Husb and I went out on Saturday night to the opening of an exhibition of graffiti inspired art at the excellent Cinema & Co in Swansea. There were also rap performers – Craze The Jack, Unity, Dope Biscuits and Rufus Mufasa and I took the opportunity to have a quick scribble while Craze The Jack performed. His hand movements were really fast and so was my pen. Not easy at all, but good practice.
Husb and I went to the excellent Cinema & Co on Saturday night to see a film about graffitti back in the 1970s and then stayed on to hear performances y Craze The Jack, Rufus Mufasa, Unity and …. I’ve forgotten! Must be a senior moment.
It’s the second day of the weekend screenprint book course at Swansea Print Workshop, headed up by Kelly Stewart, and I’m absolutely shattered. We did the drawings and design for it yesterday and today we printed, working at a fast pace in a heatwave!
Yesterday, I produced 6 drawn images on acetate for the interior, plus two for the covers. We started today by setting up our work stations, then mixing inks – Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paint mixed 80:20 with screenprinting medium and a little water to loosen it to a soft dropping consistency, like a Madeira cake mix, I thought.
Then the printing started, beginning with the background ‘layers’ and working through to the foreground ‘layers’. But before screening onto the prepared book paper (Somerset 250 gsm) I printed each image onto newsprint to check the colour and clarity of the images. I’ll show you the rest tomorrow……
Today! Right out of my comfort zone!
I’ve been at Swansea Print Workshop on day one of a weekend course with the excellent printmaker Kelly Stewart. I’m learning how to make a hardbacked screenprinted concertina book inspired by my drawings.
I started with a group of mixed media drawings of Neolithic Standing Stones I had done some time ago, a series I called ‘Yr Helfa / The Hunt‘, done en plein air across South Wales. But it’s often a problem trying to develop work from one genre to another because no matter what ideas you have, you are constrained by new techniques and materials that you haven’t experienced before.
It was hard work and by midday I was almost ready to throw in the towel and leave. But I persevered with Kelly’s encouragement and eventually came up with six drawings / motifs that will be printed and overprinted to form the book’s interior and designs for the front and back covers. I photocopied them onto acetates and Kelly transferred them, via the ultraviolet unit, onto prepared photoscreens. All set for tomorrow now.
Today’s temperature wasn’t quite so hot and Sparta Puss almost got up off the pouffé, almost …… She managed to be a bit alert this evening and even took a leisurely stroll to hassle a woodlouse for a bit. Hastily scribbled into my Peter Pauper Press ‘The Cat’s Meow Journal’ with a ballpoint pen.
Sparta Puss looks the way I feel. It’s an unusually hot spell of weather and the heat is getting to us, cats, dogs, hairless apes and all. Sparta Puss has the right idea – crash out somewhere quiet until the cool night arrives. She can’t escape being scribbled though.
Drawn with a ballpoint pen into my A5 size Peter Pauper Press ‘The Cat’s Meow’ journal.
I did some babysitting this morning. I didn’t sit on them, honest. We walked down to the beach, just a few minutes away and we’re having an uncharacteristic heat wave, so it was lovely down there, with lots of people enjoying the sand. The sea was right out but there were a few pools left behind by the last tide and the sprogs had fun collecting shells. The little one is very fair and had to borrow Husb’s summer hat, which he propped up on his ears. It did the trick though, but it’s hard to draw. I didn’t draw them from life, it was too hot. I took a few photos and I’ll use them to do some practice studies. They climbed trees as well, which will give me some great poses to draw. That’s Mumbles in the background. I used a ballpoint pen into my A5 size ‘Peter Pauper Press’ Cat’s Meow journal. Here it is with Sparta Puss.
And here’s the third of the cohort of lifelong friends and Baby Boomers who came to Swansea for me to draw them over the weekend. Thanks to them I’ve almost finished drawing one hundred Baby Boomers. It’s taken over three years so far but I hope to draw number one hundred in July and then we’ll have a great big tea and cake party! Which is perhaps a bit tame considering the lifestyles most of us had in our youth (and some are still having today) but hey ho, we’re all getting on a bit and to be honest, a nice cup of tea is my limit these days. And once the tea party is over, I’ll have to think about what to do next. I’ve had some deep conversations with most of my Boomers which have created a rich pattern of experiences and images that I think could inspire some very interesting work and possibly a new direction artistically. But first I have to draw number one hundred! There are two contenders. Which one can I get to first?
Carrying on with my self-imposed task to meet with, chat to and draw one hundred Baby Boomers, I was lucky enough to ‘capture’ three in one go yesterday, three lifelong friends at the upper end of the Baby Boom, a research term that covers those born between 1946 and 1964.
The other generations are:
According to researchers, generations share similar characteristics because they had similar experiences at more or less the same stage in life.
Just over three years ago I decided to draw one hundred people from my generation, the Baby Boomers. “It’ll be over by Xmas” I thought. Famous last words, But I’m nearly there and today drew number ninety seven. Oh yes!!!
It’s a big demographic, starting in 1946 and continuing through to 1964, which is a big gap, not just in terms of age but also life experience and culture too. It’s been fascinating listening to people talk about their lives.
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