New paintings and regular art updates.
From 2018, I don’t remember making this collage of blossom against a pastel sky, but thanks to Facebook it just popped up.
I like it, but it feels a bit too diffuse and fuzzy. Maybe the horizon between the two miffored images could have been placed higher or lower so that it became more defined. But it certainly feels watery. I do have fun doing these.
On a quiet day
The world can stay
Bound in a shroud
No need to unwrap
Or unstrap
The troubles on my back.
I’ll rest my eyes
As time slowly flies
Through the open windows.
The sky is grey
And I can’t say
If my troubles have dwindled.
I need repair
And real self care
To haul me through my sadness
Without that care, a real nightmare
Will send me into madness.
So quiettude is what I seek.
No loud hurrahs
No rowdy bars
Just me, alone, asleep.
Christmas, alone for another year. Make Merry they say. Bah Humbug! Do I reply? No, I’m not so lost that I turn my cheek to the world. But a quiet Christmas? Maybe. One chicken leg. A small bottle of beer. Three sprouts if I’m lucky? Any sparkle and cheer? I might make handmade crackers and tie one end to the door handle to pull them. Meanwhile, I bought myself a new garden bench to sit alone on, so happy new year, dear.
What is your favorite place to go in your city?
A working pottery at Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It also includes a museum, with lots of industrial archeology. They sell various tableware in the pottery shop, there is a large selection of patterns for sale. There is a good cafe that overlooks the Trent and Mersey canal. There are small studios for artists and potteries, and a row of shops opposite the entrance to the pottery with small galleries and crafts for sale.
There is also a handsome bottle oven facing the canal that was covered in bright red ceramic poppies to commemorate Rememberence day a few years ago. You only have to pay to go round the museum section. Tucked towards the far end of the site is a working steam engine which runs at various times. I’m not sure exactly when? Worth taking the time to visit if you can find it (it’s tucked down some narrow side streets.
It also hold pottery classes and was also used for the great pottery throw down a few years ago to before it moved to the Gladstone pottery in Longton.
I bought a kaleidiscope as a Christmas gift today, it will be part of a few gifts for a young relative. I had one as a child and I used toove the patterns it made so I aways looking for a similar type.
I’ve duplicated one photo I took through the viewing end because it was hard to line up the pattern with the lens of my camera, it gives a reasonable example of how it looks.
I’ve just watched the film Warhorse, directed by Steven Speilberg. It’s the story of a part thoroughbred foal that is bought by a farmer who’s rivalry with his landlord causes him to buy the young horse for more than he can afford.
The farmers son trains the horse to pull a plough and work around the farm. But his father sells it to help save the farm.
The horse, Joey, is transported to France where it becomes part of the British Army and fights in the first world war. In the meantime the farmers son Albie joins up and goes to France to search for his friend. The story has a series of incidents where awful things happen to the boy and Joey. Will they find each other? I won’t say!
The story was originally on in the theatre, the horse and other animals were puppets, the main horse was supported and moved by two men and was made of a lattice work of plastic? strips that gave the impression of a horse.
It’s an excellent story and both theatre production and film brought tears to my eyes.
What was your favorite subject in school?
I’ve loved art since I was a child. In fact, at school I would finish paintings ahead of everyone else in my class. One day I painted the wooden bit of my pencils to match the coloured part of them. I actually got in trouble for doing that. But I was bored. I got sent to see the headmaster (I was about 7),but ran into the cloakroom and hid. I was fetched back to class in tears and very upset. So much so my class thought I’d been smacked for painting the pencils! I was too upset to tell them what had really happened. I still loved art though!
I used to like singing “blow the wind southerly” and actually got to sing it in a pantomime a few years ago. We were pretending to be in a singing competition and I tried to sound like Catherine Ferrier?
It’s about a woman waiting for her lover to come back to her from across the sea. It’s very old fashioned but lovely and it’s a contralto piece that suits my rather deep voice. Anyway I did this digital drawing after being inspired by the song. X
Do you need time?
Health, life, memory, stuff.
I need to have time to learn about aspects of my health. I’m gradually finding things out that I never knew. I need to listen to experts and scientific fact and find out how I can support myself.
My life needs organising, the last year has been horrendous. Lots of stressors and worries. Trying to sort out paperwork and filling in so many forms. I keep finding things I should have done.
Memories are fading of my soul mate. I long to hear his voice. To hear a recording of him would be good. But seeing photos can cut too deep. Maybe I need more time to come to terms with what’s happened.
Stuff? That’s the pile of stuff that’s in front of me, things that need organising, removing or storing. All that takes time, which is what I need!
Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.
There may already be one?
A day to celebrate the Earth, a day to spend thinking about how to improve and support the world. Trying to clean the rivers and seas, reducing pollution, supporting poorer countries so the world uses greener and safer technologies. Actually caring about the land under our feet. Working out how to capture carbon and start to reduce gobal temperature surges. Hoping that the richest people get involved too.
Why? Because it’s needed, it could be the most important holiday that we ever create.
Mallaband-Brown