New paintings and regular art updates.
Taking a photo and playing with it. I discovered one side of my face looks older and more dour than the other one. My face frowns and my mouth turns down, there’s more lines. I might have to get a haircut too, but it doesn’t really matter. I think observing yourself is part of being an artist, self portraits tell a story. Distorting them can ask a question.
Some images can be more distorted than others! Making the image black and white helps me concentrate on the features.
Sunset over Westport Lake. We drove there through a cold fog and emerged into a thin mist hanging over the lake. The wildfowl came towards us wanting food but we had gone there on the spur of the moment so had no food. The visitor centre had just closed so we couldn’t get a warm drink. Westport Lake now has parking machines so we had to pay for the privilege of going for a walk. We took a short flat walk around the lake its not far, but far enough for me at the moment. I got left behind a few times but I managed to get round. It’s a start to the new year.
#bandofsketchers prompt today is hands.
Insomnia struck and I wanted something to do so I drew round my left hand as I used to when I was a kid. Then I filled it in, wondered what it would look like with nail varnish. Finally added a pattern so it looks like it’s resting on something. X
Tree branches and twigs, grey sky, a street lamp partly hidden. Got up for a decaff coffee. Still having trouble sleeping. I half think it’s my toes. I’ve got achy feet and have problems with the weight of the duvet. So I throw the bedding off my feet, then they are too cold. Perhaps I should wear bedsocks, but then won’t they put pressure on my toes? So instead I’m up and about, watching the slow change in light iin the sky, listening to the radio, trying to sit comfortably on an armchair. Playing with my phone. Oh for a decent night’s sleep.
How lucky to have glasses, to be able to see. I didn’t always wear glasses. My poor eyesight was only picked up in eye screening at school. I don’t remember things being blurred or hard to see. Did I sit at the front of the class? I don’t know. I remember my first glasses. They had beautiful blue frames. I learnt to be patient as the optician looked into the back of my eyes. Shining a light so I could see the blood vessels reflected somehow onto my retinas.
Rugby ball shaped eyes were the diagnosis. Short sighted. Suddenly I could see the world clearly. I felt freed from a struggle I did not know I had been going through. I only realised how bad my eyesight was when I learnt to swim. I couldn’t wear my glasses in the swimming pool and I could not recognise my friends unless they came close.
Now I understand why I got lost on a beach a few years before! I could not see my family when I wandered off. And why I got lost on a caravan site. I could not see the numbers on the vans…. Yes I am lucky. I wish others could be too…
Hubby did this in the 1980’s. It’s still up on the stairs. I don’t know how he did it. Is it a camera on a bench looking up to a lamp overhead and the hands interposed between the two? Or perhaps it’s a mirror on the wall with a tipped up lamp? I don’t even know if they are his hands, maybe he had someone place them in shot? It could be a bowl of water with a light reflected in it….
Do you know I’ve never asked him. Its just a dusty, fading photo. But it’s part of him, part of his idea of life, it expresses something about a younger person. Someone still in there.
I painted this little cartoon years ago. Don’t remember the date but probably 20 years? I think I’d splashed drips of watercolour onto the paper and the cat was a way of using the paper up and not wasting it. Photo taken late afternoon with a dim sidelight on. I could have waited till tomorrow but I wanted to share.
I have a friend that hates cats. I wish I could explain how I love them. Their character, their expressions, their true friendship when you get to know them. They seem aloof, but once you know them they are not…. And they don’t seem to hate rain. I’m often soaked when they come in from a rain shower, but I thought this looked funny. X
And the year turns. I know when we are past the shortest day when there is still light in the sky at after 5pm. It cheers me up.
Daylight
Delights me
Brightens my mood
Makes me smile
Despite the cloud
Banked up
With rain or sleet
Awakens my spirit
Woken from sleep.
Burslem, Tunstall, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton, Longton.
Six towns United as one city. Stoke-on-Trent.
I remember seeing this print and taking a photo of it, but I cannot remember where it’s from. So apologies for using the image and if I’m infringing copyright let me know and I will remove it. I like the style of the illustration. It’s almost grecian in style. The Potter is throwing a pot on a foot treadled wheel. The background looks a bit like a Minton tile. I did Google it and found some very similar images.
Pottery is such a wonderful craft. The things you can make out of clay. From tableware to ceramic insulators. Sanitaryware (bathrooms) to delicate ornaments. The Potteries has a great history. It’s fame is world wide. I’m proud to live here.
Big wet flakes of snow. Its too cold to open up the back door and film it. I’m shivering and cold so I’m wrapped up. Our heating system is on but our house isn’t well insulated so it doesn’t retain heat. I would like to get it done but I don’t have the money and I can’t get a grant….. Life. We live in a small victorian end terrace house with a small extension of a kitchen and bathroom. They are the worst bit because I think they are only a single layer of bricks and the flat roof is not really insulated either. I should just shut the door, but then how would the cats get in and out? So I’m sitting watching the flakes fall. They are only starting to stick now. It’s not supposed to fall for long then it should turn to rain. Whatever happens I don’t feel like going out in it. Keep warm….
Mallaband-Brown