New paintings and regular art updates.
Here’s a bit of blank verse,
We are lucky not to be too cold.
It’s nineteen point two
A slight chill in here
Two small lights on
Saving energy?
So I have a dressing gown
Or a cardigan
To wear.
I will buy a hot water bottle.
No gas fire this autumn or winter
Central Heating?
When it’s too cold.
An electric heater otherwise.
Gas costs more than electricity here
I can’t afford double what we paid
Last year.
Well at least I’m not heating up
The environment, too much.
Sunlight through leaves, making patterns on the kitchen wall. It would be brighter but the wall is painted a pale apple green. When there was a partial eclipse a few years ago the light hitting the wall turned into increasing crescent moon shapes as the Moon passed in front of the Sun. This time of year, before the autumn sets in, there is a lot of shade from the trees in the garden. The pear tree is casting most of the shade on the wall, and a few pears have started to fall as the morning temperature reduces. I can almost feel a chill in the air this morning.
Soon it will be the vernal? Equinox, when the day and night time are in balance in the Northern (and also Southern) Hemispheres of the Earth. That is when both day and night are exactly 12 hours long. Soon the days here will shorten, whilst they grow longer in the south. I hope the nights are not too cold, I would like the leaves to stay on the trees as long as possible. I always feel sad when they become skeletal in the winter and the long wait till spring comes round again drags on. I miss my flowers as they wilt and fade, and I find it harder to motivate myself in the dark days of winter. But that is a while away yet, so I will enjoy what is left of the summer while I can.
The snow has gone for now
Warm winds blow from the south
Clear frosty mornings
Left behind
Rain and showers
Water the blossom and flowers
Cold chill twigs
Now wet with buds.
Birds collect bugs
and think of lining their nests
With moss and fluffy stuff
Warm and snuggled
For eggs and chicks
Farewell Winter.
See you later in the year
As the seasons turn.
Not this years ones, they haven’t opened up yet. But they are starting to grow up. I just can’t wait. I’m used to waiting for spring but sometimes it seems to take an awful long time to get here. A couple of weeks ago the temperatures were in the high teens Celsius, last week they dropped to freezing or below, and there was a snow in a few places across the UK. We didn’t get more than a bit of hail and snow here. Meanwhile the daffodils and snowdrops are up. We haven’t had much rain though, so the buds on the trees are not fully open yet…
I went to our Orme Art group today and as I only had limited time I decided to draw from one of my photos from yesterday. It had to be a patch of snowdrops. So evocative of winter. It’s a felt pen sketch. I drew the light areas first then filled in around them. Probably took 90 minute’s.
Big wet flakes of snow. Its too cold to open up the back door and film it. I’m shivering and cold so I’m wrapped up. Our heating system is on but our house isn’t well insulated so it doesn’t retain heat. I would like to get it done but I don’t have the money and I can’t get a grant….. Life. We live in a small victorian end terrace house with a small extension of a kitchen and bathroom. They are the worst bit because I think they are only a single layer of bricks and the flat roof is not really insulated either. I should just shut the door, but then how would the cats get in and out? So I’m sitting watching the flakes fall. They are only starting to stick now. It’s not supposed to fall for long then it should turn to rain. Whatever happens I don’t feel like going out in it. Keep warm….
Swanning around
The Swan swam
Peaceful and proud
Sheltered from the wind
On a cold lake.
We went out for a short walk locally as the sun started to set. The sky was very grey but there was a little patch of light in the south west, so I hoped it would possibly turn into a sunset. As you can see it did! I took lots of photos so I decided to do a sort of abstract compilation of some of them. I might try and line them up better later. So yes, this was the last sunset of 2021 here in my bit of the UK. In some places in the world midnight will have already been and gone. In others it’s probably only the morning. May your new year be good and safe. X
Christmas cactus flowering in the kitchen. These are a beautiful pale pink. I have some other ones that are red and dark pink.
How do they know when to flower? They always seem to come out around this time of year. As soon as the buds start to grow I start watering them and they soon grow and burst into flower. They are a lovely sight in the middle of winter.
Actually it was probably September or October when I took this. Now the leaves have withered, just a few cling on to life. But come the spring I hope to transplant some of these plants into pots. I think the fushias will have survived because they have woody stems. Then the hanging baskets will go to the local nursery to have them filled for the next season. It’s always at this time of year that I start to think about spring. That is until we get to the cold blast of January to March. That’s when hubby gets enthusiastic and plants all the seeds we bought and collected in Autumn. Sadly the plants either don’t emerge or die off because they are too cold. Or he puts a whole packet of seed in one small pot! It’s amazing we get anything to grow!
Mallaband-Brown