I’m taking part in a ‘Museum Experience’ at Swansea Museum, beginning on March 31st and carrying through to May 17th. It’s called ‘PROCESS’, because it focuses on the processes that artists use to create their work. More than an exhibition of work on walls, ‘PROCESS’ also showcases sketchbooks, tools and materials to foster an understanding ofContinue reading “Tea And Welshcakes”
Category Archives: Arty Stuff
Manier Noir in Ynyshir
I spent the day at the fabulous Workers Gallery and Workshop in Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley. I did a one-day drawing residency, working on a manier noir drawing based on photographs I took of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial in the snow a couple of years ago. A lot of people came in to seeContinue reading “Manier Noir in Ynyshir”
Print’s Birthday!
It’s Swansea Print Workshop’s 15th anniversary party this coming Friday 27th March from 7pm with a lovely exhibition of original prints from artists who have produced art here throughout our 15 years. There will also be wine and food and cake and our wonderful antique printing presses. Please pop in and bring your friends ifContinue reading “Print’s Birthday!”
A Life Of Its Own
Three years ago I visited Berlin, the temperature was around minus 20 degrees C and there was a couple of feet of snow everywhere. I went to the Holocaust Memorial, thousands of black stelae in a grid across the landscape and the deep snow threw ethereal shadows between the columns. I took a lot ofContinue reading “A Life Of Its Own”
Scribbling In Public
I spent today with the 15 Hundred Lives art collective at the Creative Bubble artspace in the city centre. We hold a monthly 2-day public access art event where we use the space to do our own work and invite one or two guest artists to join us as well. We open our doors toContinue reading “Scribbling In Public”
Exile
It’s day two of my self-imposed exile from the Galaxy Samsung Tablet and digital drawing. I took my Khadi handmade sketchbook to the beach at twilight with some carbon and chalk. I had prepared the book with a sponge and Indian ink which gives a varied surface on the heavily textured paper. The drawing isn’tContinue reading “Exile”
Dis-Comfort Zone
I’m trying to get away from digital drawing on my Samsung Galaxy Note for a while because I think it’s become my new comfort zone, taking over from my Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens. I soaked a piece of natural sponge in some dilute Indian ink and scrubbed it over quite a few of theContinue reading “Dis-Comfort Zone”
Big And Free?
Here’s the other drawing I did at the life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop last night. I did something a bit different this week and uploaded a copy of a cyanotype I did some time ago (it’s in the permanent collection of A Book About Death, Wales) and drew over it. I’ve been usingContinue reading “Big And Free?”
The Dark Manner
I’ve been working on some ‘manier noir’ drawings. The name means ‘in the dark manner’ and usually refers to the printmaking technique of mezzotint. I stretched the paper onto a wall originally, gave it 2 coats of gesso and when dry, I rubbed it all over with graphite block, then a rag dipped in turpentineContinue reading “The Dark Manner”
An Older Woman (Female Nude)
I like to work with this older model at life drawing group at Swansea Print Workshop. She is covered with blue tattoos of plants and animals that belong to the food chain; ants and flies run all over her body, chased by lizards and they swarm over her shoulders into carnivorous pitcher plants. She isContinue reading “An Older Woman (Female Nude)”