Windy

Here’s another of my recent sketches en plein air in the ancient Neolithic / Bronze Age landscape across South Wales. Most of the drawings I’ve done on my travels over the last year or so have been quite large, but last week it was so windy that I decided to work into my A4 brownContinue reading “Windy”

Tramping!

I’m back to tramping the countryside again, drawing en plein air with prehistorian Dewi Bowen and filmmaker Melvyn Williams, studying megaliths in South Wales. We’re focusing on The Gower Peninsula at the moment and our first stop was Cefn Bryn, not to look at the magnificent Arthur’s Stone / Maen Ceti, which we did aContinue reading “Tramping!”

Oh I Wish!

When I tell people that I go out regularly drawing en plein air, a common reaction is, “Oh how lovely! Tripping about the countryside in the sunshine doing some nice little drawings“. OH! I! WISH! Here’s the reality. A photo of the minimum kit I need for my forays into the wild places of South WalesContinue reading “Oh I Wish!”

Mountain Memorial

Here’s another drawing I did en plein air up the Rhondda Valley last week. We stopped at a viewing place called Carn Eiddil and walked to the top of a pile of large rocks to look down the valley dropping away sharply beneath and there on the slope were loads of tiny memorials. They’re mostlyContinue reading “Mountain Memorial”

Walnuts And Gesso

This is the third drawing I did at Maen Ceti / Arthur’s Stone at Cefn Bryn on the Gower Peninsula this week. I used a piece of Fabriano paper that I had prepared with two coats of textured acrylic gesso. When it was dry, I sponged some of my home-made walnut ink over it. TheContinue reading “Walnuts And Gesso”

Stratification

  I was at Cefn Bryn on the Gower Peninsula yesterday, drawing at Arthur’s Stone – Maen Ceti in Welsh. It’s a Neolithic burial chamber surrounded by cairns, truly an ancient landscape of the dead. It’s a very popular site and I’ve drawn it many times, so it’s hard to come up with a newContinue reading “Stratification”

Arthur’s Stone

  Went hunting wild megaliths today, this time to Arthur’s Stone, Maen Ceti, a Bronze Age burial chamber on the Gower Peninsula. And now I’m tired ……….. Goodnight 😀  

Up The Rhondda

Travelling on the A4233 up the Rhondda Valley between Maerdy and Aberdare, there are a lot of viewing stops that are great for a quick scribble. It was quick too, as we were high up and it was cold and windy as well as bright and sunny. I keep to a restricted pallette of black,Continue reading “Up The Rhondda”

Pressure And Strokes

Another quick sketch from Swansea Bay yesterday with conté crayons into my A4 brown paper sketchbook. I concentrated on capturing a sense of the atmosphere, rather than fine detail. I limit myself to three colours, white, sanguine and black, so different tones have to be achieved by varying the pressure on the conté sticks and overlayingContinue reading “Pressure And Strokes”

Baseball Bat And Chips

Husb and I took a road trip up some of the South Wales valleys today, calling in at the new Studio 18 gallery in Pontycymer owned by artist Kevin Sinnott, a fabulous artspace filled with gorgeous art; paintings, etchings, drawings, well worth a visit. Then over the mountain to The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir toContinue reading “Baseball Bat And Chips”