In happier times

I haven’t been to my studio for months , I’m keeping away from people as much as I can. That said, it was lovely to come across this photo. I was at tge studio at Spode. It must have been cold because I was wearing a hat. I don’t know where the jumper went to…..

It is clear I was happy in the photo, something had made me chuckle. Someday things will get better. Some of the paintings have been sold, but I can’t do craft fairs or exhibitions at the moment so I haven’t been replacing them. Maybe I will have a go again soon. I have got a course that I’m taking which starts in June. Hopefully that will get me going again.

Con trail excitement!

DSC_2626

Just had the excitement of seeing a con trail overhead. Con stands for condensation, it’s when a jet airplane flies high up and the hot and humid exhaust gases from its engine condense out as ice crystals in the very low temperature and low vapour pressure air. Its like when you breathe out in the winter and your breath turns into ice if its cold enough.

For some reason there is a conspiracy theory that the vapour is made of chemicals and that governments are spreading them from the planes.

Ask yourself, why would they do that? There were experiments in the mid twentieth century to try and ‘seed’ clouds to make them rain. But it didn’t really take off!

It is strange how these weird ideas get into the world. I prefer thinking things through. If it doesn’t make sense can it be true?

Anyway I don’t think one con trail makes for the end of the lockdown here, like the old saying ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’. And really, I for one would like there to be a lot less flights, or more ecologically sustainable ones when things do resolve themselves.

In the meantime please stay safe.

Good morning.

X

Kitchen at night

_20200520_035358

I am just putting my phone on charge and I looked up and saw the light from the back door porch shining through and reflecting off the walls and the windows. As you can see I’m growing a lot of Christmas cacti and other plants including a baby oak and a sweet pepper plant on the windowsill. There are also glass mobiles hanging up there. Why? Because I got burgled twenty years ago and as well as an alarm I decided to make it as awkward as possible for anyone to try an climb through a window without knocking stuff off.

I think this might eventually turn into a painting. Night all

X

Sleeping cat

DSC_2642

Cats are good at sneaking into places when you are not looking. Here’s our Tom cat. Now my hubby can’t sit down because the cat has picked his armchair to lie down on. My hubby has gone to bed.. (I sometimes think in the game of cats v humans, our cats have won!).

Add to this getting shares of food we are eating, and you can see they are onto a good thing!

Pinned down by my cat..

DSC_2640

As you can see I love cats! This is my Tom cat who fell asleep on my chest. Its good that he can be relaxed enough to sleep on me but I couldn’t move until he decided to get off! I snuck a photo of him. He is such a sweet and friendly cat. The painting is one I did several years ago (more than 30). It has been up on the wall for years.

X

Be the moon…

Turn yourself into the moon! With a toilet roll. My friends in Australia are doing this. Third one I added some dots for stars and sprayed black around the third on in a sketcher app.

Funny how you can create things so simply. I found the most difficult thing was to line it up, I took a few photos and on a lot of them I could see the blue paintwork in our bathroom. Plus it’s exposing my face to the world! Don’t laugh too much!

Green spirals

IMG_20191016_182111_854 (2) (2) (2)_optimized

I want green, spirals, like pangolin scales. Cactus or succulent, indoor beauty. I wish I could get some more plants. One of ours on the upstairs window sill has sent out a flower spike. If it doesn’t get broken by the cats I will take a photo of it.

I have lots of baby money plants, and the one outside has survived the winter. But I’d like something more exciting.

I’m tending my orchids. One regularly flowers, the middle one got a flower spike on it for about three weeks, and the last one has tiny green leaves which were hiding under a couple of dead leaves.

Then my four amaryllis plants had only one flower this winter.

I love growing greenery inside and outside the house.

X

 

Playing with photos

IMG_20200508_000311_779

Thanks to a friend I’ve just found another app to play with. It seems relatively easy to use. But as this is my first ever use of it I think I will try and get a bit more used to it before I review it or tell you what it’s called. I have a feeling I might seriously mess something up. Seems much more interactive than previous apps I have used, but that might not be a good thing.

Finding a calm view

FB_IMG_1588721437502

Waterfall at the Dorothy Clive Garden.

This was taken about this time last year. We had driven out to visit the beautiful garden on the border of Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire.

The garden is in a steep slope with colourful flower borders filling the air with scents of summer. But before the summer show I am drawn to the quarry garden at the top of the site. This is filled with flowering rhododendrons, under planted with spring flowers such as bluebells. At its centre is a little dell where a waterfall cascades down into a tranquil pool. You can follow paths up to the top of the waterfall where you will find a full sized bronze stag sculpture looking out magestically over the quarry garden.

Other pleasures include a magnolia walk at the back of the garden, this is behind the quarry at the top of the slope. Here you can see the surrounding countryside.

There is another dry garden, with a laburnum walk arching over the path.

When lockdown ends I think this will be one of the first places I visit.

X