New paintings and regular art updates.
Like a stone hung from a chain, I can tell the weather by our cat.
Wet cat, it’s raining
Cat looks white, snowing
Cat covered in white dots? Hailing
Cat hot to the touch? Sunny
Cat in a cloud? Foggy
Cat with hair on end? Windy or angry!
OK, silly post! I wrote it because the cat just came in and he’s as wet as an otter in a stream (exaggeration)! ❤️
The snow has gone for now
Warm winds blow from the south
Clear frosty mornings
Left behind
Rain and showers
Water the blossom and flowers
Cold chill twigs
Now wet with buds.
Birds collect bugs
and think of lining their nests
With moss and fluffy stuff
Warm and snuggled
For eggs and chicks
Farewell Winter.
See you later in the year
As the seasons turn.
What do you call a mixture of Snow and Hail? Sn-ail! I think it was ‘sn-ailing’ this afternoon. We went out to Trentham Gardens in Stoke on Trent and bought a few plants, maybe it’s a bit cold to plant them though.
Big wet flakes of snow. Its too cold to open up the back door and film it. I’m shivering and cold so I’m wrapped up. Our heating system is on but our house isn’t well insulated so it doesn’t retain heat. I would like to get it done but I don’t have the money and I can’t get a grant….. Life. We live in a small victorian end terrace house with a small extension of a kitchen and bathroom. They are the worst bit because I think they are only a single layer of bricks and the flat roof is not really insulated either. I should just shut the door, but then how would the cats get in and out? So I’m sitting watching the flakes fall. They are only starting to stick now. It’s not supposed to fall for long then it should turn to rain. Whatever happens I don’t feel like going out in it. Keep warm….
This is a painting I did when I was about twenty. I was at college doing my fine art degree and I had recently met my then boyfriend (now hubby). This was in my small studio at college. The painting has been on the wall for several years. I painted him sitting on a chair with his feet up. He hasn’t changed too much.
Outside there was snow lying on the hills above the city. You could just see the roofs of the college across the road. The rooms we worked in were reasonably light. I remember the studios upstairs had parquet flooring. It was a different world from what I came from. I’m glad I went.
‘Nah’ he said, ‘it’s not going to snow on Christmas day!’
His daughter looked upset, but her mum said ‘Dad is always right about the weather.’
She went upstairs to bed, it was Christmas Eve and she was 7. She believed her Dad but really truly wished for the snow to come. She wanted to get up and see if Santa had been yet, but it was only ten o’clock and Santa didn’t arrive till midnight. The stairs light was on and she tried to stare at it to keep awake. But she couldn’t keep her eyes open…
Suddenly she woke. The stairs light was off and she didn’t know the time, but there was a strange silence outside except for.. A scrabbling sound on the roof. A slithering sound, a tap and a rattle. What was it? And the sky was a funny orange colour. She had never seen it like that before? Soft noises tickled her ears again. She had a chimney in her room but the hole where there used to be a fire was boarded up. But she could hear something..
She looked out of the window, moving the net curtain to one side. The sky was still orangey grey and what looked like feathers were floating down… Was it? Snow? She put on her slippers and silently went downstairs. She saw it was five o’clock in the morning. Still dark and far too early for her parents to be up. Instead of looking in the lounge to find out if she had presents she walked through the kitchen and stepped out of the back door. Snow! Yes!
Suddenly a trickle of snow fell from the roof above her. Then a little avalanche. She heard scrabbling again so she looked up…. Just as the reindeer and sleigh leapt up from the roof and flew into the sky!
More snow due.
My nose? Blue!
If heating on
Money will be gone.
Winds a beast
From the north east
Cats have coats
So they’re warm as toast!
So wearing layers
To be lower payers.
One way to reduce
Carbon footprint use.
A few shots of the snow outside in the garden. The snow is only a couple of centimetres deep but is continuing to fall. I don’t think this weather will last long, but it does seem strange that it’s falling in November. Most years we don’t get anything even at Christmas. It sometimes snows in the new year and can last a couple of weeks but generally it’s been mild for most winters. What does worry me is the cost of heating our house. Gas and electricity bills are skyrocketing. Ah well, that’s life.
Warning arrives
Snow flies
Blizzards may be
As Arwen, a storm
Comes in from the sea.
Strengthening winds
Blustery showers
Branches may fall
Throughout the day.
Ice and snow flutters
Into the gutters
When will it go?
who knows!
Photos from an old album. They were taken forty years ago. They won’t mean anything to anyone except me. They are old memories. Of winter when snow fell deep. When I lived in a flat. When the underfloor heating woukd blow out in a strong wind and me and my friends would be very cold till it was fixed.
It also has memories of when the skyline of the city was simpler, when some of the houses still stood. The colours are strange because I always used 400 iso film. That and the misty murk makes it look very gloomy despite the snow. So much has changed since then. No tape recorders or cassette tapes. No black and white TV’s. Even videos seem to have come and gone. Computers were only just being introduced. Yes my memory goes back a long way.
Mallaband-Brown