New paintings and regular art updates.
I tried to take a photo earlier on of a real sunburst breaking through the clouds behind our house. But for some reason it didn’t save. So when I came out of choir practice I was pleased to see this.
As usual my pareidolia kicked in. I think I can see a woman floating through the sky. One arm extended, a crown or a cake suspended above it. There are shadows cast by one lot of clouds onto the ones above them, and I love the colours, the dusky pinks and purples especially.
The two choirs I’m in were both out for performances today. First Loud Mouth Women (seen here in a sketch from 2019), and then Clay Chorus, a mixed choir for Soprano, Tenor, Alto and Bass.
Louds sang by the Guildhall in Newcastle under Lyme. We were outside singing at the artesan market.. We sang a mixture of languages to represent the Commonwealth. These included Maori and English. Including Wahine MA and Frejaro Ma Revee.
From Newcastle I went to Penkhull. We were due to sing outside the village church but it was too wet so we sang inside the village hall. Clay chorus sang six songs spanning the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second. The room was packed with people holding an indoor picnic. We sang and other groups entertained with Rap music and dancing and drama. I’m thoroughly tired out now!
The derelict Goss Falcon Works at the back of Portmeirion pottery. (I hope I’ve got this right). You can’t see from here but part of the roof has collapsed at the other end of the building. You can see it from Penkhull New Road but I couldn’t get a close enough view to get a good photo. The city of Stoke-on-Trent that I live in is becoming more derelict. History is being forgotten or neglected. So sad.
Sunset looking out towards Cheshire/Shropshire. Its been a cold and breezy day today but plenty of sunshine. I went out drawing for an hour, then I went for a little walk this evening round Penkhull. It wasn’t far, and it was very chilly. I felt a bit better. I didn’t sleep well last night and the cold air refreshed me. Good to see the sunset.
Memory of Doomesday Morris at Penkhull Wassail a couple of years ago. They danced and beat sticks to encourage the ancient Penkhull Apple tree to bud, flower and bear fruit later in the year. They were surrounded by a crowd of people, maybe two or three hundred. Some if us carried flaming torches to light our way. A walk around the boundaries of Penkhull and into local hostelries. I was part of the Mystery Singers choir who sang Wassail songs as we stopped off at the pubs…
Crowds and laughter, mad jolly japes, humans being gregarious. That’s what I miss. Thank goodness for Mysterious madness and eccentricity. Let’s pray to the gods of Wassail for this to come again one day, drink cider, jingle your bells, stamp your clogs, crash your sticks together! WASSAIL!
We went out for a short walk locally as the sun started to set. The sky was very grey but there was a little patch of light in the south west, so I hoped it would possibly turn into a sunset. As you can see it did! I took lots of photos so I decided to do a sort of abstract compilation of some of them. I might try and line them up better later. So yes, this was the last sunset of 2021 here in my bit of the UK. In some places in the world midnight will have already been and gone. In others it’s probably only the morning. May your new year be good and safe. X
I don’t know if you can see on this photo, but there is a slight line of light in the centre of this picture. It’s not bright, but I think it was a ‘sun pillar’. I’ve seen a good one several years ago down in Devon. It’s something to do with sunlight shining up and hitting the clouds. Anyway this was on our walk around the Croft this evening. Stoke-on-Trent about 8.30pm.
We waited till the sun had set before going for a walk last night. It had been too hot and humid to go out before that. We saw this sign above an allotment garden. There were also notes about a sensory garden for local people.
I only walked a couple of miles, but it was so quiet. Very few cars and the birds were silent. We could see clouds building up, but there was no rain.
What would I try and draw on our walk? Despite the dark there were some interesting trees. I could have sketched the way the streetlights illuminated them. Walking under their shadows was a bit hazardous, the tree roots are lifting the pavement.
The Cemetery had a large streetlight just outside the gate, but I didn’t feel like wandering about inside it. You don’t know what or who you might bump into…
(for some reason this post was queued, so I’m trying to post it again).
The sky was stunning tonight, layers of cloud with light escaping from behind them. Reds, yellows, oranges, purples and some blues. Silhouettes of trees and buildings and the fencing around the Croft at Thistley Hough.
Ou could even see wisps of snow or rain falling from the clouds but not reaching the ground.
Taken about 9.45 pm tonight….
I don’t know what they are called but these blue petalled flowers with their deep pink centers cheered me up today. This was while I was on a three or four mile walk. I’ve managed to get out again on my walks and done around 9000 steps for the first two days of June. I hope I can keep it up.
Mallaband-Brown