Playing with poison

A very interesting blog from artist Patti McJones about her work in the Cyanotype technique.

 

via Playing with poison

Lashings….

Two revolting women just finished setting up our exhibition which opens tomorrow evening (March 8th) at Cinema & Co from 5.30. That’s Patricia McKenna-Jones and yours truly. If you’re out and about in Swansea tomorrow evening, pop in and see us. There’s lots going on and there will be lashings of home-made cake.

setting up

Please click here to find out more….

It’s All About The Technical Details!

Dragon eye 2

March 16th and 17th at Swansea Print Workshop I’m running a course in woodcut printmaking using MDF.

“Q. Can you use MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) for woodcut prints?

A. Yes you can – as long as you get the technical details right.

Q. And how do I make sure that I get a nice quality print?

A. Again, it’s about getting the technical details right.

Q. And can I make these prints at home, without needing a specialist press?

A. Oh yes. But only if you get the technical details right.”

This short course covers:  safety, cutting, tools and tool maintenance, sealants, choosing the right papers and inks, printing with chine collé, printing by hand and press. At the end of two days you’ll have at least two original prints, one monochrome and one with colour, and enough know-how to get stuck into making your own original woodcut prints with MDF.

And you’ll get a chance to use this fabulous Victorian Columbian Press …

 

Please follow the link here if you’d like to book a place or find out about other courses coming up ….

Playing With Words

annibyniaeth

I was really inspired to do more text-based work after completing “Here Be Dragons”, my recent commission for the Sky Arts TV Channel. I find myself doodling words and letters and making them more visual, more pictorial. Here’s the start of a new woodcut – maybe. I’m working it up in my home-made walnut ink onto a piece of vintage Somerset watercolour paper. It needs a lot more working out, but the potential’s there. “Here Be Dragons” was entirely in English so I want to try out a Welsh word this time.

Revolting Women Getting Ready

The artist Patricia McKenna-Jones and I are getting our work ready for our new joint exhibition opening at Swansea’s Cinema & Co this coming Friday (March 8th). It’s so much easier to cut mounts when there are two of you; it’s one of those necessary jobs I find really boring on my own.

preparation

Mostly done now, just oodles of cakes to make. Please come and join us if you’re in town, Cinema & Co has a great bar, and Ele is doing her Brazilian pop-up kitchen. Please click here to find out more about the evening ….

revolting women flyer

Bunting

menywod

I spent a lovely hour or so painting bunting at an event organised by Women4Resources,  a small organisation working with women and girls in partnership between Wales and Africa to promote education. Today was about promoting wellbeing and I loved just chilling out with women of all ages, chatting and doing some painting for fun, instead of for work. It took the pressure off. I based my little bit of bunting on the Welsh word “menywod” which means women. I got quite psychedelic.

There’s some confusion about the origin of the word “bunting”, with some sources citing it as French, others as Scottish. When I was little I thought it was a verb and wondered how you might ‘bunt’.  Apparently it is something to do with American baseball.

 

Saint David’s Day Night

 

Tomos March 2019

Husb and I went to a lovely evening at GS Artists (formerly Galerie Simpson) on Swansea’s High Street yesterday. In an evening celebrating Saint David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales) the talented Tomos Sparnon introduced the first of a series of Welsh Conversationals, Welsh Language events at the gallery focusing on ‘Mynegiant’ (Expression) in Welsh art. It was bi-lingual in an easy and lighthearted way, with a slide show of work that illustrated the list of Welsh words. He covered artists Gwen John, Peter Prendegast, Seren Morgan Jones, Ogwyn Davies, Tim Davies and his own, rather lovely, work. Of course, I had a scribble. And made notes, And learned some new Welsh words. And there was some lovely home-made leek quiche made by the effervescent Jane Simpson.

Peace And Pies

laurel museum

Husb and I have had a busy couple of months so we took ourselves off to the Lake District for a few days to stay with some of our favourite people and have a rest. I didn’t do any art at all! We were staying somewhere with very poor Internet and mobile access as well so we were really cut off. We just chilled out and had fun with no work to do, lots of peace and quiet. We’re both crazy about Laurel and Hardy and we went to their museum in Ulverston, Stan’s birth place. It’s lovely, one of those old fashioned, personal museums that has been obviously painstakingly put together by a real enthusiast. If you’re ever passing that way, treat yourself to a visit. It’s a town with great pies , proper old-fashioned pies with a pastry bottom as well as a lid, from Irvings Butchers. The cheese pies are good too, if you’re not a meat eater.

Unveiled!

Yes Cymru

So, over a year since the initial idea, four months in the research and making, my artwork “Here Be Dragons” finally unveiled at the Sky Arts ART50 festivals in Newcastle and London. Here I am with the original at The Barbican in London yesterday talking to visitors about the concept – a new flag for Britain – in printmaking natch – a woodcut actually – biggest one I’ve done but more on the tecchie stuff later.

Newcastle 2

And up in Newcastle they printed up a whole load of them and covered the place!

I met so many lovely people at The Barbican who were really interested in my sketchbook and my printmaking – if you’re looking in THANKS FOR STOPPING BY.

And also many thanks to all the people who have been encouraging me over the past year and more to push out of my comfort zone and create “Here Be Dragons”. Crikey, it’s like the flippin’ Oscars lol 😀

 

Drawing At Night

 

London 1

Husb and I are in London overnight, for the Sky Arts ART50 festival at The Barbican tomorrow. We had a wander around central London, hanging out in the Charing Cross / Leicester Square area, found a nice Vietnamese restaurant for our dinner and then went to the National Portrait Gallery, which stays open late on Fridays. They had an artist in residence running a drawing session so I had a quick scribble. They provided the materials, thank you very much.

London 2

The original is Lady Ottoline Morrell, painted by the rather scandalous Augustus John. The subject has a pronounced underbite and distorted teeth, which the artist didn’t shy away from. We arrived at the drawing session late so I only had a few minutes to sketch.