Wet Scribbling.

The View From Coniston Water.

Husb and I spent a few days in The Lake District, visiting people and enjoying the beauty and quiet of the place. I took my Derwent Inktense blocks, a landscape Khadi sketchbook, a Daler Rowney reservoir brush and sat a while sketching.

The Inktense sketch before using water.

First off, I did a quick sketch with the Inktense blocks, using them like pastels (above). Then I used a reservoir brush to apply water and develop a wash. At the end, I brushed some more water onto some blank bits and drew straight into the wet paper with the Inktense, which gives a much stronger colour.

Another Hairy Head.

Hair Of A Certain Age.

Husb and I went to The Lyric Theatre in Carmarthen last week to see “Operation Julie – A Rock Musical” – it was brilliant. It’s based on a true story that happened in Wales in the 1970s and the audience was mostly – erm – of a certain age – like me and Husb 😀 And as it happens, both the people I scribbled from the audience were older men with a lot of facial hair. It suits my scribbly style.

A sheep and a panda car.

The performance was delivered brilliantly by the cast from Theatr naNog, who are exceptional musicians as well as actors.

The Biggest Bust

A Scribble In The Theatre.

Husb and I went along to Carmarthen last Friday evening, to the Lyric Theatre to see Theatr naNog’s new show, Operation Julie – a Rock Musical. It was FANTASTIC! Of course, I had to have a scribble of the audience – with a ballpoint pen into my leatherbound A5 sketchbook.

The Psychedelic Programme.

Billed as “Breaking Bad meets The Good Life in a psychedelic true story from the hillsides of rural Wales“, it’s based on a true story of some hippy chemists who decided to turn the whole world onto LSD back in the mid-1970s and established a drug production factory out in the wilds of West Wales, which supplied around 90% of the LSD in the UK and reached about 100 countries.

The police undercover operation, which ran for two and a half years, was named Operation Julie after one of the Women Police Officers on the case, Sergeant Julie Taylor and still remains the biggest drug bust in the world.

#Caturday Archives 6

Stroppy Sparta Puss

It’s Saturday / Caturday again and here’s an archive kitty drawing. This naughty cat is a very young Sparta Puss and Husb caught her expression perfectly. He used a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a free drawing app called “Markers”.

The Eyes Have It!

Just Some Tweaking

Nearly Finished.

I’ve done a little bit more work on this painted portrait I started a while back. It’s based on sketchbook drawings of my young relative. It’s been quite a learning experience as I’ve only started painting seriously since the Covid19 lockdown started – I’m a printmaker and scribbler. But I’m pleased with the way it’s gone. Her face looks too old and needs a tiny bit of tweaking and her hand needs finishing off.

Scraping and Scratching the surface.

Adding Colour 2

Adding colour to the sketch.

I’m carrying on working into my sketchbooks, developing the drawings in a way I’ve never done before. I used to scribble, turn the page, then forget them. I did a series of sketches a theatrical event about 4 years ago, Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr. The performers / dancers were enveloped in a dark, bloody space and I’m trying to recapture that sinister and frightening atmosphere, working through the drawings one by one, yet keeping them together.

The original is in a Khadi long format sketchbook with heavily textured paper, and I’m using Derwent Inktense blocks to add the colour.

Finger Painting Up A Mountain.

Sketching en plein air.

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.

Adding Colour 1.

Adding colour to the sketch.

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.

#StandingStoneSunday 5

The Rocking Stone.

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.

#Caturday Archives 5

Speedy Sparta Scribbles.

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.