The Thrill Of Tools

Filing a chamfered edge
Scrape then burnish
Degrease with powdered chalk and soy sauce

 

A lot of my art practice is preparing stuff, using tools and chemicals and getting equipment ready way before I move onto the creative bit. I’ve always loved tools and woodwork and metalwork. I was one of that generation that went to a single sex school and these subjects were not available so imagine the thrill I had when I went to art college and immersed myself in fully equipped workshops.

I spent this afternoon at Swansea Print Workshop, preparing some aluminium plates for coffee bite etching. There’s a layer of plastic film on one side, protecting the soft surface and the first job is to file the edges to get a nice chamfered edge. Then the rough filed edge has to be smoothed with a scraper and finished with a burnisher. The scraper / burnisher above is by Intaglio Printmaker Ltd in London. Finally, I peeled the plastic backing off and carefully degreased the plates with a cloth dipped in soy sauce and powdered chalk, rinsing it off with hot running water. I dried them on a hotplate ready for the coffee bite process. But that’s for another day……

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

Coffee And Spit Bite

I’m going to be at Swansea Print Workshop tomorrow and I’ll be preparing some aluminium plates ready for some coffee bite etching, using some of my drawings of Neolithic stone monuments for inspiration. Here’s a blog I did a while back about this technique, which was invented by Andrew Baldwin of Aberystwyth University, an expert in non-toxic etching……

“More geeky printmaking stuff from last weekend’s B.I.G. Etching course with Andrew Baldwin at Swansea Print Workshop. The aluminium plate was degreased with whiting and soy sauce to get it re…”

Source: Coffee And Spit Bite

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

Stiff And Awkward

Had lots of things to do today so I didn’t get round to doing a drawing until late. I chose a figure from a series of photos I took on the beach earlier in the week on Swansea Beach when it was sunny and sketched it with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen. I’m not a fan of drawing from photos because my drawings seem stiff and stilted. Drawing from life tends to be more lively and dynamic. I guess it may be that I should give myself more practice drawing from photos and allow myself the same freedom as when I draw from life.

socks sandals

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

 

Continuous Line (Female Nude)

Here’s the last of the 3 drawings I did during the life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop this week. I blocked in some rough highlights in chalk and then did a continuous line drawing with a stick of carbon into my A2 size brown paper sketchbook. It’s a technique I really like, it’s good practice and I like the effect, it’s dynamic.

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

 

Life Drawing – Female Nude

Here’s another drawing I did during this week’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. Our model sat for a one-hour pose and I decided to do several drawings instead of one. This was my warm-up drawing, about 10 minutes.

I started with a piece of willow charcoal to put in an outline then blocked in some highlights with chalk. I finished with carbon to give me a strong black line, working into my A2 brown paper sketchbook.

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

Strong Strong Strong

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop, working with an older woman model who is one of my favourites. She is a strong woman with strong features and a strong body, inspiring to draw. I did one portrait study, working with charcoal and chalk into my A2 brown paper sketchbook. I used my fingers to draw as well, smudging the charcoal to make the lines bolder.

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

 

Slicing And Dicing

Postcard 1a

I’m slicing and dicing my ancestral stones!

I’ve put my drawings of Neolithic monuments into Adobe Photoshop and I’m designing some merchandise for my solo show at The Worker’s Gallery in September. I’ll have original drawings, lino prints and etchings for the exhibition but not everyone can afford original art – or may not have room for it – so I want to offer a range of reproductions. I don’t just want to slavishly copy the originals though. I may choose one or two to be reproduced onto canvas or heavyweight art paper, but I also want to play with the drawings I’ve made and create some new digital imagery with them so they can be printed as postcards or magnets or greetings cards. I’ve not used Photoshop for design before, I normally use it for storing photos and cataloguing my work so this is new for me and I’m having fun seeing what it can do.

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures.

If you want to know more about my solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September, please click here.

And if you want to see some of my other artwork, please click on the image below.

Quoit

 

Shared from WordPress

LSD and the Psychedelic Art Movement – http://wp.me/p3x4lI-1xO

So interesting

Big Pants, Burkini And The Nightwalker

randoms

Another glorious day, temperature around 30 Celsius, a heatwave!!! Husb and I went down to the beach again this evening, when it had cooled off a little and for the first time in years I went into the sea for a splash about. I can’t swim and our summers are usually so miserable that I rarely bother going in for a dip. I don’t even have a swimming costume so I made do with a sports bra, crop top and a pair of big pants, Bridget Jones style. If the weather stays nice I am tempted to buy a Burkini. I’m a pale, freckly, gingery Celt, practically a nightwalker and I rarely go out in strong sunshine so a Burkini might be the answer. I hear Marks and Spencer sells them now. Hhhmmmmmm!

20160718_204242

When I was little we were on the beach all through the summer and stayed in the sea for hours. Ironically, it was pretty grubby back then, now we have international standards and Swansea Beach is nice and clean. I scribbled for just a few minutes, focusing on getting down the barest details of the scene using a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into my A5 leather bound steampunk style sketchbook. The sun was much stronger last night and I took this snap of Husb and me as shadows on the beach.

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures. All the work I’m doing will eventually be featured in a solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September. If you want to know more, please click here.

Hipster On The Beach

hipster

It’s been a glorious day – the Summer has returned and it was too hoy to go out comfortably until this evening – earlier today it reached the upper 20s! Which is very hot for gingery, freckly, pasty Northern Europeans like me and Husb. We took a stroll along Swansea Beach and I had a scribble. There were loads of people down there and I spotted this hipster and his chum so sketched them with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S, into my A5 size leatherbound steampunk style sketchbook.

full moon july

The sunset was gorgeous, subtle and stripey and a full moon rising. I’m so lucky to live here.

 

I have been travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials.  Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures. All the work I’m doing will eventually be featured in a solo show in The Worker’s Gallery in the Rhondda Valley in September. If you want to know more, please click here.

If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.