A round of updates from FIRE Lab

Something about the recent work I’ve been doing with Swansea University’s FIRE Laboratory …

Abstract And Graphic

 

culvert 4

I took a different viewpoint for this drawing of a culvert up in the Brecon Beacons, sketching from above, facing along the path of the stream as it trickled downhill to join the River Tawe. I was travelling along the route of the River Tawe to it’s source in the Brecon Beacons, accompanied by two colleagues from the FIRE Laboratory unit at Swansea University who were studying the environment around and under the culverts. I used compressed charcoal and chalk into an A4 brown paper sketchbook. The thickness of the media encourages an abstracted  technique and I like the rather graphic qualities of this drawing.

Little Ecosystems

 

culvert 3

Travelling recently along the route of the River Tawe to it’s source in the Brecon Beacons, I accompanied two colleagues from the FIRE Laboratory unit at Swansea University. We turned off the A4067 just after the Tafarn y Garreg pub and took the road to Trecastle, looking at culverts that transported streams and tributaries under the road. Each has it’s own little ecosystem. I walked around the sites, until I felt inspired to draw. This was a fine culvert, quite long and fairly large and dark, with an intense splash of sunlit colour at the far end. I didn’t find it easy to draw moving water, especially with fairly primitive drawing materials – compressed charcoal and chalk.

culvert 3a

Protected From Feral Sheep

culvert 2

Another drawing from my second field trip with Swansea University’s FIRE Laboratory project. We were studying culverts that carry tributaries down to the River Tawe, up near its source in the Brecon Beacons. Using compressed charcoal and chalk into an A4 brown paper sketchbook, I focussed on getting an impression, rather than detail. There was a cretaegus growing out of the sturdy Victorian masonry, possibly because it’s well protected from the feral sheep.

Dan Y Ffordd / Under The Road

culvert 1

This week I went on my second field trip with Swansea University’s FIRE Lab project. We went along the old road after turning off the A4067 at the Tafarn y Garreg Inn. My colleagues were studying the bridges and culverts that direct the numerous streams under the road on their way down to merge with the River Tawe, which is quite close to its source here. I worked into a brown paper A4 sketchbook with compressed charcoal and white chalk.

Rock Of Ages

 

Rock 3

Husb and I were unexpectedly offered free tickets to the musical show “Rock of Ages” at our local Victorian Grand Theatre last week. I thought it was about Queen, the band, so I was a bit surprised by it.

Rock 2

It was good fun though and the cast were great singers and dancers. The energy they gave off was phenomenal and they deserved the standing ovation they got.

Rock 1

Of course I had a scribble. I drew completely in the dark, doing continuous line drawings with a ballpoint pen into my A6 hardbound sketchbook. It’s good practice and I liked the drawings when I opened up my book later at home. You can’t get too precious about things when you can’t see what you’re doing.

 

 

 

A Real Townie

Rose 6

I’m a real townie, the countryside is where the landscape lives along with lots of animals and birds I don’t know. I know what pigeons are, and seagulls, robins, sparrows, magpies and blackbirds. I am reasonably familiar with starlings, tits, sparrows, crows and budgies. On my “Walk and Draw” field trip along the Tawe riverbank last weekend I saw a jay (colourful), a kingfisher (even more colourful) and a grey heron (big). There were a few people fishing and we stopped to sketch this one guy. I did a quick drawing with ballpoint pen into my A6 cloth covered sketchbook.

The White Rose Saboteurs

A very moving blog post from artist Patti McJones

via The White Rose Saboteurs

A Drawn Montage

Rose 5

A couple more of the drawings I did out and about on my 15 kilometre walk along the banks of the River Tawe last weekend. We stopped periodically to sketch but we also did some “walk and draw” sketching. I like working like this because it forces me to disregard detail and record the fleeting impressions of things on the move. It becomes a montage rather than a static view.
Rose 4

This was my first field trip for the FIRE Lab project at Swansea University. “The Freshwater Interdisciplinary Research and Engagement (FIRE) Lab started in Swansea in early 2018. The lab is supported by a Sêr Cymru Fellowship held by Steph Januchowski-Hartley, and is focused on addressing questions about human changes on freshwater ecosystems and the relationships that people have with these ecosystems in Wales and beyond.” FIRE Lab connects science and the arts in an integrated SciArt approach. It’s fascinating and I’m so pleased to be a part of it.

En Plein Air

 

Rose 2

 

Here are a couple more drawings done en plein air last Saturday on my first field trip for the FIRE Lab project at Swansea University. I walked with a colleague up the Tawe river bank, 15 kilometres in all, and spent some of that time sketching. I like the drawings for their immediacy, the way they’re rooted in the moment.

 

Rose 3

I used compressed charcoal and chalk into a spiral bound A4 size brown paper sketchbook. I like using brown paper because it gives me an instant mid-tone.