Experiments At Pentre Ifan

khadi

I spend a couple of days in Pembrokeshire drawing dolmens. I managed to get to 4 sites and did some sketching in the field, not easy as I forgot to take my drawing board so I was drawing on grass or even the stones themselves. I tried out some different techniques. These first two drawings at Pentre Ifan are drawn into my small Khadi handmade paper sketchbook that I had pre-coloured with a dark ink wash sploshed on randomly with a sponge. I drew with my Daler Rowney artist’s oil pastels, using white, pale blue and two tones of green. I filled in the negative spaces with the pastels – the dark stones are the ink-washed paper.

PI a
Pentre Ifan burial chamber, Nevern, Pembrokeshire, Wales

 

catacomb

Then I tried experimenting with a piece of Fabriano Accademica paper that I had already drawn on some months ago. I visited St. Paul’s catacombs in Malta last Winter and when I came back, I developed some of my sketches into larger drawings with my home-made walnut ink. I didn’t much care for most of them and I’ve been planning on re-using them and this is my first attempt, drawn with carbon and oil pastels, both by Daler Rowney. I like the idea of overlaying an ancient burial chamber onto an ancient burial site, but I’m not sure what I think of the drawing itself. I’ll sleep on it.

Drawing Dolmen

Carreg Coetan
Carreg Coetan

I’m drawing dolmen in Pembrokeshire. I used compressed  charcoal onto marbled Fabriano paper.

Newport, Pembrokeshire
Newport, Pembrokeshire

Continue reading “Drawing Dolmen”

The Curate’s Egg

October

Tonight’s life drawing is like the Curate’s egg – good in parts. I had the most horrific foreshortening on the left hand. no matter how many times I measured it, the darn thing looked badly drawn. I used Winsor & Newton’s willow charcoal and white conte crayon onto a piece of Fabriano Accademica that I had marbled with oil paint and turpentine.

It’s late. I’m going to bed. Goodnight 😀

Cats And Dogs

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I started a new sketchbook earlier this week, a Peter Pauper Press book called ‘The Cat’s Meow Journal’. That’s Sparta Puss ‘helping’ me to photograph it. Not!

The first scribbles are of the two little Patterdale Terriers belonging to Jane Simpson of Galerie Simpson in Swansea. I popped in a couple of days ago and just had to draw them. I used a biro.

Green Man And Apples

theatr fwrness

Husb and I went to Llanelli this evening, to the newish Theatr Fwrness to see a performance of Autumn Fires by local storytellers Carl Gough, David Pitt and Eleanor Shaw. “As we descend into the darkness of winter we gather by the fire, yet that flame which ensures our survival still reduces us to ash in the pyre, a selection of traditional tales that will carry you to the very heart of the Autumn Fire.”

 

At the centre of the stage area was a beautiful Green Man carved from a piece of tree trunk, surrounded by tree bark and large harvest apples. A singing bowl sat on top of it and rang out during the intense and evocative performance. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but the bottle of Dandelion & Burdock I had during the interval has quite gone to my head 😉

I used a biro pen into my new Cat’s Meow Journal from Peter Pauper Press.

 

 

Watching The Match

rugby wales oz

The rugby World Cup has been thrilling so far and after Saturday’s epic woodcut session at Swansea Print Workshop, a few of us decamped to local hostelry, The Brunswick, to watch the match between Wales and Australia. It was a tough game, we lost but we’re still going through to the next round. Exciting stuff. Here are some of the other rugby fans watching at the old pub, which is renowned for it’s excellent selection of real ales. I used a ballpoint pen into my new little ‘Cat’s Meow Journal’ by Peter Pauper Press, a lovely present last Xmas. It was nice to get back to a bit of spontaneous sketching, I hadn’t done any for ages.

A Humongous Proof

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Today was day 2 of a Masterclass with woodcut artist John Abell at Swansea Print Workshop and I carried on cutting the humongous piece of MDF I started yesterday. I used compressed charcoal to darken the surface while I cut with my Flexcut tools. Finally, I reached the point where I wanted to get an idea of what it would look like printed up – you can always cut more away but you can never replace it once it’s gone. So I printed a proof print. This is a first pull, to see what you’ve done and decide whether it’s just right or needs more work.

 

I used a 50:50 mix of Daler Rowney Georgian Lamp Black oil paint with their Block Printing Medium, very soft, much softer than the relief printing ink I normally use. I rolled the ink over the wood, but it was very absorbent and used up far more than I am used to. I used Fabriano Accademica paper from a roll which was a bit awkward to handle at that size. I used a wooden spoon and a Japanese baren, rubbing hard over the back of the paper to take the print.

 

I have mixed feelings about it. I like the bits where I used a larger cutting tool in bold strokes, towards the top, but where I tried smaller tools to get a softer, more nuanced effect, it didn’t work at all and I need to get back into it, cutting much more boldly. I think I’ll also put in some lettering. But I’ll leave it a few days to dry out a bit so I’m not cutting through sticky goo.

Humongous!

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I am doing a two-day masterclass with epic printmaker, John Abell, at Swansea Print Workshop. John specialises in humongously large woodcuts, click here to see some of his awesome work. I’ve done some small woodcuts before, on plywood, but didn’t really get on with the method. Today, I was presented with a table-sized lump of 6mm MDF to get stuck into. That was a bit of a shock. But I went for it, outlining some images in graphite block and then fleshing it out with charcoal. I used some of the imagery I developed recently on my wall drawing in The Bagpuss Window transient artspace. I knew it would come in handy.

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I started cutting and I suppose I’m about two thirds of the way through. I’ve been quite free, not sketching in too much detail and trying to be spontaneous with my cutting. My Flexcut tools cut through the MDF like a hot knife through butter – lovely. I’ll finish the cutting tomorrow morning and then we’ll be taking a print – by hand! Not with a printing press but with a wooden spoon, although I have a couple of barens as back-up.

Blobs And Scribbles And A Milestone

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Here’s a second head study I did at Swansea Print Workshop’s life drawing session this week. It was the last sketch of the evening and I did it in about 10 minutes. I think it’s my favourite from the night because it was so quick, more lively than the ones I concentrated on. I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a free Markers app, putting in a dark ground to start with. I used my fingertips a lot instead of the stylus, it goes blobby and I like it.

 

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Oh and yesterday’s post was number 1,500! That’s in just over 4 years. I’m really pleased I’ve had the discipline to do it and thank you for reading them 😀 x

Virtual / Physical

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Just back from the weekly group at Swansea Print Workshop. Tired now. I did some portrait studies and a full length nude. I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with the free Markers app. I’m getting a bit fed up with it so I think I’ll prepare a load of paper and get back into some physical, instead of virtual, drawing next week.

 

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