My Muses In London

1506944155591488279820.png

I’ve just emailed a digital artwork that’s going into an exhibition in London this weekend. It’s an animated sequence of some of the female models I work with and it’s called “My Muses”. It’s made up of life drawings that I’ve done on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a free Markers app. I’ve been hitting the ‘Save’ button frequently, every few seconds, to build up a record of the drawings as they progress. Husb transferred them onto a desktop and edited them together in Adobe Premiere Pro.

 

The animation is appearing at the FiLiA annual conference at The Institute of London near Russell Square this weekend. I am so lucky to be able to work with such exceptional women. Artists’ models are rarely given the recognition they deserve, it’s not an easy job, there’s more to it than just sitting still, they inspire us.

 

 

The women I work with are older, middle-aged, younger; large and small; black and white; a student, a teacher, a soldier, an artist, a stay-at-home-mother, a free spirit; employed and unemployed; from all walks of life. They have one thing in common – they are My Muses.

I won’t post the animation just yet as it’s getting its debut at the FiLiA conference, so I’ll post it next week.

 

The FiLiA conference is at the Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL (nearest tube stations: Russell Square, Euston) on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October. Please follow the links below for more information.

https://filia.org.uk/welcome/ 

@FiLiArtivism

 

A lot of my artwork is available on my Artfinder gallery.  If you’d like to have a look, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

The Alma-Tadema Ladies. Part 1 – The Two Wives, Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard and Laura Epps.

A female artist I had never heard of, wonderful painting, Laura Alma-Tadema

Source: The Alma-Tadema Ladies. Part 1 – The Two Wives, Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard and Laura Epps.

Awkward Little Object

1507491423952488279820.png

So it’s now day 7 of the 40 Day Drawing Challenge organised by Green Olive Press in Morocco and I’m working my way through individual objects to draw still-life studies. Today’s was an awkward little thing, a small marble pestle and mortar that I bought in Pakistan about 3 years ago when I was on an artist residency near Rawalpindi. I stood it on a jazzy coaster and drew onto my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a free Markers app. The marble was a pain to draw and doing this challenge is giving me so much more respect for artists who work with still-life, it’s not easy.

madeinroath

With my fellow Plebeian Printmakers I’ll be making street prints at the madeinroath festival in Cardiff on Saturday October the 21st so if you’re about, please come and see us in action between 11.00 and 15.00.

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘When You Have More Than You Need, Build A Longer
Table, Not A Higher Fence’ and in keeping with this, we will take prints from manholes and metal covers from local roads and pavements, in a variety of colours, onto paper doilies and napkins that will be used as place settings on the “Longer Tables Street Party” on Plasnewydd Road throughout the day. Here’s a copy of the madeinroath brochure – there’s loads going on throughout the week.

Some of The Plebeian Printmakers – Melvyn Williams, Patricia McKenna-Jones, Hannah Lawson and Chris Harrendence. Kara Seaman will be joining us at madeinroath. And I’ll be there too….

 

The Plebeian Printmakers is a very visible group of artists experienced in working and interacting with the public and we give people the opportunity to talk as well as observe what we’re doing, encouraging them to immerse themselves in their surroundings, to slow down and appreciate what’s often overlooked in the built environment. We use non-toxic, washable materials so that people can join in and make their own print if they want.

We recently did some street printmaking in Swansea at the Troublemakers Festival and one of our members, Melvyn Williams, made this short film of us at it.

 

A manhole cover
Inked and a fragment of hand-made khadi paper placed on top
A pad of newspaper on top of the Khadi paper and the application of a boot
A pavement print

 

 

MiR-PubPK-dates-logos-2017

 

 

A lot of my artwork is available on my Artfinder gallery.  If you’d like to have a look, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

New Old Thing

1507319785736851797125.png

Day 5 of the 40 Day Drawing Challenge and I scribbled this little ceramic mustard pot that I picked up for a £1 in a second-hand shop earlier this week. I drew this on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a basic free app called Markers. I saved the drawing several times as I went along and the slides below show the different stages.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Life Drawing (Female Nude)

1507234209876488279820.png

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. Our model has been working with us for seven years and she’s an absolute inspiration. Being an artist’s model isn’t just a matter of sitting still, good models bring an undefinable something to the creative process. I love going to the sessions, the group of artists is interesting and friendly and I usually make a cake for tea break. Today I made a classic Victoria Sandwich filled with home-made gooseberry jam. I grew the gooseberries on our allotment.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I drew onto my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet, with a free Markers app. And now I’m off to bed. Goodnight x

Fruity

15071497428841999673538.png

Day 3 of the 40 Day Drawing Challenge set by Green Olive Press in Morocco and today I’m going fruity with a ripe pomegranate. I rarely draw still life so I’m using the Challenge to practice, one object at a time and working up to a large composition by the end. I’m taking inspiration from other artists who work with still-life. Matisse is an obvious one, but I’m very taken with the work of fellow art blogger Aletha Kuschan. Do check her work out (here), it’s sumptuous. I drew this on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a basic free app called Markers.

I saved the drawing several times as I went along and the slides below show the different stages.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A Wonky Stripey Teapot

1507063741743(1)851797125.png

It’s day 2 of the 40 Day Drawing Challenge set by Green Olive Press in Morocco and I’m taking the opportunity to draw still life. It isn’t my strongest point so I’m using the Challenge to get in some practice. I’m starting off with one object at a time so that hopefully by the end, I will be able to do a composition of several items.  I love tea so a teapot is an obvious choice. It’s a bit wonky, but that’s okay, I’m practising. Today I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a basic free app called Markers. If you’re thinking of trying it out, you’ll need to put in a basic coloured ground before you start drawing, even if it’s white, otherwise it looks weird when you upload the final drawing.

I saved the drawing several times as I went along and the slides show the different stages of the drawing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My Weakest Link

1506973289016(1)488279820.png

I’m taking part in the 40 Day Drawing Challenge set by Green Olive Press in Morocco – isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing, it’s so easy to send stuff around the world instantly. I decided to take the opportunity to push myself right out of my comfort zone and draw objects. I envy artists who can work with still life – it’s a genre that gives me so much grief. I can draw any number of humans, I’m comfortable in a cityscape, I am okay with landscape and animals are not too much of a problem – but still life! It’s my weakest link by far so I’m going to discipline myself to try out different approaches to drawing objects.  I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet and drew with a basic free app called Markers but I think I’ll try and use lots of different media throughout the challenge.

 

Focused Face

Swansea Fringe 2

Here’s another drawing I did at the Swansea Storytelling Club on Friday night, at The Swansea Fringe. Husb and I went to the comedy club this evening and I was going to do some more drawings, but the comedian, Noel James, was too hilarious and I couldn’t stop laughing long enough for even a quick scribble. It’s been great to have the Fringe back. I worked on the old Swansea Fringe for a couple of years back in the 1980s, happy days, and I’m enjoying its return immensely. It wasn’t raining so badly today either and there was a good crowd at the gig.

I drew this man into my little lined Papermates notebook with a 6B graphite pencil, the sort that is solid graphite, without wood around it. He was very focused on the storyteller which made life a lot easier for me.