Satsuma

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Photo of part of my lunch. I just liked the fruit and peel against the table top pattern. Isn’t it fab that the white lines on the table seem to mirror the segments of the fruit?

Its been a busy day, discussing a mural proposal, then having lunch, then off to a trumpet lesson ( the first for months) I’m learning a part  of the new world symphony. Now I’ve got to get ready to go out for the opening of the three counties open exhibition as I managed to get a painting into it. I’m pleased because it’s chosen from submissions from artists in Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire and is on  at Burslem School of Art, Queen Street, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent for a month. …

So a bit of a boring fruit based blog… Sorry!

We do not see ourselves

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We don’t see ourselves as others see us. Mother, father, sister, brother, everybody has an opinion of you, but no one can know what’s in your heart.

Imagine a world of telepathy where everyone can read your mind at will. They can see your triumphs and tragedies from your perspective. But most people’s minds probably don’t have clear concise thoughts. If their mind is anything like mine it can be full of confidence at one minute and then dispair the next. You don’t get a blueprint when you are born of how to think. We all need to cut each other a little slack sometimes.

Sunset, Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent

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As we left Etruria tonight a red glow was spreading at the bottom of the grey clouds. As we got up to the top of the hill it had spread across the sky with the sun peeping through. This was a reminder of ‘red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning shepherd’s take warning’. I’m hoping this means things will cool down tomorrow. I’ve got a lot of things to do. The temperature reached 38.6°C and we are not used to it here. Global warming seems to be getting worse. I do wonder if we can get the temperature under control. The anthropocene era seems likely to be one of mass extinctions sadly.

Cat painting

This was what I was painting at 2am this morning. Bit more to do. I just liked his cheeky look. The background is a bit weird but I might leave it.

Next is a painting of either Mars or Earth. I’ve already done a couple of Jupiter so it would be interesting to paint something different. I just need a decent photo to work from.

Small clematis painting

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Small painting of a clematis flower. Just wanted to do something pretty and still interesting. This may be finished. I haven’t decided yet. So far I’ve started six paintings for the craft fair on Sunday. I’d like to be doing more art to be shown in a gallery, but I also think art is for everyone, and if this is a way to get it out to people?

The problem is deep rooted, artists rarely earn much, and often people want their work virtually for free. I’m a fast painter and I enjoy experimenting with art but that should not make what I do different. I guess it depends on the quality of the work? Also as an artist you can become very self critical. Questioning what you are doing. It’s a difficult thing to deal with. Anyway I keep doing it because I love doing it.

Resting bee

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My husband almost sat on this bee. I tried to give it some water but it flew off.

As the paper said in the seventies “phew what a scorcher”.

I managed to get quite close then used the zoom on my phone. The metal look plastic weave on the chair make it interesting and I like the detail on the bee and the folded wings. You can just see the antenna on the left side so that’s the head end x

Gooseberries

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The crop! These are off one scraggy bush in the garden that was surrounded by stinging nettles. There is one red one somewhere in the jug from another bush but that one didn’t fruit well and we only found the one. I’m thinking if making a gooseberry and apple pie or cake. I think I’ve got the ingredients in to make one.

Gooseberries are not that popular and have a distinct taste. I can’t explain it, sour, green and fresh? I don’t know if you can buy them from a shop or supermarket, because they are a bit unusual. If I make something I might post a photo.

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Watching Apollo 13

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One of my favourite space films. Up there with the Sci-Fi classic 2001 a Space Odyssey.

In this case the film is based on the ill fated flight of Apollo 13. The crew of three were on the way to the moon when one of their oxygen tanks burst when it was stirred. They were left 3/4 of the way to the moon with a shortage of air to breathe. They had to work out how to navigate the space ship, work out how to clear the CO2 that was poisoning their air, work out how to use the equipment with almost no battery power and successfully splash down on the Earth. It was only on the way back that they saw the damage to their service module that they saw the damage and whether the heat shield that protected them from friction from the atmosphere would work.

I guess it’s on because of the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon. Very good film.