New paintings and regular art updates.
After 3 or more months of rehearsal it’s the first night of the panto at penkhull . Robin Hood is going to run round in a flap with his merry men. Prince John, the sheriff of penkhull and the goons are taxing and harassing people. The villagers are assisting Robin in his attempts to be macho.
I’m nervous. I need to hide!
I hope not to break a real leg! See you on the other side… 
I love the illustrations of little cherubs , cheeks puffed out, blowing ships across maps or in ancient paintings. That was the inspiration for this digital drawing in ArtRage oils. I had the metallic option set to 100%. You have a choice of 4 paint brushes and a sliding scale from 1 to 100.
I also love the song “blow the wind southerly” I think this would make an interesting illustration for it.
This is a free app I downloaded a couple of years ago. I have deleted other apps, but I kept this one because I like using it so much. I think it’s in Google app store or Google play if you look… I’m never quite sure how to find things there though.
Your looking tired? she said. Busy day? Yes it was, but I didn’t want to admit it. A long drive across the moors, then a quick rest at the hotel. Now I was sitting in a quiet pub waiting for the meal I’d ordered.
The waitress spoke again. You look a bit peaky, you must look after yourself. She looked closely at me, her face expressing surprise, fear and astonishment…
You’ve gone a funny colour!
In 50 years of owning or being owned by cats none of them have ever properly watched TV. Oh Yes they have stared at it in a disinterested way. If they happen to be facing in that direction, but nothing stirred them.
That changed with my female cat which I have had for a couple of years. She started by watching little things like birds and mice, but she really did get interested when we watched cat programmes. Now she seems really into things like lions. I got a few photos a couple of months ago of her standing up and looking at the screen. How does she know, or not, that there is a genetic linkage with big cats? Do they move in a similar way? Was it the noises they were making….. I don’t know. I think it’s cute behaviour and I also think she’s a lot cleverer than her brother.. . You should see her play.
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I see the world in patterns sometimes. Bricks in blocks inspire me. Skies flare with light. Trees line up in rows and pools are perfectly placed. How? A digital app called layout that is linked somehow to Instagram. Take a photo run it through layout. Enjoy the result.
Interesting architecture at Rode Hall. I didn’t take many photos of the buildings but these are pictures of one of the barns next to the car park.
This building we think was a shipon, a building with animals underneath and hay in hay loft above so the animals could be fed without having to ship it in. The hay also helped to insulate the lower floor.
The walls are brick built with lime rendered walls inside. I didn’t look closely at the bricks but you can tell their age by their size. Small thin ones are tudor. Larger ones are less old but still hand made and then you get machine made ones which usually have the makers name stamped on them in the dent on the top and bottom so they can take more mortar and hold together better.
I like the posh round windows under the eaves of the barn. You an tell someone had some money to build it.
These buildings are used for the farmers market at the hall which I think happens on the first Saturday of the month.
Honestly there are Herons here!
Old Nog, flying on wide wings,
Flapping slowly across the sky.
A flight to a nest
Long legs and neck extending
Squabbling with its mate.
Grey dots in my camera’s lens,
Specks of dust, motes in the air
I see them there.
Herons, like long necked dinosaur birds,
Cawing and squawking.
Flailing legs and beaks.
Life is returning to the lake.
Gallanthus, the Latin name for Snowdrops. They are out in force at Rode Hall gardens near Scholar Green, on the North Staffordshire/ Cheshire border. It’s off the A34 between Stoke-on-Trent and Congleton. The snowdrops are in flower right now and you can buy little bags of them (in the green) wjuch means you get bulbs with the leaves and flowers and you plant them directly into the ground under trees so they can spread out. They have many different sorts of the flowers that brighten the grounds of the hall. The snowdrop walks are on till March 3rd? And open till 4pm.
We walked through the grounds and gardens of the hall. Winding paths lead through bushes and trees, up and down little hills and slopes, past pools and woven willow sculptures down to the lake at the end of the longest path. There you can see a wooded island where Herons are starting to nest. I got blurry shots of four herons flying around the tree tops.
Back up past the hall we had a meal and coffee at the cafe and then on to an old barn to see an Exhibition by three local art groups that is on till the start of March.
It’s great to get out into the world and see it changing. The snowdrops were in such great clumps on the ground that it truly did look like they were patches of snow under the bare trees. It’s a great place to explore.
I did it again today,
Forgot my phone.
I didn’t have it with me
I’d put it down..
Somewhere…
My mind was elsewhere
Just not here.
So I put it down
And forgot….
That phone has a camera
A way of seeing
And recording my life…
To add to an album
Of happiness or horror.
But without my phone
I am no one
Only memories to remember…….
Hot coffee with cream, a slice of black forest gateaux. She sat and stirred the cup, hearing the spoon tinkle against it.
Only an hour ago she had been running to catch the bus into town. She’d told Al that she was meeting a friend….
This isn’t a trashy romance story, she told herself. Just a meeting with an old friend. But she couldn’t help feeling excited. He’d sounded just the same on the phone as he had all those years ago at college.
The cake was delicious, but she only tasted it, she was too nervous to eat. Too many butterflies in her stomach, too much anticipation and anxiety.
Oh god, she thought. I’m too old for all this, what will I say? Should I put some more lipstick on? She was also thinking about Al. How could she tell him about this. No it would be her little secret.
It was half an hour later, he was 20 minutes late… He promised he would be there. She remembered a tall young man. Long hair, a leather jacket and jeans. Black doc marten shoes….. Where is he? She thought.
Just then the glass door opened. She saw a once tall man, now stooped over. A bald head, what hair that was left was grey and in a ponytail. A walking stick, a gold medallion.
She decided not to say hello. As he walked into the room she went to the counter to pay her bill. On the way out of the door she felt mixed guilt and grief. Had she done the right thing?
She looked in the window and caught her reflection. Her once slim body was wider now, her hair not just grey, but white. Oh well she thought. At least I have Al.. …
Mallaband-Brown