Surrealist Swirls.

I used the Bideford Black paint I made yesterday. I didn’t have any idea what to do. I’m trying to get away from always working representationally and letting my imagination take over. It’s way out of my comfort zone! I took a fairly wide, flat brush and made swirls over one of the sheets ofContinue reading “Surrealist Swirls.”

Bashing Bideford Black.

After coating some sheets of paper with my home-made walnut ink yesterday, I decided to stay with natural pigments and make paint with some lumps of Bideford Black I’ve had lurking in a box for years. I’d made paint with it before, using water (here). This time I mixed it with Nori paste and vodka.Continue reading “Bashing Bideford Black.”

Prepping Paper.

I prepped some paper yesterday with gesso and my home-made walnut ink. I have to be careful with the ink as I am allergic to walnuts, proper anaphylactic stuff, so plastic gloves, mask and lots of ventilation are needed when I’m spreading it onto the paper. It seems ok to work with when it’s dryContinue reading “Prepping Paper.”

Tools Of The Trade: 1.

This blog has always been about my art practice but I don’t often post about the tools I use. And of course these underpin everything I do. Here’s a selection of brushes, some for watercolours and inks, some for acrylic paint. I don’t use oil paints. The toothbrush is for splatter and the feather –Continue reading “Tools Of The Trade: 1.”

Just A Quickie …..

Just a quick little scribble in a cafe, took about a minute with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into my tiny leather-bound sketchbook.

#StandingStoneSunday

It’s #StandingStoneSunday and here’s one I did earlier lol 😀 It’s a stone that lives in a small community on the North-East fringe of Swansea, in Bonymaen. The Welsh name of the area means the “base of the stone” and there’s a legend that it’s one end of a vast stone that travels under theContinue reading “#StandingStoneSunday”

#Caturday.

It’s #Caturday Saturday and here’s a blast from the past. Sparta Puss from 10 years ago, drawn in pen into a small sketchbook. She’s sitting on an old glass-fronted cabinet that Husb and I rescued from the street. There’s a cyanotype I did of Husb on her left.

A Simple Still-Life: A “How To” Film.

Here’s a short (2 minute) “How To” film from a recent session I ran at GS Artists in Swansea, as part of their 9to90 Community Arts programme. It was a simple still-life in acrylic paints. The film shows how I started with a couple of basic drawing techniques and then took a look at some examples of still-life paintings ofContinue reading “A Simple Still-Life: A “How To” Film.”

Legs At Elysium: 3.

And the last of the legs from the Punk and Metal evening at Elysium Gallery bar the other evening, where I stood and scribbled into my tiny leather-bound sketchbook until the urge to jump around got too strong. I’ve been looking down and drawing legs at gigs a couple of times now, easier when you’re aContinue reading “Legs At Elysium: 3.”

Legs At Elysium: 2

Some more legs from the Elysium Gallery bar the other evening, where Husb and I attended a concert, a musical evening of Punk and Metal. Let’s be honest, I’m too old for a mosh pit, I’m likely to end up with something broken so I like to stand somewhere a bit safer and scribble into my tinyContinue reading “Legs At Elysium: 2”