Looking out

She often looks out watching the cars and vans racing up the hill. Looking at birds flying up to the factory roof, playing with the mobile on the window. Jumping down and clawing my legs under the desk when I go to type things up. This is her territory. She’s upstairs and her brother is downstairs. Both in their individual realms. They sometimes meet to play and chase. She’s a happy cat, she is mistress of all she surveys.

Marbles

Digital drawing of a marble. Something from a few years ago. I drew it at a site called Sketchfu that has closed down. I keep finding old pictures from there so I hope you don’t mind me sharing.

I was trying to get the effect of a sphere and getting the reflections was quite difficult. I like the colours. I was trying to make it look like the swirls in an old fashioned glass marble ( sometimes called ‘murps’.) Big marbles were called ‘Allys’. Kids would make a bowl or indentation in the ground, and you fired a marble at a group of marbles in the bowl shape by flicking it with your thumb. You won the marbles that you managed to knock out of the bowl/ indentation in the ground… Mostly played by boys, I used to play on the carpet at home….

My box, hooman

This box?
Not too small at all….

When a small train arrived this morning for my hubby he took it out of its packaging in a flash. Discarding the box it came in. Boy cat pounced on it and tried to get in!

Much amusement and a few photos later! Here he is, the cat on the mat in the box. Box squashed flat! My hubby is pleased with the trains and the cat with the box. Win-win!

I apologise for using the term ‘hooman’ I see it when people post about cats. I guess it’s a fashion thing. Do you think it’s a bit too cutesie?

Might be worth reading Cat watching by Desmond Morris.

Make up?

More a mask? Made of papier mache for last years penkhull mystery play in July 2019.

My hubby played the master Potter. At the start he was like a shop dummy, wearing a painted mask. Then as two children go back in time to experience life in the 1840’s for poor children, the Potter discards his mask and turns into a real person. We couldn’t do a real potters wheel so I painted a papier mache pot to look like wet clay.

Hubby made a perfect potter. He really enjoyed the play. We were really sad that it didn’t happen this year.

His sister

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Now this cat is bright eyed and bushy tailed, she’s my boy cats sister. She isn’t above chasing him round the room, although she likes playing with a ball, knocking it backwards and forwards with her paws.

Cats have spirit, they have character, they are independent and aloof. Is it any wonder that they were venerated by societies like the ancient Egyptians. Even now they seem to have the upper hand when compared with dogs. While dogs have love for humans, cats seem to be more sneaky, they work things out to their own advantage. That look that says ‘you are under my spell’.

Cats.

I can’t live without them.

Purple swan

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This was a drawing experiment a few years ago. It was an ArtRage oils drawing, using colours then mainly the dry marker to subdue the strength of the original brushes. You can use a sliding scale to alter the brush sizes and strength of the metallic colours, so sometimes the colours look shiny and other times matt. It’s worth playing with different tools in apps, it increases your knowledge. I’ve found some apps really difficult to use, especially if I don’t use them very often. But I will modify what I do, and play around with things to see what results I get. I end up with a series of images, then edit out ones I don’t like. Sometimes I keep all of them so I can show how my work progresses.

Cheers x