Drawing again

Posted on August 12, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Astle Park, Cheshire, Design, Drawing, Lighting, Lunch, Picture, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trentham, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

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Two sketches. One yesterday at Astle Park traction engine rally, I drew this at the end of the day when all the vehicles has left the show ring except for this miniature traction engine. I could have just taken a photo but as it stayed still for quite a while I drew instead.

The second picture was drawn outside but then we went into the restaurant as we were being bothered by wasps. I took a photo of the drawing while we were inside. I didn’t realise it was so dark in there with a blue tone to the lighting. I adjusted it with a photo editor. It shows how long it took to get served, the place was really busy. The food was very nice though.

To be fired?

Posted on August 8, 2019August 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Ceramics, Etruria, Life, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent2 Comments

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These three pieces are unfired. I made them a couple of years ago but never got them fired. The coloured one is painted in metallic acrylic paints. I need to hollow them out so that they can go in a kiln. The problem is they are fully dry so it might be difficult to do it. I think I need to dampen them but I don’t want them to dissolve. Made them at Etruria, at the warehouse.

Rose bowl

Posted on August 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Ceramics, Gladstone Pottery, Life, Longton, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

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This is my kind of pottery. The beautiful contrasting colours and patterns really appeal to me. This was in the Gladstone pottery museum last year, in the bathroom display section.

If I had it at home I would use it as a fruit bowl. There seems to be a bird or a parrot in the centre of the bowl. Beautiful piece.

Craft fair or artisan fair?

Posted on July 28, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #market_@_48, Art, Artisan fair, Craft fair, Design, Eleanora street, Fun, Potbank Hotel, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

So many different talents, including lino cut printing, carved wood, making strum sticks and dulcimers.. I had my paintings and glass necklaces again. The fair was on from 11 to 4 but that didn’t include setting up and taking down so it was more like right hours.

There were some lovely kind people there and I got a lot of interest if not that many sales. The setting was inside the Potbank Hotel, which was good as it rained all day. Coming to the fair was a way of staying dry.

Artisan or craft? Probably artisan, the work was predominantly artistic and the crafts on display were of a very high standard.

Would I do it again. Yes I guess so.

Tiny paintings

Posted on July 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #market_@_48, Acrylic on canvas, Animals, Art, Craft fair, Design, Eleanora street, Fun, Painting, Potbank Hotel, Spode, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Tiny paintings4 Comments

I’m playing with paintings again. The idea is to do tiny paintings that people might like but won’t cost much to have. They are about the size of a small matchbox. I’m trying to do new designs. There are giraffes and butterflies, an owl and a skull. Hearts, a panda and I’m trying to paint a little sailing boat.

Well I’d better get on as they need finishing by the morning.

Collapsing hotel

Posted on July 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Architecture, Burslem, Burslem School of Art, Decline, Hotel, Life, Mother town, Queen Street, Six towns, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

This poor wrecked old hotel sits forlorn opposite the Burslem school of art. There is also the wedgewood institute built directly opposite the school, but that’s had work done on it to restore it.

It’s good that a few buildings are being preserved, but the old hotel is interesting with its turrets and bay windows. Is it too far gone? Possibly, the roof partly collapsed last week and the road was cordoned off by the police and fire brigade last week. Now wooden boards form a wall round it and it’s ground floor windows, which had been shops, look sad and run down.

Burslem is the mother town, the oldest of the six pottery towns. Its sad to see its magnificent architecture in such decline.

Burslem is all on a slant, I think it’s suffering a lot if subsidence due to either a fault line or mining. A lot of buildings seem to be affected by this. I wonder if anything will be done about it?

He’s only quiet with a book.

Posted on July 26, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Book exchange, Books, Bread in common, Concentration, Hartshill, Reading, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Went for lunch with my hubby. He chats away all the time, but as soon as he gets an interesting book he’s away in his own world. This one was about the mafia, he was so enthralled that he didn’t finish his lunch!

The book was from Bread in common, a little cafe that opens on a Friday and is vegetarian. You can pay what you feel for the food. They also sell bread on a seperate counter and have a book exchange where my hubby got the book. It’s called ‘the rise of the mafia’ by Martin Short. If you want to visit its on Hartshill, in Stoke-on-Trent.

Trent and Mersey canal

Posted on July 25, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Canal, Canal boat, Etruria, Photos, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trent and mersey canalLeave a comment

Canal boat, ‘maria’ travelling through summit lock number 40 on the Trent and Mersey canal at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. It was by luck that we were standing on a bridge over the canal as it came through the lock. I asked permission before I took photos. I would like to take a holiday on one perhaps.

Sunset, Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent

Posted on July 25, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Etruria, Heat, Life, Red sky at night, Shelton, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Sunset, WeatherLeave a comment

As we left Etruria tonight a red glow was spreading at the bottom of the grey clouds. As we got up to the top of the hill it had spread across the sky with the sun peeping through. This was a reminder of ‘red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning shepherd’s take warning’. I’m hoping this means things will cool down tomorrow. I’ve got a lot of things to do. The temperature reached 38.6°C and we are not used to it here. Global warming seems to be getting worse. I do wonder if we can get the temperature under control. The anthropocene era seems likely to be one of mass extinctions sadly.

Dragon eye

Posted on July 24, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #market_@_48, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Craft fair, Design, Eleanora st, Painting, Potbank Hotel, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Work in progress6 Comments

Tiny painting for the craft fair. I’m experimenting again. I’m doing normalise things but also things to catch the eye. Tiny paintings need tiny brushes, and my eyesight is not as good as it was. Shaky hands, holding my breath. Sometimes it’s hard to get the effect you want.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Stoke-on trent