New paintings and regular art updates.
It’s a drawing of Marylin Monroe I did at a website called sketchfu about 11 years ago. It was a very basic site but it got overwhelmed with users. The owners became difficult to contact as they were setting up a new site called Muzy. Sadly Sketchfu closed. I managed to save a lot of my drawings but I know a lot of artists lost theirs and must have been very disappointed when it closed.
Another semi abstract digital drawing that popped upon my Facebook memories, long enough ago that I can’t remember the apps I used.
I’ve noticed that if I draw profiles of faces I usually draw them facing left. That might be because my right hand might obscure the drawing of they faced right. I did ask some other artists and concluded the left handed ones draw profiles facing right? But the sample size (3 or 4 people) is far too small to draw an accurate conclusion. I also draw horses heads and other animals facing left. I do wonder why.
Describe something you learned in high school.
I’m not sure what high school is? When I was at school we went to primary, then secondary school. The top (final year) was the sixth form where you took your final exams.
One of those was biology, we studied a lot of information, photosynthesis, stomata in leaves (the holes underneath leaves that allow gases in and out. Things like the function of the kidney (was there something called a glomerulus?), the layers of skin, probably the structure of the eye? I think liking art helped because I could draw diagrams.
I enjoyed biology and am glad I chose it as one of my subjects.
Sketch of an eclipse on canvas in acrylic paint. I challenged myself to just paint with red, yellow, blue, white and black so I had to mix new colours using the primary colours on the pallette. I added a tiny moon surrounded by the corona of the sun visible against the darkened sky. It might be something I paint properly in future.
What’s the most fun way to exercise?
I’ve cycled for exercise when I was younger and I loved the freedom of it. You could travel for miles, with the ability to see places you could never get to on foot and if you travel in a car or a train the world goes by almost too fast so that you don’t get the connection with the land that you do on a bike.
We cycled for many years and I went from pushing my bike up hills, to slowly slogging up in bottom gear to being able to make good progress up to a summit. I could tell my fitness was improving, my breathing improved and my physical strength improved too. My hubby and I could cycle up to a hundred miles in under eight hours!
The worst thing that happened to me was a bike accident that eventually persuaded me to get a car. I should have continued to cycle.
My college thesis was on Pre Christian Celtic art. I have continued to love the knotwork designs they created. I was interested how the Celts moved westwards across Europe and into the British Isles. Their art was stunning. Various archaeological discoveries of intricate gold and bronze artefacts showed the sophistication of their culture. A massive horde of treasure was found at Sutton Hoo and historical artefacts were found in Halstatt in Austria? I’m sorry it’s 40 years since I wrote it and memory fades.
I continued to draw celtic knotwork, but this style of art needs practice and I haven’t done much of it recently.
One day a few years ago we visited the Churnet valley railway. We got on at Cheddleton and traveled to Froghall wharf. We didn’t realise but there was a Dr Who dalek at the station, plus a tardis! We stopped for coffee and cake and watched as the remote control dalek trundled up and down the platform while people took photos and videos.
I’ve been watching Dr Who on TV since it started in the 1960’s. I used to hide behind the settee when the cyber men came on. I still watch when it’s on now.
The Churnet Valley railway is based on a line which runs between Cheddleton and Froghall, also running towards Leek in the Staffordshire moorlands. Plans are being worked on to extend the line towards Leek and possibly Stoke as the track bed is mainly still in situ except where they built a supermarket in Leek on top pf the track.
There is due to be an eclipse in North America tomorrow and some strange things are being written by people about it. Anyone would think it had never happened before, when it’s a regular astronomical phenomenon.
We’ve had a couple in the UK over the last few decades and nothing bad happened, no ending of the world, no real catastrophes (except maybe Brexit!).
But humans are good at seeing portents. They tie religion to events and make up stories to fit the events. Centuries ago we could not predict the occurrence of eclipses and thought that things like dragons were swallowing the sun.
Some tips for viewing eclipses:
I viewed an eclipse in the UK in the 1990s by looking at its reflection in my car window as I had no viewing goggles. You can also see its reflection in water. And if you make a small hole in card or paper you can see multiple crescent moon shaped patterns on the surface it’s projected onto. (explanations of how to do this can be found on the net,) Remember DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN! Even approaching totality when the moon is covering the majority of the sun you can damage your sight. You can be blinded by the light from the sun including ultraviolet light that can burn your retina without you feeling it.
We sat and planned places to go. He wanted to go to the East coast and Scotland. I wanted to go to Devon and the Lake district. We thought over the next few years we would visit places like Cardiff or the Angel of the North.
It would be our big adventure. The time would be set aside, we would get cat sitters and take a few days away. Not months, but enough to explore places.
What was stopping us? I was nervous of driving long distances after developing shakes a couple of years ago. He didn’t drive because of his anxiety. But I’d hoped that I would have a diagnosis and get better. I would have loved to go to those places.
But things happened, Covid came and went, trains were unreliable, neither of us liked coaches, we preferred the freedom of our car. In the last year though we drove less than 500 miles. We stuck to places we knew and enjoyed.
Why am I mentioning this? Watching TV, seeing a destination that I might still visit, but without him? What’s the point? He was my partner, life time companion, friend, and I want him back!
Twenty years ago I sketched these trees. I think they were probably oaks, a little old and tattered. I’d love to go back and see if they are still there, if only I could remember where they were!
I used to do far more pencil sketching. Maybe I should get a soft 6B pencil and start drawing again.
Mallaband-Brown