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A Bit Stiff

Husb and I paid a rare visit to a pub yesterday evening to see a live band, Carreg Llafar, who play contemporary folk in the Welsh language. Being a rock chick, I’m not a big fan of folk music but I make an exception for Carreg Llafar who bring authenticity and atmosphere to traditional music. And it’s also a rare chance to hear a pibgorn, an archaic horn pipe. And to hear singing in Welsh.

I drew onto a sheet of recycled cyanotype in my leather steampunk sketchbook. I used up all the paper a few months ago so I replaced it with leftover pieces from print and drawing projects. I used two Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens, size F and B and also a white Derwent pencil to scribble highlights onto the deeper blue. I find it very hard to sketch musicians because they move about, their instruments are unfamiliar to me, they hold their hands at odd angles. Factor in that there’s a stage full of them and they have to be drawn in proportion to each other and that’s a very difficult piece of drawing to do. It took a lot of effort but even so, or maybe because of it, the end result is quite stiff. Never mind, it’s good practice.

Check out Carreg Llafar’s lovely music on YouTube below.

Stamping!

I’ve been trying out some experiments with commercial stamps. They can be very cheap, especially the ones made for kids, and they can be used to build up some interesting images, combined with other techniques.

I used a water-based printing ink from Seawhite’s of Brighton, rolled onto a perspex plate, some recycled sari paper for the chine collé, a couple of torn pieces of computer printer paper for the stencils and a commercial stamp of a car from a child’s cheap stamping kit.

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 have put 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.

Number 94

With the best will in the world, sometimes life just gets in the way of all your plans. I started drawing 30-minute sketches of Baby Boomers almost two years ago with the intention of finishing one hundred by the end of 2016, but I didn’t quite manage it because, well, like I said, life got in the way. But I’m on the case again and here is Number 94, an urbane and creative Boomer with fabulous taste in hats. I’ve drawn three Boomers in this series with hats, all male and all sculptors.

I have put 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.

Maybe A Drypoint?

Here’s the second drawing I did at life drawing group recently, a quick one, just a few minutes. I drew it onto a scrap of Somerset paper with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen. It’s nice and scribbly and I think it might make a good drypoint. I might give it a go next week.

I have put 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.

The Coalfield Part 3

Here’s the completed drawing, one of several I did on my visit to Big Pit / Pwll Mawr near Blaenavon last Sunday. I used my sanguine conté crayon to do the final strokes on the drawing, after the black and white. It’s a lovely area with spectacular hills and intriguing industrial heritage.

Husb and I were visiting with a group of artists from 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.

I have put 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.

The Coalfield Part 2

Husb and I visited Big Pit / Pwll Mawr just outside the World Heritage Site town of Blaenavon. I had a scribble en plein air in my A4 spiral bound brown paper sketchbook. I stood on the grass up above the mining site and after quickly drawing the darker areas of the rugged mountainous landscape of the South Wales coalfield, I added highlights. There was a pronounced line of white above the very dark hilltops and more nebulous white in the sky and dappled over the land. Tomorrow – the final stage – with sanguine…..

We were out and about 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.

I have put 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.

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.

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.

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