Flowery Faking Friday

anemones 6

I did this painting earlier today with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, it’s a weekly session led by the artist Ed Sumner. I’m not a big fan of painting but I thought that I’d make an effort to improve my skills during the pandemic lockdown and I’ve done six of these so far. This week’s artwork is a copy of ‘Anemones’ by Vincent van Gogh. I used Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint onto a stretched and primed canvas, with Daler Rowney ‘simply…’ brushes.

I like the way that Ed Sumner takes us through the process – at high speed – only an hour and a half to finish a painting. I’m learning so much about paint application and composition and I’ve always been a fan of studying the great artists, copying their work and learning from them. Next week we’ll be copying one of Ed’s own paintings which has a massive expanse of sky – that’ll be a challenge – I don’t so sky …. Follow the link here to find out more.

 

My Cat Is A Chonky Cat

Chonk

It’s pouring down and there are floods locally, so I’m not going on my government-sanctioned lockdown walk today. Which means I won’t be going to the park to draw some dramatic trees. So I grabbed some willow charcoal and scribbled my cat instead. Looking at her objectively, I think the vet might be right, she might be a little on the chonky side. Just a little. I do my best to keep her on a diet, but she goes visiting …. and she’s a real charmer …..

Charcoal And Chips

2 Cwmdonkin

We did our government-sanctioned lockdown exercise this evening and I stopped for a quick charcoal sketch of this pair of trees in Cwmdonkin Park. It was a bit of a rush because Husb phoned the local chippy and ordered fish and chips so we had to get there in time to pick them up while they were fresh. Oh they’re gorgeous. The sketch is willow charcoal onto handmade Khadi paper.

Clean, Green And Safe

Khadi Cwmdonkin

Husb and I have gone out for a walk most days since the pandemic lockdown started. We’re not at risk so we can have a government sanctioned hour a day. It’s really made me appreciate how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful city. Swansea is so green with loads of parks, wilded areas and the beach. There was a report a few weeks ago that 1 in 8 British people don’t have access to safe, clean outdoor spaces and of course, they’re the poorest people in society.  This is something that has to be changed once the pandemic is over. Cities can be greened and made safe, there’s no excuse.

I stopped to draw earlier in Cwmdonkin Park, where the poet Dylan Thomas played as a child. There are some wonderful trees; this one might have been a sapling when Dylan played here. I used Winsor & Newton willow charcoal into a Khadi handmade paper sketchbook.

Carving Blocks And Charcoal At The Castle

Lockcook 1

Today was pretty productive. I inked, traced and transferred seven texts onto little lino blocks and cut two of them. These are part of my series of words and phrases I’ve written down through the course of the Covid19 pandemic, from the first day of lockdown. Eventually, I’ll be printing them onto home-made cotton masks.

Lockcook 2

It was really hot and dry so Husb and I waited until early evening before we went down to our allotment. I did a quick sketch before we left the site, of Oystermouth Castle and it’s grounds using Winsor & Newton willow charcoal into a Khadi sketchbook.

4 oystermouth

I like working across two pages, especially with square sketchbooks. I take a can of fixative with me when I draw with charcoal, it’s manky and the drawing would smudge badly without being fixed.

 

 

Carving And A Wriggly Cat

zoom home

More of the same today, designing text for my little lino blocks then transferring and cutting. These are numbers 19 and 20 so I think I might stop cutting for a while and get on with printing them onto fabric and making masks.

charcoal cat 2

And I did another quick charcoal sketch of Sparta Puss. She was lying down in the sun, but not asleep so she kept wriggling. I’m giving myself a maximum of 2 minutes to do these sketches of her. She’s a bit on the tubby side….

 

Carving Blocks And The Charcoal Cat.

social kind

More of the same today, transferring words to little lino blocks, in reverse, and carving them. I’ve compiled a list of words and phrases as we’ve travelled through the pandemic lockdown. Eventually I’ll have a whole load of these printed up and made into masks.

eighteen

I’ve cut 18 so far, there’ll be at least another 60 to go, depending how long lockdown lasts.

charcoal cat

For a bit of light relief, I sketched the cat in charcoal.

Compromise, Cat And Cheese

Wash Bday 1

The text on the little lino blocks I’m cutting goes through changes at each stage of the process, partly because of the materials I’m using, from pencil, to ink and brush, to tracing transfer, to carving with cutting tools. But along the way I make adjustments, a curvier bit here, a shorter bit there.

The brush gives me very flowing, curvy marks while the cutting tools give me something more jagged. So the final cut that will be printed is a process of development and compromise.

cheesy cat

And a parcel arrived from The Welsh Cheese Company today. It’s not easy going out shopping at the moment and many smaller food producers are struggling – the supermarkets can weather the storm. So Husb and I have been shopping for some of our food online, which we had never done before, not from the big conglomerates though but from the independent sector. This is our third lockdown parcel from The Welsh Cheese Company, it’s insanely delicious stuff. Sparta Puss was very interested, not in the cheese, it’s the box she fancies.

And an added bonus is that they use wool to protect the goods – and I just happen to need some blankets for my printing press. How cool is that?

blanket

Here’s my press, now I have a blanket, I can try it out.

press 1

Cat Watching

cat watching

I carried on cutting little blocks of lockdown text today, with Sparta Puss overseeing the work. She’s tough on me.

 

From Paper To Block

make do 1

Yesterday I showed the a page of text designs I did for small lino blocks (here) so today I selected the first two that I’m going to carve. I started the process by painting the text onto paper with an Isabey watercolour brush and walnut ink, then I traced the text using 90gsm tracing paper and a 2B pencil.  Then I turned the tracing I wanted to use onto a lino block and drew over the back of the lines with a 4H pencil. This is important – the original in 2B is soft and when I press on the back of the line with the 4H, the hardness of the 4H pencil presses the dust from the 2B onto the block. Once that’s done I draw over the lines on the block with a ballpoint pen because the pencil lines will rub off once I get started on the carving.

make do 2

 

The text goes through several stages, from ink and brush, to pencil tracing, to ballpoint pen and eventually to carving. At each stage I refine the text. Once the lettering is in reverse, I sort of lose sight of the words and start to see the letters as individual pieces of design, which alters them yet again. The first one is cut, tomorrow I’ll do the second. I must work faster because there are an awful lot of these to be done. Eventually I hope to have one block for each day of UK lockdown, which is about 79 days so far.