Category Archives: People watching

A Shared History

I’m carrying on with my 30 minute drawings of Baby Boomers and here’s another. It’s a lovely experience for me, I get to draw and also to sit and talk with lovely people as well. I’m not sure it’s such a nice experience for the people who sit for me – being stared at byContinue reading “A Shared History”

Top End Boomer

And another recent Baby Boomer sketch, using a graphite stick into an A5 spiral bound sketchbook. This is someone at the upper end of the Boomer demographic, which goes from 1946 to 1964. As a generation we cover a huge range of cultural influences, music from rock’n’roll through rock, glam rock and heavy metal toContinue reading “Top End Boomer”

Drawing Real People

After getting some installations ready for a new exhibition in Penarth, “Print From Two Cities”, which I helped to install yesterday, I’m back to drawing my series of 30 minute portraits of Baby Boomers, my generation, born between 1946 and 1964. I’m aiming to do 100 of these drawings and so far I’ve done 20.Continue reading “Drawing Real People”

Sunpan Scribbles

I think it’s important to draw. It underpins my artistic practice. I know a lot of people who find drawing demoralising because they can’t do it “right” but it’s a hard thing to do, like playing a musical instrument and you can’t expect to turn out a perfect drawing each time, or even for theContinue reading “Sunpan Scribbles”

Another Boomer

The latest in my series of drawings of Baby Boomers, my contemporaries, born between 1946 and 1964. This is done in a grey graphite stick. One of the nice things about doing these drawings is the conversations I am having with the people who sit for me. We’re all the same generation and have aContinue reading “Another Boomer”

The Old Quarry

I’ve been looking at the photos I took yesterday up on the Black Mountain, selecting some for sketches. I’m using a white conte crayon, which is quite chunky, into a Daler Rowney ‘Ebony’ spiral bound A4 sketchbook. Here’s Husb and Number One Niece walking around the site of the old lime kilns and quarry. QuarryingContinue reading “The Old Quarry”

Wellies And Woods

This afternoon, Husb and I went for a family walk in the gorgeous Penllergare Woods, just north of Swansea. It’s a spectacular Victorian garden, established by the photography pioneer John Dillwyn Llewellyn, that is being restored to its former glory. He had the valley of the Afon (River) Llan landscaped in the ‘Picturesque‘ style. IContinue reading “Wellies And Woods”

Deconstruct Reconstruct

A little while ago I made a group of cyanotype prints from some original sketchbook portraits of older women. Each was printed onto a piece of heavyweight Bockingford paper cut from a pattern for a Victorian corset. I assembled them originally in the sequence that would assemble the corset, tying each together with purple ribbonContinue reading “Deconstruct Reconstruct”

Hungry Scribbles

It was the life drawing group’s annual Xmas curry last night at the excellent Vojon curry house. I had a Handi Lamb Polongwala with a Gobi Aloo – no rice or naan as I’m cutting back on refined carbs for a little while. I was still stuffed until lunchtime, a very late lunch too. BecauseContinue reading “Hungry Scribbles”