Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋

@paulnicholson

You're only limited by your own imagination! And your own stupidity. Micropoet✒, artist 🎨 #7SyllableSentence Allergic to stupidity The thing we have in common is we are all different 🏉 Harlequins +NRL

545 Following812 Followers981 Posts

Bluesky

amateur

Is this your profile?Claim it and paulnicholson.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· 7d

"Silence, as I'm still thinking!' #7SyllableSentence #silence #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #Micropoetry #WealdDownland #rook #EastCoastKin My Pic 📸, taken today in West Sussex, England.

Rook perched on the café's railings overlooking the millpond. On the far side, blurred, is the mill house to the left, and the water wheel sluice/valve in the middle behind the rook.
The rook is looking at me, probably weighing up its chances of food....

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· 9d

Looking down on Big Ben in July from the London Eye. Can see Westminster Abbey next to it and Buckingham Palace further right. #BlueSkyArtShow #big #EastCoastKin #LondonEye My Pics 📸

Looking down for a great height and across the River Thames, from a pod almost at the top of the London Eye's rotation, at Westminster Bridge in the mid-left foreground, the Palace of Westminster including Big Ben, the famous twin towers of Westminster Abbey next to it and many government buildings nearby.

Further away in the middle right distance is Buckingham Palace beyond one of the London parks.

View from of a pod almost at the top of the London Eye's rotation.

Underneath the Eye's white structure you can just make out Westminster Bridge in the lower foreground, and Big Ben, and more of the city sprawling away almost to the western horizon.

Closer shot of the end of Westminster Bridge bottom left, Big Ben in the middle and Westminster Abbey on the mid-right.

Top right are two red construction cranes, 2 of dozens we could see from the Eye.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· 17d

#7SyllableSentence prompts have often helped me out of creative blocks. So here’s my last turn this week to maybe inspire you? The #7SyllableSentence #prompt for 25th July is Sun #WritingCommunity Above all, have fun! I've had great fun reading all your wonderful creations. 🙂 My Pic 📸

Big Ben, London, a week ago with #7SevenSyllable prompts overlaid for 19-25 July 2026. And a couple of river trip RIBs I did not go on - too wet!

In a world full of increasingly evolving stupidity, these #7SyllableSentence prompt words conjure up happy thoughts and feelings, at least on my planet.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· 19d

The Shard Spiking Summer's clouds #7SyllableSentence #cloud #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #London #TheShard #HMSBelfast The Shard, Britain's tallest building at over 1,000 feet on London's skyline, The Thames in the foreground, and WW2 cruiser HMS Belfast permanently moored in front of it

The Shard, Britain's tallest building at over 1,000 feet on London's skyline, The Thames in the foreground, and WW2 cruiser HMS Belfast permanently moored in front of it, tied up on the river bank and now a museum. There is some blue sky and white cloud on this warm summer's day.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· 23d

Thanks to Matthias @ignorantfairy.bsky.social for last week’s inspiring prompts! #7SyllableSentence prompts have often helped me out of creative blocks. So here’s my turn to maybe inspire you? The #7SyllableSentence #prompt for 19th July is Bay Above all, have fun!

Big Ben, London, a week ago with #7SevenSyllable prompts overlaid for 19-25 July 2026.

And a couple of river trip RIBs I did not go on - too wet!

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jul 7

Meanwhile I got me a 64GB memory upgrade

My "memory upgrade" attached to my chest 🤣

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· May 24

UK National Grid electricity pylons against a blue sky. One can be found on a straight run of cable, the other is a corner pylon. *** Can you see which is which? #BlueSkyArtShow #tall #EastCoastKin #Electricity #England My Pics 📸

Corner pylon against a blue sky.

The 3 cantilever arms on the inside corner are short, whilst the 3 cantilever arms on the outside corner are long, so the the carry through cables don't get too close to the pylon itself.

The glass insulators are in-line with the cable directions, so 2 at each cantilever end.

Srraight through pylon against a blue sky.

The 3 cantilever arms on both sides of the pylon are equal length.

The glass insulators dangle from each cantilever end.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· May 23

Looks like a folly in Devon, England, but it's actually a 25m high navigational daymark. #BlueSkyArtShow #tall #EastCoastKin #Devon #England #RiverDart #navigation My Pics 📸

Navigational daymark tower, octagonal (?) with tall arches in each side at the bottom. The sea can be seen in the distance making the horizon.

Daymark looking inland across cornfields, under blue skies and cumulus clouds.

Sign describing it as

"The Daymark
The Daymark is 25 mtrs high and was built in 1864 as a navigational aid
It is owned & managed by the Dart Harbour Commissioners"

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· May 23

Tall buildings in Vauxhall, London, just behind Vauxhall Bridge over the Thames around low tide. Several skyscrapers, and some high rise blocks. They only have to be ~18m (~6 storeys) to be high rise. #BlueSkyArtShow #tall #EastCoastKin My Pic 📸 #photography #cityscape #Vauxhall #London #England

Tall buildings in Vauxhall, London, just behind Vauxhall Bridge over a very brown and muddy River Thames around low tide, with muddy edges.
Surrounding the several skyscrapers are some high rise buildings. They only have to be ~18m (~6 storeys) as the threshold to ce categorised as high rise buildings, in the view of the fire chiefs association.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· May 23

Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square on a wet December morning, post-pandemic. In the distance is Big Ben of Houses of Parliament fame. #BlueSkyArtShow #tall #EastCoastKin My Pic 📸 #cityscape #photography #TrafalgarSquare #NelsonsColumn #BigBen #Whitehall #London #England

Trafalgar Square, London after the rain with the sunshine almost silhouetting Nelson's Column and its lion-bearing plinths. Buildings border Trafalgar Square and in the gap between them that is Whitehall, and under the low sun, the tower of Big Ben can be seen.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Apr 25

One man's #odd is another cat's perfectly normal #BlueSkyArtShow #odd #EastCoastKin #TheCommunityCafe My Pic 📸 My cat 🐈‍⬛

Our black cat sunning herself sat in our old rusting wheelbarrow.
No idea why ....

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Feb 21

Two canal boats moored up on a sunny day last summer at the southern end of #FrimleyLodgePark. #Canal #CanalBoat #NarrowBoat #BasingstokeCanal, #Surrey, #England #BlueSkyArtShow #two #Photography My Pic 📸

2 mostly red canal boats (aka narrow boats) moored on the Basingstoke Canal.

It's a sunny day, and the green foliage of trees and bushes next to the canal is reflected on the calm canal like a mirror, with the red paintwork on the boats reflecting really well.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Feb 21

Bennetts #Wallabies, part of the colony living wild at Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens. #Leonardslee, #Sussex, #England. #BlueSkyArtShow #two #Photography My Pic 📸 When the gardens were sold, they were abandoned. Locals broke in every night to feed the wallabies who survived until new owners.

A reddish wallaby feeding from a bowl on the grass, and a second one lounging under a tree.
Leonardslee, famous for its rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias was sold but its new owners let it fall into decay.
Initially the locals broke in to feed the wallabies, so they were moved nearby.

Eventually there was a new owner, and Leonardslee became Europe's biggest garden restoration project before reopening complete with the now feral wallaby colony.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Feb 21

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens - outside cafe tables made from #tractor parts. #Leonardslee, #Sussex, #England #BlueSkyArtShow #two #Photography My Pic 📸

Two green tables in outside cafe made from tractor parts radiator grill and bodywork topped by a level metal surface, and green bar stools made from tractor driver's seats.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Feb 15

Dramatic oak wooden door in Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire, England. #BlueSkyArtShow #wood #photography #history #BolsoverCastle #England #TheCommunityCafe My Pic 📸

Dramatic weathered old oaken gateway door framed by a grand yellowy sandstone portal, flanked by leaded windows and topped by a slated pitched roof also with leaded windows protruding.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jan 11

We stopped in this bustling place. Full of people. But no children. At all. "Where are the children?" we asked. "Ah, you'll find them in the catacombs. When I say find, they went in but never came out." Pic 📸 @po3try.bsky.social #dailyimageprompt #dip15 #vss #WritingCommunity #TheCommunityCafe

Open iron gates leading to an ominous walled pathway. The stone gateposts have
signs for catacombs and cosy cats childcare.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jan 7

Found the sheet music for it🤣

Sheet music for the sound of silence, where all the notes have dropped off the staves and onto a pile beneath them.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jan 4

I went with this one at my cubicle desk ...

My favourite sign:

an UK road sign that says, "Sign Not In Use"

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jan 3

If poetic licence is describing things the way you want them to be not how they actually are. And if artistic licence is the same but visually rather than verbally. Then #abstraction is leaving out details for the message. Perhaps I went too far? #vss365 #WritingCommunity #TheCommunityCafe

Completely blank white page in my spiral-bound watercolour sketchbook.

Or my next work-in-progress....

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Jan 3

#SenseWrds 165 #symmetry

$Words in the shape of a decorated Christmas tree, saying 🌟 🎄 I As 🟠 You 🟡 May Know🔅 🔅 I do like 🟣 When I have 🔅 🔴 Bought a real Christmas Tree 🔵 🔅With no-drop needles But \They/ \Do!/$

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 24

Sepia watercolour postcard of Sheriff Hutton Castle, #Yorkshire, #England. Stayed in a B&B by the castle ruins and painted it there. It was posted and survived the UK postal system. #ArtAdventCalendar Day24 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #ArtYear #TheCommunityCafe My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Sepia watercolour of ruined castle with most of a tower in the centre, a much narrower piece of tower on the left and a wall with window arches on the right. All are 3-4 storeys high. There are shrubs and trees in front to the right, and shrubs to the left. The rest of the middle foreground and foreground is a rough grassy sloping field.
There is a ruined gate in the left foreground and thence a wire fence with fence posts all the way across to the right.

I painted this in the accommodation I stayed in just around the corner from the castle in Sheriff Hutton, near York, England.

70% of my posts get discarded because of #AltText and the inability of #BlueSky to save drafts. I like to provide AltText, so often need to come back later to do so, but have to discard the whole thing as saving drafts is not possible.

Didn't lose it this time, so I hope you enjoyed the description?

Paul Nicholson, England.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 23

From my sketchbook, it's a 2024 sketch of a thatched cottage near the castle in #Kenilworth, #England done from a photo I took there last year. #ArtAdventCalendar Day23 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #ArtYear #TheCommunityCafe My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Pen and black/green wash sketch of an old, slightly ramshackle thatched cottage fronting lengthways onto the street.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 22

En plein air sketch of #Kenilworth Castle nr #Coventry, #England whilst stood/sat on the hill the other side of the castle to the town, a view which I consider the best view. #ArtAdventCalendar Day22 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #EnPleinAir #ArtYear #TheCommunityCafe My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Ruined castle on a hill the other side of a small valley from my viewpoint.

In the middle foreground are the castle walls.

It's all run by English Heritage but if you go in, you'd miss out on this view

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 21

Watercolour sketch of the old church in Olden, #Norway 🇳🇴 A local benefactor built a new larger one nearby, and there was a condition that the old one should be maintained. Now it's a small museum. #ArtAdventCalendar Day21 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #ArtYear My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Watercolour sketch of a white walled old church with red rooves and a green/leaden spire.

To the right there is a large tree towering over the cemetery with some headstones visible, beyond which is another white building with a dark roof.

The mountains are in the background and there is a rough grass foreground up to the cemetery wall.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 20

An outside and inside view of the pub where we stayed nr #York #England. So it's in the spirit of Open House. Ironically it closed earlier this year, but may have since re-opened #ArtAdventCalendar Day20 #BlueSkyArtShow #OpenHouse #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #ArtYear My Pics 📸 My Art 🎨

Pen and soluble marker wash picture in a small sketchbook.

Painted in the pub that evening from my photo of the pub earlier in the day.

Front on view of the public house, probably stone built, whitewashed with a slate roof and small chimneys at each end.

Pen and soluble marker wash picture in a small sketchbook.

View inside the pub's breakfast room, with a table and 2 chairs behind which is the window onto the front aspect.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 19

More from my sketchbook and my "sketch what's in front of me" this time in a Muffin Break coffee shop to show I don't only draw in hotels and pubs in #England. #ArtAdventCalendar Day19 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #EnPleinAir (yet still indoors 🙂) #ArtYear My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Used my permanent black pens, a water-soluble black calligraphy marker and a water brush pen with some of the black marker giving off green tints instead of grey.

Depicts my view within a local coffee shop looking at the counter and the display unit for food and muffins/cakes.

Didn't quite have the nerve to try drawing people in - and they didn't stay still for long enough either.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 18

More from my sketchbook and my "sketch what's in front of me" series in the same hotel bar near #Haxby, #York, #England in early December. Artwise had a no mojo summer. #ArtAdventCalendar Day18 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #EnPleinAir (though indoors again 🙂) #ArtYear My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨

Again I used permanent black pens, a water-soluble black calligraphy marker and a water brush pen with some of the black marker giving off green tints instead of grey.

Depicts my view from the quiet seating area in the hotel bar, 2 tables along from last time, through a different doorway to the other end of the main hotel bar. The edge of the mantelpiece on the right goes out of the picture to span a fireplace and join up on the left of yesterday's picture.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 17

More from my sketchbook and my "sketch what's in front of me" series, this time sat chilling in the evening in a hotel bar near #Haxby, #York, #England. #ArtAdventCalendar Day17 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #EnPleinAir (though indoors 🙂) #ArtYear My Pics 📸 My Art 🎨

Used permanent black pens, a water-soluble black calligraphy marker and a water brush pen with some of the black marker giving off green tints instead of grey.

Depicts my view from the quiet seating area in the hotel bar, through a doorway to the main hotel bar with 2 slushie makers behind the bar counter and some beer pumps on the bar counter

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 16

More from my sketch what's in front of me series, this time recently in a local pub, #TheForestersArms in #Bagshot, #Surrey, #England. #ArtAdventCalendar Day16 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting My Pics 📸 My Art 🎨

Black pen sketch as the basis for the best picture.

View is from my seat in the local pub seating area past another bar table and chair through a doorless doorway into the main bar.

Black pen and water soluble black ink washed with a water brush to pull out greeny greys in different tones.
View is from my seat in the pub looking past another bar table and chair through a doorless doorway into the main bar.

Two Scoops 🍦🍦 🏉🎨🖋@paulnicholson· Dec 14

Pen + watersoluble ink sketch of the water mill used to ground flour on sale in the museum shop. Today en plein air, if sitting in the warm café looking out counts 🙂 #WealdDownMuseum #Sussex #England #ArtAdventCalendar Day14 #Art #AmPainting #Watercolour #Painting #EnPleinAir My Pic 📸 My Art 🎨