Husb and I spent a lovely few days in one of our favourite places, North Wales, on a relaxing holiday. It’s such a contrast to the hectic city life, I love it there. Over the past few weeks I’ve been preparing sketchbooks with splashes and washes of Liquitex acrylic inks, so I took them with me to do a bit of sketching. We went on a fairly tough walk to Swallow Falls where there was a viewing bench so I sat down and chose one of the prepared pages to do a quick sketch. It’s gestural and intuitive and took about 5 minutes, using graphite (6B), black and white conté crayons. There is an easy way to get to the waterfall, but we decided to walk along the Swallow Falls Trail, about 2.5 hours from Betws Y Coed, because that’s just how we rock!

It’s the last couple of weeks to see my exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Salty Flowers

Yesterday I posted my three sketchbooks that I’m preparing with a variety of Liquitex acrylic inks. I thought I’d show a close-up of one of the pages; it’s in the handmade sketchbook that a friend created for me. She used all sorts of vintage illustrations and sealed it with clear textured gesso. I painted the deep turquoise ink across the illustrated page and threw large salt crystals across it. It didn’t do much at first but when I went and looked about 10 minutes later it was covered with flowers.

It’s the last couple of weeks to see my exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Deep Turquoise With Salt

I carried on preparing my three sketchbooks with Liquitex inks and salt but this time I used large crystals of rock salt, I didn’t grind them. I think the effect is much better, more noticeable. I used Deep Turquoise Liquitex acrylic ink, applied with a dropper onto a dry surface and I twisted and turned the books to get the ink running in different directions. Then I spread some of it with a large brush and a palette knife before throwing loads of salt at them.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Deep Violet with Salt

I carried on preparing my three sketchbooks with Liquitex inks but with a bit of a variation. I’ve used Deep Violet before but this time I wetted the paper with a large brush and water before dropping the ink onto the surface and the pigment spread itself across the pages by itself. Then I ground some sea salt onto them before they started drying out. The salt has made some interesting textures on the top (Khadi lightweight) one, but not so much the others.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Iridescent Rich Copper No. 2

When I’m preparing my sketchbooks with background colours, I use different ways of applying the Liquitex inks. The top book, a lightweight handmade Khadi paper, I squirted the ink across the pages from the dropper and then pulled it around with a palette knife. On the hand-made book in the middle, primed with a clear textured gesso, I used a brush and followed it up with a palette knife. The heavyweight Khadi book at the bottom was brushed directly with the ink.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Iridescent Rich Copper No. 1

When I’m preparing my sketchbooks with background colours, I use different ways of applying the Liquitex inks. On the heavyweight Khadi book at the bottom, I brushed the rather thick ink onto the paper neat. It really picked up the texture of the paper’s surface.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Transparent Raw Umber

It was the turn of Transparent Raw Umber to be poured haphazardly onto my sketchbooks today. I’m colouring them with Liquitex ink because so I can work directly onto coloured backgrounds. The sketchbook in the centre is hand-made (beautifully made by a friend), sealed with clear textured gesso. The small very heavyweight Khadi one is sized with smooth white gesso. And the large, lighter-weight, square-format Khadi isn’t sealed at all. A lot of making art is the preparation of materials.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Phthalocyanine Blue

I’m colouring some of my sketchbooks with Liquitex ink because I want to work directly onto coloured backgrounds for a bite. This time I used Phthalocyanine Blue, which is a powerful colour. I have three very different sketchbooks. The one in the centre is hand-made (beautifully made by a friend) and the pages are sealed with clear textured gesso. The small very heavyweight Khadi one is sealed with smooth white gesso. And the large, square-format Khadi, which is a lighter weight than the small one, isn’t sealed at all. I apply the ink from a dropper and then manipulate it a bit with a large square brush.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.

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#Caturday Archives: 61

It’s back to January 2018 for this week’s #Caturday sketchbook archive, a scribble in graphite of our Little Ming, the one-eyed fluffy tortoiseshell, doing her favourite thing, sleeping. We rescued her from a cruel and neglectful home when she was about a year old and she’s quite elderly in this drawing, about 17 years.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the are in the area.

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Vivid Lime Green

I’m preparing some of my sketchbooks with Liquitex ink because I fancy doing some sketching onto coloured backgrounds for a while. I have three very different sketchbooks. The hand-made one (beautifully made by a friend) prepared with clear textured gesso. The small very heavyweight Khadi one, prepared with smooth white gesso. And the large, square-format Khadi, which is a lighter weight than the small one. This time I used Vivid Lime Green. The effects are so different across the three books and I love the way the translucent ink allows the text and images to show through in the handmade book.

I have an exhibition, “Carved Heads And Other Creatures”, part of MANIFEST at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir. The show runs until October 31st. Open Saturdays 10.00 – 17.00, other times by appointment. Come and have a look if you’re in the area.