New paintings and regular art updates.
Awesome bubble created by a large hoop of string drawn through bubble mixture then wafted through the air. This was taken during Etruria Canal festival a few years ago. I love the filmy colours created because the thickness of the bubbles skin is only a few atoms thick and acts like a rainbow refracting the light. A bit like the thin layer of oil you sometimes get on a puddle that causes rainbow colour effects that swirl and create fascinating patterns.
Sketch of two Canada geese at Westport Lake today. I know their necks are too long. We went for a short walk but the wind was quite cold. So I decided to sit down and draw some of the birds and a view of the rippling water on the lake. While we were there a young man went up to one of the fishing platforms on the lake and started dipping his feet in. He was acting very strangely so we watched incase we needed to ring for an ambulance. But he came over to us and asked us if we wanted to buy a camera? Very strange. So I finished the sketch and we left. I hope he was OK but it was hard to know what to do.
Today, for the first time in two years I went back to Spode. I have a lot of paintings that I have done over the years. I’ve avoided going because of Covid and it felt so strange being there. Like the time hasn’t passed, and yet there are new people there. If I want to carry on being an artist I need to get my act together again. I called myself an explorative fine artist and I want to be one again.
Here is a better photo of my mural that was destroyed in a fire at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem earlier in the year. The landlady was said to have come over from the Caribbean and married an English man. She then ran the hotel. The trouble is I painted this in 2006? I honestly can’t remember the story I was told and now the hotel is gone.
A friend took a photo of my coat of arms design at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building burned down a few months ago and I have been trying to find good images of my murals. They were burnt in the fire and the photos are all I have of them.
I was listening to the Queens’ Speech today (the state opening of Parliament). The government announced that they would be trying to do something about the cost of living and ‘levelling up’, spending on improving the country across the UK. But it never seems to happen. Seeing our once industrial city collapsing in ruins, losing historic buildings. Being overcome by the cost of energy so that factories and shops cannot afford to run. Yes we need to reduce our use of energy, but there seems little effort to do anything about it. Our government are talking about bringing back fracking and opening new oil and gas wells. Yes it is complex, but after twelve years in power we don’t seem to be getting a good result.
Dereliction of duty?
I painted this wooden planter last year? I think. Its been on display with other artists works. It was one of several planters that were done for something called BID. But I really want it back. At this rate it will be too late to plant it up. It’s based on the Pottery called Goss Works, or the Falcon Works, in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.
One of the metal sculptures / plant supports in a planter at Trentham Gardens retail Village. I like the art nouveau or is it art deco feel to these (I can never remember). They are already pretty but come high summer they will be packed with bright and cheerful flowers. Vines climbing up the sculptural sections of metal.
A photo taken a couple of months ago I think. It was in colour but I changed it to black and white. It was taken at Hanley Park after a choir performance. The sun burnt through the must for a while but then it drifted back in again. Swirling round the bandstand and making it chilly again. But it was so atmospheric, literally!
Another of my Sketchfu digital drawings. One of the things was a challenge to copy a photo just by drawing it. I think that’s what this one was. I wish I knew which pottery made the tea service. X
Mallaband-Brown