Silhouette

This is the second of a series of sketches I’m doing from photos I took of the war memorial in Kendal in the Lake District a few months ago. It was a bright day so the statue was silhouetted against the sky, wiping out any details on the statue. I’m using a ballpoint pen into an A6 hardbound sketchbook and making a lot of use of cross hatching.

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.

Foreshortening And Mark Making

I saw a bronze sculpture of a World War 1 soldier on a memorial in Kendal in the Lake District. He was on a tall plinth and towered above me at an interesting angle, so I took a few photos from different sides and then completely forgot about them until I was browsing today and thought, “Ah! I was going to do some sketches from these. Good foreshortening”. So I had a scribble, I’ll do a few more. It’s good practice to draw from a different viewpoint and to scribble lots of marks too.

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.

Nature’s Opportunists

They get everywhere, seagulls. Here they are hanging out on chimneys in the Waun Wen area of the city. There are no gulls officially called seagulls, and the ones that gang up on people around the city are usually herring gulls. These ones weren’t doing much, but come bin collection day, they’ll be ripping open bin bags and scattering rubbish everywhere. They’re one of nature’s opportunists.

The sketch has been done as part of the Home and Hinterland arts project sponsored by Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

scourge the seagull

Here’s one I drew a few years back, it’s stuffed, part of Swansea Museum’s Taxidermy collection. It was much easier to draw – it didn’t move!

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.

Overhung….

Walking and drawing around the Waun Wen area which is built on two steep hills, on either side of a major dual carriageway. The road was much narrower in the past, but traffic planners in the late 20th century decided to widen it, to 5 lanes in places, and cut one half of the community from the other, destroying a lot of homes and shops in the process. Anyway, this little slice of landscape I’ve sketched is on the upper hill, above the dual carriageway, where some of the tiny Victorian houses cling to a very steep slope overhung by masses of mature trees towering above them. It’s a dramatic scene and might, just might, be something I’ll develop into an artwork. Let’s see ….

This is part of the Home and Hinterland project, sponsored by Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

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.

Half ‘n’ Half

I started this drawing, the half on the left, one Sunday, walking around Waun Wen. It was freezing cold and my fingerless gloves left me too numb to carry on. The following week, I went back and did the other half, on the right. It was warmer. This is part of the Home and Hinterland art project sponsored by Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre. I’m going to be out and about in Waun Wen on Sundays and Tuesdays for the next couple of months, doing art in the street and in the park, so stop and say hello if you see me 😀

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.

Walk Waun Wen, Talk Waun Wen

I’ve had a bit of a break for the holidays but next week I’m back into my community arts project in the Swansea district of Waun Wen. It’s part of a Wales-wide contemporary art project called “Home and Hinterland”, and locally it’s a partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre. I love the area and can’t wait to start up again. I’m wandering the streets on Sunday and Tuesday afternoons for the next couple of months, doing art, so if you see me come up and say hello.

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.

Newspaper Scribbles

I like drawing on newspaper, it’s free so there’s no fretting over the possibility of spoiling an expensive piece of paper. It’s good for doing quick sketches en plein air when I’m out and about, when I’m drawing from life and have just a few seconds to get something down on the paper before someone moves. But it gets damp and crinkles so it’s no good for keeping. It’s purely for practice. I used willow charcoal to draw these.

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.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda : Happy New Year

Here’s Sparta Puss being very seasonal with a little fake Monet I did a while back – it’s called “The Magpie”. Sparta Puss hates magpies. They come and nest in the tree next door every year, I think it might be the same pair, I don’t know how long they live. They pick stones out of the guttering and throw them at her when she’s in the garden. And if she’s sitting on the bedroom window sill, they prance around on the roof outside screaming at her and taunting her. She really hates them. She doesn’t look at all impressed that I did a painting of one.

Anyway, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, Happy New Year from Sparta Puss, Husb and me xxx

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.

Another Fake To Finish

I started faking this painting by Henri Matisse about 4 weeks ago, with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. I started doing these fakes when Ed began the sessions early in lockdown back in Spring 2020. It was easier then because it was, well, lockdown and I had a lot of time on my hands. Now, although there are still Covid19 restrictions, I’ve got a lot of work coming in, which is always good for a freelance artist, but it means I can’t crack on and finish the fakes I’ve got hanging around. Ah well, maybe I can get a couple of hours in over the New Year’s holiday break. I don’t think I have much more to do on this. A few alterations to her face and some patterns on her clothes and the chair should see it finished.

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.

A Bit More Faking

Here’s a little bit more of the fake I’m working on at the moment; part of my Xmas relaxation routine. It’s a copy of a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, Autumn Landscape with Boats, when he was making the transition to becoming an Abstract artist. Still a fair bit of work to do, though. I started this with one of painter Ed Sumner’s Zoom classes just before Xmas. I’ve been painting along with Ed since early in the original lockdown in Spring 2020. No-one knew then that we’d still be under pandemic restrictions almost 2 years later. I’ve learnt so much about painting because of it.

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.