Ooo! Chocolates

Posted on December 18, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Boxes, Chocolates, Christmas, Handmade, In the post, Leek, Life, Staffordshire moorlands, Sweet, TastyLeave a comment

They arrived today, from Leek, in the Staffordshire moorlands, in a big box. Bang, bang, bang on the front door this morning. I dashed downstairs and opened the door. The postman handed me a box marked fragile. What could it be? The writing on the address was very similar to that of a friend, so I assumed it was something from him. But no, there were six Chocolate boxes that I’d ordered for Christmas presents. They are handmade and in beautiful boxes tied up with ribbons. They will now be posted on to family. I might save a small box for us. X

My boy

Posted on December 17, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cute, Fun, Indoor cat, Life, Love, Mine, Poem, Poetry, Sweet, Tuxedo2 Comments

My boy was here first

My boy is patient

He’s cute

His eyes close and he smiles.

My boy is not a large cat

He’s compact

Just the right size.

My boy is a tuxedo cat,

He wears it well.

This is his space.

He owns it,

Belongs here

Warm and friendly

He is mine

I am his.

Gold

Posted on December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Felt pens, Gold, Life, Permanent markers, Rings, SketchingLeave a comment

Two gold rings, drawing for #bandofsketchers prompt ‘Gold’ today. I shake sometimes these days so the drawings are a bit wobbly! Permanent markers and felt pens on cartridge paper. Added dots to give an idea of textured cloth under the Rings…

Structure

Posted on December 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dawn, Encroaching, Expanding, Imagination, Life, Mystery, Sci-fi, Short story, Structure, TreesLeave a comment

Looking out the window she saw a strange metallic structure had risen overnight. Where once there had been fields beyond the treeline now the metal was greeting the dawn. It must be 50 meters high, would it be filled in like a building or was this superstructure it? What was it?

Slowly as she watched the metal started to glow. First white hot, then blue hot. She saw the structure growing, upwards, sideways, forwards, and backwards. The light settled and she saw it had grown like a crystal, now it had reached the trees….. She waited… Would it expand again?

Blossom time

Posted on December 16, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Blossom, Fruit, Ink drawing, Life, Memory, Sketching challenge, Trees2 Comments

I keep finding old photos of my drawings over the last few months. This was day 25 of our Urban Sketchers challenge to draw pictures in lockdown. Over the months I’ve had more drawing practice than I had for several years before.

I notice the tricycle, that had to have new back wheels one of the old ones collapsed and the other one was almost rusted through. And the copper coloured windmill that fell apart in a heavy wind!

The blossom was pink and white cherry and pear blossom. Billowing and beautiful, we had abundant fruit this year. Only five or six months to wait before it comes back.

Cats and trees

Posted on December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baubles, Cat, Christmas, Christmas tree, Climbing, Fun, Humour, Idea, Jumping, Life, Watching funny videos, YouTube4 Comments

When you have cats sometimes you can’t have Christmas trees. Baubles and tinsel are just too tempting. Cats who climb will be up to the top of the tree in seconds. There is also the danger of them chewing on the tree lights wire. Also you don’t know if they are going to chomp on some of the traditional toys, like tiny Teddy bears, that might have been handed down from generation to generation. Granny’s baby jesus or the angel with real feathers can be casualties! I’ve seen a few videos of anti cat tactics, and the one of hanging the tree from the ceiling looks pretty good. One solution I once did was to cut out the shape of a Christmas tree and container and stick it to a wall, then sticking real baubles and ones you have drawn onto it. Make sure any baubles are stuck on well and are anti shatter. Other ideas include a bauble free tree… But it might still get climbed!

Are gulls magnetic?

Posted on December 14, 2020December 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Canal, Funny, Gulls, Humour, Life, Magnetic, Nature, Photo, Picture2 Comments

A line of gulls on posts, all pointing south. They say birds have a way of using the Earth’s magnetism as a way to navigate. But these were acting like a compass needle! Next time I’m trying to find my way I might watch which way the gulls are facing!

Cygnets

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cygnets, Environment, Life, Nature, Photo, Swans, Weather, Wet, White, Wikdlife, Wildfowl, Wind2 Comments

When do Cygnets become Swans? When their feathers turn white. We saw this one swimming up the canal yesterday. It had its wings slightly up and the wind was pushing it along like a small sailing boat. Every couple of seconds it’s legs sculled the water, giving it a little buoyant push along. When it saw me trying to get my camera out of my pocket it headed towards me. But sadly I had no food for it. If we walk that way again I will take some food along with me. As we walked along we saw two more and two adults. I don’t see too much wildlife in the city so this was a pleasure.

Splat!

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cream, Crowd, Custard, Digital art, Digital drawing, Fun, Life, Panto, Pantomime, Pies, TheatreLeave a comment

This time of year is custard pie or cream pie time….. Oh yes it is? Oh no it isn’t!

What I mean is that usually it would be time for Pantomimes (pantos) in theatres across the land. Last year we were rehearsing Aladdin in our local village hall. We went on to perform it in February of this year. 180 people in a small room for for performances! Impossible now.

Sadly so many theatres are closed and shuttered. There is great concern that they will never open again. Instead of fun there is tragedy.

I hope custard pies are back soon! SPLAT!

Turning a blurry photo into an abstract.

Posted on December 14, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white cat, Cat, Design, Life, Oily, Photo, Photodirector, Picture, SmearedLeave a comment

With oone filter. I used this to show how you can change a photo using just one filter. In this case the cat was transformed into an apparent oil painting abstract by using the second style filter in the Photodirector app. This smears out the details into swirls and patterns. It also makes the edges of the areas of colour more obvious.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life