Bicycle on the wall

Posted on January 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Bike, Burslem, Gold paint, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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I remember this cafe in Burslem. Its called the market place cafe. We sometimes visit it when we are in the town. They do nice food. What I really liked was this bike displayed on the wall. Painted gold, it was high up and shining in the sunlight. I took the photo in 2016. Another taken on my old phone.

It seems bikes can be used as art works. We have just got a multi coloured bike from the Art Stop in Stoke It’s going to be restored to a working bike but I want to keep the colours it’s been painted (mostly pink and blue) so I will varnish the frame.

Street names.

Posted on January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Fun, Life, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Street names, The potteries2 Comments

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One thing I do notice is street names. There is a Christine Street in Stoke-on-Trent and other names that are part of my family.

But one thing I have seen is where names have changed. For instance this name was changed to Spark Street. But what was it before?

It starts with P, but that’s all you can see… As I’m an incomer I don’t have a memory of it changing. I suppose I would have to look at old maps. If I do I think I will find a few more changes. I’m guessing it might be from when the six towns became a federation and turned into the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The towns are Stoke-upon-Trent, Burslem, Hanley, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton. Also known as “The Potteries”.

A friends exhibition

Posted on January 11, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Paper, Porcelain, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Here are a couple of photos of my friend, Alice Thatcher’s, exhibition on at 118, Church Street, Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent. It’s on from today, and is made up of peices of porcelain made by placing thin layers of the porcelain clay on paper and then firing it.

The exhibition is called “Porcelain and Paper”. I’m not sure when it’s on till but it will be visible through the windows of the building until the show ends. The pieces are delicate and fragile. They are displayed in various ways along with drawings of them.

New Blue

Posted on January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, An exhibition of blue, Art, Astronomy, Jupiter, Jupiter in Blue, Painting, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

I have finally got back in the studio and started a new painting. It’s called Jupiter in Blue and will be part of an exhibition at Spode called “an Exhibition of Blue” from 1st February 2019.

The painting will be for sale so if anyone is interested in it please drop me a line!

The price will be £300. Its 24×30 inches so its a decent size.

Better get on with it.

1st layer done.

Afternoon walk

Posted on January 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Cold winter, Photos, Staffordshire, Staffordshire wildlife, Stoke-on trent, Westport lakeLeave a comment

It was grey and cold, but after visiting a hobby shop for train track for my partners model railway we decided to get a warm cup of coffee then go for a walk.

The local lake (actually a canal reservoir) is around a mile in circumference and nice and flat. We picked up some duck food and strolled around in the cold..

The light was fading but the birds were still around and raced across the lake to get the food we were throwing out for them. My hands were getting progressively colder as I fed them and then took photos of their antics. The images were a bit blurry, but I also took pictures of the trees. Their empty branches and twigs reached up like fingers to the sky. I’ve taken too many photos as usual but I was able to make some interesting patterns from them. Glad to be home and warm again.

A small amount of progress

Posted on December 19, 2018 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Acrylics, Art, Artist, Landscape, Painting, Spode, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Work in progress2 Comments

I thought I would post this progress picture even though I haven’t progressed that far since the last one. I do need to change some of the angles. I’m trying to give it a late afternoon glow to brighten the brickwork. I’m going to add some clouds to the sky to give it more depth.

The canvas is about 30 inches by 24 inches. I’m using acrylic again. I need to get some more blue and white for the sky.

Well that’s it for now. Christmas is coming and I’m getting busy, but I will try and post more over the next couple of weeks.

Community Spirit

Posted on December 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Choral, Christmas, Fun, Music, Mystery singers, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Singing, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Five public houses, one private house and a Christmas tree…. What do they have in common? We went Carol singing around them with the Penkhull Mystery singers last night.

From wassail songs, Latin carols, ancient hyms and fairytail of New York… We sang so much last night. Its becoming a local tradition to visit all the hostelries to sing to the locals and collect funds for the Penkhull Mystery play in the summer. Its a difficult way of doing it because it relies on the number of people in the pubs and we outnumbered everybody in each of the pubs. But it was fun! Singing the Holly and the Ivy in four part harmony, or Good King Wenseslas with the men and women split into parts. And we sounded good. We are becoming more balanced as a choir. More choral.

After the New Year the choir splits back up. It’s made up of members of two Choirs and other members who just get together for this. But the cameraderie will remain.

I’m looking forward to next year when we do it all again.

Black star ceramics

Posted on December 14, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Barlaston, Black star ceramics, Colour, Glazes, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

My husband treated me to a couple of lovely pots today from a pottery called black star ceramics. They specialise in beautiful gkazed pottery and the colours can be spectacular. I particularly like the red and yellow ones.

I know they sell the pots at Spode but I think they also sell at the Wedgwood makers market that is on the first Saturday of the month. This is out at the wedgwood factory near Barlaston, Staffordshire I think they also sell at other markets but I’m not sure where.

Illustrations

Posted on December 8, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Canal, Design, Illustrations, James Brindley, Painting, Staffordshire, Trent and mersey, Watercolour paper4 Comments

I did a series of illustrations for the canal and rivers Trust a couple of years ago. They were included in a leaflet about James Brindley the canal builder.

Each illustration was acrylic paint on watercolour paper because I wanted a more opaque picture than with watercolours. Each one was in an oval or round frame.

I wish I had a copy of the leaflet but I think they all went..

Peeved

Posted on December 2, 2018December 2, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Makers market, Painting, Potbank Hotel, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Tiny pictures6 Comments

This was my stall at our makers market today. Lots of little pictures and glass necklaces for sale plus cards and prints.

I had a lovely time until I came to put everything back in their boxes… 3 tiny paintings were missing.

I’m peeved but I have to accept I can’t watch the stall all the time. But at least someone will get pleasure out of them so I don’t feel upset, just peeved.!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Staffordshire