Canal geese

Posted on July 23, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Black, Brown, Canada geese, Canal, Colours, Grey, Reflection, Water, young geeseLeave a comment

We saw these Canada Geese on the canal today as we went for a walk after handing my painting in for the three counties open. These look like parents and young (some are in full plumage but smaller). I have plans to do a few more in a similar style for the cafe at the Etruria Industrial Museum. They are swapping out the current paintings on display. Apparently my painting of an owl was too expensive, but how can you ever earn anything if people don’t want to pay. BUT I might consider charging less because I just keep having an increasing collection of them and I really, really want them to go to new homes….

Watch out for a few new paintings over the next couple of days /weeks.

I want thunder and lightning!

Posted on July 20, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clouds, heatwave, Life, Lightning, Rain, Relief, Summer, Thunder, Water, Weather, worldwide temperatureLeave a comment

I want the skies to darken, the winds to rise, I want a swirling storm, dancing leaves. Gusts and gales and the patter of heavy raindrops! I thought we were having that earlier but realised it was water pattering down on the kitchen roof from the hose! Instead of watering the plants he was watering the roof! He thought it would cool the air. Its 15°C cooler today than yesterday! We need relief for humans and the countryside. But not just here, worldwide. The trouble is its not just one country suffering.

Thunderstorms were forecast but haven’t happened yet. I’m watching www.http://blitzortung.org to see where the storms are. They seemed to be concentrated around France and Switzerland earlier on…..

Frazzled but surviving

Posted on July 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blueberries, frazzled, Gardening, Heat, Outdoor plants, Temperature, Tomatoes, WaterLeave a comment

Our back yard is a bit frazzled. The plants are brown in places but we have watered them in the evening. The tomatoes in a little hanging basket have developed but are yet to ripen as are the blueberries that a friend loaned us a few years ago when she moved. I’m still caring for them, I hope she’s OK but we have got out of touch with her. Anyway cool and thundery weather is on the way..

Floating in the sea or sky?

Posted on July 13, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bovisand, Cornwall, Devon, Floating, Landscape, Life, Photo, Sea, Seaside, ships, Sky, Travel, View, Visit, WaterLeave a comment

It was a grey, overcast day at Bovisand yesterday. The port of Plymouth off to the right of this photo was busy. There is a breakwater to protect the harbour and make the inlet safe as ships and boats travel up to the Tamar and Plym Rivers among others that flow into the sea here. But because of the grey light and indistinct sea surface, some of the ships seemed to be floating in the sky! In the distance is the coast of Cornwall. The Tamar river is on the boundary between England’s two most westerly counties. Warm and welcoming in the summer. It can be cold and wet, blustery and stormy at all times of the year. But a very beautiful place to visit.

Lake

Posted on June 30, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Lake, Reflection, Silhouette, Sketching, Walking, Water, Westport lakeLeave a comment

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.

Fish?

Posted on June 29, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged algae, empty house, Fish, Food, green tank, inventory, Memory, Rehomed, Tank, Water3 Comments

Several years ago I worked in housing. In that job I was responsible for looking after abandoned properties among other things.

One day I had to go out and inspect a house. It was full of belongings which was very difficult to get through because furniture was strewn everywhere. So I did an inventory and arranged for it to be cleared. I took photos, and when I reviewed them I saw a very green fishtank. The property had apparently been empty for two months before we were notified it was empty, but something prompted me to contact the team who were due to clear the house and asked them to look for it.

It turned out there was a goldfish in the tank! Not visible because of the algae in there. Luckily it had been eating the algae. It was rehomed to a garden fishpond.

Sounds

Posted on June 19, 2022June 19, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, felt pen drawing, inlets, Sea, Sketching, Sound, Sounds, WaterLeave a comment

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was sounds. Trying to work out how to draw this. Sounds can be acoustic or geographical. For instance the sound of music, or Plymouth Sound, an inlet into the sea. I decided to draw a combination of sound waves disturbing the surface of water as we don’t live anywhere near a sound. Felt pen drawing.

Cheap birdbath

Posted on June 8, 2022June 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birdbath, Birds, cheap idea, Gardening, plant pot saucers, small mammals, WaterLeave a comment

I wanted a birdbath/waterstation for small mammals. I decided to buy some plant pot saucers. Our garden is on a slope, so I’ve used bricks and a piece of wood to place them one above the other. I also used an oblong plant tray to hold more water. I’ve seen a blackbird nearby so I’m hoping it attracts them. I’ve put the saucers in an open area so they don’t get pounced on by cats. X

Tree arch

Posted on May 25, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged arch, Colour, Dorothy Clive garden, Green, Life, lucky, Photo, Water, weekend visitLeave a comment

After I drew the laburnum arch I looked through the photos I took at the weekend and realised I could have drawn this instead. I don’t remember seeing it before, but it is quite striking. One thing about the UK is the greenery. Once spring and summer arrives the greens burst out. Yes we do get drought conditions, but we are very lucky compared with many places.

Clean phone..

Posted on May 12, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bird baths, megabytes, Memory, Optimising, Photo, plant saucers, Random, WaterLeave a comment

Get random photos.. I needed to optimise my photos because they were taking up too much memory. So I optimised and deleted 450 originals. The only problem is you get a random selection that is out of order when you go back in your gallery. This set of plant saucers came up as recent! Filled with water and set in a slight slope the birds seem to like them. Memory saved? About 950 megabytes!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Water