I went on a hike up the Brecon Beacons earlier today, a circular walk beginning and ending in Craig y Nos. It was a hefty jaunt and we had a stop for a bite to eat up on the mountain, where I did a bit of sketching with Derwent Inktense blocks onto a heavy Khadi handmade paper. I sprayed the paper with water from a spritz bottle first and quickly drew into it with the blocks, using both the points and the sides. Then I blended it with my fingers, keeping the paper quite wet. I like the way the heavy texture came through.
More and more I’m going through sketchbooks and working into some of the drawings I did a while back. My sketchbooks tend to be full of spontaneous scribbles and when I’ve done one, I turn the page and forget about it. So lately I’ve started trawling through them to see what turns up. This is one of a series of sketches I did at a theatrical event about 3 years back, before Covid. The space was very dark and red so I’m trying to capture that atmosphere, of the figures bathed in a bloody light.
Detail of the sketch.
The original is in a Khadi long format sketchbook with heavily textured paper, and I’m using Derwent Inktense blocks to add the colour.
Here’s a short instructional video on how to use Inktense blocks.
It’s #Standingstonesunday again and I’ve been looking through the painting / drawings I did of some of the ancient stone monuments of South Wales a while back. This is the rocking stone of Pontypridd …. and it’s huge! There’s one stone on top of another and when you stand on the top one and jump, it rocks! It’s been like that for millennia, probably accidentally put together when glaciers retreated.
Rocking The Stone …
I was travelling around South Wales hunting the megaliths with filmmaker Melvyn Williams and pre-historian Dewi Bowen and here they are rocking the stone together. The stone circle around it is modern I believe, possibly Gorsedd Stones erected for a National Eisteddfod, but I’m not sure.
Aaaaand it’s #Caturday again, so I’ve been raiding my kitty archives. Here’s Sparta Puss mooching around while I scribbled her. Each little sketch took a few seconds, I doubt if I spent as much as a minute on any of them. Sketching at speed is good for focusing on the important details, capturing the essence of what’s in front of you.
I’m playing with Adobe Photoshop and some of the charcoal drawings I did during the first lockdown 2 years ago, using Gradient Map and a selection of Artistic Filters. The originals are in black and white and it’s expanding my imagination to change them into colour and try out some different effects.
I suppose in the old days, artists would bring their sketches back to their studio and work up some colour studies with paint. To be honest, I’m too lazy to get the paints out so having digital paint to play with suits me fine.
The Original Charcoal Sketch.
I did the original sketch in the Oystermouth Castle park. It’s a gorgeous place but such a violent history.
I’ve been looking at some of my sketchbooks and having a digital play with some of the drawings. I don’t normally do that, I usually scribble and then leave them, but lately I’ve been going back to them, seeing if they trigger any ideas.
Thinking Dystopian.
I take digital photos of all my sketches and I uploaded this one into Adobe Photoshop. I drew it early in the Covid19 pandemic lockdown, using charcoal into a Khadi handmade paper sketchbook, when I was walking through the park by Oystermouth Castle. I flicked it through different effects, which was fun, and I liked these two. The landscape around here is very green because of the rain, but I enjoyed seeing this hot fiery filter on the first, it’s such a contrast. The second is pretty dystopian and alien. I’m having fun.
Here’s the original. in charcoal. I don’t know if I’ll do anything more permanent with the image, but sometimes it’s nice just to play and get the imagination going a bit.
For the first time in many years, I went into the sea a couple of weekends ago. I’ve never learnt to swim, despite living right by the sea for most of my life. The film Jaws didn’t help. I saw it when I was in my teens and convinced myself that great white sharks could snatch me from Swansea Bay. But Husb made me a makeshift float from some polystyrene packaging and I’ve been sort of swimming – ish. But I needed a swimcap so I ordered one from a Facebook chum, the artist Nancy Farmer who has some fab stuff on her Etsy shop. I’m looking forward to getting these tentacles wet this weekend.
Back in the Great Lockdown of 2020, I painted along with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook every week, copying works by great artists. I’ve always loved this portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and gave it a go. It took AGES Here’s a very short film of just a tiny bit of the details I painted.
The Woman In Gold is also one of my favourite films, telling the story of her portrait and featuring Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren.
I’m working on a couple of collages as part of a recent commission – all a bit secret at the moment, but here are some sections. The brief is to work with a group of people to develop text-based collages using recycled printed paper. It’s great, they’re all so different. All will be revealed in a few weeks.
Dewi’s working on his new book, about the links between the South Wales standing stones and Y Twrch Trwyth, one of the tales in the Mabinogion – the book of ancient Welsh legend. It’s been about 20 years since he began his research and it’s nearly ready ……. nearly …..
Raising Funds.
My family is raising money for Phil, a younger relative of mine, to have life-changing surgery in Spain. Phil is disabled by Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and the operation he needs isn’t currently available in the UK. I know times are hard, but if you’re able to spare a bob or two, please click here find out more or to donate a small amount to Phil’s crowdfunding campaign. Thank you xxx
Raising funds for Phil, bottom left, to have life-changing surgery xxx
Trying Out A Change.
I’m having a go at new templates for my website so I’ll be changing them a few times over the next couple of weeks to see how I get on with them. If there’s one you really like, or dislike, please let me know . Thanks x
The massive Maen Llia with Melvyn and Dewi on the left.
scribblah 