Writing The Changes

phase 2

Now that I have a fresh supply of new grey lino – smells gorgeous – I can carry on with cutting little blocks of text. I have been writing down a list of words and phrases since the pandemic started, well since lockdown I suppose, and it’s been interesting how the spirit and feeling of these words has changed over the weeks, very enthusiastic at the beginning, but things started to fray a bit after quite a few weeks, and then there’s been an explosion of anger over the weekend. To start with, I’ll be working my way through them, transferring the text to lino, cutting and printing onto fabric. It’s going to take a while, there are over 70 so far ….

‘Only’ The Cat

sparta 080620

I try to do a drawing every day, even if it’s only the cat (she doesn’t like me describing her as ‘only’ the cat). It’s important to practice every day, sketching is like a singer practising their scales. And to be honest, after the very difficult weekend half the world has had, it’s nice to just sit and draw a cat. It might not last.

And I made more sesame seed baps….

baps

A Tough Decision

I did something yesterday that’s made a lot of people angry. I knew it would and I knew the risks but I decided to go ahead and do it and also do my best to minimise the risks to others. I went to the #BlackLivesMatter protest in Swansea.

Demo

It wasn’t a hasty decision and I was masked, gloved, sanitised and as I’m an anti-social git anyway, kept well away from others and didn’t speak to anyone else.

It was quite large, but in a very big space and most of the people I saw had masks on – the organisers were handing out masks to the very few who arrived without. Because it’s on the flat, I couldn’t see the whole crowd, but social distancing seemed to be happening around me and not many people were moving around.

My actions upset a lot of people, and I respect their point of view, but we’ll have to agree to disagree. The event was organised with the approval of the police and local authority, the police were there and there was no trouble. I felt it was safer than any shop I’ve been in since lockdown and safer than walking through the city centre, where few people wear masks or move out of their way to keep their distance. Will it cause a spike in Covid19 cases? Time will tell.

I also finished cutting two small lino blocks, printed them onto cotton fabric and they will be made up into masks as part of a large scale ongoing pandemic art project. I’ve been waiting for a supply of lino to arrive and now it has, I hope to move quickly on this. It’s going to be big.

I’ve upset some people by allying myself with #BlackLivesMatter.  Lots of arguments about this online, but I’m not going to rehash them here. The Black Lives Matter movement exists to to build local power and to intervene when violence is inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. Please click on the link if you want to make a donation. Thank you.

Some of the angry people I’ve encountered have been very vocal about the late Lee Rigby. The  Lee Rigby Foundation and Lyn Rigby, Lee’s mother, have acted with dignity and grace and requested that people stop doing this and that Lee’s memory is respected. Their thoughts and support go out to George Floyd’s family. The Foundation supports military families, veterans and personnel whatever their ethnic background, creed, sexuality, gender. Please click on the link to make a donation. Thank you.

Another Faking Friday: Monet’s Japanese Bridge

monet 7

Faking Friday again, copying a famous painting with the family-friendly Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. It’s Monet’s Japanese Bridge this week. I recycled an old canvas that I’d used to play around with some paint a few years back then stuck it up the attic and forgot about it. That just about sums up my usual level of interest in painting.

The original canvas is on the left – in the middle I coated it with a thin layer of white acrylic paint. On the right, after a thin layer of orange, the first step in the Cheese and Wine Painting Club’s session.

From the left: painting the background and horizon: the bottom of the bridge and foliage on the edge of the pond: the bridge and plant details.

I’ve got a couple more hours to do on the painting, which is actually too small for the canvas. Monet’s original is almost a square, rather than rectangular, so I’m going to have to come up with something to do with the empty strips at the sides.  I used Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic paint.

Next Friday, it’s Banksy’s Balloon Girl.

 

 

 

 

A Cityscape, A Lush Loaf And A Spider Man

Khadi 5

Earlier, before the rain started, we went to visit an elderly friend who lives high on the hill, observing social distance of course. I did a scribble into my Khadi sketchbook with some willow charcoal. It’s hard drawing a cityscape – it’s so packed with detail and charcoal is quite a blunt instrument, so I had to select the stuff I wanted to put in, rather than slavishly try to fit everything into the compostion. I’m happy with it, it flows and I like the mark-making. It was fun dashing and dotting in windows and scribbling trees.

When we got back I made a Focaccia-style bread for the first time. That turned out lovely, lush. I’m enjoying lockdown cooking.

focaccia

And Husb did a painting to put into our street-facing window to entertain the neighbours, alongside the one I did the other week. Here they are, Spider Man and Sparta Puss.

Out The Back

4 garden

This is the sort of subject that I really don’t like to draw, it’s way outside my comfort zone. Give me people and animals any day, or even a bit of open landscape. But. I need to challenge myself, so I had a scribble looking out of the back door into my garden. It’s a very busy space and it’s difficult to draw, especially using a soft charcoal pencil and willow charcoal onto very textured Khadi paper. But I didn’t want to use pencils because then I’d have wandered into the tech drawing zone, which is what I don’t want to do. Never mind.

Charcoal And Baps

3 oystermouth

I took my Khadi sketchbook and willow charcoal to the allotment this evening and drew from inside the allotment site, which is tucked away in a corner of the Castle park. It’s on a fairly steep hill dropping away to the coast and we’re near the top. It’s surrounded by woodland, which can be a bit of a challenge for growers, but it’s an idyllic place to hang out, especially in these pandemic times – we’ve been sanctioned to travel to allotments since day 1 of lockdown. I concentrated on mark-making again as there is such a lot of different textures crowding together in the view. I suppose I took about 10 minutes.

baps

I also made some sesame seed baps. We gave our bread making machine away to a relative, so I’ve been trying out making bread from scratch and it’s surprisingly easy with fast acting yeast. Lush.

Nothing Much To See Here….

1 equipment

Today I restarted something that has been brewing for a while now, what I call my “serious” art work, my response to the Covid19 Pandemic. It’s been on hold while I’ve been waiting for materials to arrive; they’re not all here, a lot of stuff is out of stock, but I have enough to kick-start it. I spent this morning researching the different ways to make face masks, trying to find my way around official advice and research, which is scanty. But I think I’ve hit on the best combination of safety with comfort that’s out there. The photo shows the cardboard templates I made for cutting the components of the mask. It’s nothing much to see, it’s not glamorous but it’s the foundation for all the work to come.

Mucky, Messy and Mumbles

2 oystermouth

Yesterday evening after Husb and I watered the allotment, I did a charcoal sketch facing Oystermouth Castle. Today, we walked around the castle park and I sat on a bench with my back to the Castle, looking towards the beach. My view was mostly trees and the park in the foreground, with a glimpse of Mumbles Lighthouse and Swansea Bay in the background.  I’m using a thin stick of Winsor & Newton willow charcoal into a Khadi handmade sketchbook. Charcoal is mucky so I carry a tin of fixative around as well. There’s a decision to be made how much you include in a drawing, if you try and cram everything in, it can look really messy, especially with charcoal, so I decided to keep a lot of white in the composition.

 

Willow And Khadi

1 oystermouth

Husb and I went to our allotment to water the plants this evening, it’s been boiling hot and we don’t want to lose any. As we left and walked past the castle (Oystermouth) I had a quick scribble with willow charcoal into a Khadi sketchbook.