New paintings and regular art updates.
Trees and road markings,
black asphalt,
branches reach out and hold hands,
a pylon of arching twigs.
Shimmering blue sky,
with added silver,
dreaming of spring days.
If I look closely?
I see slitted pupils,
in great round eyes,
the hat metamorphoses
into a black beak?
Gold, black and blue,
brightly hued,
your cages of twigs,
snare birds who
nest in warm romance.
What to do with bits if left over paper when you’ve taken out pages from your sketchbook? I cut out the page egdesby snipping where the paper has squares cuyt out for the ring binding. I took some orange post it notes then glued the offcuts on top so it looks like windows… Crumpled up some green post it notes for the grass and bushy bank the flats sit on. Then I used my ink roller (that is meant to blot out your address when you throw letters away) to roll over the background, leaving a vertical line for a lamppost. Finally I added an orange oblong of post it note for the street light. I added felt pen for trees and the lamppost and drew in the squares to add shadow to the windows…
Digital faces, played with in the Layout app. I think this is a couple of years old. I think I did the original drawing in ArtRage oils. To me this feels ancient and modern. I’m thinking of iconic mediaeval paintings. Also with the faces without eyes I somehow think of Heironymous Bosch? Weird images. The columns also make me think about columns of figures in stained glass windows. Each face is the same image, imagined and representing a female face. I did not try to interpret it or give an explanation when I made this image. Perhaps I needed a couple of years to think about it!
Wooden cat ‘bell’ one of the weird things I’ve collected over the years…
I seem to collect cat ornaments and friends give them me as presents, so much so that they clutter up everywhere. I’ve got cheap cats and cheerful ones, a few expensive ones… What other collections? Books and paintings and indoor plants. It’s amazing what you can fit on hotizontal surfaces in a tiny terraced house!
It’s 5.50am and I couldn’t sleep so I drew my cutlery basket and surroundings.. Then I realised the ink from the calligraphy pen isn’t waterproof so did a water wash over it…
#bandofsketchers drawing prompt was basket.
I don’t do book reviews, but I’ve started rereading ‘the Kraken Wakes’ by John Wyndham.
It’s not the most comfortable book to read in the midst of a global pandemic, and like his better known book ‘the day of the Triffids’, it is the story of an alien invasion of global proportions.
The book was written several decades ago when the threat from communism and the Cold War was at its height. Part of the story is the arguments between the west and the east and them blaming each other for losses of ships over deep ocean trenches.
The narrator and his wife are involved from the start, seeing fireballs hit the sea during their trip on a cruise ship.
It continues in three phases, one two and three, that gradually describe what happens as the invasion continues. Some of the language and attitudes are old fashioned because of the age when the book was written. But the book builds tension gradually and as I’m about half way I don’t know how it will turn out.
If you want to read an interesting sci- fi book have a look. There are others including the ‘Midwich Cuckoos’ and ‘The Trouble with Lichen’ that Wyndham wrote.
Ping!
Look at me!
See me!
Hear me!
Ping!
Your news!
Your ads!
Your games!
Ping!
Listen to me!
See the news!
My propaganda!
Fake news!
You can’t loose!
You choose!
Ping!
Gambling!
Scams!
Tax dodges!
Ping!
Pavlovian!
Your phone!
Mother
Gone
Not forgotten.
Strong
Gentle
Caring
Intelligent
Hard working
Moral
Ethical
She held it together
When we needed her
I wish I could hold her hand
Hug her
Tell her how much I miss her.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Handle. I couldn’t think of anything ornate to draw so I just did the front door handle with my keys in it. Black calligraphy ink pen with metallic watercolour paints for the details and view through the front door window. My arm still shakes so as I hold my sketchpad it wobbles…..
Cooked this tonight…
Ingredients :
3 small or 2 large pears
Shop bought pastry, ready rolled
1/4 bottle of port
Double cream
1 egg yolk
Method:
Core the pears as necessary, slice into small pieces.
Simmer the pears in a pan with the port until the pears have softened and the port has reduced and almost dried up.
Place the pastry on baking parchment or grease proof paper on a baking tray.
Cut the pastry into four squares, place the diced pears in the centre of each square and then fold the pastry up around them. Brush with egg yolk to glaze.
Put in a medium to hot oven (I used gas mark 6) for twenty or twenty five minutes or until they are golden brown. I found mine had a bit of a soggy bottom.
Serve when cooled with a dollop of whipped cream.
Serves four (unless you are feeling greedy!).
Mallaband-Brown