Sweet cat

Posted on March 13, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Ageing, Black and white cat, Cat, Farewell, Life, Love, Memory, Peace, Sadness, Thinking, YouTube2 Comments

He’s getting older, I watch him daily. He’s getting older, but he can still be kittenish. A quick mrpurr and then a dash across the room. But he likes to sleep. His heart is old, beats slowly. I hope he will stay a few years longer. Happy and contented.

Yesterday I watched a YouTube video of a man saying farewell to his much loved cat. He lay on the floor, strolling the cats nose and cheeks gently. You could see his tears. I remember the times I have had to say goodbye too.

So much sadness in the world today. Farewells are mounting up. Let there be love and peace for a change. X

Connection

Posted on March 13, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Attack, Chain, Death, Drawing, Flag, Life, paper chain, Putin, Russia, Sketching, UkraineLeave a comment

We saw an airbase within 15 miles of the Polish border hit by cruise missiles today. Eighty one people were killed. Putin Russian madness continues.

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was connection so I drew our connection with family. I’ve created an imagined bracelet. The family at the bottom is connected too. Like a paper chain. I’ve used Ukraine flag colours. It’s meant to show a connection of countries supporting them.

St George and the Dragon

Posted on March 13, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Dragon, fifteenth century, Italian artist, Life, Painting, Paolo Uccello, Princess, St George and the Dragon, wounded4 Comments

Detail of a dragon wounded by St George. Held on a line by a Princess it had captured. In this oil on canvas by Paolo Uccello, painted around 1460, the dragon, a mythical beast has been challenged after capturing a towns people including the Kings daughter.

As I’m doing my report I am noticing different things. In this case, the dragon only has two legs, and its leathery wings have white circles on them like a butterfly or moth. The long curling tail seems to balance its head and body. This dragon is more birdlike than serpentine. It could also resemble a dinosaur, perhaps a pterodactyl even though Uccello would probably not have seen fossilised bones. But in one of those strange coincidences this could be a type of evolution. An artist expressing a current idea that will eventually change to more modern forms of dragon.

Dragon illustrations

Posted on March 13, 2022March 13, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, bestiary, Dragons, Drawing, Fun, History, Life, Mythology, Prints, reportLeave a comment

Image from a book of beasts and monsters

For my final college report I’m looking at the history of the depictions of dragons (OK very niche). I’m trying to understand how they were illustrated and how they change across the world. I’ve found out Korean dragons have five toes, Chinese four or five and Japanese three toes. They have different shapes. They go from serpentine to with two or four legs. No wings or wings. Some are fire-breathing. They may be mythical but they seem to evolve.

Fishy

Posted on March 12, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Colours, Digital doodle, Digital drawing, Fish, Fun, Life, pisces, Playing, Sketching2 Comments

Well I had to play. Changed hues, used a blue flood fill. Made the fish shiny, made it glint. Art is fun, I can’t help myself. When I can’t do art I don’t know what I will do. Also I suppose it could represent pisces. I might do more…

Blue goldfish

Posted on March 12, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged 2018, Art, Digital doodle, Digital drawing, Goldfish, Life, Memory, Sketching, Sketching appLeave a comment

Doodle from 2018. I think I’m sharing this again because of Ukraine. Ever more sad news. More death and destruction. More madness. I needed to see something calming and this fit the bill. I could probably filter it and change it to a gold fish in a blue or green pool, but where would the fun be in that? Digital doodle in a sketching app.

Stems abstract

Posted on March 11, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Colours, Fun, Garden, greening, Life, Playing, Poem, Poetry, SketchingLeave a comment

Waiting fot the green to grow

Looking for the water flow

Abstract colours

Leafy feeling

Are your colours

At all appealing?

Glossy green,

And deep blue

Lots of subtle colour

Hue.

Poppy with blue and yellow shoe

Posted on March 11, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, civilians, Death, Drawing, Fear, innocent, Life, Peace, Poppy, Russia, shoe, shoe factory, Sketching, UkraineLeave a comment

Today Russia bombed towns and cities in Ukraine again. Even Russian speaking cities that were supposed to be safe. The Russians even bombed a shoe factory. My drawing is a poppy for remembering the dead and a shoe in Ukrainian colours. A single shoe, lost by its owner. What stupidity. How long will this violence, which is denied by the Russians, be allowed to go on. Give Peace a chance. Stop the war.

Baby 🐲 dragon

Posted on March 11, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Authors, children's stories, Fossils, Illustration, Learning, Life, Medieval, prehistory, report, Sketching2 Comments

For as many artists that draw and paint dragons, there’s a different style, shape, pattern, technique or colours.

I’m studying an illustration course and my final report is about the mythology and history of dragon illustration. I’m having to find out more about them, from the possible link with fossilised dinosaur skeletons, to medieval bestiaries, to more recent art including children’s and adult fiction that includes either dragon illustrations in the books or on their covers.

Here’s a question. Does anyone know any interesting dragon stories I can investigate? I have Ursula K Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, Anne McCaffery, Cressida Cowell, J. R. R Tolkein, T. H White and other authors. Are you aware of more?

Thanks x

Bottle oven abstract

Posted on March 10, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Attack, Crazy, Death, Destruction, Life, murder, Putin, Russia, stop now, Ukraine, War2 Comments

I’m writing this because I’m trying to avoid watching the news about Ukraine again. People are dying. Food and water is running short for Ukrainian people. Russians attacking them are not ‘saving’ them. I just want to cry. I will say it, I think Vladimir Putin is evil, or stupid. Or both. Prosecuting a war because he feels bothered by Ukraine wanting to join Nato, when they didn’t have an application in? Why murder people. Why be so appallingly evil. Stop the WAR. I’m just a little person in the UK, I’m unimportant, but I’m disgusted by what is happening.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life