Pastels And Pigments.

The pastel tins from Florence Paintmakers.

Husb and I went to the Lake District for a break a couple of weeks ago and took ourselves off to the gorgeous town of Keswick. On the Main Street there’s a lovely little gallery, The Graphite Gallery, where I was able to indulge my love of natural pigments and talk at length with a fellow enthusiast. The gallery stocks pigments made locally by Florence Paintmakers, a Cumbrian artists’ collective in Egremont. I couldn’t resist them. I can’t wait to get stuck in!

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.

The Paint Station.

My wall mounted painting station.

I haven’t done any painting for a few months, been too busy with other things, so I tidied up my painting station today, to motivate me to finish about half a dozen paintings that are nearly there …. but not quite. I bought the wall-mounted cupboard / table online a while back, not expensive, and it really works for me, with plenty of storage room and a generous work surface. I bought the old leather case in a junk shop for a fiver and it stores all my tubes of Liquitex acrylic paints.

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 Ripping Time

Half way through a collage.

I’ve been working on a couple of collages as part of some adult teaching work that I was recently commissioned to do. This is the first stage of Collage 1, laying down a background of blacks and greys. I’m using a National Geographic magazine as the source material, ripped into small pieces. Mostly I’m looking for interesting shades and textures but now and again I find an image that I want to include for no reason other than it appeals to me. So hidden amongst the ripped bits are cows, birds, statues and the occasional building. Once the background is finished (nearly there) I’ll be collaging another, very different, layer on top.

A small section of the collaged background.

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 Walk To Sgwd Gwladys

A quick sketch of the Afon Pyrddin River.

Husb and I went for a walk in this afternoon’s sunshine to Sgwd Gwladys (Lady Falls), a waterfall on the Afon (River) Pyrddin. We stopped on the path so I could quickly sketch the view across the river to a mine entrance, partially overgrown, with Rembrandt pastels onto Khadi paper. Sgwd Gwladys is one of the many features of “Waterfall Country” in the Brecon Beacons National Park, which has the greatest concentration of waterfalls, cascades and caves in the UK. We did the walk after we’d had a fantastic Sunday roast at the Sgwd Gwladys lodge in Pontneddfechan.

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.

Watching And Scribbling.

People-watching at the Jack Jones gig.

Husb and I went out to a gig last night, a local venue to see a local musician and poet, Jack Jones of the band Trampolene, doing a solo acoustic gig. It was great, really lively. Of course, I had to have a scribble.

Cool people at The Bunkhouse.

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.

Art In A War Zone

“Mariupol” by Oleksandr Shatokhin.

Swansea Print Workshop is hosting an important new digital exhibition of extraordinary drawings and illustrations by artists under siege in The Ukraine.

Below from left to right: Daria Filipova “24 02”: Grasya Oliyko “HOME”: Mari Kinovych “REFUGEE”: Illia Uhnivenko “NEW CHILDHOOD”.

The PICTORIC group of artists reached out to international friends and colleagues asking for help to show the artworks they were doing under bombardment. Swansea Print Workshop (SPW) is one of the first artist organisations in the UK to respond and SPW member Melvyn Williams quickly set up this exhibition of some of the hundreds of artworks showing the realities of life in a modern warzone.

Below from left to right: Veronika Kotyk “SPRING WAR”: Romana Ruban “IN DREAM”: Yulia Tveritina “IN HAND”: Daria Filipova “WINDOW”.

“Most war art is officially commissioned and filtered through the political lens of governments or the military. This is by people on the ground reacting to what is happening to them as it is happening. It is an historical document and an insight into the real lives of people who want the world to know what is happening.  Perhaps most of all it is a testimony to the human spirit which is the same here as in Ukraine. If you want to know what we would feel like, how we would react if we were invaded, this art will show you.”

Please click on the link here to view the Ukrainian artists exhibition and please look out for the filmed interviews that Melvyn Williams is currently making with some of the Ukrainian artists that I will be posting here in the next few days xxx

Catching Up

A Continuous Line Drawing.

Today I hung out with my young niece. Her phone charger broke last night so we went into the city to get a new one. When we got home, she had to catch up with the world which gave me a chance to sketch her on the settee, having an extended sesh on social media. I’m planning on this settee featuring a lot in my work over the coming year so I’m making observations as I draw the people on it. I used the continuous line drawing technique with 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.

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.