Walking…..

I never thought I would be doing this challenge. I used to be scared of walking. If I walked a couple of hundred yards I would congratulate myself! I’m so glad I joined in and I’ve already got through 25% of it!

I used to be fit. I could cycle for miles, but after an accident where I was injured I eventually got a car. That was my downfall. Its taken over thirty years to realise I can do something about it. Don’t be scared, have a go!

Tree

Trees are huge, yet delicate. Branches, stems, twigs. So much to see, so hard to draw. Mature trees are suffering damage all the time now. Gales blow down limbs, rain undermines their roots. Fungi and bacteria, so small, can lay a tree low. Sudden Oak Death, Ash die back, so many trees are disappearing from the country. Once it was Dutch Elm disease, now it could be any number of infections and lesions.

We are seeing the effect of the anthropocine, the effect of humans on the natural world. We need to change for the good of nature.

A face?

The door is a mouth, the eyes could be the windows or the lamps on either side of the door… The cross above the door could be a nose. Pareidolia, the phenomenon of seeing faces, figures or animals in other images, be it a building or a mark on a pavement…

For instance I can see the shape of a lion or a cat profile here in this spilt liquid on the pavement….

Nature reserve walk

I’ve never been to this nature reserve, and yet it’s only about a mile away behind the local University. My friend showed it me today. It takes in some hills, a lake and the River Trent. We walked quickly so I feel really tired out. Its somewhere to visit as the spring progresses. We might even have a picnic. X

Views include the river Trent, near Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent,

Mow Cop limerick

There is a prompt set by Esther Chilton to write a limerick using a particular word. This week it was Mop, which was good because I’d just drawn Mow Cop at Five am this morning.

Mow Cop is a folly of a castle near Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, and stands above the Cheshire plain with views of Jodrell Bank Observatory and beyond.

Sunday paper

Another quick sketch. When I’m busy it’s good to just get something down on paper, even if it is only a few lines. This was done with a calligraphy marker pen. I just drew our Sunday paper, although I didn’t get time to read it. So much going on in the world, even without covid19. Planes engines on fire, princesses possibly falsely imprisoned. Politics and uprisings. Tomorrow this will be yesterday’s news….