New paintings and regular art updates.
How do I climb over this? Bad hip, aching knees, my legs don’t want to work like they used to! Luckily there was a gate next to it that opened! Apparently these are normal stiles for the area. Must be mighty walkers with seven league boots! If I had long legs and better balance? Then I wouldn’t be me!
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Lake. This is a drawing of Westport Lake from a photo I took on Tuesday.. The sky was quite dark and overcast so it gave it a very atmospheric feeling. The silhouetted tries look good reflected in the water. This is a felt pen sketch of it.
Well trained Weimaraner dog seen on our walk round Westport Lake. Trained as a therapy dog, it was very capable of following orders. The colour was a grey brown and its eyes were a mixture of yellow and blue.. Its owner said that as it got older the colour might become more amber. I might do a painting of it as I have a closer view of it. One thing is because of the way I took the photo its head looks a little too big because if foreshortening. It looks more in proportion on the other photo.
I sometimes feel trapped in the house. I don’t mind doing things, it’s just since I’ve developed a shaking left arm I feel a bit unsteady on my feet, like I’m going to trip u or something. As I walk my shoulders, arm and hand get tense, then my neck and head finally my feet feel like they are going to tangle up. I just wish it hadn’t sapped my confidence. The garden fence could be iron bars, the front door is the door to my cell…. I suppose it’s me looking for safety and security, but I need to find mental as well as physical balance again.
Turn a tree upside down and it might look like it’s walking. Turn it on its side and it could be a running horse. Shapes can look like anything if you have that kind of mind. Simplify the shape and it becomes more like lots of different things. Stars turn into Gods and mythical beasts. Lines that don’t exist can be drawn on a map to create the Bermuda Triangle. Humans make up stories out of words and voices, but also from pictures and shapes, and I love that we do.
Sketch of two Canada geese at Westport Lake today. I know their necks are too long. We went for a short walk but the wind was quite cold. So I decided to sit down and draw some of the birds and a view of the rippling water on the lake. While we were there a young man went up to one of the fishing platforms on the lake and started dipping his feet in. He was acting very strangely so we watched incase we needed to ring for an ambulance. But he came over to us and asked us if we wanted to buy a camera? Very strange. So I finished the sketch and we left. I hope he was OK but it was hard to know what to do.
I didn’t walk far in March but I did walk every day. I need to do more though. Anyway I made a pattern from my steps. As you do. Mostly short distances, a few longer ones. Nothing to show off about.
Today I walked into Stoke by walking Uphill, (and then downhill again).. I’m a bit unsteady on my feet. It sounds strange but because I shake and my arm goes stiff and my foot clenches a bit I feel very nervous of tripping and falling. I look down more than up, watching my feet instead of looking at the view. But I need exercise. I cannot just sit on my chair and wait to become completely dilapidated like these old bottle ovens. My arm and hand hurt holding the phone while I type. But I won’t stop. Life, it gets to you sometimes! But I can walk Uphill!
A strange looking dusk with red on its head. We only saw one of them. I don’t know what kind it is but I think it must be a male one. If there ever was an ugly duckling could this be it? No I’d say an interesting one! Medium sized, pink footed, friendly!
A short story…
A cold wind blew across the lake, finding gaps in my coat and blowing my hair around. The branches and fronds of the willow trees streamed like ribbons on a kite, lifting and waving. The ducks ruffled up their feathers against the cold. We had walked out of sunshine into shade and the temperature had dropped noticeably.
The man and his dog walked towards us. It was muzzled with a band of leather round it’s mouth, but it still pulled the man along. It was a big dog. A hound of some sort. It was difficult to see in the gloom. As we came level with them the dog jumped up. It’s paws landing on my shoulders. I was knocked over by its weight. I sat down hard in a puddle. The weight of the dog pushing against me.
The man looked alarmed. Shocked. He tugged the dog away. All he said was ‘sorry’ and walked off! I sat there freezing and wet….. What a day!
Mallaband-Brown