Went to an event at the theatre this evening and did a bit of scribbling of faces in the audience, but I’m late getting back and I’m really tired, so good night 🙂
Notes And Scribbles
I went to the international conference organised by the Women’s Archive Wales at Swansea University on Sunday, fascinating stuff. I made lots of notes and some sketches too.
I like to draw as well as write because it encourages me to look at my notes again, I’d be less inclined to if they were just pages and pages of text.
It’s What I Do
So as the extraordinary art festival ‘Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr’ ended last weekend, we had a few days to draw breath before the Swansea Fringe started on Thursday with an evening of cracking poetry at Unit Niniteen from Holly McNish, Claire E. Potter and Tongwynlais’ own Unity.
So of course I had to have a scribble, it’s what I do, after all.
The Finale: Sand And Monks
There was a final chapter to the extraordinary art experience ‘Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr’ last weekend. After three years of planning, around eighteen months of developing, and the best part of a year of delivering different aspects of the festival – the film of me and my model; the Graft garden; the printmaking workshops; the life drawing; the exhibitions; the installations and finally, the week of wonderful performances – the final day, on Sunday September the 30th, the group of Tibetan Monks who had spent a week painstakingly making an exquisite sand mandala painting, returned the sand to the beach in a formal and very beautiful ceremony.
Boys Dying Slowly
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
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
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.
Drawing On The Beach
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.
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
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
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.
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