New paintings and regular art updates.
Shimmering silver and gold,
Flicker in the sunshine,
catching erratic mayflies.
Slipping down the stream,
glinting and glimmering,
Sun and shade stripes of branches,
camouflaged and hidden
above the pebbled bed.
Leaping and jumping
flying fish for a second
mid air,
then like raindrops falling,
back into the crystal clear,
cold, brisk, water…
We’ve been waiting all day for the rain and it’s arrived after dark, in torrents. The wind has been blowing strongly, bending trees over, waving branches, bits of twig falling on the road. There is almost a stream of water rushing past the back door. The noise of the rain drumming against the window.
In the UK we don’t have long months of cold rain or months of sunshine. We are at a position in the world where weather comes at us from all different directions. From the East we get freezing winds and snow, from the South, warm winds and heat, from the West, Atlantic storms, or high pressure keeping frost and calm weather over us, and from the North, Arctic winds and snow. And then all of that mixes up and scrambles things even more. Makes for an interesting life!
Time to drink?
Drink from a bowl? No,
Drink from a cup? No
Drink from a dish? No
The bath, it has to be the bath.
She sits and waits,
For me to put the plug in
Fill the bath slightly,
So she can drink…
The mural is about half finished. There is a lot to do still, more details on the geese. Splashing water, not added yet, I’ve been trying to get the background done first. Then outlining the patches of water. The little goslings need a stronger yellow. Then the reeds and leaves need finishing. I’m getting tired.
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Grey day on the canal,
Leaves float,
Cygnets shelter from the rain.
Boats huddle near the bridge,
Wrapped in old tarpaulins.
Smoke drifts up from stoves
that sit below the water levels.
Tea kettles boil and whistle,
Stained hands make a brew,
wiping off excess oil on grubby teacloths.
Leaves create mosaics of moist greens and browns.
Trees splinter into the sky,
Bursting like fireworks
But wet black,
No sparkle
Just grey, wet, dank…
And beautiful.
The clouds lifted over the mere as the sun set. For about five minutes it stopped raining and the drumming on the roof eased. The mere was almost invisible in the darkening evening. The only indication of it were reflections of house lights on the waters surface.
One strange ripple broke the surface. The wake of something moved across the glassy water of the mere.
A duck was heading for its nest for the night. Snap! It was gone.
A few feathers were all that were left.
The ripples stopped as the predator sank deeper. Patrolling now up and down the bank, a snap here, a snuck there, finding food…. The Pike picked its prey carefully.
What people used to drink in the past,
Beer was brewed to be drunk every day. Beer was made weak so that people, including children, could quench their thirst. Water was not clean and filtered like it is today in some countries. People extracted water from rivers, ponds and wells. But they had no knowledge of bacteria or viruses. In some countries in Asia people brewed things like rice wine instead. Over the centuries East and West have followed their own brewing traditions. This affects whether people can tolerate the different types of alcohol.
Nowadays some beer is far stronger. This can have a detrimental effect on people’s health as alcohol is a poison and in strong concentration or large amounts can kill.
Drinking beer and alcohol are a personal choices. There can be other reasons not to drink, including religious and health ones. Life is interesting. Moderation is the key.
White sail, sailing, over the water.
Barely a breath to help you move.
White canvas, taut and stiff
Or billowing softly in the breeze.
Hot sun and morning mist,
A twinkle of ripples follow your wake.
Sails, tall and fair.
Sails standing out across the lake,
Bright against the wooded hill.
Your beacon shines to me.
The trees spread across the world, as man finally withered and died. Killed off in a last great mass extinction caused by humankind’s continuous destruction of the animal population and most of the plant world. Pestilence, fire, flooding and starvation had done their jobs.
All that was left were trees, rivers, marshes, seas and oceans.
The trees kept pumping out oxygen, the world was now habitable for any incomers, but there were none. Aliens may have admired our world, but they exist in civilisations too far away. None of them had things like warp drive. A nice idea, but not really feasible.
Nothing grew, except a soup of bacteria. One day that might evolve into the next great family of animals, insects, worms, critters. If man returned millions of years later he would not recognise the planet or its contents. Maybe the trees would remember….
The sea is rising
The rain comes in mountains now.
Falling so fast its like a bomb.
Wet feet
Now wet knees,
Up to my thighs…
We walked once from Robin Hoods Bay
To Boggle Hole.
On the North East Coast
Of Yorkshire.
The sea came in
Along the rocks.
It was faster than us.
He was up to his chest,
I was up to my neck
When we waded out
Of the North Sea.
That was twenty years ago.
Now you only have to look at a cloud
And you are covered, soaked, flooded.
Where will it end?
Up a creek without a paddle?
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