New paintings and regular art updates.
I can see all sorts of things in this, birds, and noses and smiles. Star jumps, an out of focus leaf… Twins with hair in ribbons, giggling at me. Sunglasses. The human mind is strange. Picks up patterns and interprets them into odd things. Life huh?
Snuffling, rushing past, got me rattled. Some sort of noise being created by a thing out in the garden. But the gates locked and the sheds shut. Bowls are rattled, things clash, is it the wind, a burglar, a rat, or a hedgehog? I guess hedgehog…. They like standing on the edges of their bowls to get at the cat food we put out for them. Not sure about the rushing past though? I think it’s the cat doing that…. Anyway we had a good walk round in the rain and the dark… Nothing dangerous seen… Maybe we’ve got badgers?…..
You can’t escape them. If they want to climb up your leg and stick their claws in, or jump across the room to get on your shoulder? Then they will spring athletically with powerful muscles and grip on like grim death!
Food? You want to share? No… But they look at you with those great big eyes and you are hypnotised. But they are such good companions (which means when it suits them, not you) it’s amazing how a three to four kilo animal can pin down a human, who then apologises when the time comes to move them. Dead weight? Surely cats weigh more!
Cats have their own minds. They don’t like being controlled. You can’t pick them up if they don’t want to be. They squirm, and watch out for the claws!
They have their skills, catching rodents. But why do they have to leave you a ‘little gift?’ that cartoon image of a mouse with crosses for eyes springs to mind.
I painted the leather seat if this stool/box about thirty years ago. It used to hold all my old oil paints but they dried out years ago. I unearthed it recently. One of the problems with being an artist I have found, is collecting art materials. I have stuff that goes back years. I tend to think one day things will come in handy. Is anyone else here an artist? Are you the same? Materials cost so much its almost a sin to throw things away.
This is a cat on a mat on a parquet floor. As you can see even then I loved patterns. It’s varnished, but you can see where I must have left a thinners can on the surface that left paint rings…
My grandad was a carpenter and made this many years ago. I never met him as he had died before I was born. But he carved the lytch gate at the parish church where I came from, and the altar rail in the Central Hall (Methodist Chapel). This is carved out of a peice of oak with bits of thick card nailed around the sides and tiny cannon along the sides. Maybe one day I will get it restored. I think I got my artistic ability from him.
Houseplants are good for you according to recent research. Apparently just a glimmer of green in an otherwise plain and boring magnolia painted house can improve your mood. If you are locked down in a house or room, having that bit of green can help.
This is a badly watered succulent plant we have at the top of our stairs. I look out over our garden and feel infinitely lucky to have that patch of green.
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2014 acrylic on canvas. I’d painted tree spirits previously and was trying to create something with the branches. My friend, who is a sculptor bought it off me because she said she might use the design to create something in three dimensions. I might do some more paintings like this to go with my Green man pictures. Plus I want to include autumn colours. X
Dear XXX MP
Why have I just had to give my takeaway meal to a homeless woman by xxx bank in xxx tonight. Why is she sitting there with a wet duvet, in the cold. Articulate and desperate. Crying.
She didn’t ask for our help, she was just desperate.
Why do I need to take pity on someone? Be a good Samaritan. Why isn’t your damn government doing something Christian to sort things out?
Oh we can’t afford it? But you damn well won’t charge taxes to the rich!
Yours Sincerely
Xxxxx Mallaband-Brown
But I shouldn’t have to write this. Our MP doesn’t seem to be in touch with the local population. I don’t even know if she lives here. When she was first elected she answered my emails, then one of her staff answered. Now I expect silence. In the meantime people are suffering. If I’d had somewhere for her to go I would have offered her somewhere to stay.
It’s amazing what will grow in a hanging basket. There are cyclamen that my hubby recently planted at the back of this basket, plus miniature sunflowers he planted the seeds of in the spring. An interesting combination at this time of year….
Today is cold, wet and windy. You can see the raindrops on the window, but as long as the temperature does not fall too low these should last a little longer. Below the basket you can see begonia leaves. Their flowers are still surviving too. Any little bit of food for insects. I hope the bees got their fill this summer.
The thing on the fence is our weather station, I can see the weather when I look out the window, but it’s good to watch the air pressure going up and down…
Warm and soft
Gently sleeps
On my knee
Feel it’s breath
Happy purring
Curled up, warm,
Paw stretched out,
Tail wrapped round,
Pinning me down!
Caught in a soft embrace
Of fur and claws!
Mallaband-Brown