A Higgledy-Piggledy Gothic Place

Lesley

Here are two more drawings I did last Sunday at a creative salon for women that I went to. It certainly gave me a creative boost and has helped to gel some ideas for development I’d been mulling around.

Jo and Phoebe

The salon was organised by the artist Fern Smith, a recipient of a Creative Wales Award who has organised “Seven Sundays in Spring: All The Women I’ve Ever Met“ to bring together creative salons across Wales (and one in England). This was the first and was hosted by the glass artist Chris Bird-Jones in her lovely Victorian house that clings higgledy-piggledy to the steep hill above Swansea city centre. The striking interior lends a Gothic atmosphere to the drawings.

Tampered With…

Jo

On Sunday, I went to a Women’s Creative Salon in Swansea, with a group brought together by the artist Fern Smith. Fern is a recipient of a Creative Wales Award and has organised “Seven Sundays in Spring: All The Women I’ve Ever Met“, inviting women that she’s encountered throughout the course of her life to engage in these consecutive creative Sundays in Wales  and England.

Jo reading

The sketches I did on Sunday were challenging because I wanted to be fully involved in the creative conversations and activities but also wanted to do credible drawings. I drew into an A4 hardbacked sketchbook that I’d prepared by sticking brown wrapping  paper onto the pages with Pritt stick.  I prefer to work on paper that has been tampered with in some way. A pristine white page is terrifying!

A Sunday Scribble

Fern

 

I spent a wonderful Sunday with a group of women artists and makers, brought together by the artist Fern Smith who has organised a series of events called Seven Sundays in Spring. It was a lovely atmosphere, calm, peaceful and supportive and of course, I scribbled. I managed six drawings in all. It’s nice drawing at a small gathering as people tend to be relatively still, but also they’re not sitting for portraits so there has to be an element of speed at the expense of detail. I drew into an A4 hardbacked sketchbook that I’d prepared by sticking brown wrapping paper onto the pages with Pritt stick.  Here’s the first drawing.

Music And Mark Making

Rhodri Davies 2

Husb and I went to the “Gallery At Night” opening at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery where artist in residence Rhodri Davies was performing on a range of strange instruments, including cymbals arranged on the floor (above) and adapted harps. I quickly got into the zone and scribbled automatically, allowing the music to dictate my mark-making. This is a recent development for me as I normally work in silence, not even listening to the radio. I drew these with a biro (ballpoint) pen into my small cloth-backed sketchbook (approximately A6 size).

 

The Gallery At Night

Rhodri davies b

 

Husb and I went to the late opening at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery last night where artist in residence Rhodri Davies was performing on a range of strange instruments. I scribbled with a biro (ballpoint) pen and found myself almost mesmerised, drawing automatically to the music.

Cold On The Beach

beach

Popped out for a walk along the beach yesterday and had a quick scribble into my A4 brown paper sketchbook with black, white and sanguine conté crayons. The sun was very bright in the sky but there were also loads of dark clouds massing between the horizon and the sun, which threw very strong highlights across the sea while the wind whipped rivulets of dry sand across the wetter sand beneath. And it was freezing. So I didn’t hang around.

 

 

Many Layers Of Scribbles

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Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop, where I worked with a long-standing model, an older man who’s been modelling for us for many years. He’s a great model, so still and comfortable in his poses. I drew onto my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a free Markers app. I laid down a black ground to draw onto and used a white pen function to build up the drawing in many layers of scribbling. I made chocolate truffles for our teabreak. I crumbled home-made chocolate sponge cake into a bowl of melted chocolate and double cream and rolled the mixture into balls, which I then rolled in broken-up chocolate flake. They went down well.

A Face Emerges….

Claudel

Here’s another snippet of the new artwork, a collaboration with graffiti artist Unity (Amelia Thomas). We’re doing it for the International Women’s Day exhibition in Swansea, opening on March the 8th at Cinema & Co. This image is based on a screen print I did of the French Impressionist sculptor, Camille Claudel……

Sanguine

hoch

This is another bit of a large canvas I’m working on at the moment, a collaboration with fellow artist Unity aka Millimagic. Unity has worked on the canvas with spray paint and pen, developing a typographical structure and background texture. I’ve started to draw in some imagery with sanguine conté crayon.  The finished piece will be launched at a new exhibition to celebrate International Women’s Day in Cinema & Co in Swansea on March the 12th.

Chalk And Cheese

frida canvas

 

I’m collaborating with fellow artist Unity aka Millimagic who works with graffiti style forms, influenced by hip hop culture. I have rarely collaborated on an artwork in the past and this, along with Unity’s cultural influences are new to me. Musically I’m a rock chick and I’d describe my style of art as fairly traditional, so we’re a bit like chalk and cheese. Here’s a little glimpse of something we’re working on for International Women’s Day. It will be launched at a new exhibition in Cinema & Co in Swansea on March the 12th. Watch this space ……