Archive
Posy- a painting a week
This is as much painting as I have done this week. its a bright posy of flowers from the supermarket: roses , carnations and phlox.
Lovely aunt did one of the same vase , DIY dad went back to work after mystery illness and No1 son and No2 son hatched a plan to get the password which locks the computer from us; this involved a mini video camera and a reasonbly plausible storyline. Treasures.
#168
Purple anemones
Roses by the dozen-a painting a day
6in x 9in 15cm x 22cm
That is the trouble, woolly mind woolly paintings. I mean to be honest I have just had to spell check the word woolly…when did it aquire two ‘l’s and why does it need them? It did look a bit lost with only one.
Half term has been and gone and I am looking at the garden on a daily basis trying to keep the screams silent….where did all the weeds come from and how did the growth start so soon after what seemed to be a harsh winter?
#165
Winter apples
These apples are for cooking with in winter I think that they may be Calville Blanc d’Hiver.
Today I reheated the Oxtail stew I started yesterday, it was lush, lovely aunt ate until she was full. We have heard nothing from Social Services about setting up a meeting which is annoying.
163
Red pear
6in x 7in, 15cm x17cm- watercolour on heavy watercolour paper
Lovely aunt says this looks a bit too pale compared to the original, I have gone back to the original method of taking the picture as I have not got to grips with the new camera.
It also needs a bit of alteration to a curve on the RHS.
162
A leaf from the Newton Wonder – a painting a day
SOLD size 6 in x 6 in, 15cm x 15cm
The snow which arrived on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday in large quantities has now almost all washed away. My neighbours who moved out while their building work was being done are back finally, they must be so relieved, and it is good to see the lights on at night knowing its inhabited again.
Last week’s combination of gammon on Friday and chicken on Sunday made a wealth of other meals. There was a spicy stir fry with Thai noodles , lots of sandwiches and finally chopped chicken and ham in mayonnaise to go in jacket potatoes. Then there was soup using the stock from the carcase and the gammon rind one cold lunchtime when no-one could get to school or work. The fat which came off was mixed with millet for the birds.
On Friday the school was appealing for volunteers to go and scrape snow off the paths and drives in order to get the place open for Monday….it is a close call- which is most unpleasant: two hours hard labour in the cold or another day with damp fractious boys all over the house?
There was no need to go and scrape snow off the school drive the rain has seen to it. Even the four foot icicle fell down today. I saved a section to show to some South African visitors who are due on Tuesday ( I have saved it in the freezer).
After my vocal complaints last weekend about lack of help in the kitchen especially on a Sunday I was surprised to find that the promised weekend free of cooking really did happen and we still got a roast!!! We also got more kit made croissants than any of us could face No2 just kept taking trays out of the oven.
I have now run out of all but my last carton of Goats milk( UHT not brill. in tea)…the desperate housewives of the weald had stripped the supermarket of bread, milk, goatsmilk , UHT milk and goats UHT, fruit juice (so essential) crumpets, teacakes, croissants, brioche and butter as soon as they could get the car back on the road ( I did not check to see if they were out of tins of borlotti beans too I expect they were; we are one of the Home Counties). When we couldn’t drive and the shopping was done by toboggan there was more food to buy. I have had to buy what is a marketing dream…oats milk you could pick it up by mistake glancing at the packet in hurry. I don’t know if it will be any good, if it is horrid rest assured I will tell you.
The snow melted to show a soggy lawn with lots of soggy leaves, I therefore spent far too long raking them up, I have a small long barrow of apple and oak leaves, some of the apple leaves have lovely coloured stems so I did a quick sketch in watercolour (it was that or continue raking). The leaf is from the Newton Wonder tree which has big round serrated leaves, you are looking at the underside to see the best of the colour.
#160 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Dried Hydrangea – a painting a day
Sold size 9 in x 6 in, 24cm x 15cm
The decorating is nearly done; I needed to get the dust off the stairs and in the process nearly pulled the vacuum cleaner on my head. This was dramatic enough to raise a comment from No1 and No2 who being off school with the snow are clamped to the beanbag behind the infernal games machine. A comment only, they didn’t find it dramatic enough to come and see if I was alright. I obviously need drama lessons. No1 did go out tobogganing and No2 is practicing his Christmas song on the guitar,” I believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake. It’s quite hard to sing but surprisingly he wants me to struggle with him on this one. I am better with OTT sweeping dramatic tunes but I am doing my best to manage fairly subtle but heartfelt…..
The snow has been the deepest we have ever seen here, actually the deepest we have ever seen in Sussex, just over a foot or thirty centimetres plus. My neighbour who moved here in 1959 said that there were times when the snow was thigh deep on the short slope down to the main road. Tonight has been a strange sequence. First it went very cold and a fog started to form then the fog vanished and the air got warmer now the rain is starting and the sound of a thaw the dripping and the soft thuds of falling snow have taken over from the self-conscious silence of the snowy nights. They say that later the cloud will clear and the temperature will drop again.
The warm roof (insulation between and over the rafters) is brilliant the central heating goes off at 9.30am and with the help of the wood burner I can manage to keep the temperature at around 19C in most of the house. Running the stove everyday and letting it burn slowly overnight is working, there is a residual warmth in the brick chimney which makes a big difference. Some days I have turned the central heating on for an hour after lunch but generally not even when it is 4 below zero outside.
Speaking of the snow and cold, I went to bash the snow off a thick evergreen tree which can break under the weight of the snow one night, I used the broom and cascades of powdery snow crashed to the ground as twenty sparrows burst from the branches fully indignant and no doubt very resentful.
I managed a painting today, it’s one of my favourite mugs with some of the hydrangea which I dried before it went brown and manky outside.
In the interests of fairness No2 son was dispatched on foot to the supermarket to get his chicken.
#159 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Pomegranate and snow
Click here to bid size 6 in x 6 in, 15cm x 15cm
Back in my bedroom and I can take things in there now for good, the wardrobe stands where it will stand for good, the hat box would go on top but the ceiling is too low just there, it’s been so long since we had a proper finished room to sleep in that I find my brain can’t recall what I like in a bedroom anymore; I have to come across the object and it then reminds me that it is handy to have that lamp, that basket and that bowl near the bed. I still have not found my rug- the coolness of the floor reminds me that I have a rug somewhere that would be good to step out of bed onto.
It has finally snowed, last night was frosty and close inspection revealed small snowflakes sprinkled over the frost this morning, but now it has snowed enough to coat the path. Last year of course it went on to coat the road in three inches of solid ice so that we were lending the sledge out to neighbours who couldn’t drive home with their shopping. Some pig in a Landrover Discovery drove up and nicked all the rock salt in the bin so we were really stuck; not being a bus route or anything we got no council gritting until the end of January. My brother came to visit and nobly dug a track through the ice for twenty yards.
My car is under some of this snow,
The final revision of this week’s recipe for food DT was put in my hand after the supermarket closed tonight. I suggested pork sweet and sour instead of chicken but No2 is implacable, someone will be going out early to get it, snow allowing…I suppose he has been relying a little too heavily on snow closing the school. I expect he’s dreaming sweetly of that now.
#158 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Holly leaf and Holly shadow – a painting a day
Click here to buy size 5in x 6 in, 13cm x 15cm
I am very jealous there are people out there who have snow already and we have nothing but a deadly frost. It is already five below zero.
I am very relieved that No1 son did not get himself organised to go on the protest in Brighton on Wednesday. By all accounts the police waded in as if they were dealing with seasoned protesters and kettled people irrespective of age and behaviour. No1 son would have reacted very badly to this and would have been climbing buildings and railing to escape and would no doubt have got into more trouble than was necessary. Perhaps when the Red Cross appear to bring relief to the prisoners at the next protest the police will begin to question what they are doing.
Kettle say ten children from a school and restrain even one in the way which the police tend to do, the news will flash round 1500 teenagers in under 24 hours and they will never forget because it has happened to someone they see every day. They would be able to see the bruises on class mates first hand after Wednesday I am told. As a parent I am utterly disgusted.
I can’t help remembering a conversation with two Police Officers a long time age, they were recalling going to Stonehenge on overtime to evict hippies who were camping nearby for the solstice celebrations. They described it as the best fun they had had since the miners’ strike. They did not appear to be monsters but they were obviously glad of a clearly defined enemy to lay into once in a while….I just don’t think that they should allow themselves to see school children as that enemy.
The holly leaf fits in with the series of leaves, even evergreens lose their leaves at some point, they just take care not to lose all of them at once. And yes, that is how prickly I am feeling.
#156 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Maple leaves – a painting a day
This painting has been framed and is for sale at Burgess Hill Open Houses see blog for June 4th
size 5 in x 4.5 in, 13cm x 12cm
These are leaves which I picked up the day the car went for repair last week. They are starting to curl and dry out indoors.
No1 son came home looking cheerful and well although the journey home had taken three hours longer than it was supposed to because the sea was too rough for the ferry to take them off Arran. His clothes washing requirements were remarkably light as it seemed he had spent most of the week in the one outfit. In fairness he had changed his socks more than twice! He had obviously enjoyed the chocolate brownies as there were chocolate cake crumbs scattered throughout his day bag.
The decorator arrived this morning as arranged and DIY Dad has been in a frenzy of activity involving his latest tool the mighty mitre saw. The decorator would obviously prefer it if the skirting boards are in place before he gets to them.
The garden is looking very dismal, things are collapsing in dark rotting heaps; looking for some flowers the other day was very depressing the roses that have been visible through the back door look tatty close up, I found one stem in a more sheltered area, a single decent stem of snowberry and one of Shizostylis which has left it rather too late to flower.
#154 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Lemon a day 
