Coming Up Fast!

The Hunt Rose Davies poster

My very first solo show is coming up in September in the fabulous Workers Gallery in Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley.  It’s a terrific gallery run by illustrator Gayle Rogers and sculptor Chris Williams who took over the old library in the village when it was closed at short notice due to austerity cutbacks and I’m so pleased that the stones will get their debut there.

planning

 

It’s not all about art. There’s so much planning to do for a solo show. Husb and I took some time to do our forward planning earlier this week and went a bit mad with the sticky Post It notes, but we now have a clear plan for the next three months. I’d better get cracking!

 

I have spent the past few months 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. We are following the legendary trail of the boar hunt, y Twrch Trwyth from the Mabinogion, recording the Bronze Age ancestral stones that those ancient hunters would have encountered.

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

The Stone By The Motorway

Tyn Cellar

This is a thumbnail sketch I’ve done based on field drawings and photos of the Tyn Cellar Neolithic stone, near the motorway not far from Margam. I’m doing thumbnails, small working sketches, to learn more about the subject, to get used to it, to explore different ways of making marks, looking for ways to develop it. This is starting to look like it might be good cut into wood or lino and printed up, maybe in 2 colours with some chine collé in the background. I’ve used some heavyweight Tate Gallery paper and randomly sponged it with a walnut ink wash. Once it had dried I drew into it with a 6B graphite stick and a white Kohinoor stick.

 

I’m travelling around South West Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Accompanying us is film maker Melvyn Williams who is recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. I’m currently working on a series of expressive drawings of ancestral sites and if you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

 

The Stone In The Lower Wood

is coed

 

Continuing with thumbnail sketches from some of my original drawings, this is the Is Coed (Lower Wood) stone near Ferryside in Carmarthenshire. Ferryside is a gorgeous seaside village on a spectacular railway route from Swansea to Carmarthen that skips along right next to the coast for much of the journey. I’m doing the thumbnail drawings to get better acquainted with each stone before deciding which ones to develop into prints – etchings and lino blocks. It’s an important part of the process between the drawings in the field and a finished original print. It helps me to analyse the form of the drawing, what medium it would best be transferred to, what aspects to emphasise and minimise. I used a fine graphite stick (6B) onto a small piece of heavyweight textured paper from the Tate Gallery shop that I had prepared by sponging lightly with a sepia wash.

 

I’m travelling around South West Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Accompanying us is film maker Melvyn Williams who is recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. I’m currently working on a series of expressive drawings of ancestral sites and if you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

The School Stone Redrawn

Cockett Valley stone graphite

 

I’ve been travelling around South Wales drawing ancient stone monuments in the field but I’ve now started to look at the drawings and photos to decide how to develop them; maybe more complex drawings or mixed media pieces: etchings or linocuts? The first stage in this process for me is to do some small ‘thumbnail’ sketches from my original drawings and site photographs. These thumbnails help me get more acquainted with the subject as the field drawings are done very quickly and intuitively.

I’ve drawn with a fine graphite stick (6B) onto a small piece of heavyweight textured paper from the Tate Gallery shop that I had prepared by sponging lightly with a sepia wash. It’s a beautiful paper with deckled edges. This is the Cockett Valley Stone, found on the playing fields of a local comprehensive school.

 

I’ve been travelling around South Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen, who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Also with us  is film maker Melvyn Williams, recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

Battle Mountain, Little Mountain

Tower
The tower on Mynydd Cadle Common

Sometimes when I go out to sketch, the scenery is so atmospheric and so fleeting that only photographs will do. This evening was one of those times. Husb and I were driving along Mynydd Newydd (New Mountain) Road which bisects Mynydd Bach (Little Mountain) Common to the northside and Mynydd Cadle (Battle Mountain) Common to the southside and I saw the incredible late evening light hitting the Tower on Mynydd Cadle. Husb’s family hail from this area and I’ve heard many fleeting references to ancient battles but I’m not sure when they happened.

trees

It’s a semi-rural area and home to many species. As the sun set I caught these trees outlined against the vivid clouds.

fence

Turning towards Mynydd Bach common and looking West into the setting sun, the West Wales coast is just there in the distance.

 

I’ve been travelling around South Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen, who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Also with us  is film maker Melvyn Williams, recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

Cool Sea. Hot Sky.

2016 Midsummer

 

Husb and I went out to look for the Midsummer sunset this evening from the top of one of the city’s hills. I had a bit of a scribble, looking South West across Swansea Bay. The still sea was misty and smudged into layers of pale cool blues interspersed with pinky-purply smears. I drew into my Daler Rowney ‘Ebony’ sketchbook with Daler Rowney artist pastels,

Midsummer

I turned around to face North West and just had time to take a couple of photos of the sun setting over the hill, throwing fire across the sky. And from now on, the nights will be drawing in again. Ho hum.

 

I’ve been travelling around South Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen, who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Also with us  is film maker Melvyn Williams, recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

On Midsummer’s Eve

Rhossili

 

One lovely thing about having visitors is that we get to take people around the great places locally; it’s easy to be complacent about your home and take it for granted. It’s good to see your locality through the eyes of others. Today I took my friend down to Rhossili Bay at the furthest point of the Gower Peninsula. Using Dewi Bowen’s archaeology book as a guide, we climbed up over Rhossili Downs to find ancient stones. Despite the gorgeous Midsummer sunshine, there was a brisk wind which made it difficult to draw. I settled into the heather at the top of the Downs, just past the Trig Point, with the three jagged points of a ruined burial chamber (one of the group called Sweyne’s Howes) in the foreground and the Worm’s Head seeming to swim out to sea in the background. It’s an absolutely glorious location; Rhossili is one of the top 10 beaches in the world and the ancestors sussed it about 5,000 years ago. I drew onto prepared Fabriano Accademica paper with Daler-Rowney artist’s soft pastels.

 

I’ve been travelling around South Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen, who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments. His previous book on the stones of Ancient Siluria (South East Wales) can be found here. Also with us  is film maker Melvyn Williams, recording a documentary about our experiences. Some of Melvyn’s short films can be seen here. If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

A week of vigils…

Another local artist has been drawing at vigils this week. So sad that these dreadful things happen ……

pattimcjones's avatarPATRICRAFT

In remembrance of the 49 who died in Orlando, 200 people gathered in Swansea’s Castle Square to light candles and sing ( ‘Something Inside So Strong’by Labi Siffre). I have started to do a simple sketch or two at each action I attend; in this case I drew the last person to leave the vigil. He was a student who patiently kept on lighting the candles on the steps:

Student

A day later I was in the Square again, this time with only a handful of people (it was very short notice) and for only a short time. Long enough to listen to Stephen Kinnock pay tribute to Jo Cox’s many achievements (including having persuaded the PM to accept 3,000 child refugees from Syria recently):

WP_20160618_004 (2)

The people of Swansea will continue to side with the oppressed,  marginalised and in this case, martyred. We may be only a small axe but we deliver a resounding’no pasaran’ to…

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Visiting Joe Bach

rose indienne

We have a friend visiting so we were out and about most of the day, taking in some galleries and museums. I think the best was the show of Josef Herman drawings and paintings at Swansea Museum. He was known affectionately as Joe Bach during his years in Wales and he spent much of his art career recording the ordinary people around him and I guess that’s what I do with my sketchbooks most of the time. We went to a local curry house later where I quickly scribbled these two sketches.

 

I’m currently working on a series of expressive drawings of ancestral sites and if you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here.

 

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A terrific blog about colour from Victoria Finlay

The meaning behind the many colors of India’s Holi Festival – http://wp.me/pXc3m-9y