New paintings and regular art updates.
Outside our back door this evening. The sky looked pinker than this to my eyes, but I have to go with what the camera shows. Out anemometer on the weather station was spinning round merrily in the gusty wind (it was almost a dark and stormy evening!) it’s not linked in with the station in the house as the batteries are dead! I do like the salmon pink sky. I wish we lived on the sunny side of the hill.
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
I promise myself
To get rid of clutter
But it piles up
More comes through the door
And more and more
Not neat and tidy
Not filed in folders
But piled in boxes
On cupboards
On a chair
On the sofa
In bags.
Oh heavens
Will I ever declutter?
My landline stopped working a few months ago, no matter what I did I couldn’t delete the saved messages and calls. It just said another handset was in use (I don’t have one?).
I had been to the local store to see if they had a similar device, but there was too much choice and I didn’t know what would work as none seemed to have the features I wanted.
Then this morning an alarm went off across the road. This usually signifies a power failure. But my landline phone beeped… I investigated. It said it was synchronising, when it stopped I checked and I could delete everything, calls and answerphone logs. It no longer says Full. I tried ringing it. For the first time in months it rang. Now all I need to do is make sure the memory doesn’t get full. And now I just need to reset the clocks on my stove and alarm clock!
1980s large canvas. Painted in oils, it was only a few years later that I started using acrylics instead. It’s about 5 ft by 4 ft or something like that. It depicts our old front room, in the house we used to live in. The cellar underneath the front room was starting to collapse, its vaulted ceiling held up with an acroprop. Why was I painting a giant cat? Because I love them, and patterns (wallpaper, clothes etc). The small cat in the corner is playing with a roll of wool. The box says Walsall Art supplies, where I came from. I’d call this a narrative painting.
When was this padlock opened?
What was stored inside?
So many questions to answer
What thing is hiding? Decide..
Is it a treasure or mystery
Monster or chemical formula?
It could be any or all of them
Unlock and find what you see!
I might have somewhere to show my art again soon. I have been in touch with a cafe that might display some of my paintings. I’m considering including this but the glass broke and the card mount has cockled a bit. It’s a view along the platform of Cheddleton Station which is near Leek in Staffordshire. I painted it from a photo I’d taken during a visit a few years ago. It partner to a painting of the upper floor of Cheddleton Station that I did at the same time. Both are in watercolours.
Despite the radiators being on its really cold in my house today. I’ve also got a heater on. Two jumpers on top of a tee shirt and a scarf. I looked at the inside temperature and it’s 14.3°C (Celcius). That’s cold.
I have been out so I kept the heating off till I came in, so it’s going to take time to warm up.. I might get my dressing gown on later, it’s almost cold enough to see my breath. I think the weather is due to get warmer next week but I heard we are going to have another named storm on Sunday and Monday. What fun!
Where do you fit them?
Nooks and crannies
Squeeze in gaps
Force them onto shelves
Net them to prevent collapse.
Gabions of books
Insulating walls
A bookworm super highway
North to West, East to South
A myriad of subjects
Choose a favourite book!
I painted this teapot six years ago when I first moved into my studio at Spode. This is a medium sized acrylic on canvas. It’s from my imagination, and the flower design is based on the pattern ‘calico’ by the Burleigh pottery. I think its based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I made the wooden panels up from my memory. I still have this painting at my studio at Spode.
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
I once counted our books. When I got to 1000 I gave up. Some are precious and I devour them regularly. Others I dust off occasionally, but a few I have never read. Mainly because they were my hubbys and generally are about wars, trains or tractors. I like some of them, but they are generally big and heavy, full of pictures and technical details. I think some of them will go to a charity shop.
I guess they could act as insulation! Some of them are high up on tall shelves. I would have to climb up ladders to get up to them. I’m not sure if anyone will ever read them!
Mallaband-Brown