Prepping

The first of many preparatory sketches.

After doing so much painting during the pandemic lockdown, with the irrepressible Ed Sumner of the Cheese and Wine Painting Club, I decided I’d do more painting this year, but self- generated ones, portraits of friends and family. So I’m making a start with Husb.

My first step is to do preparatory sketches, to get a composition that I like and to practice different bits. These are the first of many. I used a ballpoint pen into an A6 sketchbook, using the continuous line drawing technique. I’ve got a long way to go but each little sketch refines my final vision.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Scribbles And Scratchings

Making marks and textures.

Here’s the last drawing from my recent trip to The Lake District. I went to see Castle Rigg, the ancient stone circle, but it was packed with visitors and I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to draw. So I walked the perimeter of the field and looked out into the countryside and this vista caught my eye. I tried not to get bogged down in detail, instead concentrated on building up layers and layers of textured marks and then scratched into them. I used Rembrandt pastels onto Khadi paper.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Fog From The Tower.

Many Layers Of Soft Pastels.

Husb and I spent a few days in The Lake District, on a little peninsula called Roa Island, in a house with a tower and fantastic scenery over Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea. One day it was light but foggy so I decided to draw the view from one of the Tower windows. It was hard! It was so misty and indistinct and the colours so subtle. It reminded me of some of the atmospheric paintings of J.M.W. Turner. It’s more complex than it looks, it’s built up of layers and layers of little marks in lots of colours, using Rembrandt pastels onto a very heavy and textured Khadi handmade paper. It’s interesting coming so far out of my comfort zone.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Faces On The Train

Faces On The Cumbrian Coast Line.

Husb and I had a few days away in Cumbria, The Lake District, and booked a journey on the Cumbrian Coast Line all the way to the ancient city of Carlisle. It was a long journey because it meandered around the coast with loads of tiny local stops, but I enjoy train travel, especially as it gives me a chance to sketch fellow travellers.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Scribbling Sellafield

A Quick Scribble From The Train.

Went on the Cumbrian Coast Line train around The Lake District the other day, and passed Sellafield, the nuclear power station. The train stopped for a few minutes so I had a quick scribble. It’s a grim-looking pile in the middle of beautiful countryside, but that makes for an interesting contrast. I used a ballpoint pen into my A5 leather-bound sketchbook.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Along The Causeway.

Light and Dark on the Causeway.

Another quick sketch from my recent holiday in The Lake District. Husb and I went walking along the causeway at Roa Island, very different to the usual scenery in the Lakes. It’s very flat marshes either side of the narrow, very straight, road. I used conte crayons in black, white and sanguine into a brown paper sketchbook.

The Causeway At Roa Island

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

View From Hawkshead

A quick drawing of the view across the mountains.

Had a few days away in the Lake District and scribbled away in my brown paper sketchbook with conte crayons in black, sanguine and white. Here’s the view from the top of the cemetery in the lovely town of Hawkshead. It was beautiful weather too. I did the sketch very quickly, focusing on getting the bare bones of the composition.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Random Scrapings

Is It A Seascape?

Here’s the last of the Bockingford scraps I’ve been colouring for collage work, using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints. I really like the work of the British artist Howard Hodgkin, whose art is abstract, yet I feel really uncomfortable doing anything abstract myself. Looking at this little piece, I see the ocean and a horizon, almost compulsively, although the paint was scraped on randomly. I’m really trying to break out of my comfort zone.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Graphic Brushstrokes

Dynamic Splodges With Liquitex.

Oooh I really like this little scrap. The brushwork is so much fun. I’ve been using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics for some years now, although I don’t in fact do a lot of painting. The colours are intense and the thick texture of the paint makes the brushstrokes quite graphic in their own right, dynamic splodges. They’re not paying me, honest LOL 😀 I just really like the stuff.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Good Paint, Good Textures

The Texture Of The Squiggles.

Here’s another of the little scraps of Bockingford paper (from St. Cuthbert’s Mill) I’ve been colouring with Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints, probably to use for collage at some point. But to be honest, the more I look at some of these little scraps, the more I appreciate them as they are. The paint is such good quality and apart from the intense colours, it holds textures beautifully.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.