sketches to illustrate mine. I think it might help my creativity and give me new ideas, but if it doesn’t I’m not worried because I think it will help me cope. You don’t record big things, just small gratitudes.
Mallaband-Brown