There are Starlings and Sparrows nesting in the holes and eaves of both my neighbours houses, so I had just been enjoying the little chirping of new birds from afar. Or so I thought. Today I saw a bird shoot into my wall and disappear. I watched and waited, and saw the exit. So quick I almost missed it. But it looked like a Blue tit. So I got my camera, set to video mode and waited, again. And waited. Just before giving up, it darted out and luckily I caught it. Here are the stills. It’s extra exciting now to know I also have birds nesting, and interesting to see how they make do and manage to find somewhere warm, dry and safe right alongside people.
You know when you hear the phrase ‘not on the same page’? Implying that you are both not quite thinking along the same lines. When we realised there was a massive difference in thought going on, I realised we weren’t even in the same book.
We discovered that my husband is Aphantasic, meaning he doesn’t see any mental imagery in mind. I on the other hand, it turns out, am Hyperphantasic, someone who visualises most of the time. It may seem like a small difference to some people, and maybe it is to others, but for us it was huge. And went some way to explain why he just couldn’t understand my viewpoint on many things – despite various method of breaking it down or through logical explanations. Once we knew, I don’t expect him to understand certain things now. Because I can imagine what it is like to not have the ability – or affliction, to see images in mind, have internal narration (inner monologue) and recurring memories. In fact, once I did imagine what it was like to not have them, I understood him better and things made more sense. But the flipside of that, is that he can’t do the same. He does not imagine. So his understanding of me is limited, the best way I felt I could explain it was to write it down. Put in into sections of what areas of life I felt this made a difference.
From that came my book, Meeting in the Middle of Nowhere, describing what it is like to have Hyperphantasia and how I feel this has affected many areas of my life and experiences. And describing as best I can, the viewpoint on those subjects from someone with Aphantasia.
This is an updated post as since doing the original one a few of weeks ago, I found three more!
Amazing how many different spiders there have been just in my small garden. I have listed all the ones from the last two years and hopefully will get more this year. And because I have a number of pics for each, I think a post showcasing each of them will soon come as well 🙂
Up early enough to catch it today (first pic) and remembered to tear myself away from working to check up on it (pic 2). It’s gone a bit grey now, but hopefully a bit of sun will bust through later.
Now I have a few more techniques for backgrounds (when I say technique, I actually mean various sheets of coloured card) I am really enjoying creating even stranger effects with good angles and a bit of lighting. This one almost looking like a planet I thought. Although oil drops can be fun, you have no control over them and a short time to get the shot before it changes, but being honest, that’s part of the fun!
It was a beautiful day, snowy in the morning and sunny by the afternoon. Its not frequent but does happen now and again we get snow in April. I’ve seen it a few times in my lifetime now.
So, after watercolour and acrylics going well and a bit of a break while work got a busy for payroll and tax year end, I decided it was tome to face my nemesis. Oil paints. I dramatise it though, really I tried them once when I was 15 with no guidance or knowledge and it was a mess. But after watching a fair few Bob Ross episodes, I thought – be brave. They won’t be mistakes, they’ll be… yep, happy little accidents.
This is how it started – fully prepped and with my new little easel and palette. And, my grandmothers paint brushes. She passed away about 5 years ago now but my grandpa sent me the rest of her art supplies recently so it’s inspired me to try more.
In progress – trying to be all meticulous without a real clue of what I am doing. Bob makes it look so easy. But I’m working out how much paint is enough, brush technique for lots of different brushes, mixing colours and all the other things that come with painting. I can’t believe I ever though it was as simple as just pick up a brush and paint! And for some people it may well be just that, but not for me.
Honestly, I was quite pleased with where it went and ended up. My first oil painting.
Followed very quickly by a second, not as pleased with it, but had to start somewhere with more than just blending so a pale background and some trees seemed appropriate. Next weekend is for gardening hopefully, but if it’s raining, maybe some more painting 🙂
MKW Publishing 