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Three Papers

A while back, I did some drawings of artists who inspire me and from those drawings I made some silkscreen stencils and printed up a series of nine images. Then I scanned a couple of those screenprints and had them made into small rubber stamps and that’s what I’m working with now, experimenting and seeing what I can come up with. A few weeks ago I went to a short paper-making course at Swansea’s City Farm and the paper, although lovely, isn’t particularly good for drawing so I’ve been trying to come up with some uses for it. So here’s a mashup of a little stamp of Käthe Kollwitz on Japanese Shiohara paper set onto a piece of hand made nettle paper mounted onto Daler Rowney Ebony paper. Oooohhh three papers in one little piece. Lovely.

Ideas Forming

I recently did a short residency at the lovely Galerie Simpson in Swansea and experimented with developing three dimensional forms from paper, print and text. I started out by making some little maquettes to try out techniques and I’m starting to think about how I might use them. Husb hung an LED bulb into one of them and I photographed it against a dark background. Ideas are starting to form. Hhhmmmmmmmm……

The three dimensional artwork I made during my residency is now being displayed in Cardiff at the Women’s Arts Association exhibition until December the 12th.

The European

I almost always carry a sketchbook and I’ll sit quietly and scribble wherever I am. I was at a symposium a few weeks ago and this was one of the speakers, an immaculately dressed and groomed man. Of course he was, he’s European. Oh dear, I’m indulging in scandalous stereotypes here but the British men present just didn’t cut the mustard at all.

Here’s one I did a while back of Brits in the sunshine…..

Remember

er-gof-9 — Er Gof (In Memorial) #9, a reduction lino print inspired by the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Today is Remembrance Sunday. In Britain there is a poignant service to remember the war dead, not glorifying war, but remembering the awful cost of war. So much of my work is about remembrance and memorial.

The song ‘1916’ by Mötorhead, possibly the best anti-war song ever. So sad, so gentle…..

mashup-9 — A mashup of one of my stamp prints of German anti-war artist, Kathe Kollwitz, and a newspaper cutting

I am hugely inspired by Käthe Kollwitz, the German feminist, socialist, anti-war artist who died in 1945, after a lifetime of using her art as political protest, being banned by both the First Reich and the Third Reich.

“We’re Here Because We’re Here”, an extraordinary UK-wide public art event commemorating the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, one of the most moving artworks I have ever experienced.

And now, more than ever, we need to remember the real lessons of war, the loss, the pain, the grief and learn from them. But will we?

My latest artwork, inspired by Käthe Kollwitz, is on show at the Womens Arts Association until December the 12th…….

Give It A Poke

Working with a long-time model at life drawing class at Swansea Print Workshop this week, I carried on using large (A2) pieces of brown wrapping paper and conté crayon, starting with the highlights in white and gradually incorporating sanguine and black. I’ve nearly run out so I’ve sent for new supplies – isn’t the Internet brilliant?

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My drawings are normally very linear and I want to push myself out of that tyranny of linearity so after a few basic lines to establish shape and proportion I started to jab at the paper, giving it a poke with short, sharp strokes, building the tones with tiny marks. I took a digital snapshop of the drawing as it developed, the stages can be seen in this slideshow.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, open until December the 12th. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff

Drawing In The Gallery

I finally found a couple of hours to visit the newly-refurbished Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea. It’s a fantastic restructuring but I only got about half way round before I had to leave, so I must plan another visit pretty soon to see the rest. I sat for a few minutes and sketched this view of Lindsay Seers’ installation, ‘Nowhere Less Now‘. I used UniPin pens onto Fabriano Accademica paper that I had prepared with washes of my home-made walnut ink.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, opening on Saturday 11th November. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff

Recycled Sketchbook

I’ve had this handmade leather Steampunk style sketchbook for ages and used up all the paper a while ago. Its simple design meant that I could remove its innards and replace them with new (old) paper. I have loads of bits of paper left over from drawing or printmaking projects, some plain, some covered with ink or some sort of print or even squeegeed acrylic or cyanotype. I cut the leftovers down to fit and reassembled the sketchbook. Bob’s your uncle!

I did some scribbles en plein air at an event in Swansea’s Castle Square, the city meeting place, a few weeks ago. It was organised to offer positive support to refugees in the area.

The grey/white pages on the right are recycled bits of Somerset paper that had been squeegeed with Daler Rowney acrylic screen-printing medium and overprinted with a photoscreen image in white. I’ve been trying out some new UniBall pens – Uni Pins – and they work really well on the plain white paper, but a bit less so on the bits squeegeed with acrylic which dragged a bit.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, opening on Saturday 11th November. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff

Head, Hands And Feet – Female Nude (Parental Guidance)

I recently worked with a female model who is a body builder. I had worked with her some years ago before she started her stringent diet and exercise regime and it’s interesting to see how the shape of her body differed so much from before. She now has virtually no body fat.

Before I started drawing in earnest, I did a small thumbnail sketch in the top corner in ink, to get familiar with the proportions and perspective.

This pose gave me a good view of head, hands and feet and as it was an hour long, I was able to give them all a reasonable amount of attention. The hands were particularly difficult because of the foreshortening.

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I drew onto brown wrapping paper using white, sanguine and black conté crayons. I took photos at different stages of the drawing process and you can see the drawing developing in the slide show.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, opening on Saturday 11th November. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff

A Male Nude (Parental Guidance Advised)

october-3 — A close up of a foreshortened foot

Another life drawing, this time of an older male nude, again drawn onto brown packing paper with conté crayons in black, white and sanguine. The brown paper gives a rich tonal base for a drawing.I like working with older models, their lifetime of experience is reflected in their bodies.

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Here’s a slideshow of the different stages of the drawing.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, opening on Saturday 11th November. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff

A New Model – Female Nude (Parental Guidance)

I’ve been doing life drawing since I first started art college when I was eighteen and it’s been part of the curriculum of European art colleges for many years. The nude figure is a part of the European tradition and earliest examples are tens of thousands of years old, going back to the Paleolithic. It’s easy to forget that the study of the nude isn’t common in other cultures and I sometimes worry about putting my life drawings up here on my blog, but these are an integral part of my artistic practice and I feel it would be dishonest not to do so.

Paintings, drawings and sculptures of the nude are in most public art galleries and sometimes in public spaces in the UK and across much of Europe and there’s no big deal about children viewing this art, but it’s not always the case in other parts of the world. So I’m not going to self-censor my blog but I will make it clear in the titles that I’m featuring a nude and suggest parental guidance. Then it’s up to people whether they view or not.

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Last week, I worked with a new model and it’s always a bit nerve-wracking to produce a credible drawing while at the same time analysing a brand new face and form. I drew onto brown parcel paper with black, sanguine and white conté crayon. Here’s a slideshow of the different stages of the drawing.

I have a new piece of art in the Womens Arts Association exhibition, opening on Saturday 11th November. Please pop by and take a look if you’re in Cardiff 🙂

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