out and about – Page 27

A Year Gone Already?!

Suddenly a year has gone by and the Swansea Fringe is upon us again! I’ve been sketching last night and this at some of the Rock venues. I’m tired now! All rocked out! More to come…

Sketchbook Archives 14: The Hospital Visits.

2012 was a year of hospital visits with several very poorly elderly relatives. It was a chance to sit quietly and sketch. I met some great people on the ward, their faces full of character and experience. The drawing at bottom left is my young great-niece who was fascinated by the murmuration of starlings thatContinue reading “Sketchbook Archives 14: The Hospital Visits.”

Sketchbook Archives 13: They Don’t Stay Little!

Out and about, people watching and scribbling them into my sketchbook, from August 2012, about a year after I started this blog. They’re all drawings of Husb and family, and all the children are grown up now. They don’t stay little for long.

Sketchbook Archives: 12

Buildings from the past, sketchbook drawings from July 2012, about a year after I started this blog. I used to do a lot more sketching en plein air, but that was before the Covid lockdowns. I’ve never really got back to that level since, I find I’m much less likely to go out and aboutContinue reading “Sketchbook Archives: 12”

A year ago, Husb and I took a short break in North Wales, near Eryri (Snowdon). It poured down! But I did some expressionistic drawings with soft pastels into my Daler Rowney black paper sketchbook, you can see one in the background (above). Click here to see a short film about it. I worked veryContinue reading

One Tarp, Two Leaves, Three Badges.

I’ve been doing some adult education sessions on Swansea’s Kilvey Hill, part of a creative partnership between Coed Lleol and Swansea Print Workshop. This is where I was working this morning, it’s lovely, even though the rain threatened, we had a big tarpaulin stretched over the work station. I was teaching the participants how toContinue reading “One Tarp, Two Leaves, Three Badges.”

Sketchbook Archives: 11

Faces from the past, sketchbook drawings from July 2012, about a year after I started this blog. Husb and family feature in a few, and people out and about in cafes, with a couple of old friends. We’re all older now.

I rooted around in the garden for a selection of leaves for my recent adult education session on Gelli plate printing. The delicate leaves at the top are from a dwarf lilac, Flowerfesta Pink, that is still growing new leaves in mid-September. The ones at the bottom from the hardy evergreen ivy. Although sceptical aboutContinue reading

The “oooohhh” Factor.

I really didn’t like gel-plate printing when I first tried it. I thought it was gimmicky and superficial. But I’m warming to it. It’s a very good technique to use in adult education as it’s very accessible to people who would normally avoid anything to do with art. Unfortunately, so many people had bad experiencesContinue reading “The “oooohhh” Factor.”

Up A Hill In The Sunshine.

I love Adult Education, it’s such a joy to teach people. I work several sessions a week with different groups of participants. Today I spent a couple of happy hours up Kilvey Hill in Swansea in the sunshine, taking Gelli Plate prints from the local trees and using recycled bubble wrap to create background texturesContinue reading “Up A Hill In The Sunshine.”