Using offcuts

I’ve always got scraps at the moment, I cut and glue pictures from one sketchbook to another, I’ve got offcuts of monoprints and post-it notes I’ve made notes on one side of. It seems a shame just to throw them away. Plus it was a use for some old silver foil for the grey clouds.

This was inspired by an orange pink dawn yesterday morning, before the downpour and the fact I’ve noticed Silver birches are actually much whiter these days (cleaner atmosphere?)

Tunnel

On the track bed of the old potteries loop line (of the North Staffordshire Railway). This tunnel is near Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent. The railway ran under a road and then carries on towards Tunstall I think. This footpath runs between a few of the six towns of the potteries. Maybe it could be used as a light transport system avoiding clogged roads. If it was I’d hope it also allowed pedestrian and cycle access. This green pathway allows walkers to breathe cleaner air than alongside the road system.

Island?

No, a mirrored photo, flipped on its vertical axis. The resulting image looks like a green island on a pond edged with a stone path. In actual fact this was a photo taken as we walked along the Trent and Mersey canal near Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. Its strange how the eye sees symmetry as beautiful. Even ugly shapes can improve when you make them symmetrical. I also enjoy trying to create images that look like animals. If you follow this blog, or my Instagram page you will already know that.

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All around this hat…

Trees and road markings,

black asphalt,

branches reach out and hold hands,

a pylon of arching twigs.

Shimmering blue sky,

with added silver,

dreaming of spring days.

If I look closely?

I see slitted pupils,

in great round eyes,

the hat metamorphoses

into a black beak?

Gold, black and blue,

brightly hued,

your cages of twigs,

snare birds who

nest in warm romance.