Husb and I had a grand day out today, driving up to Big Pit National Coal Museum near Blaenafon. We met up with a gaggle of artists (is that the right collective noun?) from The Worker’s Gallery and Workshops in Ynyshir in the nearby Rhondda Valley. It’s a fabulous small gallery that punches way above its weight and well worth a day trip to go and see what’s on there.
At Big Pit, we had a guided tour underground and then explored the site and the excellent exhibitions set out in the historic industrial buildings. And a cup of tea and some Welsh cakes in the warm and cosy cafeteria with spectacular views. Of course, I had to have a scribble. It was very cold and blustery and difficult to draw, but sometimes you need extreme conditions to force you out of your comfort zone and zoom in on what’s absolutely essential for your drawing.
This building is the Fan House, where the big fan is. It’s used several times a day to pump clean air into the pit. I worked quickly with white, sanguine and black conté crayon, in that order, into my A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook from Seawhites. I used the point of the crayons for a scribbled line and the flat side to cover areas quickly.
Earlier this week was the opening of Swansea’s International Women’s Day exhibition at Cinema & Co. It was fantastic, loads of people there and lots of arty and fun things happening. Cinema & Co is putting on a terrific programme of films through the month because it’s also Women’s History Month. Please check out the programme…..
I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.
Wow I love that big pipe thingy! I assume that was where the air was going into the mine?
Yes Leonie, it flushes dangerous gases and stale air out of the mine and also helps to regulate the temperature. Fascinating place
So this is what I am trying to learn, from you particularly, to see differently, to abstract from observation, to capture simply. This piece illustrates what I admire about your approach really well.
Thank you, Neil. Drawing in extreme conditions helps to focus in on the essentials. It helped that I had forgotten to take my gloves 😁
Good one Rosie, glad that the coal mines are a gonna now though, ..nice to see a museum. ..regards Dane
It’s a terrific place to visit – and free too