I signed up for one of painter Ed Sumner’s small tutorial groups this evening, copying “Woman In Gold” by Gustav Klimt – one of my favourite artists, paintings and films (Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds). It was a very intense two hours and there’s loads more to do, but that’ll keep me occupied for the next few days of hard lockdown. Please check out Ed’s Friday afternoon Cheese and Wine Painting Club that he’s been doing weekly since the Covid19 lockdown started in March. The Friday sessions are free for those that can’t afford to pay and a donation at the discretion of those that can. This Friday’s is a van Gogh.
Off to bed now, it’s late, and I’ll be carrying on with this for the foreseeable future …..
Building the strata of the gigantic tip with collage papers
I love watching the late great Bob Ross on the TV. I don’t particularly like his paintings but I love to listen to him and his observations. One of the things he says a lot is that painting isn’t difficult, what’s hard is deciding what to paint, coming up with ideas. That’s so true.
Two pieces of Fabriano Accademica 200gsm paper with my home made walnut ink dripped over them.
I’ve hit a creative block during the Covid19 pandemic and I’m trying out all sorts of things to lift it. But the issue isn’t really with skills or techniques as I do a lot of practice, it’s finding somthing to inspire me. My life would be a lot easier if I painted portraits or nice landscapes, there’s always a market for those, but they just don’t motivate me.
I added a ripped piece of Fabriano Accademica that I had scribbled randomly with soft pastels
Earlier today, Husb and I were chatting about our childhoods. It was recently the anniversary of the Aberfan tragedy, but that wasn’t the only tip in Wales. Husb and I grew up on opposite sides of the Hafod tip in Swansea and after Aberfan the authorities removed it. It took many years and it was filthy. We breathed and ate that tip as we were growing up. It was very toxic and after it was flattened, they built a school on it. Who cares if working class kids go to school on top of toxic waste, eh?
I added a couple of pieces of vintage W. H. Saunders paper that I had screenprinted with some small drawings from my sketch books – I didn;t like them so I scribbled over and over with chalks, charcoals and soft pastels.
Anyway, I remembered that it was the very first thing I ever painted. Someone had bought me some kids paints for my birthday, I guess I was about 8 or 9, and the Hafod tip loomed huge outside my bedroom window. So I painted it’s overwhelming darkness over and over again. Maybe I was an odd kid. So I went back to that imagery and started playing with pieces of paper from my plans chest – papers that over the years I have coloured with inks, pastels and leftover paints.
And another strip of the dark squiggles over the bottom edge of the walnut paper
I have no idea where this is going, maybe nowhere, but maybe I need to explore my past a bit and see what happens. The good thing about using these collage papers is that once I’ve taken the photos, I can dismantle the whole thing and start again. Let’s see …..
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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
Today I finished off the copy I made of Monet’s painting “The Magpie”, started with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. So many shades of white! I used Liquitex heavy body acrylic paints, Daler Rowney brushes for acrylics and a primed canvas from Wilkinsons. Oh, and a couple of palette knives. In fact, I mostly used the palette knives, which is something new for me.
Sparta Puss isn’t impressed. We have a pair of magpies that return to nest in the tree next door every year and they are her sworn enemies. She’s never managed to harm them though. She’s a little on the ….. chunky side and can’t climb up as far as the nest. They torment her, throw stones at her and scream at her from the other side of the window when she’s indoors. She hates them.
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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
I’ve been practicing my painting skills with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, every Friday afternoon. This week our tutor, Ed Sumner, added an extra session on Saturday inspired by Halloween and Día de Muertos. It included a very thorough and useful instruction on how to draw a skull from scratch.
We started in pencil and then permanent marker pen before splashing very thin paint at random over the canvas. It was carnage – so much cleaning up to do after! It was exhilarating to be so free though. After the splashing about we learnt how to do roses. All very useful. I used Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint onto a 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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
I’ve been doing a lot of painting lately, just practising, and there’s often some paint left on my palette. I was brought up to waste not, want not, so I scrape it onto scraps of beautiful papers, bits that I kept from other projects, more waste not, want not. The paint is lovely too, Liquitex heavy body acrylic. I don’t know what I’ll do with these fragments though.
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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
I had a faking fun Friday with painter Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. Each Friday throughout lockdown Ed has hosted a painting session for people at all levels of ability, teaching painting skills by copying famous works of art. Today it was “The Magpie” by Monet. There’s a surprising amount of colours in it considering it’s a white wintry scene.
I haven’t finished yet, maybe another hour or so on it, mainly to work on the shadows and highlights. I did most of the painting with a palette knife, which was fun as I rarely use one. I’m learning a lot from these sessions. Ed asks people who can afford to, to donate something so he can keep it free for those who can’t afford to pay anything. There’s an extra session tomorrow at 16.30, a Halloween special.
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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
I finished off the fake Bob Ross that I started painting on Saturday lunchtime with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. Painter Ed Sumner chooses a painting each week for people to copy with his humourous and skilled tutoring. I don’t like the Bob Ross style if I’m honest, but I love watching him every evening during the week on BBC4. He’s so nice and relaxing and he’s also a very skilled painter, even if you don’t like his style.
I used Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints onto a cheap canvas from Wilkinsons and brushes from a Daler Rowney 10 piece set for acrylics. Those happy little trees were a pain to do! He makes it seem so easy on the telly.
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.
Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts 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.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
Here’s the long pose I did last week at the Life Drawing sesison at Swansea Print Workshop. It was almost an hour and I used black, sanguine and white conté crayon onto black paper. Our model is fantastic. Well, they all are actually. The unsung heroes of the art world.
The life drawing sessions are postponed for the next two weeks because we’re now in a hard lockdown in Wales for the next fortnight. Hope we can resume in a couple of weeks.
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.
In this one, I combined snippets of a bird and discarded plastic with the image of a bug, part of the Museum’s fascinating vintage collection.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
Here’s another life drawing from the session at Swansea Print Workshop the other evening, with a 30 minute pose drawn with black, white and sanguine conté crayon onto black paper. Our marvellous model wore two masks on the front and back of her head, like a Janus figure.
I did some baking today. We’re on hard lockdown again and I did a lot of baking first time round – it passes time and produces lovely things to eat. I made the dough with 3/4 strong white flour and 1/4 wholemeal. I turned it into a large loaf and 4 Chelsea Buns – one of our favourites for tea.
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.
In this one, I combined snippets of a bird and discarded plastic with the image of a bug, part of the Museum’s fascinating vintage collection.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
Wales is in hard lockdown again, like we were in March, we’re going to be more or less housebound for the next two weeks. So plenty of time to fill up. Today I did another session with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook, learning how to copy a painting, this week we did a Bob Ross. I love old Bob. I can’t say I’m that keen on his work, but he had great technical skill and he was a wonderful broadcaster. I could watch him all day. I haven’t finished yet – the trees on the right look a bit post-apocalyptic and need some foliage. I also need to put in a few happy little bushes and some more reflections. Maybe another hour or so.
As well as faking, I also did some baking – an upside down mango elderflower drizzle cake – mixing up my genres there. Tasted very nice though, especially warm with cream. Next week’s painting session, hosted by the very talented and entertaining Ed Sumner, is Monet’s “The Magpie”.
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.
In this one, I combined snippets of a bird and discarded plastic with the image of a bug, part of the Museum’s fascinating vintage collection.
20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.
scribblah 