Carrying On Carrying On

trees 1 step f

I carried on working on a painting I started a couple of weeks ago, based on a charcoal drawing I did en plein air into my Khadi sketchbook. I am trying to develop a style of my own – I’ve never done much painting and it’s my lockdown challenge. I really like the German Expressionists and am finding that I’m being influenced by them. But I’ve recently reached a stage where I don’t know how – or if – to progress with the painting. I’m happy with the composition and the broad colour scheme but it feels a bit unfinished to me.

trees 1 step f detail

So I just had a quick go yesterday, developing the brushwork and putting in a creamy colour to replaced the stark white bare canvas in the previous stage. Here’s a close up. I like the quick, gestural brushstrokes but I also want to add a bit more depth and richness, not necessarily more detail.

 

 

 

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.

In this one, I combined the image of the bird with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was small and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

Herstory And The Artist Support Pledge

kathe-final-2

A while back I did a series of screenprint portraits, I call them “Herstory”, of women artists I greatly admire. I don’t like to have favourites but perhaps top of my list – just – is the incomparable Käthe Kollwitz, active in Germany from the late 19th century to the end of World War 2. Her life, her work and her politics are fascinating and I think that she should be far better known than she is. But unfortunately that’s true of many women artists. Her work is profoundly moving. She suffered the tragedy of losing her son in World War 1 and her grandson in WW2 and her war memorial, ‘The Grieving Parents’ in the Vladsio German War Cemetery is imbued with a terrible sadness and hopelessness. But she was also an energetic political campaigner and social rights activist. A wonderful artist and human being.

SONY DSC

These are the original 8, I’ve always intended that the series will be ongoing and I’ll be adding to them soon. I’ve only exhibited them a couple of times – so many galleries don’t want a series of work, just one or two pieces. I’m going to be releasing these for sale over the next couple of months, beginning with Käthe this week, through the  Artist Support Pledge which was set up to help artists sell work through these uncertain Covid19 times.

 

 

 

Faking Cezanne

marseilles final

Finally finished Friday’s fake. It’s By Cezanne and it’s the Bay of Marseilles. One of my lockdown challenges has been to improve my painting skills. I’m not a motivated painter so I joined an online painting class, Facebook’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Friday lunchtimes. This is my fifteenth painting and we usually copy a work by a famous artist.   It’s led by Ed Sumner and as well as being fun, I’m learning a lot. I’ve painted this in Liquitex heavy body acrylics onto stretched 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.

In this one, I combined the image of the bird with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was small and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

Faking Friday On Saturday

marseilles 6

I didn’t do my usual Faking Friday yesterday because Husb and I were looking after a 2 year old maniac and I was fit for nothing afterwards. So today, I caught up with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, led by artist Ed Sumner and this week we copied a Cezanne. There’s still a way to go so I’ll finish it tomorrow.

 

 

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.

In this one, I combined the image of the bird with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was small and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

Let’s Get Ready To Crumble!

Apple raspberry 2

Had a very domestic day today, first babysitting a family toddler – a small, cute, adorable maniac. Then I made an allotment crumble with Bramley apples, raspberries and wild strawberries.

Apple raspberry 1

It didn’t last long – when it comes to crumble, Husb takes no prisoners!

 

 

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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

Bare Bones

9 Oystermouth

I started doing charcoal drawings into this Khadi sketchbook a few weeks after lockdown started. When I realised that the pandemic was going to be here for a while, I found that I was struggling to do any creative work so I decided to focus on improving skills instead. I have been doing a weekly online painting class – 15 weeks now. And I started to use up some boxes of willow charcoal I’d been given. I had never liked using charcoal before but I thought now’s the time to get over it and practice. I’ve nearly finished the sketchbook and my drawings have changed. I was trying to cram in too much detail at the beginning but now I’m concentrating on the bare bones of the composition, trying to make satisfactory shapes and balancing light and dark rather than doing loads of details.

 

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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

Quick, Short And Angry

9 Cwmdonkin

I was in a really foul mood this evening, caught the bad side of Twitter and was raging. So Husb dragged me out for a long, fast walk.  We ended up in Cwmdonkin Park which has been one of my favourite places for drawing en plein air during the pandemic. I was still in a temper when I did the drawing, the marks I made with the charcoal are quick, short and angry ….. a bit like me.

 

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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

 

Marbling With The Surrealists

marbled paper small 4

 

This is a bit of experimentation I did, marbling some paper with black oil paint floated onto a bowl of water. I dipped a sheet of paper onto the surface of the paint and lifted it off and dried it. Then I used my imagination to see and draw shapes with compressed charcoal – a vaguely human image emerged. This spontaneous and imaginative approach was used extensively by the Surrealists in the early 20th century, as a way to loosen up creatively.

 

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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

 

 

Carry On Painting….

I’m carrying on today with a painting I started a couple of weeks ago. I left it alone for a while because I wasn’t sure how to develop it so I had a break to look at it with fresh eyes.

It’s based on a charcoal drawing I did en plein air into my Khadi sketchbook. I’ve been practicing painting a lot throughout the lockdown, it’s been my challenge to myself as I wanted to improve my skills. I’m a great admirer of the German Expressionists, especially Gabrielle Munter, so I’m using colour to invoke mood and atmosphere rather than trying to be naturalistic. I’m using Liquitex heavy body acrylic paints, mostly transparent, onto a primed Winsor & Newton canvas. Here are the previous stages 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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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

 

A Patchwork Of Landscape

Brynamman

Husb and I went to visit family in the countryside a few miles out of the city earlier. I wanted to do some charcoal drawing in my Khadi sketchbook so we drove up above Brynamman into the hills. The area is large and bleak, with few significant features which made it hard to draw as there is no particular focus. I concentrated on the shapes formed by natural, agricultural and industrial features. They’ve all left an imprint on a vast scale, turning the landscape into a patchwork of abstract shapes and patterns.

 

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.

In this one, I combine some of the images with snippets of text of things my Nana used to say. She used to take me to Swansea Museum a lot when I was little and I could hear her voice in the back of my head as I was sitting and drawing the birds and bugs.

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