Well who would believe it, in the blink of an eye it will be Christmas.
We hope you have all your presents organised. I am guessing that a certain online selling company has been doing rather better than it's jungle named counterpart. In fact all online sales have probably been doing rather better than their high street counterparts for that matter too. There is now some hope on the horizon with the advent of working vaccines which may just help us return to some kind of normality. It would be really nice to see some of the people that we haven't seen for a long, long time. However many people now face an uncertain Christmas and the New Year could be just as bad. Companies have folded in the wake of covid and unemployment has and will continue to rise. So if you have ended up with reduced hours or no hours at all our thoughts go out to you. Many people have also found Covid and the confinement difficult to deal with mentally. Our thoughts go out to you too. Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world and whatever your circumstances are, we hope you will be able to celebrate your festivities (whatever they may be), for us it is Christmas. We also hope that the New Year will provide new hope for all and the promise of better things to come. On a lighter note we hope that Santa will bring you all the gifts that you wish for. Don't forget the gift of love is equally as special. Mid November we started to see a special visitor in our back garden. After watching Autunmwatch and listening to Mr Packham talking about leucistic badgers, we had an inkling that this is a Leucistic Sparrow. Some further investigation on a very well know search engine, that rhymes with floogle, seems to have confirmed our suspicions. However if anybody knows better than us and maybe it isn't a sparrow at all please let us know. This particular sparrow is very hard to get a photograph of as it is very nervous of people. This is the best of only two images we have been able to capture in all this time. I have to confess the normal sparrow next to our visitor has been added during the edit for context. As we said our leucistic friend has been very elusive. We did want to show the difference between normal and leucistic though, hence the edit. The colours are as close to true to life as possible. Please remember the colours you see may not be the same due to differences in viewing mediums. The sparrow is a much lighter almost tan colour, you really do see the difference even from a distance.
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Well we keep saying it, but really what a strange year we have been living. It is something that we never thought we would live through and yet here we are. Hello to all. So we have well and truly waved goodbye to the summer. Autumn has been slowly and quietly creeping up behind us and now it is here in all its glory. So at this point we could just say have a look at our previous blogs to see what we have been up to. That would be slightly lazy of us though wouldn't it? Really though please do have another look (or maybe a first look) at our other blogs. We would love it if you see something that resonates with you. There is no pressure to buy anything at all and it may just give you a few minutes pause from the hurly burly of your own life. Also we try to put a bit of ourselves in our blogs and well, we also think they are all blooming fantastic, but then we are slightly biased. I can tell you now as a web exclusive - (shh don't tell anyone else it is V.I.P. information for you only), all of the "Circus Gang" have been rearrested and are now incarcerated in a medium sized room with no windows and no doors and made of 10ft thick solid reinforced concrete. Ah ha I hear the clever ones among you asking how on earth are they being fed if there are no windows or doors and the room is 10ft thick reinforced concrete. The answer is simple, no it isn't that we didn't mention the small serving hatch where supplies can be posted through. Or the intricate technology that allows the use of a restroom and the processing of hot food all within the walls whilst maintaining an impenetrable force field, which would be most suited to the likes of Star Trek or Star Wars, or for the younger amongst you Wakanda from the Marvel films. No the answer is that ........ They are not really real, we made them all up just as we did the room they are locked up in. Still we hope you enjoyed the halloween journey with them and hope you also saw them on our facebook page and also watched them on the youtube video. If you didn't shame on you. You must go and do so as soon as you have finished reading this blog. Talking of Halloween, the Halloween Cat also made it home safely. Did you watch the short poem? If not why not? No excuses now just do it (if it's good for Nike it's good for us). As Harlow had no official fireworks this year we also looked back at our previous video just to get into the mood. Once we were suitably in the mood we also added some new creations. We hope you like these new creations. Before you could say Fireworks, Fireworks, Bonfire, Bang we were bang up to date with today 08/11/2020. Not only are we now back into lockdown until the beginning of December (we hope), this year the Eighth of November is a very important day. It is Remembrance Sunday. Remembrance Sunday (closest sunday to 11th November and sometimes known informally as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of the remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of the First World War on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. ("At the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am). This is "Lest We Forget 2020" On this Remembrance Sunday this is our small tribute to all those that have perished in conflict. We truly hope that in the future humans will put aside their differences and peace will be a real option. There is always hope and hope will reign eternal. This image is available as a Limited Edition Print, Canvas etc. Including Certificate of Authenticity. If there is something special that you want e.g. special medium (acrylic, aluminium), or a particular subject then please let us know. We will try our very best to fulfil your requests. For more info visit https://www.facebook.com/pitcherthisphotography , https://www.instagram.com/ptpuk , https://g.page/PTPUK or https://www.ptpuk.co.uk/ https://www.ptpuk.co.uk/image-sales.html (Basic Pricing) Don't forget to check out our other media pages, the images could be different. #ptpuk #limitededition #prints #print #harlowessex #essex #photography #photograph #art #artwork #limited #abstracts #traditionalart #traditionalartwork #digitalart #people #landscape #lestweforget #remembrancesunday #rememberance #11november #roarkart #war #soldiers #worldwar #poppy #poppyfields #peace #remember Please enjoy the image, there is still no obligation to buy, although if you would like to the information is above. Finally for this blog as we said, Autumn is most definitely with us, so on our google we posted a very short slideshow entitled "Autumn where we live" just click the title to go to the link. Obviously we posted an image here (see above). This is autumn in our local Harlow Park. We are very lucky as we have many fairies in the park and also a herd of unicorns which is actually called "A Blessing" we hope you have fairies and unicorns too. So here we are all caught up again. We hope you enjoyed the journey and will continue to follow along with us. Yes Covid is still with us and lockdown is back, but we will continue to create as best we can. It is just a new challenge to carry on inventing. Christmas is also just around the corner now so something else to look forward to. Oh and if you take a look at our Facebook Page there will still be some more sheep to come, we can almost guarantee it. Many more creations also, so please keep looking at all our social media. Please "comment" and "like" as we would love to get more feedback. Keep safe and speak (metaphorically speaking) soon.
A much more family friendly short Halloween poem. Less than two minutes so please watch and listen if you can. Please comment and like too. Its a little bit different for us, so we very much hope you enjoy it. It's nearly Halloween, want a five minute fright fest? Can you last the whole video? Will you feel safe if you do? Lock all your doors and windows. See the Circus Gang at their Halloween worst. Welcome to all.
As our latest blog we offer you, our loyal readers, a sneak peak at our latest creations. As the title suggests this is a Halloween Special. It was quite good fun delving into the dark side and trying to create characters worthy of a decent Horror Film. If you recognise the backdrops for these gruesome characters, then you will have probably guessed that they are all from Harlow Town Park and the recent visit from the Circus. Collectively these murderous lunatics are known as the Circus Gang. They prey on the poor unsuspecting people just going to have a good time and enjoy themselves. Little do these poor innocent souls know that this could be their last visit out, as the Circus Gang will despatch, without concern, anybody that has the misfortune to wander into their view. No one is safe. Hoodie - No one knows who he or she is, not even the high security officers at the facility he/she has escaped from. The officers that tried to remove "IT'S" hood have all died instantly. Not a sole has found out if the glowing eyes under that hood are human (some kind of mask) or just demonic. The age of Hoodie is not know - in fact nothing is known about Hoodie, other than people have and continue to die when Hoodie is about. The fact that Hoodie was incarcerated in the high security prison for a year, seems to be because Hoodie wanted to be there rather than the governing bodies were able to detain the Hoodie. Morte the Clown - The mask he wears says it all. Exposed to too many horror flicks as a child, the young Henry Stafford just flipped killing a whole village at the tender age of 13 years. In and out of institutions all his life, whenever he has been paroled the death toll has just increased. Obviously his chosen horror film to emulate is the original IT by Stephen King. He did see the remake at his last prison but after the film finished he killed all the other inmates and the prison officers that came to help. After this he was sent to the high security prison for everybody's safety. It hasn't worked. Oh yes Henry's chosen alias means Death. Knightshade - A very pretty and intelligent young lady, previously a fully qualified barrister. Her life changed when a criminal, with know gangland affiliation, that she was prosecuting was aquitted. The criminal then took revenge on her family, husband and parents. Killing them all slowly and then sending body parts of them to her in the post. She just snapped killing the criminal, his family, friends and all his associates (totalling 300) with an axe over a three month period. She is now stuck in a sinister loop where everybody she sees, she imagines is connected to the criminal and kills without mercy. As that famous song says the female of the species is most certainly more deadly than the male. Legion - Believes he is the reincarnation of Julius Caesar sent back to earth as the Devil's emissary. His only function is to provide bad souls for the Devil to toil for him in Hell. Sadly though Legion believes that everyone in the human race has something to hide, and therefore is worthy of being the next employee of Satan himself. It is pointless to offer evidence of how good you are. If you meet Legion he will be the last person you see. Righteous John - The total opposite to Legion and yet the other side of the same coin. John believes he is the right hand of god and all the souls he saves go to Heaven. Mistreated as a young child by a religious sect, the young John never forgot the completely doctured scriptures that were beaten into him. As he grew he saw the sadness and inhumanity that we so often visit upon ourselves. However rather to try and make the situations better, due to his twisted upbringing, his final solution is to send the poor souls on earth to a better life in Heaven. It is normal for us all to complain about our lot from time to time. But prey with all your might that you are not overheard by Righteous John or he will unite you with God without blinking. Slice - Completely insane he is Halloween. Modelling himself on Michael Myers in the beginning, he now truly believes he is the man himself. The Halloween story is now his story the people Michael Myers killed are the people slice killed. Sadly where the films end Slice begins continuing the macabre plot from the films. Indiscriminately killing anybody he wants. Slice like the character he adopted is intensely strong, some would say inhuman strength. He has also survived many attempts by the police to arrests him even when armed force has been used. Somehow evading any serious bullet or other wounds and healing with incredible speed. No injury seems to stop him. He has taken his role very seriously. Truly the stuff of nightmares, with Slice trick or treating is never a treat ! He is mister Halloween of the worst kind. Well here we are again covid 19 seems to gaining ground again.
Now we all have our own ideas of how we should deal with the Covid crisis. So I don't want to talk about that again. However I thought that people may want to know how we have managed to take our images during the past lockdown and what we will do in the future. All the images have been taken while we were on our hourly exercise walks. The only two people on these walks are myself and my wife. We observe social distancing at all times. We handhold our cameras all the time (no tripods) and there is no unnecessary loitering. We have never been so familiar with our local park (Harlow Town Park) or our own small back garden for that matter. We have been truly grateful for both. We have been further afield since the restrictions were lifted. In all honesty though, not really that far and we still stuck to the rules. It may not be the same creative pathway we would have followed had it not been for covid. It has truly been an eye opening experience though. We have enjoyed the challenge, for most parts, the peacefulness and a chance just to enjoy the world around us. We have enjoyed creating local art and we hope that you have enjoyed viewing the art we have made. We will continue to work within the guidelines given and hope to continue enjoying the challenge. We hope you are all well and covid free and that you stay that way in the future. Should you be interested in the gear we have and use, here is a breakdown of the equipment in use daily. Me: Canon 70d, sigma 70-300mm apo macro lens f4.5-5.6 (very old, no longer made, inexpensive), Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 My Wife: Canon 760d, tamron 70-300 macro lens f4.5-5.6 (much like the sigma the old version not the newer version). Canon 18-55 standard lens That is it, we usually take a lens each, light and easy to carry, no frills and we enjoy every moment of it. So if anybody wanted to know there it is what we do you've, seen. You also now know how we do it and what with. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please no matter what stay safe. Glitch image above taken on exercise walk. Hello all.
We realised that in the "New Normal" blog we referred to the covid cat, but we had not shown the original image. So here it is with the poem that we made up to go with it. This is a cat that sits in our garden Boy or girl, we don’t even know If you try to get too close It just gets up and will go We call it a Covid cat as it always keeps a distance We offer a smile and a hand to stroke, but we are always met with resistance. So this is the cat that sits in our garden It is not our cat did we say But if you don’t get too close, it seems quite happy to stay. Hello to you all, we hope that you are all doing well.
This is just a quick catch up since our April post Living in the Covid 19 Era. Above is a small selection of the kind of things we have been posting on facebook, instagram and google (including a few exclusive edits for this blog). All of the images you see have been created in lockdown and the majority of the original photographs were also taken in and since lockdown. We have been surprised at just how many local images we have been able to take, and now have a considerable backlog of images to be brought to life. In truth finding the time to do everything has been no easier, but we are certainly not complaining in the least. My wife is continuing to work from home in this "New Normal" and we are still snapping away, although finding new things is becoming more difficult and the tally of images is now slowing. So why did we title this "The New Normal" Well that is what it is now isn't it? We are all supposed to be carrying on as normal and being alert. On the plus side we can move about more freely than at the beginning, the queues for the supermarket are no longer as large and things are reopening. So why do we not feel that normal still. Now I am fully aware that we are both quite cautious people to begin with and I, Mr P, am quite insular anyway as even before Covid you would normally find me at home editing and creating and in this respect nothing has really changed for me. You may have seen the many posts on FB etc. of the artist before during and after covid - and the image accompanying that doesn't change. Maybe the government did a really good job of scaring us into being very cautious, but it still does not feel normal to us. We couldn't go away this year and where we were going in the UK is still not open. I know many people have gone abroad or even away in this country, but running the risk of having to pay extra to get home from outside of the UK or to isolate on return seems not normal. Then in this country you have to book for everything. When we holiday the fun part is having a rough idea of where we are going but then just going with the flow, eating when we like, where we like and taking pictures until we want to stop. At the moment there is no flow. We are also of a certain age now so having easy access to a toilet is important but from what we have seen easy access is still not normal. We are asked to wear face masks so we wear face masks but many are not and if they do it seems to mean they are now immune and therefore able to stand so close you can feel their breath through the mask. Wearing a mask on your ear apparently doesn't work well either or under your chin or having you nose exposed. One man in our supermarket had no mask on and tried to push in on the queue to pay. When we told him to queue he said he was fed up with all the queuing now and he had already had it 3 times anyway. Well if he had, which I doubt seeing that no one has had it 3 times so far to date, just maybe this was due to his reluctance to keep a distance and wear a mask - just saying. Well this turned into a bit of a rant, but it is just our own opinion and yours may be totally different. For us the new normal is anything but. We still can't do the things that we were doing before covid and that is a shame, but we will adapt and change our routines as we have already been doing. I quite liked the old normal but who knows the new normal to come may be better than the new normal we have now. Oh and one last thing, no one has actually got a cure yet so the new normal includes Covid still. End of rant. Hello all on this Friday evening. We hope you are all looking forward to the weekend. This is a different post as there is no intention to sell this time. It is more just a chance to show off our lovely grandson, who just turned one and is the most smiley, happy little boy you could wish to meet. He is a pure pleasure to be around and just makes us smile as soon as we see him. No business, just very proud Nanny and Grandad showing off.
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March 2024
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