The Cheese Has Landed! I entered one of those Facebook competitions a few weeks ago. You know the ones, you click on ‘Like’ and share the page and you’re entered into a prize draw. Well, this was with the Welsh Cheese Company and if there’s one thing that I like more than almost anything else in the world … almost …. it’s cheese. So I clicked and shared and a couple of weeks later they got in touch to tell me that I’ve won fifty quid’s worth of cheese! Not just any old cheese either, but the nation’s finest.
So I was working today and spent the evening with some of our extended family and we ate loads of cheese. And I didn’t do any art but now I’m stuffed full of cheese. And I’m so happy, being stuffed full of cheese 😀
Me and my unruly hair talking about my work on ancient standing stones.
I had a fab evening out last week, up The Workers, a lovely gallery in the village of Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley. On the first Thursday of each month, they host an evening of Words, Arts and Music (WAM) and I was part of it this month. I did a talk about my work, mainly the en plein air pieces I did in collaboration with prehistorian Dewi Bowen, who’s been researching his new book, and filmmaker Melvyn Williams.
Some of the mixed media drawings in my series ‘Yr Helfa’.
Dewi did an illustrated talk about ancient monuments in the area around Rhondda and Melvyn premiered the new film he’s made of me and Dewi on our creative journey across South Wales. Here’s the film below. People in the audience seemed to find it funny, especially the bits of me suffering for my art!!!
I started a selfie today, a self portrait woodcut, using a piece of plywood. I transferred my drawing onto the wood and commenced hacking away with my Flexcut tools, they’re pretty good but plywood is quite tough and takes some effort.
I did a rubbing, with tracing paper and a graphite block, as I cut, to keep tabs on how it was progressing. Tomorrow I’ll do a first proof print to see exactly what’s going on and then finish the cutting, if necessary.
I’ve been flipping through old sketchbooks, reminding myself of work I’d forgotten about. I came across a cluster of heads in one that I’d bought from the Tate gallery in London. Nice sketchbook. I like drawing heads and faces, but children’s faces are so difficult. The younger they are, the more they look like an alien life form. There’s a mixture of media here, graphite, charcoal pencil, Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen and biro (ballpoint).
I work part-time for a charity for people who are homeless, delivering art and craft sessions in different venues across the city. It’s much easier to engage people in crafts than in fine art, crafting seems to be more accessible and less threatening. I try out different things to motivate people who don’t think that they can paint or draw or sculpt to engage with art. I recently ordered a stencil book, bought in some small square canvasses and did a quick little stencil painting during today’s session. It certainly attracted a lot of attention.
I used a stencil brush to put on the basic image in black acrylic (Liquitex Heavy Body) and while it was drying I cleaned the stencil on a piece of blue kitchen towel with a wet-wipe. I really like the ethereal image that appeared on the towel. Then I added some brush strokes in light blue and orange to give it a 1960s Pop Art feel. It was very quick and showed people how they could think about using stencils and paint to create artwork for their new homes. It also taught people quite a bit about how to use paint, without them realising it. I’m not a big fan of painting but I really like the Liquitex, it’s very strongly pigmented and can be thinned out to use in translucent washes, as with the stripes, or used fairly impasto, as I did with the stencil.
I’ve been searching through my older work today. I do it from time to time because I find it helps me to analyse what I’m doing now. And also it reminds me what I have tucked away in my plans chest, often things I had forgotten.
These two reminded me how crucial drawing is to my art practice. The first was done during the weekly life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I liked the composition so much that I used it to develop this monotype, a technique I often use when I want to work in colour. I’ve never been particularly interested in painting, I’d rather use a printmaking process any day. You can find out more about this process in my Techie Stuff section here.
Just a reminder about this night coming up fast in the Rhonddda Valley
Here’s a quick little sketch I did on my recent visit to Hastings. We walked along the sea front to the Old Town, which is a fishing village, and saw these odd, elongated dark wooden sheds. It turns out they’re net shops / sheds, the fishermen had limited space to hang their nets so built the sheds very high, three stories and painted black. There were also normal size sheds, also very dark wood, that sold the freshest of fish, landed that day. It is lovely to see a traditional industry dating back to the early 19th century still thriving.
End of a long day, lots of family stuff and a visit to town and it’s hot and sticky and muggy so I’m slobbing out at home scribbling my comfy shoes into my little flower covered sketchbook.
A stamp based on a screen print I made from an original drawing of Kathe Kollwitz
Coming up, June 16th and 17th, I’ll be running a printmaking masterclass at Swansea’s gorgeous Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Over the weekend we’ll focus on two print techniques, drypoint (intaglio) and woodcut, linked to the fabulous Käthe Kollwitz exhibition. Book now if you want to come as tickets are selling out fast….
A digital drawing I did based on Kathe’s woodcut, The Widow.
On Day 1….
We’ll start with my illustrated talk about Käthe Kollwitz’s life and art (I’m a huge fan) and then we’ll go into the gallery to look at Käthe’s specific pieces that support drypoint and woodcut, the exquisite line of her etchings and the drama, chiaroscuro and simplicity of her woodcuts. We’ll make some quick sketches of her techniques.
After a tea break, off to the studio to look at individual work and start to transfer drawings to the drypoint plates and / or wood blocks and start cutting the images.
After lunch, we’ll continue cutting and prepare the paper for the next day and get our materials ready. This will be a chance for artists to chat about ideas, ask questions, get familiar with new materials and machinery.
On Day 2 ….
It’s all about the printing…. We’ll soak paper the paper, ink the plates and/or blocks, print a small edition for each artist and put them to dry. We’ll learn about ways of doing these print techniques at home; about signing and numbering an edition, why and how; and there will be handouts designed to help you to continue printmaking afterwards.
And all in the surroundings of the beautiful Glynn Vivian Art Gallery….
If you want to book onto the course, please click here … and if you want to read a bit more about Käthe, please click here and here.
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