New paintings and regular art updates.
The odd things people send to each other on WhatsApp. I was trying to draw a dragonfly and someone told me she had got one that she had found in her she’d last year. She sent me this picture. I think it’s been preserved in plastic? I was going to delete the photo, but I was quite fascinated by the wings and the reflections on it. Hence this random post…..
A line of gulls on posts, all pointing south. They say birds have a way of using the Earth’s magnetism as a way to navigate. But these were acting like a compass needle! Next time I’m trying to find my way I might watch which way the gulls are facing!
When do Cygnets become Swans? When their feathers turn white. We saw this one swimming up the canal yesterday. It had its wings slightly up and the wind was pushing it along like a small sailing boat. Every couple of seconds it’s legs sculled the water, giving it a little buoyant push along. When it saw me trying to get my camera out of my pocket it headed towards me. But sadly I had no food for it. If we walk that way again I will take some food along with me. As we walked along we saw two more and two adults. I don’t see too much wildlife in the city so this was a pleasure.
Toowit toowoo
Male and female
Singing to each other
Across the night.
Tawny owls
Once I heard them
Up, beyond the house
In the trees.
Calling
Toowit toowoo!
Ow gone
Sad memories
Lost
Just to be awkward.. an Orca I drew at the sketchfu website. Simple tools so its a bit blurry. I’m not sure, but I think Orcas (killer whales) may eat Dolphins?
I know they are very intelligent. Often swim in pods (groups) and use various techniques to catch fish. one of their skills is to collaborate in a group to blow thousands of bubbles, their actions create a “bubble net” that enclose a school of fish and then they grab the fish that have been surrounded.
I also know thwy are Mammals and evolved on land before returning to the water, hence they have blow holes to breathe through the tops of their heads. Their front fins are formed adapted like paddles, but the bone structure is similar to that of a hand. I think I remember that they even have vestigial leg bones attached to their pelvises?
Orcas, Dolphins, and other whales are all part of a family of mammals called Cetaceans. They are some of the most intelligent animals on the planet, and humans have almost driven some of them to extinction or actually hunted some of them to extinction. I still think Whaling should be banned.
Don’t know what these berries are on but they are beautiful, they were along a track downhill from the canal. There were also pieces of old wood that had bracket fungus growing on them. Autumn is a lovely time of year when strong colours can ping out. Looking at the tangle of branches on the left hand side I might play with it and duplicate the pattern.
Mid November and there are still yellow daisy flowers growing. They may be a weed plant but I don’t care, its just good to see nature breaking through the old tarmac and concrete.
Taken near Etruria Industrial Museum, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. Photograph taken on my smartphone.
On my walk yesterday I saw two lots of snapdragon still flowering the and some pale pink ones next to them. These are summer flowers, usually gone by now. Thus was up a high hill, at the side of the pavement next to the road. Impressive survival skills.
My hanging baskets are still surviving and if they haven’t flopped after the cold tonight I will take some more photos of them. They can’t last much longer. Soon the leaves will be gone and the flowers will be dead. Let’s hope they last a while longer.
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When did I first find out about Unicorns? In a book, probably. Something about myths and legends. Always a white horse with a horn from its forehead. The closest thing in reality in nature are Narwhals, a type of cetacean with a long modified tooth sticking out forward from its head.
Unicorns are often depicted in medieval paintings, tapestries and manuscripts. Apparently the only way you could catch them was to have them lay their head in the lap of a virgin? They were a lovely idea. Perhaps the idea was influenced by antelope? It’s something I might investigate.
It’s mid October and the baskets just keep flowering. This ones on the garden shed, another sheltered spot. I would recommend ordering them from a small nursery or farm, they generally end up filled with more and different flowers that have matured more by the time you get them. I usually ask for lots of colour and the lady that plants them up will put in lobelia, begonias, fushias, trailing petunias, and other flowers I can’t remember the names of. Then we fill our own baskets with pelagoniums, small sunflowers and trailing tomato plants (this year). I hang baskets one below another. Then set up pots on the wall and the ground. Finally we’ve grown a few, like this one, on the shed. Those have had nasturtium seeds put in them and have given a lovely late flowering display. In all the sadness of this year they have given me great joy.
Mallaband-Brown