Drawing and painting

Digital art

What activities do you lose yourself in?

I have always drawn and painted. Hours can disappear and I don’t notice them. I think that’s called ‘flow’, I’m immersed in it. Even now when my left arm shakes I can’t stop. I end up with shake lines or I have to put things on an easle to stop it. I now have golfers elbow in the same arm and gout and trigger finger in my right hand. But I keep being creative. I really think its my reason for living. When I stop drawing that will be the end of me. Even if I can’t hold a pen or paintbrush I can doodle on my phone and finger paint as in the digital drawing above.

A few years ago I was in hospital. I made my hubby bring me a sketchpad and pencils, I think that was proof I was getting better!

Need to catch up

#bandofsketchers?

What’s happened? I’ve been ill again and I haven’t had the energy or will to draw. I’m behind on these prompts. I have ideas but the sketchpad is across the room and I can’t make myself go and pick it up. I think I’m a bit overwhelmed. I don’t think the cold, wet, grey weather we have been having has helped. Shivering and shaking is not conducive to drawing and sketching. Oh I must not moan, but sometimes you just get stuck. Bad mood and memories don’t help, I guess I’m a bit blocked in my creativity. Sunshine might help.

X

Would you like Marmite on that?

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

I hate marmite. I ate it once when I was a child and I never ate it again. Its a minor hate, it wouldn’t hurt me to eat it, but that’s  how I feel about it. So if you asked me if I’d like Marmite on something I would not thank you.

This is why I took so long to answer this prompt. I don’t think I have a real question that I would hate to be asked? I guess there will be something but I haven’t come across it yet. I must lead a sheltered life.

Thinking of a question I would hate to be asked made me realise how lucky I am not to be in a situation where I would need to answer it. I think I will leave this here as I’m starting to waffle!

Dear me at 100

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Dear me

I never expected to get to 100, although I really wanted to. I enjoy being creative and learning new things. When I was young I always got bored, so I found things to do. The more I did that, the more I tried to do. Art, science, astronomy, pottery, reading. Lots of nonsensical things too.

I think using my mind is important, I hope I still have all my marbles when I reach 100. I once met a woman who was in her mid seventies and said she had no room in her brain to learn more! Why? It doesn’t make sense. Finding out new things renews me. It gives me the opportunity to understand more. I hope that me at 100 can still take in information and keep up to date with what is going on in the world.

I really wanted to see Halleys comet return. I hope future me saw it? Its on my bucket list. X

Sleepy and cold

It was very cold last night so I left the central heating on low. The sky had cleared and I think it was down to – 6°C last night. I was reading in bed, propped up under my moon nightlight, but I was sleepy. Suddenly Thud! The book had fallen on the floor and I had woken with a crick in my neck. I was cold and achy. The moon was clear and bright up in the sky, shining in through the window. Apparently last night there was a 20°C difference between the the coldest place in the UK, about – 16°C and the highest 4°C, so we were about a middling temperature.

Then I thought about anybody in an unheated house, or who are stuck outside in a tent or on the streets. What about them? I was in an old bed, in an old house, but I am so much luckier than a lot of people. Why is there such inequality?

So what’s happening?

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

Don’t you hate it when you are watching a film or programme and someone comes in the room and asks what has been happening. You don’t want to have to reply but you know you are going to have to. It’s halfway through the programme and one person has died, another one is being blamed. A third is actually responsible. How to explain while trying to continue watching? Sometimes a grunt works. Other times a full explanation is required.

The worst thing is when it is you asking the question, and you know you are not going to get any sort of an answer that makes sense.

My autobiography?

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

“Life had been simple and uncomplicated until my blog page changed overnight.”

Yes, it had been OK, I could talk about my early years, and which schools I went to, but these days data can be mined. So if I do write my autobiography it will be in a book. At least then if you want my information you might have to pay for it!

Then there is the question of whether it’s an autobiography or biography? Would anyone care enough to want to write about me, or would I get someone to ghost write it for me?

Seeing the outrage and amazement caused by the recent release of information from the writer of Matt Hancock’s biography, thousands of pages from WhatsApp, I’m not sure I’d want to do it (although mine might be boring and not salacious).

Jetpack installed!

Installing jetpack was OK but sorting my phone storage out first was the problem. I felt like I was launching my phone at the moon, without a rocket to take it. I knew I would need to free up space as currently my phone is 85% full. But what to uninstall? Which apps are crucial to my phone running properly and which could I delete? I randomly chose a few I rarely use. I still need to upgrade my memory but my phone shop didn’t have the right chip in and needs to order them in. So my dilemma (and I was catastrophising I think) was would things work after I did it. Well clearly it did, but jetpack took a while to install, probably due to the amount of data it had to bring over.

Well I’ve done it. I don’t like the look of it. That’s just because I’m used to the old site. I felt sad uninstalling WordPress, it feels like I have cut ties with it. It’s strange how you become invested in something so ephemeral as a computer app. I hope I get used to this. X

Invisible

Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was Invisible. I imagine the invisible man would have to be naked if he wants to wander about. Or would have to wear bandages or makeup. There was a series on TV with David McCallum. If he drank you might see the coffee going into his stomach-Etc! Until it was actually absorbed. I got the stomach too high up in this sketch.

Time

Time washes through the landscape, light transforms the colours, shatters water, creates cold and hot spots. Thinking about atmosphere, time ticks across my mind. Change and stillness held face to face in a slow embrace. Taste and smell senses change. No more daisy chains, just dry grasses, emerging from gravel. Birds flit across the planet, like a time lapse film. Here and gone, gone and back again. Generations. How to define time? A single vertical plane of paper, sliding over bumps and humps, a thin slot that holds open but does not exist in more than two dimensions. Behind and in front no longer exists or has never existed. Time flies forward at a walking pace….