I’m really enjoying the 10 minute head sketches from photos I’ve been doing recently. As well as helping me to practice accurate speed sketching, my chosen subject, elderly women, is fascinating. I look forward each evening to exploring the heads I find on Google, they are so full of character and experience. This elder womanContinue reading “Eyes Full Of Life”
Category Archives: Arty Stuff
Obsessive Culture
Carrying on with the quick head sketches, I Googled another photo of an elderly woman and did a 10 minute timed sketch. I drew into my A4 hardbound sketchbook with a graphite stick and white conte crayon. I had prepared a lot of the sketchbook’s pages with brown wrapping paper stuck in with Pritt stick.Continue reading “Obsessive Culture”
Movement And Essence
We have a terrific art gallery in Swansea, Galerie Simpson, which not only shows fabulous art exhibitions but also hosts excellent events. Husb and I went to one today, a talk and Q&A session by Welsh punk musician and author, Rhys Mwyn. Fascinating stuff. I had a quick scribble, as I always do. It’s hardContinue reading “Movement And Essence”
A Head In 6 Minutes
Sometimes it’s getting late and I haven’t done any drawing so I look around for something quick to do. I try to draw every day because that’s what underpins my practice as an artist, rather like a singer practicing their scales every day. If I’m stuck, I turn to the Internet and google images ofContinue reading “A Head In 6 Minutes”
Pasta Print Perfect!
The tabletop pasta maker had it’s first trial as a mobile printing press today. RESULT!!!!! It worked beautifully. It’s taken ages to renovate because we had stored it in a really damp cupboard and it was badly rusted, but WD40, patience and elbow grease did the job. Here’s how I recycled it……………. First, IContinue reading “Pasta Print Perfect!”
Drawing With Silver
There’s a new exhibition coming up at The British Museum this Autumn – drawings in metalpoint. These are drawings made with silver or gold onto specially prepared paper, a technique used before the invention of graphite pencils. I did some work in Silverpoint a while back (above), drawing directly from a life model. The toolContinue reading “Drawing With Silver”
Preloved Pasta Press
I’m recycling my old, unloved tabletop pasta machine into a mini printing press – I hope. Husb spent ages cleaning the rust off and getting the rollers to work smoothly again without creaking loudly. I bought a piece of felted wool to cut down into little blankets and I’m going to try using the machineContinue reading “Preloved Pasta Press”
Six Minute Head
Today is Sunday and one of the problems with being self-employed is the temptation not to take any time off. Well, today I gave myself some down time and chilled out with family, went for a long walk on the beach, nattered with friends, watched Glastonbury on the telly (Lionel Richie was AWESOME)…… So IContinue reading “Six Minute Head”
Loosening Up
I carried on working on tiny recycled fragments of beautiful papers today, Somerset, Bockingford, BFK Rives, Hahnemulle, and found myself relaxing into it. Yesterday was frustrating and difficult, as it should be, I was trying something new and there’s no reason why it should be easy. Today I was much less prissy and precious aboutContinue reading “Loosening Up”
Tiny Fragments
Trying something different today. Normally I work directly from life but I started drawing intuitively, using tiny fragments of lovely papers. Most of them had been prints that hadn’t worked out so I am recycling them. I don’t know where it will lead but that’s what doing art is about, constantly pushing and tryingContinue reading “Tiny Fragments”