New paintings and regular art updates.
My attempt at painting a Japanese style vase. Using gold and lots of flower and leaf patterns I tried to recreate the feeling of a Cloisonné or Satsuma vase. I’m no expert but I just wanted it to have complexity and stature. My love of pattern really helped. This was taken when I had almost completed the work. I placed it on the floor to try and catch the sunlight illuminating it. One of my favourite paintings, it went to a very good home.
Seeing Pudsey bear 🐻 on children in need last night (a telethon to raise money for childrens charities) reminded me of this teddy bear. We went on holiday to a Youth Hostel in the Lake District of England one year. The hostel was old, small and friendly. It was at Thirlmere near the lake and consisted of a few simple wooden huts. The hostel warden was called Ray and he was really friendly. There were a wide range of old board games in the hostel so on a dark wet night, you were entertained without the need of a TV or radio, (this was before mobile phones). One thing Ray did to raise funds was to sell knitted Teddy bears that his mother made. I fell in love with this one, but Ray said that it had to have Ray in its name… Raymond, Ray-chel, perhaps? I’d heard of the gas Radon so my bear became Raydon, after all in that colour he virtually glows in the dark!
For months now our cat flap has been broken. Not the main part of it, but the screen that opens in and out. Basically we had tried to keep the big cat in at night by putting the lock on it, but he forced his way through and broke the flap part into three bits. For a while I glued it together, and taped it up with sellotape, but soon that had been ripped so my next idea was to tie it open with some string. I can’t get down on the floor so I couldn’t swap one catflap for another and I didn’t know if I could get a replacement.
Today my sister came over so we decided to go on a search. The local petshop said it was a staywell catflap and they only stock petsafe ones. So we went to the big petstore. We had managed to take the front and flap mechanism off as it had catches you push in to release it. The store had about seven different sorts but according to the customer assistant out catflap was out of date!
Eventually after much head scratching we found one that was about the right size. We couldn’t take it out of the box so it was a guess but I decided to try it.
When we got home I and looked at it I realised the whole catflap was slightly narrower than the old one so the screw holes were closer together and if I were to use the whole thing we would have to get someone in to re-drill the holes. Plan B was to take the plastic flap out of the new one and put it in the old one? Yes it fitted, but it was too stiff, the diameter of the cylinders that go into the holes in the flap were too big. My sister filed the sides of the cylinders down where there was a flange around them and I used a knife to whittle the inside of the tube shaped bits it fitted in…. Result! The flap now swings freely. There is about a two millimeter gap at the bottom but it hangs in the closed position and opens both in and outward.
Now I’ve just got three confused cats, there isn’t a hole to leap through anymore, but a window out to the garden. Bemused looks! I opened the flap for one of them and opened the door for the other… If they want to come back in they will have to learn to use it!
An Egyptian statue at the the Liverpool museum of the World. I saw this on the trip we went on to see the terracotta warriors that had been on tour from China. I took the photo because of the contrast between the two. Terracotta warriors are in uniforms and armour. This figure is lightly clothed in a sort of kilt and with a stylised stance that echos the figures of Egyptians depicted on temple and pyramid walls. Even so the face looks real, staring out after centuries of history. I wish I could remember the story behind it. I think this is carved stone as opposed to the fired clay of the warriors. You can deduce some things from how a depiction of a person looks. This man looks strong and fit, but the head seems slightly too big for the body. Perhaps the body is a generic stylised figure and the head is a portrait? I wonder if they had many stone masons making these images or were they one off commissions. Maybe I should try and find out.
So sweet. Relaxed
This cats curves
Are sinuous
Soft and smooth
Warm and curled
snuggled
Happy, cuddled.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was hidden, my cat likes this little igloo type cat bed. When he snuggles down in it he is almost hidden from view. It’s well insulated and nice and comfy. Felt pen drawing. It’s only a small drawing but I enjoyed doing it.
Splat!
Just when you think things are OK sometimes they go wrong.
Case in point, we have to get copies of documents sent in for something. I collected everything together but a couple of things are missing. We went to the shop and got a copy of the sales invoice. Then I checked a document and its not up to date, it was done on line but we were never sent the original documents. Much head scratching, swear words, contacting people. I hope I have sorted it out, but you never know.
I suppose the thing to realise is that lots of people are struggling too. It’s just life and beauracracy, we have to have bits of paper to prove things. But now they do things online… It’s not simple. You have to log in and remember passwords. Only I have a different one for everything! Splat, my mind is whirling.
1.23am on Wednesday morning. I’m messing about with filters to create a scaly pattern. The inks were metallic and I tried to enhance the shinyness of it. I mirrored the image four times. Yet another pattern for my current college project. One problem I face was that all the colours are quite similar and of a medium tone, it was difficult to distinguish between dark and light areas.
Not very exciting but today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was office. I don’t have an office so I drew a desk tidy that I have ordered to keep all my black ink pens together with other bits and pieces.
The desk tidy is actually dark brown and the background was white. The only interesting thing we’re slightly darker images of the desk tidy tubes that were reflecting in each other. I would have liked to have added some lighter tones but the white watercolour pencil I tried using did not show up well enough.
One on my knee, one on the arm of the chair. My two boy cats sitting almost nose to nose. They are quite tolerant of each other, and this is the closest they have ever sat together. It asted half an hour, both snug and warm. This is not photoshopped they were about three inches apart. So pleased we got the outside cat to join the household especially at this cold time of year.
Mallaband-Brown