Boys Dying Slowly

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Some more sketches from the extraordinary performance, “Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr” at Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall last weekend. A new requiem was commissioned by auteur Marc Rees, performed by the choir Polyphony, and in the red gloom of the hall, a group of young men, boys, the age of so many of those who lost their lives in World War 1, slowly, very slowly, died.

I didn’t realise what was happening at first as the lads strolled into the centre of the hall and stood around as young lads do, hands in pockets, then slowly they raised their hands and moved imperceptibly backwards and then I realised they were falling as if shot. But in painfully slow motion. I cried.

 

 

 

The Celtic Warrior

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I took my sketchbook to the performance of ‘Nawr Yr Arwr / Now The Hero’ at Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall last weekend. I did a series of speed drawings of the balletic Celtic Warrior, Joe Perou.

He moved with precision which helped me to focus on scribbling the basic details of his form.

 

The Table And The Steps

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Here are some more drawings I did from the performance of Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr last weekend. It was a promenade piece and this section was set in the street outside the Brangwyn Hall. The irrepressible actress, Eddie Ladd, playing a female peace campaigner conducts the Cyd Adrodd (spoken choir) above on the steps of The Brangwyn Hall and dances along tables in the street where women are sewing bunting to celebrate the end of war – below. I found it much harder to draw sewing machines than people.

eddie 1

 

 

Drawing On The Beach

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Some drawings I did #enpleinair on the beach on Saturday, at the start of the final performance of “Nawr Yr Arwr / Now The Hero”, easily the most incredible theatrical experience I have ever had. It was truly amazing, so many things going on, so much to take in. It started on the beach with the lead actress, Eddie Ladd, atop the old, and very unsafe-looking, Slip Bridge.

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I worked with graphite, 2B and 6B, into a long landscape Khadi handmade paper sketchbook, a beautiful thing in its own right, but difficult to photograph. I think I’ll have to scan them…..

Tart And Dumplings

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It’s Autumn! Time for Autumn food. I have been given some windfall cooking apples and I had a few very ripe plums so I got the butter out of the fridge, made some pastry and turned the fruit into four apple dumplings and a large plum and apple tart. I would have drawn them, but there was no time as Husb takes no prisoners when it comes to pastries!

 

 

A Good Night’s Sleep

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And here’s my final drawing from last weekend’s special life drawing session at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum. The models were working in pairs, which I found challenging because there isn’t enough time to work on both, especially in a quite short pose – this one’s 20 minutes.

I used three conté crayons in white, sanguine and black into an A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook from Seawhite’s of Brighton.

 

The drawing event was part of the Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr arts festival which was happening for the past week in Swansea, involving dozens of arts organisations and partners and about 500 individuals – artists, performers, technicians, gardeners, Tibetan Monks, volunteers….. it’s been huge and overwhelming and I think that everyone involved needs a good night’s sleep. From tomorrow, I’ll blog the drawings I did through the promenade performance of “Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr” (click here to read one of the fantastic reviews) and the final event, featuring Tibetan monks, some large horns and the beach.

 

 

My Dogs Are Barking!

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“My dogs are barking” is what old people said when I was a nipper when they meant that their feet were aching. It’s late, I’ve been out and only just got home and I’ve been on my feet and walking for most of the last four hours – so – my dogs are barking. And I’m tired too.

Here’s another of the life drawings I did last weekend at a special session at the national Waterfront Museum. It was a nice departure to work with two models, but difficult to spend a lot of time on the second.

And now to bed ……… zzzzzzzzzzzz …………

A Short One, A Long One (life drawings)

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Some more life drawings from the session at the National Waterfron Museum last Sunday. The first is a five minute pose, getting in the basic elements that make it recognisable and then just enough time to start on something more complex, some shadows, highlights and slightly more complicated linework from the one- and two-minute poses that had gone before. Then into a 30 minute pose. The short warm-ups hone your perception and you can pitch straight in quickly to develop the drawing without faffing about with preliminaries.

 

The drawing event was part of the Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr arts festival happening this week in Swansea.

I used three conté crayons in white, sanguine and black into an A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook from Seawhite’s of Brighton.

 

There are loads of art events happening this week, including an excellent exhibition at Swansea Print Workshop, inspired by World War 1 and the work of WW1 artists Frank Brangwyn and Kathe Kollwitz. Below is one of a series of monotypes called The Warrior that I have done while working with one particular model over 10 years and I am one of fifteen artist printmakers showing their work. “Now The Printmakers” is open until Saturday, September 29th, 10.30 – 4.30 at 19a, Clarence Street, Swansea.

Invite Now The Printmakers a

 

 

A Pair Of Posers

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After a few one and two-minute poses at the special life drawing   session at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea last weekend, we moved out of the chilly new ‘Graft’ garden and into the museum where the life models posed for five minutes in pairs. That was far harder to draw than a single person because, well obviously, there’s two of ’em but also you have to consider their spatial relationship to each other. With one model you can just draw the figure without any relationship to anything else and that’s quite acceptable.

The drawing event was part of the Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr arts festival happening this week in Swansea.

I used three conté crayons in white, sanguine and black into an A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook from Seawhite’s of Brighton.

 

There are loads of art events happening this week, including an excellent exhibition at Swansea Print Workshop, inspired by World War 1 and the work of WW1 artists Frank Brangwyn and Kathe Kollwitz. Below is one of a series of monotypes called The Warrior that I have done while working with one particular model over 10 years and I am one of fifteen artist printmakers showing their work. “Now The Printmakers” is open until Saturday, September 29th, 10.30 – 4.30 at 19a, Clarence Street, Swansea.

Invite Now The Printmakers a

 

 

 

Somerset flummery

An interesting post from Lois Elsdon about an ancient pudding with Welsh origins           https://wp.me/p2hGAs-7EM