Losing my marbles

Posted on March 7, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Artist, Bowls, button, Collection, dusty, Fun, Glass, Life, Magpie, Marbles, MemoryLeave a comment

I collect all sorts of things, and today I remembered I have a bowl made of buttons glued together, inside it is my marble collection. I need to clear the bowl out, it’s very dusty and some of the leaves from the plant above it have fallen in over the winter. I can’t wash it because it’s held together with PVA glue. I’m going to remove the marbles, (hopefully without losing them), wash them and dry them then put them back in the bowl.

So why am I writing about this? I guess it’s just that I collect all sorts of things, perhaps I should get rid of things? Maybe it’s a trait about being an artist, gathering shiny objects. I guess I’m a bit of a Magpie.

Yellow tree

Posted on March 7, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Autumn, Exhibition, Life, Memory, Painting, Spring, TreeLeave a comment

My autumn into spring painting at my exhibition. It’s going to a new home as it’s been sold. I love the feeling that someone has found something special about it.

But I have to say I find selling art difficult, it’s not my thing, I’d much rather just create. I think that’s why I paint what I want, I can’t paint the same idea over and over again. I get bored and have to move onto something else.

My fridge door

Posted on March 6, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white, Colour, compare, Fridge magnets, laughs, Memory, Poem, Poetry, TimeLeave a comment

I stick things on

Move them round

Plonk one magnet

Then another

And I get…

Memories and laughs

It’s just another surface

To cover…

By the way

I like black and white!

Exhibition

Posted on March 6, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Exhibition, Fine Art, Hubby, Life, Memory, oil on wood, Painting, PortraitsLeave a comment

I didn’t show photos of my hubby when he was alive, but here are a few of them that I painted over 40 years of us being together.

The exhibition is now going to be on next week aswell. I’m pleased because it will give people time to get there. The closing night is now the private view. This Friday 6.30 to 8.30pm.

My art is for sale, except for ones of my hubby, they are my memories of him, I don’t think I could part with them.

Driving test

Posted on March 5, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged crossing, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1868, Driving, Failure, Memory, pedestrian, Test, TimeLeave a comment

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

When I failed my driving test I learnt from that experience, I learned that an unmarked crossroads should be approached with caution and you should stop to check if anyone else is coming and give way if necessary. Also if the driver next to you drives over a pedestrian crossing on a one way street, don’t assume it’s clear of pedestrians. If someone is about to cross- Stop!

When I did the follow up test my car would not start… It turned out it was an electrical fault. I sat in the drivers seat while people from the test centre had to give me a bump (push) start. The instructor told me to turn right, I indicated left! I apologised, explained the electric problem had flustered me. We started again, me convinced I had failed again.

We did the test, I passed! I was amazed, but I had learnt from the previous test.

Sleepless in Stoke

Posted on March 4, 2024 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Awake, Cat, Counting sheep, Insomnia, Memory, Pain, Sleep, strategy, Thinking, Thought, TiredLeave a comment

I need one if those old fashioned ‘intermission’ films they used to show between films at a Saturday matinee at the cinema to relax my mind. Gentle music and the sight of a potters wheel twirling might help me to sleep. I’ve forgotten the various little strategies I use to try and fall asleep. Pain and discomfort have held my mind up like a theif of sleep. Haunting me in the night. A few, drowsy thoughts and I’m awake again, sometimes disturbed by a heartbeat out of turn or the patter of cats paws. I have things to do today and I didn’t want to be tired. 6am…..goodnight, I will try counting sheep

Paints, brushes, canvas?

Posted on March 3, 2024 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Brushes, Canvas, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1866, Life, Memory, Paints, Poem, Poetry, Thought2 Comments

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

I tell a lie,

I could live

But would life be worth it?

Colours swirl and fade,

Brushstrokes create

Patterned surfaces

Canvas grabs paint

Textures grow

Light seems to flow.

No, without my creative things

A life of sadness it brings.

Give me my paints,

I will build mountains

Canvas for landscape

Or face?

Who knows.

Brushes manipulate

Joy it creates.

Tall friends

Posted on March 3, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged always look on the bright side, Celebration, circus, Fun, Hubby, Life, Memory, stilts, tributeLeave a comment

We just held, a celebration of my hubbys life. He was always interested in acting and theatrical performances so when my friends offered to greet guests at the start of the celebrations on stilts and in circus costumes I had to say yes. They stood outside and looked funny and magnificent. They stayed and enjoyed the rest of the evening. A group of us sang ‘always look on the bright side of life’. A good friend read a eulogy and showed slides and video of my husband. We had almost 200 photos of him on the hall walls. People read poems for him including one specially written and ‘do not go gentle into that dark night’ we had a harmonica playing and a friend singing and playing the banjo. There was a lovely buffet laid on by the hall.

People also wrote memories of him on cards so I could take them away. The plan is to create a memory book of the celebration. I took some of my portraits of him up to the hall.

All in all it was a fantastic evening and I was very pleased with how it went. I think my hubby would have appreciated the occasion. X

Memories

Posted on March 1, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, clinging on, Decades, Fine Art, History, Memory, Painting, Poem, Poetry, PortraitsLeave a comment

I’m finding old portraits

Portals to a previous time

Not photographic images

But paint on canvas

You made me smile

You made me laugh

And cry too

So I hold onto these

Small tokens of love

With all my strength.

Leaving school

Posted on February 28, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Cleaning, College, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1862, jobs, Learning, leaving home, Memory, School, Time, waitressLeave a comment

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

When I left school all those years ago I remember feeling like I was falling off a cliff. Hard to change my life.

Everything had been about learning, getting up every day, going to classes, coming home, doing homework. Trying to make the switch to ‘real life’ was a shock. I knew the times I worked would be different, but I got a couple of part time jobs cleaning and waitressing so I was not free to enjoy weekends or evenings anymore. This got worse as I went to college in the following autumn so I was trying to fit in my college work and my jobs and trying to get some work life balance.

I managed the change in my life OK after a few months but strangely it was hard to say goodbye to. I was still with my family and friends. The next year I left home. That was the real shock to my system.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memory