Husb and I went to some talks at our local art gallery and it was hot, been a long hot summer, and people were wearing as little as possible to cope with the stuffiness. I had a quick scribble. When I was a lass, it was absolutely taboo for our bra straps to show, it was something you got paranoid about. But nowadays it seems to be quite the thing.
Husb and I met up with friends and spent a great day at the “Between The Trees” festival, set in woodlands near Candlestone Castle and the Merthyr Mawr nature reserve, a huge sand dune system. We walked through the dunes in the early Autumn sunshine to the picturesque saltmarsh and back and listened to some of the excellent musicians and I found a fellow scribbler! I did a very quick sketch into my A4 hardbacked book, prepared with brown parcel paper stuck in randomly with Pritt stick glue, using Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens and conté crayon in black, white and sanguine.
Here’s the final drawing I did last Bank Holiday Monday, when I joined a group of women from across South Wales to remember the original women’s peace march that led to Greenham Common back in 1989. We set out from Swansea really early, then had speeches, songs and a short march around Alexandra Gardens in Cardiff; sidestepping the preparations for the Cardiff Pride event later that day. One of the original marchers, Ann Pettitt, spoke of her experiences, so interesting. Of course, I had to scribble her! I didn’t go on the original protest but I joined 30,000 others at the huge “Embrace The Base” event in 1982, where we all linked hands around the perimeter fence, I think it was about 9 miles.
Then off to Chepstow for tea and Welsh Cakes in the Drill Hall and then recreating part of the march onto the old Severn Bridge on the M48. I’ve driven across that bridge many times through my life but never walked on it. There’s a very good pedestrian and cycle path and I was surprised by how many were walking it on a lovely day. Here’s a view of the new Severn Bridge from the old one with sheep walking across the land below the bridge.
Patti McKenna Jones was also at the peace march commemoration last Monday, having a scribble of course….
“She is like a mountain”, the lyrics from one of the songs of Greenham (created by the women themselves along with lyricists such as Holly Near, Peggy Seager or Naomi Little Bear Martinez) rang out from the group of women – and a few men -who met at Cardiff Museum on August bank holiday Monday to commemorate the Welsh women who marched to Greenham Common in 1981.
Many of us knew the lyrics – led by the great Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Reds) Choir – because many had either been on the march itself, or visited the camp set up for . We had met to reminisce and re-enact part of the march -across the Severn Bridge.
Ann Petit (left) and Karmen Thomas were so worried when Thatcher allowed the United States to store 96 cruise missiles at Greenham Common Airbase that they decided to take action.
On…
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Here’s another drawing I did into my A4 hardbacked sketchbook on Bank Holiday Monday, during the celebration of the anniversary of the first women’s peace march to Greenham Common in 1981. This is at the first part of the commemoration, at Alexandra Gardens in Cardiff, and there’s one of the protesters with her cap covered in vintage political badges peeping from behind one of the wonderful embroidered banners. Here’s my fellow artist from Swansea, Patricia McKenna Jones, who also loves to scribble in public and draws an artblog.
I didn’t go on the original protest but I joined 30,000 others at the huge “Embrace The Base” event in 1982, when I was a young whippersnapper. I didn’t realise how many women were there because we were spread out along the perimeter fence, holding hands. We didn’t know at the time that this was historic, you don’t, do you? You just do what you think is right and then decades go by and suddenly you’re history! And how did those decades fly by so quickly?
Yesterday I went on a journey, leaving Swansea by coach at 8.30 am, heading to Cardiff to commemorate the start of the Women’s Peace March to Greenham Common, way back in 1981. Organised by Women’s Archive Wales, there were speeches and songs in Alexandra Gardens and we took a walk around the area with some of the gorgeous embroidered banners. Then back onto the coach to Chepstow, where we were greeted with tea and sandwiches and Welsh cakes ….. aaahhh ….. Welsh cakes …. and more speeches and talks from some of the women who had been on the original march and historians. Then we walked through some woods and emerged onto the old Severn Bridge, which was spectacular! More on that tomorrow ….
Here’s a drawing I did a while back of Welsh cakes cooking on the griddle….. mmmm …. Welsh cakes …. mmmm ….
I had a long day today, it was good but tiring so I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Here’s one of the drawings I did, this one is a digital drawing on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 using a free Markers app.
This is the eleventh of my “Up Yer Nose” series of digital drawings. I start by taking a digital photo of my victims …. er …. volunteers …. then I look at the photo on my phone, resting on my knee, while I draw freehand into my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 using a free Markers app. I don’t download the photo into the app and then draw on top. I tried that once, years ago, and it looks weird. It takes away my interpretation and my style and just looks fake. And it doesn’t really teach me anything or give me valid practice. Drawing from scratch takes a lot longer but it’s more satisfying and I prefer the result.
Greetings apes. Sparta Puss here. The she-monkey that I share my house with has been cheating on me with a dog called Daisy. A DOG! They’re as smelly as apes and even more stupid.
Hello Bald Apes. Sparta Puss here. Those lazy trained monkeys of mine have left the pooter box alone AGAIN. They’re too busy watching the noisybox in the corner with stuff running around inside it. Sometimes there are squirrels inside the noisybox. I like that, but by the time I get around to taking a swipe at them, they’re gone. I look behind the noisybox for them, but they’re never there. I don’t know how they do it but the she-monkey said that squirrels are meant to be very intelligent. The man-ape disagrees. He got bit by a squirrel once and he hates them. She-monkey says it was his own fault. He offered a peanut to a squirrel and didn’t throw it on the floor, he kept hold of it and the stroppy squirrel bit his finger and he dropped the peanut and the squirrel grabbed the nut (it was a monkey nut coincidentally) and ran off. He said it was laughing and punching the air. I’m not sure that I believe him. He’s an idiot.
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