Scribbling And Song In The Old Quarry

Lockdown is easing and things are starting to happen. Husb and I went to Rosehill Quarry at tea time to listen to Swansea folk musician, Angharad Jenkins, perform her recent song about the Quarry. It was a lovely sunny and warm Spring afternoon and Angharad sang to a group of local people of all ages against a backdrop of lush trees and shrubs. I used lots of mark-making to represent the foliage and I like the contrast with the simple line drawing of the figure. If you’re in the area, check it out, it’s a gorgeous nature reserve so close to the heart of the city.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

Two 5s And A 10

Life drawing sessions at Swansea Print Workshop restarted this evening. It was grand to be back, but I’m so out of practice. We started with two 5 minute poses followed by a 10 minute, to warm up. I think 10 minutes is my favourite because it’s enough time to get some details in but not enough to overwork it. I used my home-made walnut ink with an Isabey brush onto a heavweight vintage paper.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

Zooming Tonight

Just finished the weekly family Zoom quiz. We’re almost out of lockdown but it’s still nice to meet up and we’re not all living in the same city anyway, so we wouldn’t see this much of each other in the ‘real’ world. Just a very quick scribble with a ballpoint pen over a double page into my bound A6 sketch book. Husb and I set the quiz this week. I think my “Fun Facts About Beavers” round was the best, even if I say so myself 😀

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

The Upside-Down Boy

I started a little painting of my young relative today, working from a photograph, I drew onto primed canvas with a watercolour pencil and blended it with a fine round brush and water. It needs a bit of tweaking to get the likeness more accurate then I’ll play with my acrylic paints. He’s meant to be upside down – that’s the way he hangs 😀

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

The Teenager

I need to paint this. I really do. I suppose each generation is defined by something – this latest one, this pose. So typical. Paints out tomorrow I think 😀

The Very Slow Selfie

I carried on with this self portrait I started AGES ago, a very slow selfie. I’m trying to develop my own way of working, rather than copy another artist’s style, which is what I’ve been doing over the past year with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. I’m trying out different types of brush strokes and different approaches to colour as well. One thing I’ve learnt from the Painting Club is not to be afraid of paint, to try things out because you can always paint over it. Still a ways to go though. Who knows, I might never finish it, maybe I’ll keep on experimenting! I’m using Liquitex acrylic paint onto stretched and primed canvas.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

The Ice Cream Queue

Queueing has been a big feature of the pandemic lockdown and I’ve been scribbling them on and off. This was part of a queue for the ice cream van on the seafront at Criccieth in North Wales a couple of weeks ago. It was a fabulously sunny day and the local icecream, Cariad Gelato, was worth waiting for. I drew this with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into an A6 bound sketchbook.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

Finished Faffing With Vincent’s Vessels

I finally finished copying van Gogh’s “Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries” that I started a couple of weeks ago in a Zoom tutorial with the painter Ed Sumner. This is the 47th fake I’ve painted since the first lockdown started just over a year ago. Not bad considering I’m a scribbler and printmaker, not a painter. I would never have thought I’d have taken to painting so well, I’m really loving it. I find drawing and printmaking very demanding, but this painting lark is so much fun – it’s relaxing me. Here are some of the stages of the painting below.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique 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 and to see the complete image.

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

Shivering In Snowdonia

Here’s another sketch I made in North Wales last week. Husb and I escaped for the first time in over a year, since lockdown started, and it was fabulous, a truly beautiful place. We stopped the car to look back at a wonderful view over Lake Gwynant in Snowdonia, and I had to make a choice about how to approach the sketch. We were only stopped briefly and it was still quite cold, although sunny, and we didn’t want to hang around for long, so I chose my brown paper sketchbook and black, sanguine and white conte crayons. I blocked in the main features of the scene in front and then jumped, shivering, into the car.

It’s the last chance to enter this year’s Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year ……

 

Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year are currently looking for artists to take part in the new series of the programme.

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This amazing opportunity is open to all artists over 16, resident in the UK. To enter send in a landscape artwork that you have created within the last five years, via their website.

If selected to take part in the competition you will then be given the opportunity to paint a specially chosen, stunning landscape within the UK. The prize on offer is a £10,000 commission for a major British institution plus £500 worth of art materials from Cass Art. The deadline for applying to the competition is 30th April 2021.

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Oooh Nearly There….

I’ve almost finished the copy I’ve been doing of van Gogh’s “Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes Marie de la Mer”. It’s almost there, just a bit more faffing to do and it should be done. The beach is supposed to be where Mary Magdalene, along with two other Biblical Marys, landed in France after fleeing after the death of Jesus. I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints onto stretched, primed canvas. I started it a couple of weeks ago in a Zoom tutorial from Ed Sumner who runs the Cheese and Wine Painting Club every Friday on Facebook. I need to put in some white foam at the edge of the sea, knock back some of the shadows under the boats, soften the horizon and sharpen up the masts at the front. Shouldn’t take long now.

Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year are currently looking for artists to take part in the new series of the programme.

​

This amazing opportunity is open to all artists over 16, resident in the UK. To enter send in a landscape artwork that you have created within the last five years, via their website.

If selected to take part in the competition you will then be given the opportunity to paint a specially chosen, stunning landscape within the UK. The prize on offer is a £10,000 commission for a major British institution plus £500 worth of art materials from Cass Art. The deadline for applying to the competition is 30th April 2021.