He won’t put books back!

Posted on April 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Annoyed, Bookcases, Books, Fun, Imagination, Life, Short story, untidy, Very short storyLeave a comment

We have bookcases, but the books from them are on the floor, on tables, on footstools, in flurries and drifts. So I asked him. Why won’t you put the books back? I will do, he snapped back. He is the one who puts them there, often opened and left unread.

When I change the bedsheets his side of the bed is six inches deep in books. I have to force my way through a tidal wave of them…

I plot now. I think about what to do. I want one of those camouflaged book cases, where you tilt a book back and a door opens. I would like that.

Open the door, fill it with books, or push him in and throw away the key. Oh don’t get me wrong, food would be delivered three times a day. There would be a laundry chute and a bathroom. A comfy chair and a bed. A secret trap door would be there to pass in things, or hook things out when he’s asleep. He would be happy, I would be able to tidy up….

Life goes on in lockdown. Ideas spring to mind. They are not serious.

Cat…

Posted on April 27, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Awake, Cat, Life, Mice, Movement, Poem, Poetry, Sketch, Sketching, SleepingLeave a comment

Cat

Why can’t you look at me?

why won’t you stay still,

always moving,

except when you sleep….

Even then you chase mice.

feet flailing,

galloping across dreaming gardens,

or hazy, cobwebbed fields.

Cat, statuesque,

gorgeous, flexible, strong,

you won’t keep still

and be drawn.

Task I hate….

Posted on April 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Charcoal sketch, Drawing, Life, Staffordshire, Task I hate, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, Washing upLeave a comment

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Urban sketchers, day 9. We were asked to draw a task we hate. Well I hate washing up. Mainly because I have dermatitis on my hands. I can’t wear gloves because I’m allergic. The water gets too hot even with the thermostat at its lowest (very efficient boiler). The sink is too small and leaks. The sides are too shallow so we get tidal waves if my hubby washes. Then I have to dry the surrounding six foot and the floor! The draining board is a bit small too. The microwave side gets soaked when he puts stuff on the drainer. Which is why I do the task most often, even though hating it!

Sketch is in an a5 sketchpad, cartridge paper, using charcoal pencil.

Trafalgar Square

Posted on April 25, 2020April 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art. Drawing, Digital drawing, Life, London, Pencil sketch, Sketching, Trafalgar Square, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

Today for our virtual sketching visit we drew Trafalgar square in London.

Every weekend Stoke-on-Trent Urban Sketchers chooses a venue to draw from and this week was a view of Trafalgar Square with the National gallery and one of the famous lions in the foreground. The image was taken from Google maps and each sketcher drew it or another view of it. There were about ten artists drawing and sketching or using ink pens, some of them were using watercolours too. At the end we had a throw down (a digital view of all the drawings). An enjoyable couple of hours.

Student memories

Posted on April 24, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Coal fire, Friends, History, Life, Memories, Old House, Remembered, Student house, Time, Tumble down houseLeave a comment

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Forty years ago, here are two of my friends who I shared a student house with. Unlike the accommodation today things were different then. It’s like something out of ‘the young ones’ TV series. There was no hot water, just a broken water heater. I hate to say this but there was no bathroom and we used the showers at the college. The washing machine was an old twin tub. Our cooker was gas, but there was no gas fire. Instead we just had a coal fire to warm the whole house. And the toilet was down the yard in an outhouse.

We moved on into a slightly less tumble down house, finished college, and ended up in our own house. But I actually enjoyed life in that house. X

Man-cave

Posted on April 23, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Challenge, Day 5, Drawing, Fun, Humour, Life, Lockdown, Man cave, Mess, Pasting tables, Shed, Sketching, Toy trains, Train, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

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Urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent day 5, draw inside your shed or garage.

Where do I start. In my case our shed has had all the tools expelled to the outer darkness of our little shed. Instead some rickety pasting tables have been put up. The tops are covered with boxes, lengths of train track, bits of trains, engines, train trucks, stuff…. Plus he’s got different controllers to send power through the tracks. The pasting tables are so warped it’s like the trains are running through hills!

Then he’s got his bike bits, wheels, and a box that the stray cat sleeps in, which is surrounded with bags of straw… I’m allowed in as long as I don’t mess with anything… In the meantime he wants to upgrade things when the lockdown is over. We are going to buy some better tables. Exciting eh?

Fairy drawing

Posted on April 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Drawing, Fairy, Fun, Life, Sketch, Sketching, Wire fairyLeave a comment

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I drew this last night. I interpreted my wire fairy as a real one (with embellishments). I wanted to get the picture to look like one of those adult colouring books. I drew the outlines first with a thin black pen, then I shaded it in with spectrum noir coloured metallic pencil crayons. I finally outlined the fairy with a slightly thicker and darker black ink pen. Drawn in a Windsor and Newton heavy weight case bound sketchbook. A5 size.

News

Posted on April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged BBC, Covid19, Death rate, Fears, Life, Misinformation, News, Trump, Virus2 Comments

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I just had a gentle argument with a friend on Facebook. I’ve been watching the BBC news in the UK, and a lot of it is about the covid19 virus. There is a small amount of criticism about how our government is dealing with it.

Then there are clips of President Trump, seemingly saying that people should have the right of freedom of speech and they should not have to be in lockdown? He’s going to be speaking to the governor of New York about it? The scary thing is people need to keep away from each other so the virus can’t spread easily. Someone said they would rather be six feet apart than six feet under.

The news also said deaths in America are spiking, and that many thousands have died already.

But my friend, who I really like, supports Trump who is blaming the World Health organisation.

The thing is, it doesn’t matter who is to blame. It matters what Trump or any other politician is going to do about it.

In the end its not where you start, it’s where you end up that is the important thing. Life is difficult, but ignoring experts, and making things up as you go along is not sensible.

New USK Stoke challenge, day 2.

Posted on April 20, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Hubby, Ink, Kitchen, Life, Pencil, Portrait, Sketch, View, Window1 Comment

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Portrait, today’s #uskstoke challenge. Hubby in the kitchen, looking out the window. That’s some oo gauge track on the cupboard, soon after he went out to work on his train set. That’s why it’s a quick drawing. Looking forward to tomorrow’s challenge….

Lunch in odd times

Posted on April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beans, Chicken fingers, curry powder, Food, Fun, Humour, Life, Lunch, Photo, Portmeirion plates, SweetcornLeave a comment

Baked beans and sweetcorn with added hot curry powder and breaded chicken fingers.

It’s not what I would normally cook for a meal, but it was definitely filling.

Not much else to say about it, except the sweetcorn was frozen. I served it on pretty Portmeirion pottery plates.

Well, I don’t think I’ll say anything more except it was orange coloured! I guess I could do a series of pictures of different coloured food combinations, green cabbage and brocolli maybe, with green cheese sauce?

Perhaps not!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life