New paintings and regular art updates.
I do have a propensity to draw or paint on anything. So this happened a while ago. I also painted a large ammonite on the dining table that was losing it’s varnish. I painted it and then revarnished it. The ammonite was one we found on a beach near Whitby. The actual fossil is up on top of a bookcase, out of my reach.
Why the eye and the face with the streaming hair? Just a couple of things I’ve doodled over the years.
Just saw this on Facebook, from the 60s or 70s.
We had a pale green cupboard, I think the same sort? I remember the crinkly glass in the windows. We also had a cool pantry room, I don’t remember a fridge. I’m sure I remember my Mum stuck marble patterned plastic on the cupboard to make it look better. I’m not sure it did? I think it was sticky back plastic vinyl that she used? I may be wrong. We also had a boiler and mangle and a free standing top loading spin dryer, the water collected in a bowl below it’s nozzle. It dried better than my washing machine now.
We didn’t have fitted kitchens then.
What historical event fascinates you the most?
It’s fantastic that in my childhood men landed on the moon, not once but several times. Using computers that barely had the memory of a pocket calculator.
The race for space started after the second world war, when Wernher Von Braun went from Germany to America to continue research into rocketry. In the meantime Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and his Russian team were working on the problem in the USSR.
The teams gradually designed rockets that could travel into space. There are many books about the space race that are worth reading, telling the tale of the triumphs and tragedies that happened as the race continued. First one country took the lead then the other.
It all culminated one July day in 1969, I remember being bought downstairs to watch the landing. I hope to see people go back there.
Describe a family member.
My grandfather was a carpenter. I don’t remember meeting him as I think he died when I was quite young.
He was very skilled and made the lych gate (roofed gateway in front of a church) at the entrance to the local parish church. He also carved the altar rail at the main Methodist Chapel in the town. I imagine he must have been well respected. We also have some wardrobes he made clad in beautiful walnut veneers.
Hearing about him encouraged me to do art. I was told that creativity skips a generation and that I was lucky to have that artistic gene. I also found out I had an artistic cousin that wasn’t allowed to be an artist because her family was short of money, so she ended up working in a factory. I hope she eventually pursued a creative course in life. I feel lucky to have had such an artistic grandfather.
What major historical events do you remember?
The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. (Wikipedia)
I was very young and I remember coming downstairs and hearing the evening news on the television. What upset me the most was that the children that died were my age. It scared and upset me. School children were buried below the collapsed spoil heap. I was very frightening.
Still obsessed by not seeing the main auroras so I tried to imagine them and their spectacular colours. When you look at the incredible photos people have taken my rendition isn’t very exciting but I would have liked to see more than I did. Auroras are charged particles that follow the Earth’s magnetic field down to the poles. Without that magnetic shield we would be exposed to the radiation of space that would slowly deplete our atmosphere. Our magnetism is caused by Earth’s rotating molten core. Life on Earth is protected by it. Mars, a smaller planet has no magnetism and has lost its atmosphere because of this .
What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.
I would have to be 40 years younger, have the education to be able to train for the length of time required. I guess it would also be good to come from a well off family. If those things had been my reality I might have liked to be a doctor. I enjoy helping people and trying to solve their problems. That’s why I like these prompts, it means I can think of alternative career paths, or different outcomes.
But to be honest I’m quite happy with my life as it has panned out. I’ve always been an artist, whatever job I’ve had. I’ve painted and created, used my imagination. I might not be famous but a lot of people have bought my work and also commissioned me to paint things for them. I’m just glad I’ve had the freedom to do that.
Summer photo, a couple of years old
The red and green spark off each other
Scarlet red shines in the garden
Drifts of arching flowers in the bed.
Sunlight needed to keep them growing
Shade stopped them in their tracks.
Gone now, the memory of them still cheers.
What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?
When I was fitter I used to swim. I’m not fast but have stamina so I gradually built up the distance I could swim. My preferred goal was breast stroke.
I found out that a mile was about 40 lengths of the pool so I set a goal to see if I could do it. I slowly built up the numbers, I was limited by the time it was taking me to finish it but after about two or three months I managed it. I have to say I never swam that distance again!
These were my plants in summer, now they are starting to wilt. I will be sad when they are gone. I want to time travel to next summer till the next lot of flowers can be planted. I might get some winter flowering pansies to cheer the yard up in the meantime.
I’ve bought loads of bulbs to put in the big garden for winter/spring. Somehow I need to get them planted.
Mallaband-Brown