The Cross

May 6

Here’s the main drawing I did during the weekly life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I like working with this model, there is so much expression in her face so I focused on doing a portrait, working with white, sanguine and black conté crayon into an A3 brown paper sketchbook, which gave me a fourth tone. I started by blocking in the white highlights roughly then adding finer detail with the other colours.

 

 

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

Life Drawing (Female Nude Study)

Chrissy 1

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I did a couple of drawings, this is a 10 minute study in white and sanguine conté crayon into an A3 brown paper sketchbook from Seawhites of Brighton.  It’s late and I’m going to bed now. Good night zzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Neolithic Metropolis

Green Cwm 2

From the burial chamber near the magnificent beach at Three Cliffs, we headed inland to Parc le Breos to visit another Cotswold Severn tomb. It’s much more complex than most of the tombs we’ve visited, it’s quite big really, almost a metropolis and it was difficult to work out where to start my sketch. So I decided by finding the most comfortable place to sit and drawing what’s in front of me. I drew with black, white and sanguine conté crayons into my A4 brown paper sketchbook.

Green Cwm 1

 

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

The Other Side

Penmaen Burrows 3

I often draw things several times from different angles and this is around the other side of the Cotswold Severn tomb I scribbled the other day. It was also an excuse to sit down on fresh springtime grass peppered with bluebells. For over a year now, I’ve been going out with prehistorian Dewi Bowen and filmmaker Melvyn Williams to find Neolithic and Bronze Age stone monuments linked to the tale of The Boar Hunt, Y Twrch Trwyth, from the Mabinogion, the ancient book of Welsh legend.

Penmaen Burrows 4

This burial chamber is in Penmaen Burrows, just off the beaten track down to Three Cliffs bay.

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

On A Roll

Penmaen Burrows

We’re on a roll with the weather, getting out weekly to hunt down and draw megaliths in the South Wales landscape. For over a year now, we – prehistorian Dewi Bowen, filmmaker Melvyn Williams and me – have been on our quest to find Neolithic and Bronze Age stone monuments linked to the tale of The Boar Hunt, Y Twrch Trwyth, from the Mabinogion, the ancient book of Welsh legend.

Penmaen Burrows 2

And so we found our way to this Cotswold Severn tomb at Penmaen Burrows, just off the main path down to Three Cliffs Bay. An idyllic place, nestled in the dunes sprinkled with bluebells sparkling in the strong Spring sunshine. It will probably be overgrown and hard to find later in the summer.

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

Sweyne’s Howe

Rhossili 5

The final drawing from last week’s trek across Rhossili Down to find two chambered cairns called Sweyne’s Howe. It was a long and arduous walk – I don’t know why they call it a Down when it’s so Up. I walked around the area to get a vantage point and decided to draw them from quite a distance, as part of the huge and imposing landscape which surrounds them. Maybe I’ll go back to draw them close-up, but I’ll wait until the weather cools down a bit.

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

A Magnificent Beast

Rhossili 4

Wandering across The Gower Peninsula hunting megaliths, we encountered this magnificent beast in a field in Knelston, also known as the Burry standing stone. I used white, sanguine and black conté crayon, drawing en plein air into my A4 brown Kraft paper sketchbook. The bear’s paw holding the sketchbook is one of my Xmas furry fingerless gloves which are dead useful for sketching on chilly days, a most useful prezzy from my sister.

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

TROUBLEMAKERS!!!

I’m going to be doing some street art with The Plebeian Scribblers and The Plebeian Printmakers as part of Volcano’s Troublemakers arts festival July 13th – 16th 2017. For the past two summers, The Plebeian Scribblers have been an integral part of “A FAB Intervention”, a one-day street event in Bath’s City Centre during the annual Fringe Arts Bath so it’s great that we can bring it back to our home town this summer. Here’s some of the drawings I did in Bath below.

FAB 5 6

I will be working with urban scribblers Chris Harrendence, Patricia McKenna-Jones and Melvyn Williams to deliver three sessions of 30 minutes of structured street drawings which will be digitally recorded and blogged.

FAB 7 8

But with an added twist, the following day we’ll be inviting local printmakers to join us to take prints from metal structures like manhole covers in High Street, inspired by the Berlin Raubdruckerin collective. I’ll be posting more as we get the plans firmed up ……

 

NAME OF EVENT: The Plebeian Scribblers

NAME OF ORGANISING ARTIST: Rose Davies / Rosie Scribblah

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Following two years successful street drawing events at Fringe Arts Bath, these experienced street scribblers travel the length of High Street drawing what they see into their sketchbooks.

DATE: Saturday 15th July

TIMES:13.00 – 13.30 / 14.00 – 14.30 / 15.00 – 15.30

VENUE/LOCATION:Upper High Street / Mid High Street / Lower High Street

COST: No cost – street event

 

NAME OF EVENT: The Plebeian Printmakers

NAME OF ORGANISING ARTIST: Rose Davies / Rosie Scribblah

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Inspired by Berlin’s “Raubdruckerin collective”, printmakers from Swansea Print Workshop will travel along High Street printing from metal structures like manhole covers and posting them in the new graffiti tunnel.

DATE: Sunday 16th July

TIMES: 13.00 – 15.30

VENUE/LOCATION: Along High Street and The Graffiti Tunnel

COST: No cost – street event

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

Old School Panorama

Rhossili 3

And here’s the third drawing I did from Cefn Bryn en plein air last week, while I was tramping the Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape of The Gower Peninsula with prehistorian Dewi Bowen and filmmaker Melvyn Williams. The three drawings form a panoramic view, which is how they were done before digital cameras and smartphones.

 

I have put my series of drawings en plein air 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. So did you know that Elvis Presley is descended from the Welsh? This drawing below is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm

St Elvis

Windy

Rhossili 2

Here’s another of my recent sketches en plein air in the ancient Neolithic / Bronze Age landscape across South Wales. Most of the drawings I’ve done on my travels over the last year or so have been quite large, but last week it was so windy that I decided to work into my A4 brown paper sketchbook and I liked it so much I might just carry on for a while. This is part of the landscape around the magnificent Arthur’s Stone / Maen Ceti on Cefn Bryn on The Gower Peninsula. I sketched very quickly because of the high wind which forced me to focus on the essentials of the scene instead of getting bogged down in detail.