Category Archives: out and about

Scribbling On A Glacier

ICELANDIC JOKE (courtesy of Olafur The Guide) Q. “What do you do if you’re lost in an Icelandic forest?” A. “Stand up.” I guess you had to be there. There are lots of  forests in Iceland made up of the Arctic Birch, Betula pubescens tortuosa, but because of the climate the trees are generally veryContinue reading “Scribbling On A Glacier”

Stacks And Giants

We spent a while on a wonderful beach of black sand covered with shiny dark, coin-shaped pebbles, fringed with towering silvery basalt columns, like the ones at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. I couldn’t resist scribbling and despite the snow, sketched some of the basalt with one of the Reynisdrangur sea stacks in theContinue reading “Stacks And Giants”

Freezing Mitts And Yellow Grass

As we travelled around Iceland, Husb and I noticed that the grass that thinly covers the black lava landscape is an unusual yellowy-orange colour. I think it might be Leymus Arenarius (Lyme grass) but I’m not sure. Before I went, I prepared different drawing media, including a 20cm square sketchbook of handmade Khadi paper. IContinue reading “Freezing Mitts And Yellow Grass”

Frozen Trolls And Black Sand

  Now that I’ve had a bit of sleep, I’ve been looking through the drawings I did in Iceland. I prefer to draw when I’m travelling because the memories are more vivid than when I’ve just taken photos. Olaf  The Guide and Otto The Driver (on a sabbatical from Springfield, obviously) took us to aContinue reading “Frozen Trolls And Black Sand”

More Streetlife

  I try and spend a few minutes scribbling each day. If there isn’t a specific topic to interest me, I’ll wander along to the large windows at the east side of our studio block and do some speed sketching at around 4-5pm when people are making their way home. It’s good practice because IContinue reading “More Streetlife”

Hats And Fire

  Guy Fawkes Night!!!!! A great British tradition. Some say that Guy Fawkes is the only person ever to have entered the Houses of Parliament with honest intentions. Tonight we took a young relative to the municipal fireworks display just across the road from the sea. It was terrific, some of the best fireworks I’veContinue reading “Hats And Fire”

Faces At The Window

  There’s a brothel at the end of our street and sometimes the ladies sit in the window, looking out. Sometimes I surreptitiously sketch them. If they see me, they draw back and close the blinds. Locally, the policy seems to be to let them be, although technically it’s illegal. The brothels masquerade as ‘gentlemen’sContinue reading “Faces At The Window”

I Want A Steamroller!

  Tonight I went to Swansea Print Workshop for an artist talk by the new printmaker-in-residence, Fiona Kelly from Cork in the Republic of Ireland. She works mostly in block (relief) printmaking technique, basing her practice on drawing. Fantastic stuff. But best of all for me was a collaboration she showed us with some otherContinue reading “I Want A Steamroller!”

Get Out!

  Get out and scribble! Come on. Let’s take over the streets with artists and sketchbooks. I did it this evening, leaving the studio about 10 minutes early and walking down to the city centre to have a scribble. There were loads of people around so it was easy to do some speed sketching. SomeContinue reading “Get Out!”