melvyn and ming

I sleep sandwiched between Husb on one side of me and Sparta Puss on the other, which is normally OK but last night they ganged up on me. Husb got up for a toilet visit at 4am and Sparta Puss decided to follow him, because like many cats she thinks it’s her duty to accompany her trained monkeys to the loo. She took the shortest route, which was across my chest and throat. She’s no lightweight. I’m a very light sleeper and they woke me up. Then they came back to bed and dozed off straight away. I lay tossing and turning until the alarm went off. This is my life!

The drawing is of Husb snoozing with his late cat, Little Ming.

 

Mamelles!

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Since we spent a week puppy-sitting the delightful Smudge, we’ve kept to the routine of walking in the morning before we start work. I did a quick scribble in my A6 sketchbook the other day, but only had time for a basic continuous line drawing. So I photographed it and uploaded it onto my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8, into a free app called Markers, and then added in some tones and more line work to flesh the drawing out a bit. It’s a view from the top of Rose Hill, looking down over the city towards the sea. On the right in the distance are the twin islands of Mumbles. The name allegedly comes from French sailors who, when sailing by, spotted the islands and exclaimed “mamelles, mamelles” which translates as “breasts, breasts“.

Men In Hats

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Men in hats are hard to draw. Well, not just men, anyone really. I find heads easy enough until someone puts something on them – hats, scarves, bandanas …. even a pair of sunglasses makes it harder for me to get the proportions right. Good practice though. I scribbled these chaps at the charity boules event that Husb and I took part in yesterday. I was rubbish.

Boules

Boules. Played for the first time today at a charity event in Swansea Marina. Half of our team of six had never played before but we managed to get through to the quarter-finals. Of course, I had to have a quick scribble.

boules 1

 

Angles

Chrissy 2

Here’s another aspect of last evening’s life drawing session, using conté crayons to analyse the angles of her face.

Back To Basics

Chrissy 1

I returned to life drawing group tonight, after a long break. Too long. It was great to get my mojo back!

What Is Water

FIRE 2

I’ve been scribbling in my sketchbook again, this time at an event called “What Is Water” which brought together poets, storytellers and academics to share their experience of water and river systems through the spoken word. It was really innovative to hear an academic presentation by Dr. Emily O’Gorman, an Australian geographer, interspersed with poems, stories, reflections and even bongos!
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It was organised by the FIRE Lab (Freshwater Interdisciplinary Research and Engagement) from Swansea University. It’s a fascinating project looking at human relationships with freshwater ecosystems and specifically the River Tawe, integrating sciences and the arts over the next four years or so.

An Arty Gym Workout

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Another quick scribble in my little sketchbook. I used to sketch every day, for many years, then I got out of the habit over the past year or so, it become infrequent. But I’m up and running again now. Sketchbook work doesn’t have to be too polished or finished. It’s catching brief moments and in doing so, practicing composition, perspective, proportion, line-work, tonal values …. It’s like an arty gym workout.

Complementary

Pat Orange 2

I carried on painting today. I’m just doing a bit at a time because I tend to get very stressed over painting, which doesn’t happen when I draw or make original prints. So I’m just dashing over to it, slapping some acrylic paint on it, then dashing away to do something else. Today I put a wash of orange over the yellow towards the bottom of the canvas roll. It’s a complementary colour to the blue and I like using complementary colours – they create such intensity. I also started to block in some darker areas on the overalls, overlaying the cerulean with a red-biased pthalo blue. I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics, mostly transparent or translucent as I like layering glazes over each other. This is a portrait of the artist Patti McJones that I started 5 years ago, it’s a big piece, almost life size.

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Another recent page from my sketchbook, getting back into the swing of scribbling regularly after a fallow period. I scribbled these at an event at GS Artists in Swansea yesterday.

Local artist Owen Griffiths has just completed a residency there and was presenting his  recent “research and ideas around land use, climate change, place and working in Wales.” It was very interesting and provocative and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.