Cold

Posted on January 14, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chilled, Clothes, Coat, Cold, gas prices, Heating, increasing prices, Life, Party, WeatherLeave a comment

I’m sitting here with my fleece on and a dressing gown on top of my normal clothes. It’s not that cold, around freezing outside. The heating is on, and a little oil heater. But it’s drafty. When it gets this cold in the house I sometimes put my gas cooker on. I can cook a meal and warm the house up. If I get too cold I’ll go to bed and read a book. We have a radiator on in the bedroom. I am trying to save energy. Gas and electricity prices which have been capped are set to rise around 50% in April. Many people will struggle to pay. One energy company recently gave some energy saving tips:

‘cuddle a pet’, ‘eat porridge’ and ‘do star jumps’! It’s nice to know they care.

Meanwhile our ruling political party seems to have turned into a ‘Part-aaay’ over the last couple of years! Marvellous leadership… Not.

Wordless cartoon

Posted on January 14, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, campfire, Cartoon, College, Design, Fire, Fun, Life, Memory, Sketching, Snake, TimeLeave a comment

I can’t remember the story behind this or whether there was a prompt. I drew it last year. I had to draw something with four panels for my college course. It starts with someone by a campfire. The fire goes out so they go to get more wood, But instead of it all being sticks, a snake, which had been asleep wakes up. I like the simple style I drew it in and the minimal images in it. But now I look back at it I worry that the snake would have been burned or might have woken up before being put on the embers. Even with a simple story you have to be aware of consequences!

Don’t look at me like that?

Posted on January 14, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Black and white, Distorted, Duplicated, Face, Images, Life, Portrait, self portrait, TimeLeave a comment

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.

Westport mist

Posted on January 13, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Exercise, Flat, foggy day, Life, misty, Slow, Sunset, Walking, Weather, Westport lakeLeave a comment

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.

Hand

Posted on January 11, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Black ink fine line pen, Challenge, Drawing, Fun, Hands, Life, Prompt, Sketching3 Comments

#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

Grey Dawn

Posted on January 11, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Achy, Bedtime, Feet, Health, Insomnia, Life, Sleep, Tired, Toes, Why?2 Comments

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

Posted on January 10, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beach, caravan, Childhood, Eyesight, Glasses, Life, Lost, lucky, Memory, optician, Thinking, ViewLeave a comment

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…

Photo experiment

Posted on January 10, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, experience, Experiment, Hubby, Life, Photo, Photographer, Reflection, thoughtful, Youth2 Comments

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.

Old cartoon

Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cartoon, Cat, Fun, Life, Play, Sketching, splashes, Watercolour sketch, WetLeave a comment

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

Still some light in the sky

Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clouds, Daylight, January, Life, Light, Poem, Poetry, Rain, Sky, Sleep, Sleet, Sunset, Time, Weather, YearLeave a comment

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.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life