Mid afternoon

What’s your favorite time of day?

I can’t post a picture because my WiFi is not working. But I can describe mid afternoon. On a sunny day, a gentle breeze. A patchwork of blue sky and fluffy white clouds. There may be a scent of rain after a passing shower. Ideally I would be looking out over a valley with a small stone built village at the bottom next to a stream. In my memory I can see large oak trees, ash trees, beech and weeping willows. There are blue or purple hills in the distance.

Birds are singing. Robins, blackbirds, skylarks. Looking for food for their broods of fledglings. Sounds of running water from the stream and ducks quacking as they glide across the local pond.

The UK can be overwhelmingly green in the spring and summer. Autumn isn’t always as colourful as fall in America. But what it lacks in reds and oranges is made up for with fruit ripening on blackberry bushes, raspberries and the mushrooms snf other fungi in the hedgerows. And I love a quiet winters afternoon with white snow.

The hedgehogs will be sleeping on autumn days, waiting for cool and misty evenings. Life can be calm in these dreamy days. It’s not all wonderful but I’m thinking of an idyllic day.

Diamond prompt

It’s about time I tried to join in again so here’s a digital drawing attempt of a diamond stone for the prompt diamond for #bandofsketchers.

Drawn in the Sketchbook app on my phone. I’ve missed several weeks of drawing and sketching. I just haven’t felt well enough to do it but I wanted to try. Watch out, more to come! It was interesting to try and a crystalline symmetry.

My art and friends art.

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

My digital drawing of an apple

I’ve accumulated a lot of physical and digital art over a lifetime of being an artist. A lot of it is still in my house. I would set up a shop to clear some of it so it could go to good homes. I’m sure friends would do the same.

I realise people like to be clutter free, and now AI is creeping in they could press a few buttons and make something. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a creation made by a human that suits your taste and is created with love and attention? Go on, give an artist a try.

Esther Chilton prompt “future”

We were asked to write to the prompt future and as I don’t have a crystal ball I decided to look back at what our future selves might remember.

“In future when people look back at the first quarter of the twenty first century what will be remembered? A first black American president, increasing global temperatures? Will the remember the global financial crash with Lehmann brothers? Bird flu and Sars then a global pandemic of Covid 19. Massive forest fires, huge hurricanes, tremendous tornados? The deaths of famous people including Queen Elizabeth the Second. Madness of global leaders? Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, so many wars.
Will our future selves see a disintegrated world, a dystopia bought on by the lack of interest in pollution or global warming. Big business using its powers to continue to push oil and gas and plastic use? Will our seas fill with more pollution or the pollenating insects die off so crops fail.
Will they see this part of the century as depressing, or will we take the future into our hands and pass on a cleaner and greener future to our children and their descendants?”

Grey hair, short and chubby

How would you describe yourself to someone?

I once read a Garfield the cat quote “I’m not overweight I’m undertall” . I think that precisely describes me. I also have greying hair, glasses and I’m a bit shaky.

If I was to meet you how would you describe me? By appearance or by personality? I hope you would find me pleasant and friendly. I think I’m interesting and have definite ideas about the world and how important it is to look after it. I’m not sure if you would like me, but that is your choice. I don’t judge a book by it’s cover and I hope you feel the same way.

Flowers

Trying to catch up… A quick sketch of a sunflower in Artrage app.  #bandofsketchers prompt flowers…

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a band of sketchers prompt. I’ve decided to resume so I at least post a bit of art here. I’ve been feeling down for too long. I don’t know if this will help, but I’ve got to try.

Classic or punk rock

What is your favorite genre of music?

Basically I like classical music and punk rock.

Classical because of the complexity of the music, punk because it was the sound of my youth.

I love Sibellius, Rachmanninof, Tchaikovsky, Mendelson, Stravinsky, Holst, and many more. I can’t name all the symphonies, concertos or other pieces of music they wrote. My memory for music is in the tune, not the detail.

For that reason I can also enjoy punk rock and music of that era, people like Blondie, Ultravox, The Police, Bowie, Elvis Costello.

But apart from a few, stand out songs I cannot remember the names of their songs, singles or albums. It’s like I have a blind spot in my memory. If I do a quiz I never get music questions right. It’s just weird!