Some of my other murals at the Leopard Hotel…

These are three of my murals in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

The first is a painting of a design by Clarice Cliff called Umbrellas, a painting of a woman who may have been murdered in the back room, and gives rise to the possibility it is haunted, and a portrait of the artist Arthur Berry, together with a painting of his in the background. Arthur was one of my tutors at college.

There are other paintings but I need to take good photos of them. They were painted about 12 years ago.

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This is Woody, the abandoned cat.

 

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This is Woody, that’s what we’ve christened him. He’s been hanging round our garden for a year, eating food, and he’s gradually settled in our summerhouse. But it’s not ideal. I’d invite him in but my two rescue cats are timid, and I never got them their booster inoculations because they won’t get in the cat carriers. Anyway they are indoor cats so as long as Woody doesn’t come in they are safe.

But (and you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) I feel sorry for Woody and so I got someone to come round and check if he’s microchipped. Turns out he is but the phone number is dead and although we have been told he’s from a few streets away, they won’t tell us where because of Data protection.

No one has put missing posters up so I guess he is abandoned.

He’s a lovely friendly cat but after a year of being semi feral it’s going to be hard to get him rehomed. He doesn’t like being inside (we tried to get him in out of the rain), but I’d love him to be loved and snuggled down somewhere. Maybe on his own with a big garden to roam around, but also more cuddles than we can give.

If you live in Staffordshire maybe get in touch?

White sails

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White sail, sailing, over the water.

Barely a breath to help you move.

White canvas, taut and stiff

Or billowing softly in the breeze.

Hot sun and morning mist,

A twinkle of ripples follow your wake.

Sails, tall and fair.

Sails standing out across the lake,

Bright against the wooded hill.

Your beacon shines to me.

Woody the cat

 

I’m still worried about Woody, the cat that has taken up residence in our garden summerhouse. We’ve now contacted the Cats protection league and they are going to put him on their page for a couple of weeks. As I explained we tried bringing him in but it upset the other cats, plus they won’t let me take them to the vets so they have not been fully inoculated. They don’t go out, and he can’t come in.

Anyway I sent them photos of him and wrote:

Here is a photo of Woody. He’s very friendly and quite big. He’s always mooching round our garden and now the weather’s getting colder he sleeps in a cat tree base in our summerhouse. We think he might have been abandoned. Regards

Christine

Contact!

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Because I put the post about my art on Facebook the editor of our local paper has contacted me. That was unexpected.

He’s possibly going to write a feature about the paintings. Now is not the time to get nervous (which I sometimes do).

Fingers crossed I can remember what was the meaning behind all the paintings, it’s a long time ago! If they do an article I will let you know.

Painting from the 1980’s

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I have a few images of my old paintings on slides. I would like to get them transferred onto a digital platform before they deteriorate too much. This painting was actually bought by our old MP, Mark Fisher, and I was really proud to have known him. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago.

It’s funny how you find things and they bring back old memories. This painting was done of a friend. I deliberately tried to alter the angles of the window to make it more atmospheric. I would like to do more portraits if anyone is interested.

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Co-op Stoke

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I love this old domed building in Stoke. I had thought it was a cinema, but apparently it was a co-operative shop before it closed down. I still think it was probably a cinema before that? It’s so grand. The white of the building and the browns and terracottas of the building on front of it make a good contrast. The hot was taken from the Spode Site car park in Eleanora Street, Stoke. The view is looking towards Hartshill and the D Road. It was taken on my phone one day last week.

The D Road.

The D Road is a play we went to see today about a woman affected by the D Road.

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The D Road is a dual carriage way that runs through Stoke-on-Trent and joins with the M6 motorway North and south of the city making a D shape.

The play is written by Debbie McAndrew. The story unfolds as an elderly lady is frightened by a man hanging around her house. Her grandson catches him and demands to know what he is up to…. The answers change all their lives…

Very enjoyable. Put on inside the Meadows suite at Spode. It was quite cold as its an empty factory, so we were given blankets to keep warm. Very enjoyable.

Home is Where the Art is revisited.

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I’ve has a busy day! I took eight paintings up to the Brampton museum and art gallery for their annual Christmas show, which is an exhibition by a group of local artists to se their art through December. I still have two paintings in there for the Orme Art group show. Then I popped over to the Waiting room gallery to see their ‘Home is where the Art is – revisited’ this is another group show on for a couple of weeks. I have two paintings in it.

I’ve never had so much work exhibited in so many places at once!