New paintings and regular art updates.
Feel like I’ve swallowed glass
Green sharp spikes
lance through my neck.
Swallowing gunge
My nose is burning
My eyes are running…
away from the pain
Limbs ache and feel heavy.
Gargle of salt in water
to ease the hot stabbing.
Shivers and shakes make me want to sob.
Where’s my breakfast, he says…..
imagine a world with two sun’s. Both about the same size as ours. You are on a planet orbiting both of them, luckily half way between the two so it never gets too close to either of them and far enough out so that it doesn’t get too overheated by twice our suns power.
Instead of winter the North and South poles of the planet get almost continuous sunlight. At the equator two shadows are cast at almost right angles to each other. There is no ice at the poles. In fact there seems to be almost permanent summer there. If the world has water perhaps plants continue to grow all year, like our tropics. The weather would be affected by heating from the suns and any magnetic fields may interact so I imagine a liquid iron core like ours would be an advantage.
I used to read old science fiction stories which imagined all sorts of life forms, crazy plants, strange animals based on different gravities. But I guess because of TV Sci fi we now think that all intelligent life will be bi-pedal with oddly shaped foreheads or ears….
There is an infinite universe out there but we are too parochial.
One of my favourite films is Galaxy Quest. It is a spoof sci-fi film based on the old TV cult classics. I wonder if we will ever move on from those ideas?
It started with a fog that lingered, it did not burn off in the sunlight, in fact it got denser. The winds had dropped so there was nothing to blow it away. Looking out the window you could see drops of water clinging to the trees and bushes.
The weather forecasters tried to explain the phenomenon. More water in the atmosphere, a storm must come soon to clear the air, but that was months ago. Plants were not doing well for lack of sunlight and because there had been no rain to help the buds burst. Slimy mould was starting to cover some plants and others had a black fungus growing on them.
Then the reports of food shortages started Crops had failed. Fruit was not swelling and growing but remained stunted.
People started to call it “the grey”, cars were banned as they were turning the fog to a thick smog. Satellite images showed the only parts of the world that had been left clear of the fog and mist were the larger seas and oceans. The grey clung to the edges of the land. Continents were visible only as cloudscapes.
Then the riots started…….
This is me in panto costume and makeup. I have not published photos of other cast members as I don’t have their permission. What a brilliant time! Two full shows today. That’s 8 hours in the hall. Trying to look serious , happy, perplexed, confused. Changing from being a villager to a Scottish villager, supporting Robin Hood in a wrestling match, capturing Robin Hood in Scotland. Visiting the court of Prince John and the Sheriff of Penkhull and being in the presence of King Richard. Squabbling with other villagers and getting into fights. All while watching the action as Robin tries to rescue Maid Marian when she is actually quite capable of rescuing herself. Add a mad sketch which shall not be revealed at the start of the second act, and large and small Loch Ness monsters chasing the cast round the hall.
So much more goes into putting on a show than the people acting. There is the stage crew who make and place props as they are required, including a mocked up wrestling ring. There is sound and lighting. There are the amazing people creating the costumes. The make up artists trying to paint the faces of almost 40 members of the cast. The people selling tea and drinks Mostly though it’s down to a local woman who wrote and directed our version of Robin Hood. How she kept all the adult and junior cast going and persuaded us to put it on is beyond me.
So after 4 performances including 2 yesterday, that finished about 4 hours ago … Well all I can say is I’m glad I was in it and congratulations everyone. We’ve had really great feedback from audience members. I want to do it all again!
About 5 years ago we went on a photo walk around the north of the city of Stoke on Trent in a town called Tunstall. The idea was to do a circular walk encompassing greenways around the town that used to have a rail line and that runs between terraced houses on a raised path. There are bridges over paths and tunnels driven through the ground.
I used my old phone so the images are not brilliant. The day started overcast then it started to snow as we walked along the path. We came out onto the side of a newly built section of road then followed the path round up a hill before coming out at an old pub (can’t remember it’s name) where we stopped off for lunch and sat next to a real coal fire to warm up. Then off through local streets to finish near where we started outside the local health centre.
Photos include trees, train signals, walking along the path. A terraced house. The corrugated side of one of the tunnels. One of the metal greenaway signs, a dandelion growing on the side wall of part of the path, and bracket fungus growing on an old wooden post.
I’m hoping to go on another photo walk, may be when the weather is a bit better. The idea of looking at industrial and post industrial landscapes fascinates me.
Funny what you can find in a pub. This skeleton is plastic and sits in the corner of a local pub, next to the fire. I called the drawing the regular, he has been there for a few years. There is also a pretend skeleton of a dog behind him. Also you can see the top of a guitar next to him. That’s because I drew this on music night. The sketch pad is about 4 inches square and I have a drawing from 1995 in it of a place called Winnats pass in Derbyshire. 
I’m tired because I’ve been at the panto all evening so this is a very short blog post and also a short poem
Skeleton
Skull
Pirate
Gull,
Treasure
Gold
Dubloon
Silver
Moon
Ship
Sea
Ocean
Free.
Watching daytime TV you see all sorts of advertisements. There are life insurance plans, double glazing, furniture, Bath seats for the elderly.
The latest one is model building kits. Buy now, first issue is £1.99, then £8.99 per issue ….. But the models of famous ships or complex robots or classic cars are made up of sometimes 120 parts. So that’s 120 issues of the magazine that comes with it. If you do the maths that’s around 4 years of magazines and parts and over £1071 in costs!
I can imagine someone who loves model boats or trains might start doing one of these. But will they continue making it? Can they afford it? I do think it’s a bit of a rip off…..
Branches and limbs thinning and curving
Straggling twigs like fly away hair.
Skeletal, swooping and sweeping
Black trunk against white clouds.
Old birds nest up high
A roost for a crow?
Like an old venous or arterial system
Your juices are not flowing now
Sclerotic and tired
Can you be rejuvenated
Will your sap rise again?
Are buds hidden,
Waiting to burst-
Stay a while and see
Wait out the winter
Then explode like a firework blooming in light.
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.
Mallaband-Brown