Reclaimed

Some time ago I bought some second hand silkscreens. They had photochemical stencils on them and needed to be cleaned so that I can re-use them. They had been originally coated with Speedball Diazo photoscreen emulsion so I had to use Speedball’s remover. I poured a little remover onto one side and quickly spread itContinue reading “Reclaimed”

Screening Paula and Käthe

I carried on preparing my silkscreen of portraits of two of my favourite artists, Paula Mödersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz. Yesterday I painted the images onto a silkscreen using Speedball Diazo Drawing Fluid and a small sable brush. I let it dry overnight and today I applied the Diazo Filler Solution. I dribbled a little onto the screen (layingContinue reading “Screening Paula and Käthe”

Paula and Käthe

Something different today. I’m working on a silkscreen, planning a series of small screenprints based on my favourite artists. Here are the first two: Paula Mödersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz, both active in the late 19th and early 20th century. I did some drawings based on photographs of the two artists, drew them onto the screen in pencil andContinue reading “Paula and Käthe”

Drizzly Dog

Sometimes I work from photographs because I find it’s useful to be able to do a more detailed analysis of the image than I’d normally be able to do when I’m drawing directly from life. It gives me the chance to concentrate on things like perspective, proportion, foreshortening, reflections and composition. When I’m working withContinue reading “Drizzly Dog”

Six Minutes

Today’s sketch is purely practice. I googled ‘elderly women heads images’, chose one and sketched it in graphite into my A5 hardbacked sketchbook with a time limit of 6 minutes. This forces me to focus on the most relevant aspects of the face, how little I need to draw to get a reasonable image andContinue reading “Six Minutes”

The F. C. B.

For people from outside Britain, an F. C. B. stands for a Full Cooked Breakfast. In England, it’s a gigantic platter of sausage, bacon and eggs, supplemented by a variety of delicacies like fried potatoes, fried tomatoes, baked beans and black pudding (made with blood). The addition of cockles (like clams) and laverbread (seaweed) turnsContinue reading “The F. C. B.”

Different Marks

Here’s another of the thirty minute portraits I did a few days ago at Swansea Museum, part of the live art action I’m doing with other members of the 15 Hundred Lives art collective. Our museum experience ‘PROCESS’ is on at the museum until May the 17th. I did this with grey and black graphiteContinue reading “Different Marks”

Literary Scribbles

Husb and I had a great time at Swansea’s Galerie Simpson yesterday evening at the launch of Seren Books’ new collection of the poems of John Ormond. Of course, I took the opportunity to scribble, sketching heads with a graphite stick into my A5 hardback sketchbook. Seren is ‘Publisher in Residence’ at the gallery untilContinue reading “Literary Scribbles”

The Art Of Caring: Nursing And Drawing

I have three drawings in The Art Of Caring exhibition coming up in Surrey soon. I submitted three sketches that I’d done while visiting elder relatives in hospital and they’ve been reproduced as postcards for the show. All in all there are 251 artworks from 133 artists from all around the world on the theme ofContinue reading “The Art Of Caring: Nursing And Drawing”