No Foreshortening

20 mins c

Here’s a 20 minute pose I did during the latest life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I didn’t particularly like the angle but with the Covid19 restrictions, we can’t move around the drawing studio to find another vantage point, like we used to – we have fixed workstations now – so I had to do my best.

I like to draw reclining figures with foreshortening, even though it’s much harder.

 

 

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.

The Twenty Five Minute Pose

25 mins e

Here’s another of my life drawings from Thursday evening at Swansea Print Workshop. Our model is really good, he’s been working with us for over a decade now, since his late teens. He’s available for modelling work on- and offline – please message me for his contact details if you want to work with him.

This is a 25 minute pose and I used conté crayons in white, sanguine and black onto black paper, size A2. I started by roughly blocking in the highlights using the flat side of the white, then some blocking and linework in sanguine before working on the 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 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.

Faking Friday With A Mandrill

Mandrill 6a

The subject of today’s Cheese And Wine Painting Club on Facebook was “The Mandrill” by the French post-Impressionist painter Henri Rousseau. I really like his work, it is naive yet strong with a good dash of humour. I reckon there’s about another couple of hours work to do on this before it’s finished. I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints.

Our tutor, the painter Ed Sumner really makes the sessions come alive and I’m learning a lot about painting, and I’m especially enjoying using paint for the initial sketching on the canvas. As well  as the Friday sessions which are free or a donation if you can afford to, Ed also runs prepaid online tutorial groups for up to 10 participants. The next Friday faking session features a Matisse. Check it out here.

 

 

 

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.

 

Quick Poses

5 minutes

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop this evening – we had a 2 week break during the “firebreak” lockdown in Wales. I didn’t take enough paper with me so I used this brown wrapping paper for the two 5 minute poses, with black and white conté crayons. Anyway, it’s getting late and it’s been a long day. Nos da. Good night 😀

The Collage, The Tip And The Cake

Tip 1

I’ve been smearing leftover paints onto nice papers over the past few months, building up a store of collage papers to experiment with. I recently started thinking about the Hafod tip in Swansea which was opposite my bedroom window for much of my childhood. And looming above it in the distance was the equally black and ruined Kilvey Hill. It took many years to remove the tip and bring life back to the hill, but they’re unrecognisable now.

Tip 1a

I thought I’d start ripping up fragments of the collage papers to stick into my sketchbook and then cover them with a sheet of cellophane and paint it with black acrylic paint. That way I can try things out without putting the black paint over the collage papers. Once the acrylic paint is dry, I can scrape into it, rub sections away, play with it to reveal some of the background colours and textures. Early days yet though.

Xmas cake 2020

Oh and I baked my Xmas cake. And made the last rhubarb crumble of the year.

 

 

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.

In The Zone

Klimt 5

I’ll be working on this fake Klimt for ages. It’s so detailed. The composition is more or less ok and I’ll leave the finer points of the portrait until the end, so now I’m doing loads and loads of patterns. It’s nice though, I just relax and get in the zone. I’m learning so much as well about how to handle paint and brushes. It’s such good practice to study a painting in depth, analysing how the artist did it. This is one of the paintings I’ve done with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook on Fridays. Next Friday is a Rousseau.

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.

Finished Faking Another Vincent

wheat 7

And here’s another fake, hot off the easel! It’s a copy of the van Gogh “Wheatfield” that I started in last Friday’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. I’m losing count now but I think it’s about 24 that I’ve done since April. The session’s tutor, painter Ed Sumner, has been running these weekly since the first lockdown started, offering tuition for a donation or free for those who can’t afford it.

 

 

The subject of next Friday’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club is Rousseau’s “The Mandrill” – please click here to take a look.

 

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.

Painting Gold And Copper

Klimt 4

I did some more work on my copy of Gustav Klimt’s “Woman In Gold” today. I started it mid week on a Zoom painting tutorial with painter Ed Sumner who runs the Friday lunchtime Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. My #lockdown2020 challenge is to improve my painting skills and I’m learning loads. I think this is the 23rd painting I’ve copied since April, using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints and Daler Rowney brushes for acrylics. I’m trying out the metallic ones in gold and copper.

Klimt 4a

It’s so interesting to study another artist’s techniques. Klimt’s composition is quite simple, the portrait sublime and everything else is playing with patterns. It’s a good exercise in using paint and brushes in different ways too. Sometimes I’m using them like watercolours, thin and fine, then I’m stippling with the flat end of a brush and fairly thick paint – like Bob Ross does his happy little trees. Then I’m using a ‘dry brush’ technique, dragging small amounts of paint across the canvas surface, depositing a tiny amount, almost imperceptible. It’s all good practice.

If you want to join in with the painting club, check it out here, the next one is a Rousseau. The Friday lunchtime sessions are free if you don’t have much to spare, or a donation if you can afford to. People join in from all over the world, all ages, and it’s good fun as well as learning a lot.

 

 

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.

Caturday’s Scribble

pandemic scribble 1

Had a busy day today, doing some essential shopping for a relative and getting my one hour government sanctioned lockdown brisk walk and now I just want to slob out on the settee watching mindless telly with Sparta Puss at my side. But I didn’t do any art! So I grabbed a new sketchbook (Daler Rowney A4 95gsm acid free) and some conté crayons in black, white and sanguine and scribbled the cat, without having to move from the settee. Then I took a photo with the camera on my Smartphone (there’s magic) and uploaded it to my laptop (or is that downloaded), did a bit of cropping and resizing on Photoshop (ooh get me) and here she is. Simples.

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.

 

Faking Vincent

wheat 4

This afternoon’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook was about van Gogh and this lovely painting of a wheatfield and cypress trees. The session is an hour and a half but I rarely finish in that time. I reckon I have perhaps a couple more hours on this, so that’s something for the weekend.

I use Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints and Daler Rowney brushes for acrylics onto a primed canvas from Wilkinsons. The painting club has been running every week since the beginning of the first UK lockdown in March. Painter Ed Sumner is a great teacher and it’s suitable for all ability levels. Ed asks people who can afford to make a donation through Paypal or Eventbrite so that people who can’t afford to pay can join in, which is a really nice thing to do – he has to earn a living after all. Ed’s next Friday class is Rousseau’s “The Mandrill” – please click here to take a look.

 

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.