Salamis

On our last day in Northern Cyprus, Husb and I took off on a day trip and one of the places we visited is Salamis, an ancient site dating from the Late Bronze Age, although the majority of the visible ruins are Roman. I did a quick scribble but I don’t feel particularly happy withContinue reading “Salamis”

The Five Fingered Peak

On our last day in idyllic Northern Cyprus (Kuzey Kibris), Husb and I went on a day trip from Kyrenia (Girne) across to the eastern coastal town, Famagusta (Gazimağusa), a fascinating dip into the geology, history and culture of the country. On our way back, heading north over the Kyrenia Mountains as the sun wasContinue reading “The Five Fingered Peak”

Jagged Peaks

I didn’t do much sketching when I was in Cyprus last week because I wanted a break from work, but I pulled out my sketchbook and conté crayons a few times when the mood took me. The Kyrenian Mountain range is spectacular, separating the north coast beaches from the flat inland areas. The sharp roughContinue reading “Jagged Peaks”

A Busman’s Holiday

Husb and I managed to book a very cheap, out of season package holiday in North Cyprus last week – seven days of warmth, sunshine and lovely food. It’s a beautiful country and we split our time between chilling out and exploring. The nearest city is Kyrenia and when we took the bus in, IContinue reading “A Busman’s Holiday”

The Undiscovered

I’m in the process of redrawing the series of major drawings of ancient standing stones I did earlier this year. This is the Cockett Valley stone, undiscovered for thousands of years until woodland clearance in the 1970s took place to extend the school playing fields. It’s now out in the open, overlooking the small riverContinue reading “The Undiscovered”

Golden Light

I saw a brief interview on the television this evening with the actor Timothy Spall talking about his role in Mike Leigh’s film, Mr. Turner. He did a lot of art training for it and said that one of the things that has lasted is that he now looks hard at everything around him, noticingContinue reading “Golden Light”

Stone In Steps

  I’m using my sketchbook to redraw from my recent series of drawings en plein air of Neolithic standing stones. I’m trying to simplify them and get down to their essence, using conté crayons in black, sanguine and white. The sketchbook is an A4 size brown paper spiral bound from Seawhites of Brighton. My phoneContinue reading “Stone In Steps”

Redraw, Reinterpret

  I’m redrawing into my sketchbook from the series of drawings I did of Neolithic monuments across South Wales earlier this year. It gives me a chance to reinterpret the original work and see what comes out of it. I’m thinking maybe lino cuts?

Paring It Down

I did a series of drawings en plein air throughout the year, travelling across South Wales to draw Neolithic and Bronze Age stone monuments. I’m now redrawing them into a sketchbook because I want to pare them down, get to the essence of them, see what the vital details are and see what I comeContinue reading “Paring It Down”

Pushing Myself

I did a large series of drawings of Neolithic stone monuments throughout the past year, drawing en plein air, and I recently started to draw from the drawings to try to push mysef into more abstraction. I’m using three colours of conté crayon, white, black and sanguine into my new A4 size brown paper sketchbook.Continue reading “Pushing Myself”