Water

sketch-1594733693584

I’ve just been reading a Facebook post discussing whether spring water is better than tap water, on the premise that tap water had more minerals in it.

I know that in Britain the water quality is regulated and that government checks that quality regularly.

Water from springs perculates through rocks with minerals in them. Over thousands or millions of years they pick up the minerals as they are dissolved by the water (rainwater will also contain dust particles from the air, and organic matter from the ground before it gets into the rocks). Then it depends on the geology. That’s why we have hard water and soft water. In some springs the water can be hot. Some were used by the Victorians  as purgatives as they contained high levels of things like sulphur. They were used as cures and remedies, the idea being that they cleansed the body.

Modern tap water contains a few additives like fluorine. But in measured amounts. My dad used to call it ‘corporation pop’. Not dangerous.

Things I draw

FB_IMG_1586751315583

A few years ago I did this digital drawing of the whirlpool galaxy. This was done at a website called sketchfu. I’ve written about it before.

When you think of how many billions and trillions of stars there are in a galaxy, and how many millions or billions, or many more, galaxies there are in the universe. It is awe inspiring. Looking out across space is looking back in time. The visible stars light, and the light from distant galaxies, has been travelling towards us for great lengths of time. Even the light from the Sun takes eight minutes to travel to the Earth. Is it that we are ahead in time compared to the rest of the universe? Or maybe not? Maybe we are behind? Because if something happened on another world or star, we would not find out till their light reached us, by which time that occurance would be possibly billions of years in their past.

Time, intriguing, confusing, we can only travel with it. Gravity can distort it, lengthen it. So much to know… So much to find out.

Deleting old photos.

dsc_2388_optimized

Every so often I delete old photos off my phone. Then all the photos that are left get mixed up and I discover old photos like this one that I really like! Basically I do this because the photos are taking up most of the phones memory. I have thousands of pictures. Today I got rid of a couple of hundred old pictures of grey skies and trees. And I also got rid of duplicate images because when I post to Instagram it saves an extra picture.

Another issue is that my phone camera takes Megabyte, not kilobyte sized pictures. It means that when I save them to WordPress the media files take up a lot if space. I’m on about 78% on my plan, and I expanded that earlier in the year. So, how do i reduce my file sizes without losing image quality? The answer is I let my anti virus software review the pictures and replace them with smaller versions. It doesn’t stop my phone taking large files though and I would like to find out how to do this. Must be in settings somewhere….

Sorry if this is boring…

Drawing in April

_20200422_150429

22.4.20, about a month into lockdown. I wonder what was going through my mind? I don’t think I was as nervous then as I am now. I was thinking about food. Now I’m thinking about not going out, despite the pubs opening up carefully and hairdressers and other non essential shops. Do I feel like going out? No, I think this is too early. Especially where alcohol is involved. I’ve seen groups of four or five men walking past the house, looking like they are off for a ‘good night out’.

What can I say. I understand people need to escape. I feel so tense I’m shaking. How do refugees and people in war torn areas survive? We are lucky. The problem might cause massive problems with wealth but I want people to be safe and survive this. Ah well, maybe I will do another drawing x.

Tomorrow

DSC_2719

A stitch in time saves nine,

Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Manyana

Prevarication

Am I depressed? I have things to do, and I keep putting them off. Watching TV, doing other things, like painting. I need to call the builder because I’ve found a crack in our front wall. I need to finish an assignment, I need to look after myself, I need to regain some calmness and relax.

Part of it is lack of sleep. Staying up late, one more blog, TV show, book to read. I’m not being organised. Maybe I can sort things out.

What to do. Don’t stay up till 1am. Or later.. Much later.. Oh hell!

Too many nights have turned into day while I’ve been mooching about. The little twitches of my mind as I listen to pings from my phone. How did I ever get so addicted to a phone!

How did I (you) do that? Thank you.

sketch-1593559635409

I don’t know how it happened. I just mumble on here and sometimes people like what I say.

Maybe I should assess how I write things. I’m sure my grammar isn’t correct. How is it that people are following this? I don’t think I’m particularly profound. I have some strong feelings, that people should be treated fairly and equally.

I talk about my art and how I create it. I’m not pushing sales of my paintings. If someone is interested they can get in touch. I like talking about science and nature and the environment. I try and keep informed but I’m not an expert.

What else? I’m getting older and hope I can use my experiences to help people if I can.

I really like trying to write poetry. I wrote something called ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ a comic poem about my experiences of using a self checkout at the supermarket. That was my first poem here a couple of years ago and it kickstarted my writing.

I occasionally write short stories here. I tried writing to photo prompts but I struggled with keeping to the image. I also write short, five word, challenges where you have to include a word, FOOL for instance. Also the challenge of writing limericks, working out how to rhyme things.

I also love sharing my art. Lots of funny little pictures, or murals, or acrylics on canvas or even urban sketchers and other art groups that I’m interested in. I do a lot of digital stuff and I’m on a college course on illustration.

So thank you for following me. I can’t promise to be interesting and exciting all the time. I think I’m learning to write and blog, and your help is much appreciated.

X

Releasing my mind

_20200628_113745

I tried to draw a ‘real’ shibui. I’m not sure I’ve actually got the right idea, but anyway I started with an ink pen held lightly between thumb and forefinger. As I breathed I let the lines wander across the page. These are the purple marks. I even rested he pen on my hand and let it slide down in a wide, slightly jerky, motion…. Then I found ideas coming into my mind, faces, eyes, animals, a skull. Icecream, figures standing and crouching. I decided to add colour. I hope the drawing expresses emotion, and thought. I realised this morning that I had drawn environmental themes. These include a polar bear on cracking ice and a tree dying in the heat. A possible wolf skull and a blazing sun setting fire to the world… Its called Releasing my mind.
X

Jump on a train?

sketch-1593279487022

Someone asked a question. If a person jumps up and down in a train carriage they land back in the same place. But if you do it on the roof you will not land in the same place. He wanted to know the reason? A lot of people replied including me. We pointed out that if the train is moving the air on the outside will be pushed aside by the train and anything on it.

I wrote ‘If you jumped on top of a train you would land on the same spot even if it was moving slowly. The reason why you might move is the air rushing around you exerts a force or pressure on you (the air inside the carriage is still). But unless you were travelling fast you wouldn’t move far… ‘.

I think it’s odd that people don’t know it. In the same way a dog who sticks its head out of a car gets its face and ears ruffled by the wind….

Drawing

illuminated i 2

One of the things I have to do on this illustration course is of course drawing. But I want to learn to do more digitally/visually. Its been a few years since I have drawn at websites or used photoshop. I usually use apps, which is fine, but I need to hone my skills. Finding out again how to shade and add texture. I used to be able to do it straight away, but after three or four years of not using photoshop it takes time to pick things up again. Plus I keep getting error messages- I don’t think Adobe know anyone who still has the programme I’m using, when I looked at a couple of YouTube tutorials the screen appeared different with a black background and far more sophisticated tools, I think I’m going to have to save up and invest!

So this is a little doodle based on an illuminated I. I actually submitted a pen and ink drawing, but there’s nothing wrong with experimenting and learning. In the meantime its hot and muggy and thunderstorms are due!

X.

Profile

img_20200504_041504_1365404589575594658575.jpg

Profile

You looked out in May

So proud and keen

Your profile reflected in glass

In the window.

Sure you would keep safe.

The sky would not fall…

picsart_05-04-021461159800639162200.png

Now you have dissolved,

Lost your identity.

Impaled on shards of humanity.

Sifted and sprinkled

With covid 19.

Stay safe they said

As you disappeared.