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The Coalfield Part 1

Visiting Big Pit / Pwll Mawr in Blaenavon on Sunday with Husb, I took the opportunity to do some drawing en plein air in my A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook. I stood on the grass up above the mining site and quickly drew the darker areas of the rugged mountainous landscape of the South Wales coalfield, stretching into the distance.

I used both the point and the flat edge of the black conté crayon to get fine lines and large areas of texture. Then I grabbed my white conté crayon, but I’ll blog that tomorrow. We were out with a group of artists linked with The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir which currently has a group show of its gallery artists (I’m one of them) and a solo show from Norwegian artist Tobbe Malm, who creates extraordinary metal sculptures.

Last week was the opening of Swansea’s International Women’s Day exhibition at Cinema & Co. It was fantastic, loads of people there and lots of arty and fun things happening. Cinema & Co is putting on a terrific programme of films through the month because it’s also Women’s History Month. Please check out the programme here …..

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Big Pit / Pwll Mawr

Husb and I had a grand day out today, driving up to Big Pit National Coal Museum near Blaenafon. We met up with a gaggle of artists (is that the right collective noun?) from The Worker’s Gallery and Workshops in Ynyshir in the nearby Rhondda Valley. It’s a fabulous small gallery that punches way above its weight and well worth a day trip to go and see what’s on there.

At Big Pit, we had a guided tour underground and then explored the site and the excellent exhibitions set out in the historic industrial buildings. And a cup of tea and some Welsh cakes in the warm and cosy cafeteria with spectacular views. Of course, I had to have a scribble. It was very cold and blustery and difficult to draw, but sometimes you need extreme conditions to force you out of your comfort zone and zoom in on what’s absolutely essential for your drawing.

This building is the Fan House, where the big fan is. It’s used several times a day to pump clean air into the pit. I worked quickly with white, sanguine and black conté crayon, in that order, into my A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook from Seawhites. I used the point of the crayons for a scribbled line and the flat side to cover areas quickly.

Earlier this week was the opening of Swansea’s International Women’s Day exhibition at Cinema & Co. It was fantastic, loads of people there and lots of arty and fun things happening. Cinema & Co is putting on a terrific programme of films through the month because it’s also Women’s History Month. Please check out the programme…..

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Keeping At It

A couple of weeks ago at life drawing group at Swansea Print Workshop, I spent most of the session drawing hands, always a difficult area for me. I kept at it and finally ended up with something I really liked. I was working with an older male model and it’s interesting to see how age affects hands.

BOGART

I had a fantastic evening on Wednesday, International Women’s Day (March 8th) with the opening event of the WMD (Women of Many Dimensions) exhibition at Swansea’s Cinema & Co. There was loads going on throughout the evening – art, poetry, live painting, music, film (Frida), a bar, a pop-up kitchen and the launch of BOGART – art in the toilets at Cinema & Co. It’s a good space with a captive audience so why not? The smaller toilet hosts a photographic installation by Kathryn Trussler and the big bog has an interactive homage to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

As people arrived for the evening of festivities, we handed them a sheet of coloured dots and invited them to go and spot the ‘Obliteration Wall’ in the big bog, based on Kusama’s ‘Obliteration Room’ in The Tate and other galleries across the world. This is how it looked at the end of the evening and there’s plenty more spots left to keep on obliterating before the exhibition finishes at the end of the month.

I worked with fellow artists Sylvie Evans and Patricia McKenna-Jones and the owner of Cinema & Co, Anna Redfern, to set it up, at very short notice, and we’re exhibiting 20 artists. It’s been a privilege and a joy to work with them and I hope we’ll do it again next year. And it’s World Toilet Day on November the 19th. Hhhmmmmm………..

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

A State Of Grace

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop.It’s late and I’m tired, but it was a joy to draw this model, to lose myself in the act of drawing and forget that I’m shattered, my feet hurt and my back’s aching. It’s like entering a state of meditation – or a state of grace depending on your world view. I drew with black, sanguine and white conté crayons onto a large-ish (A2) piece of brown wrapping paper over about 45 minutes. I like the style (it’s like I was channelling Frank Brangwyn), although I think the forehead is too high.

Last night was the opening of Swansea’s International Women’s Day exhibition at Cinema & Co. It was fantastic but I’m too tired to blog about it now – I’ll do it tomorrow.

At The Bus Stop

I had a bit of a scribble when I was waiting for the bus yesterday. I had 10 minutes or so to kill and that’s enough for a bit of street drawing. A while back I finished all the pages in my leather steampunk sketchbook so I replaced the pages with scraps of paper left over from other art projects. The paper here is a piece of Somerset that I’d initially squeegeed with a browny grey acrylic screenprinting medium the screenprinted in with some of my sketchbook drawings and photographs. I use these papers for mixed media work but this bit was left over and too good to throw away. I drew the street scene with a black Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size F.

Spiral Labyrinth

Another blast from the past, here I am at The Bagpuss Window, a semi-derelict artspace set up by Melanie Ezra and myself about 18 months ago. It only lasted 3 weeks but we, and lots of other artists and performers, did loads of arty stuff. Here I am walking the spiral labyrinth installed by prehistorian Dewi Bowen and musician/puppeteer David Pitt.

Artist Hannah F Lawson used one of the windowless back rooms to create some light paintings, using various lights and Tai Chi movements. Filmed by Melvyn Williams.

And back to now, coming up from Wednesday March 8th, a new exhibition to celebrate International Women’s Day at Cinema & Co in Swansea.

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Self Portrait With A Male Nude

This is one of my artworks in the new exhibition in Swansea’s Cinema & Co, I drew it the other evening at life drawing in Swansea Print Workshop using conté crayons, black, white and sanguine, onto brown wrapping paper. The exhibition opens on Wednesday March 8th, International Women’s Day and continues throughout the month. Cinema & Co has organised a great programme of films and events for the month, which coincides with International Month of Women’s History and is showing the film Frida (Kahlo) immediately after the opening of the exhibition – click here to find out more and / or book tickets.

The celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) has been around for over a hundred years. Its roots were in the campaign to win votes for women and it was ratified by the United Nations in 1977 as a day for women’s equality and world peace.

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

And ….. Breathe ……

Finally, I’ve finished the artwork I’m putting into the International Women’s Day exhibition in Swansea’s Cinema & Co, opening Wednesday March 8th. It’s called WMD – Women of Many Dimensions. My piece is stitched Shiohara paper overstitched with printed images of Käthe Kollwitz forming the front part of a late nineteenth century corset..

W.M.D. (above) will feature wall-based artwork from 21 Welsh artists along with films, talks, food and performances and will be happening at Cinema & Co throughout March, along with other events in Swansea, which is actually quite a funky city.

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

Slow Selfie

Here I am looming in the background of the life drawing I did last night at Swansea Print Workshop. It’s a slow selfie. I always look so cross when I’m drawing. Ho hum.

I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.

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