Santa Came To Swansea

Santa came to Swansea this evening, which was lovely. A really happy moment after the last 18 months. Santa’s Parade was cancelled last year so it was even more precious this year, bringing friends and families together to enjoy something traditional but also modern and contemporary. I think I watched kids’ faces more than the parade, they were screaming and squealing with excitement. We had a little three year old relative with us, his first Santa’s Parade and his sheer joy was beautiful to see. I managed one scribble before I got wrapped up in the spectacle. It’s a good opportunity to draw kids sitting on their Dads’ shoulders.

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 In The Gallery

Today was the start of the Swansea Open 2021 show at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. It’s been going for many years but had to be put on hold last year because of Covid19. There’s usually a big opening event but this year people had to book time slots and although it was busy, it wasn’t crowded. As I get older I suffer more and more from “museum fatigue”, walking very slowly and standing and looking for a few hours is surprisingly tiring, so I sat for a while and had a bit of a scribble just before we left. There’s my painting on the bottom right – “Eighteen People, Two Dogs And A Cat”. It’s a painting based on our family Zoom quizzes during Covid19 lockdown. I’m chuffed it got 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.

Simple And Symmetrical

Here’s one of the 30 minute poses I drew at life drawing last night. I really love this one, it’s all simple shapes and very symmetrical. I drew with conte crayons in black and sanguine onto some heavy paper that I had used for a monotype, but I didn’t like the way it turned out. So waste not, want not. I really like the effect.

Tonight’s the Big Night! It’s finally Children In Need night. My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and maybe you’ve been following their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“ over the past couple of weeks. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Just Back From Life Drawing

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop this evening, here are the first two quick poses, to get warmed up. Off to bed now. Goodnight. Hwyl Fawr 🙂

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Faking The Blue Robe

I did a session with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club last week, the first in a while. We’re faking The Blue Robe by Henri Matisse and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve always loved his work, I love the free way he puts the paint onto the canvas. It’s good for me because I’m a pretty uptight artist, I get bogged down in process and detail and it’s good to let go. I’ve got maybe another hour to spend on it.

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Difficult Hands!

Here’s the last drawing from last week’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I decided to focus in close on details and I used a ballpoint pen and work fairly small, size A3 paper. The hands were really difficult!

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

The White Meadow. Waun Wen

Here are a couple more sketches I did on one of my recent quiet contemplative walks around the Waun Wen area of Swansea. It’s a traditional working class area near the centre of Swansea. Local place names reflect its pre-industrial bucolic heritage – Ysgubor Fach (Little Barn), Cwmfelin and Brynmelin (valley with a mill, hill with a mill), Pentre Hafod (Village of the Summer Pasture), while Waun Wen itself means White Meadow. Unfortunately, this idyll didn’t survive the Industrial Revolution and when I was growing up on the outskirts of the area, Cwmfelin was an inner city steelworks and Pentre Hafod the biggest slag tip in Europe, both covering the washing on lines for miles around with black dust. They were eventually cleared (after the tragedy of Aberfan pricked the conscience of the government) and the sites have been used for social housing and a comprehensive school respectively.

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Abstract Layers Of Colour

Here’s a short film of a Paul Cezanne painting, Mont Sainte-Victoire, that I copied back last year, when we were still in the throes of the first pandemic lockdown, with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. It’s shows extreme closeups of the surface of the painting, showing the many layers of Liquitex acrylic paint that I used to recreate Cezanne’s many subtle colour changes.

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Walking The Streets

Here’s another little sketch I did, walking the streets last week. I’m doing a sort of drawing contemplation I guess. Sketching what’s in front of me fixes it in my mind much more thoroughly than taking a photo ever would. I’m building up a bigger picture of the area now from these little pictures. Plenty more to do though.

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx

Making It Fit. Or Not!

Here’s a longer pose from last night’s life drawing session – 30 minutes. It’s good to do the quick warm-ups first and then go into something more leisurely. Our model, an elder, is very experienced and creates interesting poses. This one was lovely to draw but there was no way I could fit him all onto the paper!

My lovely nephew (in the middle) along with these other wonderful young people have benefitted from the Children In Need charity and now they’re giving something back. They’re the Surprise Squad (more about them here) and you can follow their adventures on BBC1s “The One Show“, every evening until 18th November. I know that times are hard, but if you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating to Children In Need (here). They really do make a difference to young lives. Thank you xxx