BIG And Greasy

 

I spent a happy but exhausting weekend at Swansea Print Workshop on a specialist course in the ‘BIG’ non-toxic etching technique, pioneered and taught by Andrew Baldwin of Trefeglwys Print Studio. Andrew has invented a new etching ‘ground’ and has also experimented with a range of household materials to take the place of some of the toxic chemicals used in traditional etching. We started by degreasing some plates with whiting powder (powdered chalk) and soy sauce. It makes a terrific degreaser and is far safer than the ammonia I remember using in art college, back at the end of the 1970s. Once the grease had been cleaned off, we rolled the red ‘BIG’ ground onto the copper plate, keeping the aluminium plate for a coffee lift and spit bite. More about that tomorrow…….

 

Please click here if you would like to see more of my artworks.

Developing The Drawing

 

 

During last week’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop, I took photos of the development of my portrait head of our model. It shows the drawing in different stages of development. I used conté crayon in white, sanguine and black into an A2 brown paper sketchbook.

 

Please click here if you would like to see more of my artworks.

Drawing The Environment

circle

The second stone circle at Y Pigwyn on Mynydd Bach Trecastell is a lot more complete than the first, with almost all its stones still in place, although they’re not very big. We took young Nephew with us, he’s a country lad and used to the rough terrain, he found a sheep’s skull, a ram’s horn and balanced on one leg on one of the stones in the circle. I drew quickly because it was cold and we weren’t sure how long the sunny interval after the gales and hail would last. I became aware how much this series of drawings has been influenced by the environmental conditions surrounding me. Many of them have had to be done quickly and the materials I have used to draw them have had to function in some pretty severe weather. I might produce something different if I return to these sites in the summer.

sky 4

The views from Y Pigwyn are spectacular, even in the appalling weather. It’s fascinating watching the weather systems churning across the vast landscape.

wall

There was a lovely old stone wall at the bottom of the field with sheep and newborn lambs behind the wire fence.

 

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 Mountain’s Challenge

Sky 1

Friday saw another excursion into the bleaker parts of South Wales hunting the wild megalith. The weather forecast predicted sunshine with the occasional shower so I had high hopes for this visit to Mynydd Trecastell / Mynydd Bach to the site called Y Pigwyn which has two Neolithic stone circles and the remains of a Roman camp. The car wouldn’t have made it up the rough track (a four-wheel drive would be fine) so we parked at the cattle grid, had our packed lunch and then set off in the crisp sunshine. Within a few yards along the, possibly, Roman road the weather completely turned, bombarding us with snow, hail, gale force winds and a drastic drop in temperature. We were kitted out for it as even late April can see sudden changes in the weather around here but even so, it took all our resolve to carry on struggling against the vicious headwind for the mile or so to the circles.

quadrant

About halfway along we had to stop and turn our backs to the fierce gale and we discussed turning back but the wind dropped slightly and the wave of heavy hail moved over us and on into the distance so we carried on. I wondered how I would be able to draw as my hands were desperately cold but as we reached the circles, the last of the hail disappeared, the sun came out and warmed us up. The first ‘circle’ we came to is incomplete, with only four remaining standing stones but a number of postholes are still very obvious. There are paths criss-crossing the rough grass, possibly made by people but more likely sheep and two intersected the circle neatly. It was still cold so I had to work quickly.

sky 2

Dewi the archaeologist commented that the mountain had challenged us and we had passed the test. It certainly felt that way.

 

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 Life Model (Female Nude)

Life model April 2016

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop and we had an older female model this evening. I really enjoy drawing older people, bodies and faces are so interesting, lived in, expressive. It was pretty full tonight, with a wide age range of scribblers, from early 20s to 70s, great to be able to do something intergenerational. I used conté crayon on these two drawings in white, sanguine and black into a large (A2) brown paper sketchbook. The first was about 15 minutes and the portrait about 40 minutes.

I will be running courses in printmaking techniques at Swansea Print Workshop in coming months, please click here if you want to find out more. If you want to see some of my other artworks, please click here. Thank you 😀

Proofing The Stones

First proof from vinyl blocks
First proof from vinyl blocks

I’m travelling around South West Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments and I’m drawing the stones as we travel across the – mostly – wild spaces of South Wales. But I’m a printmaker as well as a scribbler and I’m developing ideas for prints from the stones. I cut these small blocks of vinyl a few weeks ago and today I had an afternoon in the studio at Swansea Print Workshop on the antique Colombian Press, taking a first proof of my 8 blocks. I’m very pleased with four of them; two need some more cutting and maybe need to be printed in two colours instead of one,]; one I’m not sure about so I’ll try some more cutting to see how it goes; and one of the blocks is so naff, it’s a non starter. That’s six decent ones out of eight, not bad at all.  I used Intaglio Printmaker’s litho/relief ink in black onto newsprint paper – no point in using decent paper for a first proof.

Dewi’s 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 Tiniest Sketchbook?

dalek

I recently went to the Womanspire16 awards organised by the Welsh organisation Chwarae Teg and I took along my new tiny sketchbook. It’s the littlest sketchbook I’ve ever had. I got it in a Xmas cracker quite by chance. You can see the size of it next to my keys – yes I have a Dalek keyring, how sad 😀

I drew people as they went up onto the stage so I just had a few seconds to get something down, concentrating on the key elements of each face. I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size F.

Back To Basics

ju jitu 1

I went back to sketchbook work a few days ago, have done very little for ages, but young nephew was having a sleepover and the following day he was doing competitive ju jitsu and kick boxing so Husb and I went along to watch. It was a great opportunity to sketch figures in motion, something I don’t get much chance to do normally. This is the absolute basis of my art practice, quick sketches capturing tiny slices of everyday life, so quick that I am forced to concentrate only on the most essential details, the essence of the subject.

ju jitu 2

It was great seeing the kids so disciplined and focussed. My Dad was an amateur boxer, my brother-in-law and nephew and nieces trained in karate and now the little ones, great nieces and nephews are doing ju jitsu. I think it’s good for them, it builds confidence and self-discipline and it’s no bad thing to be able to defend yourself.

 

I drew with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size F into my A5 leatherbound sketchbook. 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 Merlin’s Town

Museum stone

The final drawing from last Friday’s archaeology / art / film excursion around West Wales is of the standing stone in the grounds of Carmarthenshire Museum, a fine old building in lovely ground in Abergwili, just outside the town. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about it, except that it was moved from its original site to the front garden of the museum, which is worth visiting for, apart from anything else, a collection of standing stones in one of the galleries. The Welsh name for the town of Carmarthen is Caerfyrddin – Merlin’s Fort and refers to the Merlin of Arthurian legend.

 

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.

Prison Or Protection?

Carreg Coch

Across the field from the Clos Teg standing stone there’s another maenhir in the hedge, Y Garreg Goch – the Red Stone, a monument of red standstone. It’s trapped between two fences and until recently was overgrown with ivy. It looked to me like it was imprisoned, but archaeologist Dewi reasonably pointed out that being in a hedge, fenced in, might have saved it from being moved or destroyed and that hedges often offer shelter to stones.

I had already prepared some Fabriano paper with walnut ink and I selected a piece I thought fitted the scene and drew with conte crayon in sanguine and white, following the contours of this fine stone. I kept the drawing simple as I wanted to focus on the barbed wire fence.

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.