The Gig In The Church

Some of The Blackbird Choir just before their set.

Husb and I went to an unusual place for a gig on Friday night, a church! Llangiwg Church is a fascinating place, very ancient with a huge yew tree alongside, which indicated it may be built on an earlier Celtic holy site. There’s also a stone-lined healing / holy well in the grounds and spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. The tower is a solid Norman square stone block and it’s on top of a very steep hill, on it’s own, away from the noise and bustle of daily life. So quiet. Of course, I had to have a scribble!

The gig was fab. First off an inspirational selection of historic Fisk Jubilee songs by Cór Aderyn Du, The Brynmill Blackbird Choir. Then followed an entertaining set by the Blue Star Stragglers, a Welsh / Canadian bluegrass group. And finally the incredibly talented Andy Tamlyn Jones gave a wonderful display of musicianship to round off a strange but fabulous evening. Have a listen below.

#Caturday Saturday

Aaaaaand it’s that time of the week again, when the world puts their cats on show. I started sketching Sparta Puss earlier, when she was asleep, then she woke up and walked away. She’s a tortoiseshell, or maybe a calico, but mostly black with flashes of ginger and white socks. Adorable.

Another Gig Scribble…

Let’s be honest, I go to a lot of gigs. And I always carry a sketchbook. So I do a lot of gig scribbling…or is that scrib giggling…or gib scriggling? Maybe I should get a good night’s sleep 😀

Canoodling Couple

I was at a gig the other evening and saw this couple canoodling in front of me. So I scribbled them. Twice! They canoodled a lot.

The Way They Use Their Legs

I was scribbling at a gig again last week, at Elysium for The Krakens and Celtic Vagabond (just missed Whilbur unfortunately). The venue is great for live music AND exhibitions. I saw these two guys standing near each other, but the way they used their legs was very different. So I scribbled ’em!

What Will I Do With Them?

My friend is giving me bags and bags of these lovely Victorian ceramic floor tiles, I haven’t counted how many but there look to be hundreds. I don’t know what to do with them yet, got all sorts of ideas.

Mari Lwyd On Fire!

I went to my first pyrography training yesterday and I tried out the technique with one of my Mari Lwyd drawings. It took some getting used to, I made a lot of smoke! But I got the hang of it eventually and started to enjoy it. The technique shows a lot of promise and I think I might take it further.

There’s some high tech gear there, I’m used to using more traditional tools, so it was fun. The session was led by Declan of D’Captured Pyrography, he’s a really good teacher, energetic and enthusiastic.

A Century Of The Gorsedd Stone Circle

Husb and I went to Singleton Park today to the celebration of the centenary of Swansea’s Gorsedd Stone Circle. For many years, the National Eisteddfod of Wales erected a stone circle in each town or city in which the event took place (it moves yearly), but they’re expensive so for the past couple of decades, a temporary fibreglass travelling circle is set up and dismantled each year. Here’s a list of the Gorsedd circles and their location, there are lots of them. Husb brought some camping chairs, they were quite comfy so I had a scribble, looking at two of the stones. I enjoyed all the mark-making for the trees in the background.

Slow Selfie In Progress

I started a self-portrait today. This is about an hour’s work, maybe a bit less. Still a lot more to go. I did it as a demonstration piece when I was teaching at GS Artists’ weekly arts group, the 9to90 Creative Community. We’re doing self-portraits for an upcoming exhibition and these will be finished at the next session, in a week’s time.

Advanced Scribbling

I did a very quick scribble of a building when I was out and about a few weeks ago, just a few minutes to capture the outline and some key features. Today I spent a little while working into it, making a range of marks with a ballpoint pen. I find that mark-making is very relaxing, building up layers of textures really gets me in the zone.