New paintings and regular art updates.
I wrote this about her prompt.
My precious photos are of and with my hubby. Sometimes I sit and cry, sometimes I laugh at silly memories. Photographs captured that moment when we walked across a stream. When we returned hours later the tide had come in and the stream was a deep salt water channel. I lost my bike pump into the water and when I got it out to use again it had gone rusty. Photos can be like that. They can fade. And memory fades too, so photos make it easier not to forget.
Being ill and not seeing many people has made me fed up. I’ve taken solace in some books, like the Martian by Andy Weir and We solve Murders, the new mystery by Richard Osman. But I’ve become attached to my phone. I feel lost if I’m not checking out posts on Instaounce and Facepost! And in close second is TV and YouCone. I’ve become engrossed by old sci-fi programmes.
I want to break this habit, I need exercise, but it’s not happening at the moment! Too many dopamine hits? Boo x
What way is he going?
Where he will end up?
On Mars or in the English channel
In Canada or the Gulf of America….
Has he got the knowledge
To lower the price of one egg?
Or is he looking for the Golden goose.
He plays with words and obfuscates.
But does he know what that means?
In the meantime the world trembles
In fear, shock and disbelief!
How did they chose him….
The ballot was real
Are they crazy
We all
Wait.
For four more years….
Section of a painting I did about 1993. It’s interesting to look at how I painted the pattern on the carpet. It was actually a large rug on a terracotta and black tiled floor. This was in our old rented house which was quite delapidated. The cellar underneath this room was very wet and the mortar was rotting. It was held up by an acroprop and you could see the floor was bowing downward so we didn’t use the room much and I used it as a studio. When you changed a light bulb you needed to take insulation tape with you. The wire was cloth covered and would fall off when you changed the bulb. There’s a lot I could say about that old house, but that’s it for now. It is funny how a painting can evoke so many memories.
Sliced wood. How do you make a veneer for furniture? Cut through a slice of wood four times, glue it onto some backing wood like pine and add three more pieces rotated so the result is a symmetrical pattern.
This is what my grandfather, who was a carpenter, did for my mom and dad as a wedding present. He gave them two wardrobes, one large and the other smaller. He used a carcass of probably elm or beech and then used Walnut, polished and stained to a dark glossy finish. They were beautiful. As a child I used to go and look at them. The pattern and colour enthralled me.
My sister and I went to have a cup of hot chocolate and some cake at the Capabilitea Cafe at Trentham Gardens, in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, this afternoon. It was lovely to get out after spending at least two weeks in the house with this dreadful virus. We were going to have a savory meal but I was tempted by this “the works” hot chocolate.
The sun was low on the horizon when I finally got out. It’s bad this time of year and it was hard to drive the couple of miles there. I’m glad I had my sister with me, she helped me blow up my car tyres and had to point out where the disabled parking spaces were on the Trentham village car park. We had a little wander so I could try and stretch my legs. I managed 1657 steps today, which is more than I’ve done in weeks (that’s in fits and starts, I have to stop and browse (take a rest), every so often). But I escaped from the house at last !
Dawns coming a little earlier everyday. It’s almost a month since the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere (getting dark slightly earlier in the South).
I only really feel the year has turned when there’s still a bit of light in the sky at 5pm. I remember work days when I would go to the work in the dark and home in the dark. I’m just waiting, hoping for sunlight and warmth.
There is a Facebook post saying there is a really bright big comet that will appear in the sky tonight. I do get annoyed with these sort of posts because they are so illogical.
I decided to reply: If it was in the sky we would have seen it coming. It wouldn’t just appear. It might be travelling at a few hundreds or thousands of miles an hour but it wouldn’t appear instantaneously. There is a comet called Atlas (not sure of the full name) that is in the southern sky after recently passing the sun. It’s only a low visability comet and is starting to fly out of the solar system. Visible with binoculars just before sunrise. Gradually dimming as it becomes more distant.
‘I still keep seeing hearts, and it makes me feel like smiling when I do’, she said.
It was over a year since he’d gone, she realised, and things had been hard. They hadn’t discussed anything, it was so unexpected.
About a week after he had died she found a pink, heart shaped petal on her pillow, she had left the window open for some fresh air and it had just appeared, probably on a gust of wind.
She spoke to her sister again. ‘it seems to happen about once a week, I will spot a heart shape somewhere. Daft things like a bubble in the bread was a little heart, heart shaped crisps, presents with them as decorations, stones on the beach, it just keeps happening’.
She remembered the heart shaped cloud that had floated over the house for an hour, just above his shed. Above where he had worked on his bikes and train sets. She knew he was still with her, keeping an eye on her. Maybe one day they would be back together.
Last year I had a day trip
Went to the coast
Of Wales
It rained on the way
And it was blustery
By the beach.
I went on a coach
Can’t drive that far
Anymore
One day away
My holiday
……
Mallaband-Brown