Three counties open

Posted on July 6, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Burslem, Burslem School of Art, Coast, Colour, England, Exhibition, Fine Art, Painting, Seaside, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, three counties open3 Comments

I’m very pleased to say I have had my painting ‘coast’ accepted in the three counties open exhibition in Burslem School of art later this year.

Burslem School of Art is famous for teaching artists their skills in the early twentieth century. I think Clarice Cliff was one of their students. I know the artist Arthur Berry studied there before becoming famous as the potteries ‘Lowry’.

It’s great that a physical exhibition will actually be held this year. I hope many people will be able to come and see it.

Bethesda

Posted on July 4, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Albion Street, Bethesda Chapel, England, Hanley, Methodist Chapel, Organ, Restoration, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent2 Comments

View of the organ and some of the exposed brickwork where the plasterwork has either fallen off or has been removed. In places brickwork is missing. The main doors at the front of the building are barred on the inside with planks of wood, to prevent unauthorised access to the old Chapel. It looks tired and dilapidated but when I think back to how it was a few years ago there has been considerable improvement, slowly but surely it is coming back to life. It was a privilege and pleasure to hear the organ being played yesterday and to perform there in such amazing surroundings.

Bethesda Chapel performance

Posted on July 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Albion Street, animal apocalypse, Bethesda Methodist Chapel, cornet player, Hanley, organ music, Performance, Singing, Stoke-on trent, words and musicLeave a comment

I stole this photo from a friend because I forgot to take my phone with me to the performance of Animal Apocalypse at Bethesda Chapel this afternoon.

Imagine the stalls in the bottom of the photo full of between forty or fifty people plus ten or twenty more in the sides of the Chapel. There were twenty or more people in the choir, plus the narrator, our choir leaders, a cornet player and the organist and a person carrying signs to indicate what animals we were singing about in the performance.

We were ably supported by the friends of Bethesda Chapel who are volunteers who are helping to maintain it through its renovation.

We sang various songs about animals and whales and birds and listened to information about extinction and what we can do as ordinary people to try and prevent it, even if it’s just growing a patch of nettles for butterflies. Somewhere we must make a stand to save things. I think it was appreciated by the audience.

Sunday entertainment

Posted on July 2, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Bethesda Chapel, Eventbrite, Hanley, Music, Poems, Poetry, Songs, Stoke-on trent, Sunday, WordsLeave a comment

Animal Apocalypse, a musical look at the plight of our planet. It should be very moving and thought provoking.

Bethesda Chapel, Albion Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. A methodist Chapel that is being restored to its former glory.

Today at 3pm. 3.7.2022 Tickets through Eventbrite or by donation at the door.

Featuring words, music and poems. With Sean O’Callaghan and the Clay Chorus. Devised by Robert of Etruria and Gred Stephens. Choir leader Kate Barfield.

We have been rehearsing for this for several weeks now. It’s come together really well, with the choir learning harmonies to some new and old songs, and the readings touching on the statistics of environmental issues together with classic poems and words. Should be a good event.

Out all day

Posted on June 28, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Busy day, Choir practice, Exercise, Singing, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Westport lake, YogaLeave a comment

Long day, a walk, a yoga class, singing. I feel exhausted. The walk was just round Westport Lake on a windy day. There were more geese than I’d seen for a long time. Mostly Canada Geese. But we are not allowed to feed them, because of bird flu. The Westport Lake Tearoom does not sell bird food anymore to try and restrict the spread of the disease. We just walked past the birds and felt sorry for them. Clearly they are used to being fed so they congregate together, so the disease can spread.

Later I went to yoga class, I’m limited in what I can do, so I try and do the movements sitting on a chair. I modify the positions to fit in as well as I can with the rest of the group.

Then later we practiced songs at choir. Some of them are joining the performance at Bethesda Chapel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday. The show is called Animal Apocalypse. It is about the extinction and loss of animals in the world. It was quite a good practice. All in all a very busy day!

Local murals

Posted on June 15, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, B'arts, constellations, Design, Draco, Hare, Leopard, Local, Murals, Painting, Rabbit, Stars, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Round the back of B’arts are a series of three murals. I think they may be constellations? I know there is a star group called Draco but I’m not sure about the Leopard or the Hare /rabbit? Anyway it’s a random piece of art but I do like it. There are chalked in letters above each animal so I’m guessing it’s not finished yet? Whatever, I love the movement in the animals. Good to see colourful art in the area.

Doodling again

Posted on June 15, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, B'arts, chamber of trade, Creativity, factory group, Quiz, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

This was meant to say: fledgling artists? at factory event at B’arts.

Basically it was a meeting of local artists and creative to talk about how the pandemic and other events was effecting the local creative community. It was good because they had a comedy quiz set up so we merrily brainstormed ideas of what we could do to improve things.

Eventually four teams came up with varying ideas, and the ‘factory’ team from the local chamber of commerce agreed to act on our ideas! Some of that will hopefully be about art administration, accounting, mentoring and other practical help. I hope it does.

Talking about creativity it comes in a week when our local city council held a creative conference about our city, but declined to invite local historic and architectural experts. Instead they held it by invitation only and bought in people from other cities. Thanks for the non inclusion!

Never say bad art

Posted on June 11, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, black pen, Bricks, Chimney, Design, Drawing, Etruria, Hubby, Life, Sketching, Stoke-on trent2 Comments

When we went to the canal festival a few weeks ago we both sat and drew. My hubby did a quick sketch of the large chimney at the back of the museum. You can see that although he doesn’t normally draw he’s got the idea of perspective and the regular lines on top of the bricks are the iron bands supporting the chimney all the way up its length. He’s also included a roof and trees and a brick wall.

Art isn’t something he generally does. He will pick up an adult colouring book sometimes but he tends to colour in with lines rather than shading things in fully. I think that is because he has a lot of anxiety and his mind bounces about and he doesn’t settle to one thing. But he is willing to try. I think that’s important. Art should be for everyone. They might not be Raphael or Titian but who knows what might emerge? Art is, I think, very important to humans, for aesthetics or design, communication or lifestyle. Just do it! ❤️

Been out singing!

Posted on June 5, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Choirs, jubilee, Life, Music, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Penkhull, Queen Elizabeth second, Singing, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

The two choirs I’m in were both out for performances today. First Loud Mouth Women (seen here in a sketch from 2019), and then Clay Chorus, a mixed choir for Soprano, Tenor, Alto and Bass.

Louds sang by the Guildhall in Newcastle under Lyme. We were outside singing at the artesan market.. We sang a mixture of languages to represent the Commonwealth. These included Maori and English. Including Wahine MA and Frejaro Ma Revee.

From Newcastle I went to Penkhull. We were due to sing outside the village church but it was too wet so we sang inside the village hall. Clay chorus sang six songs spanning the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second. The room was packed with people holding an indoor picnic. We sang and other groups entertained with Rap music and dancing and drama. I’m thoroughly tired out now!

Steam roller

Posted on June 4, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Felt pens, Life, Sketching, Stafford, Staffordshire, steam roller, Stoke-on trent, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

I also had the opportunity to draw a steam roller that was parked up outside the museum. Felt pen drawing again. I found out they are not waterproof as a few spots of rain fell and left drip marks on the drawing! I actually saw this driving along the street on Thursday. I asked the owner and he said he had taken three hours to drive the twenty miles from Stafford. It’s certainly an impressive beast!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Stoke-on trent