New paintings and regular art updates.
We went to the British Ceramic Biennial today, at the Spode Site in Stoke, to glaze a piece of pottery I made last week. The weather was very bad and we got soaked on the way into the exhibition. When we came out the rain had cleared up and the sun was out. I took some photos of the wet surfaces. It’s always good to notice changes caused by weather conditions and variations in lighting.
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Walking round Trentham Gardens yesterday I saw a banana plant in flower, in this country, in mid September?! It is usually 5 or 10 degrees Celsius cooler than this.
The last four years have been the hottest in Britain (and the world?) ever. Climate change is a massive problem, its complex, but people are coming out on strike. Children have been showing today how much it means to them. Everyone needs to push the people in power to take action. To share technologies that reduce the need for power in the form of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Sustainable engineering like wind and wave power need integrating into the worlds power grids. Solar energy should also be exploited. We have got to solve global warming fast if we can.
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The rain comes down harder and faster these days. When I was a child I remember gentle rain, now it seems to soak in seconds. Water has a way of getting into everything when it falls. Like a cold shower it wakes you up, startling you as it splashes in your face. It was once said that there is no bad weather, just being inappropriately dressed for it. Nowadays I’m not so sure.
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I know when the nights are drawing in and it’s getting colder. The cats start sleeping on their cat tree in front of the radiator. They only like the platforms next to each other. Neither of them want to be ‘top cat’ and to sit on the highest platform. There is a bit of territorial rivalry though because one cat always sits on the left side and the other on the right.
I haven’t written much today. I’m not well, but this sight amused me this morning x.
The season of Autumn is upon us, despite having temperatures of 33.7°C in some parts of the country this week.
Today was cooler, we had rain, the sky had been cloudy all day.
Autumn, changing days
Sun sets early, rises late.
Leaves turn from green to flame.
Ending a summers growth.
Fruit and fungi burgeoning
Apples become sweet, pears ripe.
Leaves lie deep, scrunch and crunch.
Life settles down until winters slumber.
Sky keeps going dark grey, a sudden squall of rain then bright again, sunshine and showers. I’m watching the trees bend in the wind, the weather station anammometer twirling in the wind. In some places round here the power is out.
As I watch the blitzortung app on my phone I can see thunderstorms trundling across the country. Their trails changing from white, yellow, orange and red. White most recent, red in the past. You can track their movement. I’m not sure if they will get here or bypass us.
The weather is unseasonably autumnal. Festivals due to be happening thus weekend have been cancelled because of the strong winds. I’m sitting here in the dark. The radio is on. My hubby is making coffee and I’m waiting for the first flash.
Redundant, no longer used
Chimney up high. Reflected in the surface of a picture. Once these were so important in heating the home. People had ranges to cook on, heat water and heat the house. Coal was the main fuel, with wood if you were not able to afford it.
When I think about it I can remember my grandmother having a gas fire installed. The old hearth was sealed off so that only the exhaust fumes from the fire went up the chimney. The World changed again and suddenly heating was from gas central heating, then combo boilers. Some homes had chimney breasts and chimneys removed to make more space. But with gas prices increasing people are now converting to wood burning stoves. They need the chimneys again. But beware. Legislation may be brought in to stop people using them as the particulates they expel are causing breathing problems in places like London. And chimneys? The juries out on whether they will continue architecturally.
I think I need a longer holiday. One whole day by the sea plus travelling there and back makes for a tiring schedule. Maybe we should have taken the train to Llandudno. I will have to find out what the service is like. It is so muggy inland, I miss the cool sea breeze.
Up on the Great Orme mountain it was lovely. With views out over the sea and looking into a misty sky.
The town itself seems to be much improved since we visited about ten years ago. More things to do. We did bump into a homeless man selling the big issue magazine. He is trying to raise enough money to buy a motor home to live in. At least he has a job selling the magazine that he can help to support himself.
I have to think there but for the grace of God.
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When you go out in the evening at the coast everything can look great. When the sea is a flat calm and the flowers of wonderful plants shine in the light. Then you forget the cold wet, windy, miserable weather you get for the other half of the year.
Sometimes seaside towns are all pastel colours, peaches and primrose yellows or burnt orange and duck egg blues. But sometimes only the frontages are painted, I guess because people don’t have the money to paint the backs, or the weather is generally too bad and it wipes the colour away, washes the walls and the sun bleaches the buildings.
I think I might paint the view but add bright colours? Or I could stick with a muted palette. I have a sketchbook and I’m armed with a marker pen. Will see how I feel in the morning.
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Mallaband-Brown