In Bangladesh, working and watching cricket, I also became a little obsessed with the painted and decorated cycle rickshaws that are everywhere. 'The people their culture - likes and dislikes - are conveyed through paintings done at the back of peddle rickshaw' (Dr Khalid Hasan writing in a Brand Forum publication). They have idyllic places, heroes and heroines from films, and decorated curtains and chrome. My idyllic place is the Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium, my heroes are the vocal wicketkeeper for Bangladesh, Mushfiqur and the grim faced Enland batsmen who wore down the opposition. My curtains and adorned with pictures of the match, whilst my chrome is overlaid with the key moments from the game. Luckily, I was able to make a design for my own rickshaw while in Bangladesh and very soon it could be seen plying for trade in the street of Dhaka!

We never told them how much we loved this tree,
Ripening to maturity,
Striped by age, but not crippled.
But someone's gripe,
Risk assessment tripe,
Tripped up,
Ripped down,
Machine's grip
Strips.
RIP
Tree.

I grabbed a handful of wood shavings from around some freshly cut trees as the smelled great. When I mixed those with the paint they just smelled of....paint!



I'm getting more comfortable with the acrylics now. I realise that you use the colours separately and don't try to mix/muddy them up. Used in spots/splatters against the white paper they look very good.

January art

I have been very busy and not blogging, but I have done a few arty bits and pieces recently. Here's a selection.

Boxing Day

Had to get out for a run in order to fit in more food later! Running across Ranmore the sun came through the dark clouds above Dorking and lit up one field and part of the vinyard at Denbies. The sun really beamned down through the cloud. I took a reference photo but of course this sport of thing is impossible to photograph!

Holly

I picked this on Bookham Commons. Its a very good year for berries, apparently because it has been so very wet. Yes, a surprise for those not from the UK, we do degrees of wetness and this Autumn has been extreme!

Just back from Ghana where I sketched the sun setting over the Fort at Elimina. It was a challenge because it was such a striking sight, but I caught something of it. I wish I had got my horizon a little straighter though!