New paintings and regular art updates.
The baskets are fading
Flowers crumple
Heads droop
Cold chills damage
Frosts pinch
Petals weep.
My beautiful baskets
The soft stems bend
Leaves are yellowed
Colour muted.
My sad eyes watch
Summers splendor fade
My floral glories
Gone soon I fear.
Some are stronger
Woodier stems
Allow life to continue
A little longer.
The plants are turning red in places, golds too. The rushes by the lake have dark heads. We are just starting to head into autumn. I took a photo through the glass on the balcony of Westport Lake Cafe. The cafe is a few meters above the lake. It is curved wood like a boat standing on massive metal legs. It is built into a slope because of the way the land falls away. The entrance is at ground level on the side opposite the lake. There is a white curve in the just above and to the right of the middle of the photo. That’s a reflection. Not sure what caused it.
What is it? Speckles and brown curves, white outlines and blue grey centre?
It’s my empty hot chocolate cup, duplicated, twisted, cropped.
Looking at things, and seeing something interesting in them can be quite exciting. Putting things together in a new way can create something new.
The cat just came in, had some food, then collapsed in a heap on the floor, snoring loudly. He’s placed himself in the way so I will have to step over him when I go back to bed (came down for a drink). He can relax anywhere. Meanwhile the middle sized cat is sleeping near my feet and the small cat just came in and ran upstairs after having some food. I think turning the kitchen lights on signals to them I am up and about.
A lovely dog we saw while we were out a couple of weeks ago. It was a mixed breed but I can’t remember exactly what? A shitzu crossed with a corgi? It was small and sweet and friendly. I took a photo as I was thinking I might do a small painting including it. I’m not sure what to do in the background. Why are small fluffy dogs so cute? I think it’s the sweet eyes and nose.
I joined two photos and blurred them with photodirector to give them a blurred, oily effect. I like the way the clouds have become puffed and swirly. The line between the trees and sky has darkened and become almost castellated. Some subtle blues on the left side flow slightly into the right. I like the way things are slurred and smoothed. I just like it.
A leaf on our floor has come in to visit today. I put the photo through photodirector to give more texture to it.
Some of our trees are starting to lose their leaves already. I think the lack of water over the last few months has had an effect. Autumn seems to come later each year, with warmer weather the leaves usually stay on longer. It may start now, but trees hold onto their leaves until well into November. But is this leaf a precursor to an earlier fall?
Sunlight through leaves, making patterns on the kitchen wall. It would be brighter but the wall is painted a pale apple green. When there was a partial eclipse a few years ago the light hitting the wall turned into increasing crescent moon shapes as the Moon passed in front of the Sun. This time of year, before the autumn sets in, there is a lot of shade from the trees in the garden. The pear tree is casting most of the shade on the wall, and a few pears have started to fall as the morning temperature reduces. I can almost feel a chill in the air this morning.
Soon it will be the vernal? Equinox, when the day and night time are in balance in the Northern (and also Southern) Hemispheres of the Earth. That is when both day and night are exactly 12 hours long. Soon the days here will shorten, whilst they grow longer in the south. I hope the nights are not too cold, I would like the leaves to stay on the trees as long as possible. I always feel sad when they become skeletal in the winter and the long wait till spring comes round again drags on. I miss my flowers as they wilt and fade, and I find it harder to motivate myself in the dark days of winter. But that is a while away yet, so I will enjoy what is left of the summer while I can.
These were green when I put them in the fridge a week ago. Most of the pack still are, but these look like they have caught fire! I hope they won’t be too hot, I’ve incorporated them into a curry. The plate is Burleigh ware from Middleport pottery in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. The photo cheered me up because of the bright colours.
Happy cat. I decided to play with using a black and white filter then adding texture and then a flood fill of red and green. I think it is similar in an Andy Warhol image (though I make no claim of having the same sort of skills as him) I just think it shows how digital filters now can quickly change an image that would have required skills such as black and white photography and screen printing in the past.
Mallaband-Brown