Semi celtic cat design
I love the way cats twist
And squirm
Paws and tail,
Mouth and leg
Shuffle over on the bed
You like to sleep
In my way
But I love you so much
You can stay!
Cat design
Tag: Life
Witch of the wood
I’m involved in the Penkhull Mystery Plays and we had a read through of the whole play yesterday. I just decided to doodle what I think the main baddie in the play could look like. Her hair is a tangle of flowers and weeds and twigs. Sharp faced, but without the beak of a nose and hooked chin of traditional depictions of witches. She’s more punk than ancient. I could imagine piercings and tattoos too.
Painting update
I’m still working on this. I tried to sort out the horizon line as it was wobbly. I think that the land in the background is too dark. I want to try and resolve the colours and waves on the sea…. Is it too light or dark….
This is from my imagination but I might try and find something that is similar. Or I could turn it into a more abstract image?
Story board
Drew a story Board for the Penkhull Mysteries today, started by drawing in the back of an envelope then did better A4 sketches.
This took a couple of hours. I was absolutely shattered by the end. I had intended to go shopping afterwards but I came through the front door, sat down and fell asleep!
Esther’s Word challenge.
Esther Chilton does a word challenge where you are given a set of words and a number to keep to.
This week’s was 38 words including:
OPERATION
PRAM
ATTRACT
VANILLA
QUACK.
This is what I came up with:
“Vanilla ice-cream always attracts my attention. The operation of the ice-cream machine twisting the milky substance into the waiting cone. Watching mums give their children the sticky treat dripping into prams. Ducks quack as they eat the wafers”.
How do you spell Mackerel?
One of those words that foxes me. Makeral, Makeral, Mackerel? Finally got it.
Other words lose or loose…. I used to use loose when something was lost, not escaped from a field. And field was another one. I used to spell it feild….
Tommorow was how I spelt tomorrow
Centre and center interchangeable…..
Only my mother making me do 100 spellings a day rescued me. Sometimes I still get it wrong…. I’m wrung out!
Crafts
Portrait of a woman called Carol in our craft group working on some diamond art picture. I enjoy doing small portraits, quickly done, it fits in with my Parkinsons shakes, if a line goes awry I can hide it in cross hatching. I have a small notebook with very pae blue lines so they are not very noticeable. I never want to stop drawing and painting. It’s my life. X
I must finish this
About three months ago? I started this, but then winter arrived and I stopped painting. My eyesight has got worse, I’ve found myself cleaning my glasses and realised it was my eyeballs that need “cleaning”, my cataracts are getting worse, extending into my central vision. It’s like a vaseline smeared camera lens that they use to make scenes in films look more romantic or nostalgic. In my case it’s like looking through mist. And it’s bloody annoying! Luckily I’m having my eyes checked out to have a cataract operation. Hopefully I will be able to paint again soon.
Mori
I think a lot about life and death these days. If I don’t hear from people I worry about them. This morning my cat was so fast asleep he was barely breathing. I didn’t want to disturb him, but he is getting old so I gently blew on his ear. It twitched and I was overjoyed. He was fine and woke a few minutes later.
My sister says she might come and live with me if my health gets worse. But somehow I want to reject that. I’m not ready for a last chapter of my book. There has been too much loss lately. I just want that to stop. To enjoy life for a change. Slough off my sorrows and come back fighting. I can’t keep my sadness and worry going, it’s too exhausting. I know I need to “memento mori”, a Latin phrase, which translates to “remember that you must die” in English. It’s a reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of life. The phrase can be used for a work of art. I think that was what my little painting was about.
Arthur Berry mural
Arthur was one of my tutors at college. He went to Burslem School of Art to train in painting. I did this portrait mural of him and one of his paintings at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem in the back room. I think that was over ten years ago now. Unfortunately it was lost in the fire in 2022.
It’s emulsion paint, painted directly onto the wall, so when people ask me if the paintings were rescued I have to tell them no.
Mallaband-Brown 