Tag: Life

Laughter

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Someone (a friend) saw my rather serious selfies and asked me to take some photos of me laughing. I’ve never done that before and so I was a bit surprised but I said yes….

These are the results including me with a straight face.

I’m imagining having to do a passport photo and choosing to do it with me laughing, how much fun would that be? And instead of “filter faces” where everyone has to have perfect skin and features and hair why not have do this instead? fun…. life is too serious sometimes.

I’ve got one photo of me somewhere that had me wearing a stick on moustache, and others in hats, also in face paints. Life is too short, life is often hard and boring, sometimes we need to break away from its difficulties….

When I was a child I won a funny  face competition at school. I used to pull faces all the time, when we grow up we forget all those things!

So go ahead, even if you don’t post it, pull a face now, or roar with laughter, or just giggle. ….relax and be free of social pressures for a second! Laughter is good medicine .

I might just do a painting of these. There are some sculptures I saw on tv of a man pulling faces……not sure who did them or why, but he showed his humanity.

X

“That spiky things flowering…”

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Conversation:

‘What thing?’

“That thing on the corner”

‘What thing on the corner!  Where abouts?’

“On the corner , you know…”

‘What’s that?’

“The spiky thing”

‘On the corner?”

“By the willow”

‘What willow?’

“On the corner”

‘Oh hell…..what are you going on about?!’

“You know”

‘But I don’t, that’s why I’m asking’

“Its spiky, got yellow and orange berries”

‘Pyrocantha!?’

“Yes!”

Silence. ………

‘What are you doing? ‘

Noises in the kitchen……..

‘Hello? Whats happening?’

“Just mending my steam engine!”

😠 ‘argh!’

Is it like this in your house? It is in mine.

Self portrait from a selfie.

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Taking a selfie is bad enough, but trying to draw yourself from it while trying to hold a sketchpad and a tablet computer in one hand and an old felt pen in the other is quite difficult. I did try and use pointillism to do the shading but I think it didn’t really work well. Somehow the eyes in the drawing are looking at me, when in the photo they look up and to the right. The other thing with selfies is you see yourself the right way round, where when you look in a mirror everything is back to front, in mirror image.

I had been trying to take a photo of my reflection in a mirror but the tablet keep getting in the way. The only decent way to take it was by holding the computer tablet to one side but I ended up with the toilet in the background because my decent sized mirror is in the bathroom!

Anyway I don’t generally do selfies and its been a few years since I did a self portrait, but this was a bit of an experiment.  I like painting people and drawing them. Soon the life drawing class I go to will be starting up again. Then I can get in some proper practice.

Till then I’m going to try and do a few more quick portraits, this took about 15 minutes.

 

Design

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With cuts in education it appears that arts subjects are getting lower take up’s these days.

Students have to do more “useful” subjects, like Maths, English and Sciences, plus probably a language. Then if they go on to college or university the temptation is to go for more academic courses, especially when a 3 year course is going to cost upward of 30 or 40 thousand pounds.

I went to a Polytechnic, many years ago now. I got a maintenance grant and didn’t have to get a loan (they didn’t exist then). The costs were paid for by taxation, which was higher in the past. This made sense because that money raised by the exchequer sustained the education system as well as other services such as the NHS.

Things gradually changed, governments changed, their ideas changed and the rules changed. Where once there were grants now there are loans, where once there were bursaries, now there are loans. You may not have to pay them back until you are over an earnings threshold. But student loans are at 6% interest per annum, when inflation is between 2% or 3%. In other words the loans are a form of future taxation. Only low level, but over the years it takes to get a good job that persons debt is due to spiral. Is it any wonder that Art subjects are being dropped….

But Art is important, if you look at the patterns on these dresses, the design of the dresses, even the frill on the lamp shade? Someone designed that….

Artists may not get paid much but they make the world more beautiful and interesting. Artists can be innovators…look at the art of Leonardo da Vinci, he not only drew and painted, but came up with designs for tanks and helicopters and planes. They were not built because the technology did not exist to make them, but the ideas were there.

Art and design can be done on computers nowadays, press a button?  No you still have to have someone to draw out the designs. Without art the world would be a boring, grey, sad place.

So if you feel like doing art….do it!

Doodling digitally

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Oh I do love swirling things about, colour, playing with shapes, to me this is fun. Like creating a painting, but digitally.

Subtle changes of colour and shading add depth, adding the alterations together give an idea of metamorphosis. All these can be created from a few apps.

I don’t know what digital art is out there, except for pictures created by David Hockney of digital portraits and the woods close to his home when he was living in Yorkshire a few years ago. I went to see them exhibited at Salts Mill in Saltaire, Yorkshire.

I think that digital art will progress and change. I look forward to seeing it.

Llandegla fishery

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Up in the hills between Ruthin and Wrexham in north wales is a little fishery called Llandegla. Its almost at the top of the hill  before you get to the top then drop down into Wrexham, on the road, on the left hand side ( there is another fishery further down the road on a side road).

There’s a cafe and camp site for small caravans in the grounds of the fishery and the opportunity to catch fish if you want (Vegetarians look away now).

We had lunch there, hot smoked trout with new potatos and mixed leaf salad, which was delicious.

I kept up my habit of sketching, and did a few pictures, one of them I gave away because a boy there was interested in doing art.

So day trips continue, where will we go tomorrow?

Rain

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It’s a bank holiday Sunday and normal service has resumed (it’s raining) whether the weather on bank holiday Monday improves again? Well the forecast says it will.

So anyway I thought you might like an interesting fact?

Raindrops are apparently not teardrop shaped! I guess we think they are because they speed by so fast, persistence of vision (the way our eyes track things) mean that they blur together so they look long and thin….Like, er, teardrops….. or raindrops trickling down a window as they smear themselves against the glass, wetting and sliding at the same time.

So what do raindrops really look like? On slow motion cameras they resolve into little oblate spheroids….Like little tangerine shaped water droplets, that’s because air resistance squashes them up slightly in the direction of travel.

Trouble (or not) is that I’m sure people will carry on drawing them as teardrop shapes because thats how they look to us….

X

Seaside

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This is a new footbridge at Rhyl. The bridge can lift up on both sides of the footpath so that boats can navigate the lower area of the river. The footbridge is at the west end of Rhyl just near the blue road bridge and next to Rhyl’s bike hub where you can hire bicycles.

On our visit the sun was shining, but it was quite windy. The river below looked quite muddy and because the river is tidal the water was rushing out towards the sea.

The structure is interesting, the footpath seperates around a central mast and you can see down to the hydraulic rams that can lift up the two halves of the bridge. I haven’t seen in operation but I imagine it looks spectacular.

 

Familiars

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Cats are said to be Familiars, aloof but linked to their owners, and disdainful of fuss from anyone else. My experience is that I can make friends with most of them, if I can work out what sort of sound they like.

Years of being owned by cats teaches you that they respond to different noises or looks from the person trying to befriend them.

Noises: churring, purring, chuch-chuch sounds seem popular with cats, I’ve practiced making purring noises since we first had a cat. Then miaow, or prrup sounds, with kittens or shy cats I try and sound like a little cat crying, it’s sometimes difficult to get high pitched enough. But hit the right note (quietly) and a shy kitten may become more friendly.

Looks: If the cat stares at you don’t stare back. slow eye blinks are the thing, close your eyes and keep them shut for a second. Cats do the same thing and it makes them feel less threatend.

Gestures: If you want to stroke a cat just offer it the back of your hand or a finger to sniff, dont try and stroke it unless it starts to rub its head against your hand. Don’t lunge at it or try and pick it up. Cats are small animals and can feel intimidated.

Also try not to make loud noises which will startle the cat.

If you see your cats tail wagging/waving it might be getting annoyed or excited and wanting to play, just be careful, a paw may take a swipe at you and cats have sharp claws! Also be wary of the tooth and claw situation…..ow!

Cats like fusses, being stroked, if they are enjoying it they may start kneading you with their front paws, but beware a cat having its stomach stroked or tickled might kick out with its back legs while grabbing you with its front paws and biting ….

I’ve learnt from experience that you have to move your hand away carefully, pull I away and you can end up badly scratched.

Do: treat a cat with respect, try and make friends, enjoy the love a cat can share with you.

Don’t: shout at it, pull its tail, insist on picking it up if it doesn’t want you to.