Scribbling Yes Cymru

Husb and I endured eleven hours on a coach with the smelliest toilets in the universe on Saturday to get to and from the YES Cymru march in Caernarfon. It was amazing! Over 8,000 people crammed into the tiny cobbled streets and little market square, enjoying the party atmosphere and listening to inspiring speakers. ItContinue reading “Scribbling Yes Cymru”

Proofing The Stream Bed

  A few weeks ago I went on a field trip up into the Brecon Beacons with colleagues from Swansea University’s FIRE Lab and while they studied the environment in culverts, I sketched. I really liked the abstraction of this drawing of a stream bed so I cut it into a block of vinyl andContinue reading “Proofing The Stream Bed”

My Geographic Palette #4 – Graphite

The next one out of my geographic palette is graphite, a slightly greasy, slightly soluble solid black pigment and mineral found in The Lake District near Keswick, which is where I bought some nice chunky sticks of it and a whole load of top-quality graphite pencils. Not far from Keswick, at Seathwaite, is an oldContinue reading “My Geographic Palette #4 – Graphite”

My Geographic Palette #2 – Bideford Black

  So, day 2 of drawing from my geographic palette. This is Bideford Black, an unique oily carbon-based pigment from North Devon, where is sits in the ground next to anthracite coal. It was mined for about 200 years up until the late 1960s but lost out to cheaper competitors and the mines closed. IContinue reading “My Geographic Palette #2 – Bideford Black”

My Geographic Palette #1 – Charcoal

  This is my first tryout with my geographic palette, a drawing based on a sketch I did en plein air on a field trip with colleagues from Swansea University’s FIRE Lab a couple of months ago when we went off exploring culverts up in the Brecon Beacons.   The charcoal I bought a fewContinue reading “My Geographic Palette #1 – Charcoal”

Having A Rummage

Inspiration… We find inspiration often in the oddest places. I never thought that I’d be inspired by Victorian culverts way out up in the Brecon Beacons, but here we are. I recently made a series of sketchbook drawings of culverts on a field trip with scientists Steph and James from the FIRE Lab project inContinue reading “Having A Rummage”

Splodges Of Watercolour

I went to a birthday party in a fabulous garden in Llwynhendy last weekend and of course, I had to have a scribble. I sat near the pond as dusk was falling and did a very quick sketch with ballpoint pen into my A6 hardbound sketchbook. Then I added some splodges of watercolour. I didn’tContinue reading “Splodges Of Watercolour”

Like Liquid Silk

I did some development work today, using one of the drawings I did en plein air on a recent field trip with colleagues from Swansea University’s FIRE Laboratory. I sketched some culverts up in the Brecon Beacons, near the source of the River Tawe and today I worked on a very large piece of vintageContinue reading “Like Liquid Silk”

Abstract And Graphic

  I took a different viewpoint for this drawing of a culvert up in the Brecon Beacons, sketching from above, facing along the path of the stream as it trickled downhill to join the River Tawe. I was travelling along the route of the River Tawe to it’s source in the Brecon Beacons, accompanied byContinue reading “Abstract And Graphic”

Little Ecosystems

  Travelling recently along the route of the River Tawe to it’s source in the Brecon Beacons, I accompanied two colleagues from the FIRE Laboratory unit at Swansea University. We turned off the A4067 just after the Tafarn y Garreg pub and took the road to Trecastle, looking at culverts that transported streams and tributariesContinue reading “Little Ecosystems”