A drawing of a steam engine

Posted on February 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white, Cartridge paper, Drawing, Middleport, Middleport pottery, Sketching, Staffordshire, Steam engine, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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I like to try and sketch things when I’m visiting places, and this is my attempt at a steam engine when we were visiting. Middleport pottery in August 2018.i don’t know why I thought it was bad, it doesn’t look too awful now in hindsight. I can be too critical of myself sometimes. It’s a bit wonky but when you are trying to draw a moving bit of machinery it’s not easy. Anyway I’m publishing it, so I’ve forgiven myself for my mistakes.

Black ink pen on cartridge paper, it’s probably in one of my numerous sketchbooks, somewhere in the pile of drawings and sketches I have built up over the years.

It must be spring soon?

Posted on February 15, 2020February 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Crocuses, Environment, Flooding, Heat, Life, Rode hall, Snow drop walk, Snowdrops, Spring, Staffordshire, Summer, Time, Warmth, Water, WeatherLeave a comment

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Buds are bursting on the bushes, leaves are slowly unfurling. Each tiny leaflet a herald of coming spring. A few crocuses and snowdrops are out. Rode Halls snowdrop walk, which is an annual event round here, is advertised on Facebook. Life moves on. The water from the storms is soaking the ground, and where there are trees and gardens the water is sucked up to swell the buds. Where there is concrete and bricks it washes down and floods out from the rivers.

The weather is on a knife edge, will it get to hot again this summer? Will we have floods or drought? Will warmth spread through the land gently or will we have fires on heaths and moors and in woods and forests. Our climate is in balance no more. It is up to us to do something to help it fall back into that balance of nature that is gentlest for the world. If we try hard I hope we can.?

Fairies flitting

Posted on February 11, 2020February 11, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Fairie, Fairies, fairy folk, Fun, Humour, Poem, Poetry, Rhyme, Sculpture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trentham Gardens, Verse, WorkLeave a comment

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Leap up and fly

In the sky

Searching round

About the grounds

Of ancient house

Or garden, green

Faries fly.

They’re rarely seen…

They find the flowers,

Chase the wasps

Feed the bees

Have fairie tasks

Grooming beetles

Catching frogs

To ride around

The lake and ponds.

Never seen by mortal men.

They live in a fairie glen.

Enough of whimsy

My tale is done

The story, flimsy

But lots of fun.

(sculpture of a Fairy at Trentham Gardens, Stoke-on-Trent)

Have I told you we are doing a panto?

Posted on February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Aladdin, Blogging, Character, Comedy, Fun, Humour, Panto, Pantomime, Penkhull, slapstick, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, TheatreLeave a comment

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So what is a pantomime. Its a crazy comedy with characters that have been portrayed on stage for years. Some panto(mime) characters include :

Aladdin, The Genie of the lamp and the genie of the ring, Princess Jasmine, Abanazar, widow Twankey and the Sultan and Sultana in our panto.

Jack in Jack and the beanstalk, the giant, Jack’s mother and the panto cow, usually called Daisy.

Robin Hood and his merry men with Robin, Marion, the sheriff of Nottingham, Sir Guy, King John, little John, friar tuck, Will Scarlet.

Sleeping beauty and Cinderella are also pantomimes. So basically they are fairy stories or children’s stories that have been adapted for the stage. Various other characters are added. Like the principle boy, who plays the hero but is often played by a girl, or the ugly sisters and widow Twankey who are played by men. A lot of cross dressing in the panto is traditional.

Pantos are played for laughs, modern ones can be quite commercial and include product placement. In our case we are amateur and just have fun.

If you live nearby to Stoke and want to come along let me know.

Westport today

Posted on February 7, 2020February 7, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Blogging, Dawdle, Geese, Lake, Longport, Maze, Meander, Moorhens, Pigeons, Staffordshire, Staffordshire wildlife Trust, Stoke-on trent, Swans, Walk, Water fowl, Westport lakeLeave a comment

A cold sunny day until the breeze blew clouds across the landscape. Ducks, geese, pigeons, moorhens and swans looking out for food, so we got two bags full to grain to feed them. I thought we would just go round the small lake which is a quarter of a mile, but instead we did the mile walk round the large lake. We’ll it was more of a slow dawdle. My hip is not right yet after pulling a muscle, but we did extend the walk into the maze that Staffordshire wildlife Trust have made on the area of hedging at the far end of the lake. The paths were muddy and difficult to get out of when we tried to regain the main path.

When the sun went behind the clouds it made a fantastic and dramatic picture. I took numerous pictures of the birds and trees and landscape around the lake. I feel much better for the walk, though I was very chilly when we finished. I need to be able to walk much further than this, but it’s a start.

Painting mugs

Posted on February 6, 2020 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Canal, Cat, Design, Etruria, Etruria Artists, Etruria Industrial museum, Flowers, Horses, Mugs, Painting, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trent and mersey canalLeave a comment

At Etruria Artists today we painted mugs, they were blank white mugs and we used on glaze paints that stay the same colour when they are heated. The most exciting thing is that they can be heated in an ordinary domestic oven. They have to be dried for twenty four hours, then heated at 150°C or gas mark 2 for 35 minutes to bake the colours in.

The outside photo is lock 40 on the Trent and Mersey canal. It was a beautiful morning, bright and sunny. I really do prefer coming to Etruria Artists ‘hands on Art’ at the Warehouse next to the lock in the morning rather than the evening. It is on from 10am to 12 noon if anyone wants to come along.

Swans and ducks

Posted on January 30, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Barlaston, Blogging, Canal, Ducks, Photos, Staffordshire, Sunshine, Swans, Trent and mersey canal, Winter dayLeave a comment

What better on a crisp winters day than to take photos of a Swan and a couple of ducks. Interesting how the sky is reflected in the first one and not so much in the second. They were taken last year out at a place called the plume of feathers, at Barlaston, Staffordshire. The pub sits alongside the Trent and Mersey canal. Much more picturesque than where it runs through the city, the canal offers an opportunity to glide along in narrow boats on self catering holidays. The boats are beautiful to look at, but they can be quite expensive to rent for a week, so I prefer to walk for free by the water and allow the Swans and Ducks to do the gliding….

One of those days.

Posted on January 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Campbell Place, Car, Design, Garage, Grey day, January, Life, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Thinking, Time, Trying to sell artLeave a comment

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Grey and depressing, icy cold, big droplets of rain. Disappointing as well, I keep trying to get the car mended (someone broke my wing mirror, the glass is cracked, and someone must have reversed into my nearside wing, it’s all scraped and dented. But I rang up, and the mechanic, who is trying to find the right mirror rang in sick this morning. I will have to try again tomorrow. Then I collected some paintings from my studio to try and get into a local craft centre. But the owner has been inundated with local artists. He is interested in more work but needs to sell some art first. He has had people in but one comment he got was “is it really That much?” for one if the pieces in there. It’s the usual thing in this area, people don’t have money, or if they do they don’t want to spend it. It’s depressing (oh I’ve already said that)……

Old architecture.

Posted on January 25, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Architecture, Fixtures and fittings, Hanley, Music venue, Old and New, Place to visit, Restoration, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Venue, Victoria HallLeave a comment

I didn’t take many photos at Stoke Sings because I wasn’t sure people would approve, but I did take some photos of the inside of the hall. It’s surprising because externally it’s all modern glass and metal and neat brickwork. But inside the old fittings and fixtures remain. BUT… That’s good because the acoustics are fantastic. The composer Edward Elgar even said it had some of the best acoustics in the country. Clearly the people of Stoke-on-Trent loved their music very much.

Stoke Sings choir festival.

Posted on January 25, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cheshire, Choir, Choirs, Fun, Life, Music, Singing, Songs, Staffordshire, Stoke sings, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Sixteen Choirs, including the Deaf links Choir and the Intertheatre choir got together in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent today at the Victoria Hall. The reason? It was a splendid Choir festival for choirs around Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Workshops on sea shanties, music from the shows. Gospel singing and African music were some of the wonderful things we learnt. The teachers were so enthusiastic and so we’re we as pupils. Then later we learnt a new song to sing at the Finale.

There was a concert in the evening when all the choirs performed. An eclectic mix of Bond themes, a song from sister act, old songs by Robbie Burns because it is Burns night tonight. Lots of beautiful melodies and friendly people. Finally we sang auld land syne and said farewells to new friends. A grand day out.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Staffordshire