New paintings and regular art updates.
Can you see him? A face, arms, body, and legs. Funny what you can see in a few twigs and a lump of moss. Try using a mirror to see what reflections can make from an image. Then use a smartphone app to duplicate and twist your chosen image. Finally adjust the colours and bring out the details if you can. And voila a grumpy demon.
If you live in England you can no longer get free lateral flow tests, this despite covid 19 infections being very high (about one in thirteen). I think it’s stupid, we are supposed to ‘live with it’ (die with it?) and yet Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not ending it yet. Why do our government think this is OK. I think it’s to save money. You now have to pay. All the people on low incomes with higher bills to pay won’t be able to afford them. People are going into work with covid. It is spreading. This is stupid.
Yesterday I drew an horizon. But this was a photo I took that I almost worked from. I liked the serried rows of house rooves and chimneys , but they are capped with tower blocks and modern concrete buildings up in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. I decided that it wasn’t what I wanted to draw. Slate rooves, old and grey, covered in lichens, no longer wrapped in the smoke of potteries and bottle ovens. Cleaner air, further views.
Not this years ones, they haven’t opened up yet. But they are starting to grow up. I just can’t wait. I’m used to waiting for spring but sometimes it seems to take an awful long time to get here. A couple of weeks ago the temperatures were in the high teens Celsius, last week they dropped to freezing or below, and there was a snow in a few places across the UK. We didn’t get more than a bit of hail and snow here. Meanwhile the daffodils and snowdrops are up. We haven’t had much rain though, so the buds on the trees are not fully open yet…
We drove past the Leopard Hotel in Burslem today. Its just hidden behind wooden hoardings and scaffolding. I haven’t been up past it since the fire that destroyed it back in February. We only glanced at it. I couldn’t stop. It’s a hole in the history of Burslem, and a hole in my memory. I managed to find a photo of the Leopard sign. It was also known as the famous Leopard. I’m still trying to find copies of the photos I took of the murals I painted in there. A remote hope.
They say when one door closes another one opens. I’ve now got some of my work at Etruria Industrial Museum. I’m so pleased. It’s for three months and then it will be changed. I do hope I can sell some work. I have done so many paintings over the years. I will have to donate them to charity at this rate!
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Horizon. This was the horizon as I walked over the canal bridge at Etruria, Stoke on Trent, near the Industrial Museum.. Its mostly obscuring the houses behind. Felt pen drawing and fine ink liner pen. It was a lovely sunny day. Not drawn in situ but from a photo.
Pareidolia, the ability to see creatures in patterns. This was a drink of hot chocolate that I had mirrored to make a pattern. The two shapes in the white area look like annoyed sheeps heads to me. I’m funny like that!
I think Euphorbia is this plants name. I’ve made a pattern from it. The flowers /bracts are a strange shape and are acidic green in colour. I know if you cut them you should wear gloves because they exude a liquid that can burn your skin especially when the sun is out. I’m calling this Euphorbia squared.
I didn’t walk far in March but I did walk every day. I need to do more though. Anyway I made a pattern from my steps. As you do. Mostly short distances, a few longer ones. Nothing to show off about.
Mallaband-Brown