A Nice Manhole

Here’s a short interview with me, here, about the two events I’m taking part in this coming weekend, July 15th and 16th with The Plebeian Scribblers and The Plebeian Printmakers. I’ll be up to arty shenanigans with hordes of other arty types in a 4 day arty party on Swansea’s High Street starting tomorrow courtesy of @VolcanoUK‘s Troublemakers Festival Fringe .

Hmmmmm, whatever can I be planning to do with this lovely manhole? I like a nice manhole. Check out The Plebeian Printmakers on Sunday July 16th from 13.00 – 15.30 to see what we do with manholes.

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For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Violent When Brushed

 

I did a quick scribble this evening into my tiny A7 size sketchbook with a biro (ballpoint) pen. It’s been a busy day; I went to Cardiff on the bus for two meetings with fellow artists, planning arty collaborations, and then I got travel sick on the way home. Not nice. So I’ve only just felt like having a scribble. Here she is, the scruffiest of cats, Ming The Merciless showing her best side. She’s brushed every night, despite being seriously violent, but she is always a total scruff. Bit like me really. Although I’m not violent when I’m brushed. Well, not often.

 

For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

 

 

Primitive And Clunky

Went for a longish walk this afternoon in the continuing heatwave and we kept up a cracking pace and I didn’t have time to do a scribble in my sketchbook.  So I grabbed my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 when I was sitting down chilling out with a cup of iced green tea (oooh get me) with my tired old feet up on the pouffe and I thought “Oh go on then, scribble these.” I try to do a scribble every day. It’s not great art but it’s practice and it’s keeping me physically and mentally in tune with my drawing skills. I use a free Markers app which is quite primitive and clunky, but frankly I don’t have the time or inclination to research,  buy and start using a new, more expansive app.

A Different Way

I’ve started to use my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tablet again for drawing,  with a free Markers app, and I’m approaching it in a different way,  being much more experimental than before. I haven’t drawn with it for a couple of years and I am being freer with it. I built up this portrait head in many layers, using mostly my fingers with some fine stylus work around the facial features. I think I am taking more risks with it because there’s no expense involved,  if it doesn’t work out I can delete it and start again. 

Tattoos

Here’s the second of the life drawings I did this week at Swansea Print Workshop.  I used the free Markers app on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 and drew with the stylus and also my fingers. This is an older model who has many blueline tattoos and a terrific,  bright personality. 

AfterLife

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That’s after life drawing, which finished about half an hour ago at Swansea Print Workshop and I’m squeezing in a quick blog before I go to bed. This is the warm up drawing I did, just a few minutes to get used to the pose and I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a free Markers app. This is an older model who is quite a character and has many interesting tattoos.

 

 

For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Stamping!

I’m going to be running some creative training sessions soon and one of them is going to be about stamping. That’s not moving your feet up and down with force, but the practice of creating new artworks from rubber – or lino or wood – stamps. I’ve been doing some work in this technique, inspired by artists Atif Khan, Ryan McGinnis and Federico Pietrella. Here are some different ways I’ve been using a stamp I had made from a screenprint I did of my hero, German artist Käthe Kollwitz. On the left, a ‘mashup’ with a newspaper fragment; in the middle a 3D construction from Shiohara paper and aluminium armature wire; on the right a stitched piece with chine collé.

 

Here are some examples of work from other artists using stamps too. From left to right, Federico Pietrella, Ryan McGinnis, Atif Khan.

 

 

 

 

For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

 

 

Walk Wednesday: A Walk to the Great Pen Y Fan — Brecon Beacons Tourism Blog

PEN Y FAN – The easiest way to the top of Pen y Fan and Corn Du. This week’s Walk Wednesday is all about the highest peak in the National Park and southern Britain. Here’s another great guide, from the man everyone would want to be with in a survival situation! Who struggles to get lost […]

via Walk Wednesday: A Walk to the Great Pen Y Fan — Brecon Beacons Tourism Blog

Just A Quick One

 

I didn’t do any art today, bogged down with admin and cooking, so I had a quick scribble when a relative popped round this evening. My friends and family are fair game. If they sit still for a few minutes, it’s inevitable that they’ll end up in my sketchbook. It’s a very small sketchbook with a lovely fabric cover and a red ribbon, very good white paper too.

 

 

For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day. This is a view from Swansea Beach.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

 

 

A Digital Head

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I’m making some headway (pardon the pun) with my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet. I haven’t drawn with it for a couple of years but I restarted a couple of weeks ago in life drawing group at Swansea Print Workshop. I’m using a free app called Markers and I like the simplicity of it. However, when I open a new page I need to lay down a ground first and build up the drawing on top, otherwise it goes a bit funny and sort of reverses itself and has to be corrected in Adobe Photoshop. This portrait took about 20 minutes.

Invitation
An invitation to Yr Helfa

If you’re in Swansea on Friday, my exhibition is opening at Cinema & Co, with lashings of home-made cake and a short illustrated talk. You’re very welcome to join me.

 

For a limited period I am putting a new drawing from my recent sketch books on my Artfinder gallery every day.  If you’d like to check them out, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.