Different Marks

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Here’s another of the thirty minute portraits I did a few days ago at Swansea Museum, part of the live art action I’m doing with other members of the 15 Hundred Lives art collective. Our museum experience ‘PROCESS’ is on at the museum until May the 17th. I did this with grey and black graphite sticks into my A5 spiral bound sketchbook. Most of the portraits I’ve done so far have been in pen, but the last few I did in graphite and it brings in a whole range of different marks. I’m doing a series of portrait drawings on people in my generation – baby boomers. There’s a lot of us, apparently. Eventually I want to do at least a hundred of these.

Literary Scribbles

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Husb and I had a great time at Swansea’s Galerie Simpson yesterday evening at the launch of Seren Books’ new collection of the poems of John Ormond. Of course, I took the opportunity to scribble, sketching heads with a graphite stick into my A5 hardback sketchbook.

Seren is ‘Publisher in Residence’ at the gallery until May the 10th

The Art Of Caring: Nursing And Drawing

Three postcards for the Art Of Caring exhibition
Three postcards for the Art Of Caring exhibition

I have three drawings in The Art Of Caring exhibition coming up in Surrey soon. I submitted three sketches that I’d done while visiting elder relatives in hospital and they’ve been reproduced as postcards for the show. All in all there are 251 artworks from 133 artists from all around the world on the theme of ‘Care and Caring’, celebrating International Nurse’s Day .

The Private View is next Tuesday 12th May from 4-6pm and the show runs daily, 10am to 6pm until May the 16th at the Rose Theatre, 24-26 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 1HL.

I have a relative who is a nurse. She works long hours in a frequently dangerous job in a service that is constantly being messed around with by idiot politicians. Sometimes things go wrong with the National Health Service and it’s right to highlight these situations and challenge bad practice, but on the whole, we have an excellent health service that many people around the world would love to have and we shouldn’t be complacent about it.

A Speedy Head

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Here’s another of my 30 minute portrait sketches, done recently during the 15 Hundred Lives exhibition, “Process” at Swansea Museum.  It’s been a great experience and lovely to work with the people who volunteered to sit in a very public place and be stared at by me and scribbled while passers-by look on.

I’m aiming to do at least a hundred of these quick heads as part of a major project that I’m planning for next year – but more of that later. I’ve done 14 so far so I’ll have to get my skates on. I worked with Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens into an A5 spiral bound sketchbook.

 

Heads At The Museum

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I did a second day drawing 30 minute portraits at Swansea Museum today. I am working on a potentially large body of drawings of Baby Boomers that I hope to develop into a major work in a year or so. A lot of people are volunteering to sit for me, there’s been a terrific response and I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. Thanks so much to everyone who has sat for me so far and I’m looking forward to drawing many more.

I drew this with Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens into my A5 spiralbound hardback sketchbook. I drew 7 people today and I’m shattered, it takes so much concentration. Tomorrow I will have a lie-in.

Pre Teen Lethargy

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Our pre-teen nephew is having a sleepover with us. He’s annexed the large settee with the best view of the television and installed himself for the duration. He’s at a funny stage of development with his face starting to assume adult proportions, but still quite squished up in a large head which sort of wobbles on top of a skinny body with Bambi legs tapering off into the distance. I think this scribble captures that adolescent lethargy. I used 3 grades of graphite sticks into my A5 hardbacked sketchbook.

Ugly, Lovely, Bonkers

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I worked on a collaborative project with fellow artist, Melanie Ezra recently. It’s an artist map, one of a series of twelve designed by artists across the country. We have chosen our own quirky route through Swansea’s city centre, pointing out the little idiosyncrasies that interest us and illustrating the walk with our artwork. Swansea is full of art, culture and history and in this little map we’re only just touching on the things that fascinate us in our ugly, lovely, bonkers city.

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The map is published by Sampson Low and is available on Amazon (here) along with the other 11 artist maps at a very reasonable price so if you want you can get your own copy and read up more about the quirky seashore city of Swansea. It’s also great as a present.

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The twelve maps are currently being exhibited at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery, The Walled Garden, Thames Street, Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 6AB. The show runs until May the 10th. You can find out more about the other 11 maps here. I particularly like ‘Seventeen Mundane Moments in Tate Modern’ by Peter S. Smith and ‘The Rats’ Republic’ by Dean Reddick.

 

Evil Foreshortening (Female Nude)

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Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I had a choice of where to sit so, thinking aloud I said, “Shall I sit side on to draw an easier pose or shall I sit front on and do the really nasty foreshortening?” My sadistic fellow artists said, as one, “Front on! Do the foreshortening!” I was daft enough to listen. It was tough.

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I started out with large graphite blocks and conte crayon onto a piece of Saunders paper, size A2, but I just couldn’t get the proportions right (bottom drawing). So I turned it over and started again with compressed charcoal and chalk (top drawing). It’s better but the foreshortening was really vicious. Oh well, good practice. It’s top quality paper and I don’t want to waste it so I’ll probably cover it with a layer of white gesso and re-use it, so this blog will eventually be the only record of the drawings.

 

 

Ratstein!

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Sparta Puss here. I managed to get my paws on the pooter box again. My trained monkeys are still busy faffing around after the rat I brought in to entertain myself. Turns out the wily rodent is some kind of genius; the stupid simians have nicknamed it Ratstein after some supposedly clever hoomin scientist. As if! It’s managed to set off two traps and grab the food without getting caught so now the hairless apes have borrowed a massive trap from some mates. It’s called The Big Cheese and they think it’ll outwit Super-rat. I caught it with just my paws – WITHOUT opposable thumbs, take note – and it’s been outwitting the monkeys for days.

In between running around shrieking like, well, like a monkey, the she-ape has been daubing dirty sticks onto some nice clean paper and claiming that the resulting mess looks like me. Poor thing. She’s deluded. Idiot.

The Dog House

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Greetings hairless apes. Sparta Puss here. It’s been a long time. My trained monkeys have been keeping me away from the pooter box but I managed to distract them for a while. It’s Spring and every year I bring them some rats to play with. Such fun. The she-ape jumps on chairs and squeals and the he-monkey does his soppy liberal thing of trying to shoo the stupid rodent out through a door before giving up and setting traps.

They’ve been curfewing me the past couple of years, locking the catflap throughout the night to try and stop me doing it, but I snuck this one in during the day and let it loose in the kitchen. It was there for days before they realised. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! It’s great sport. I overheard them saying I’m in the dog house. Seems just like the normal house to me. Which is mine anyway. I’m going to the kitchen now to watch the monkey mayhem.

Ciao Miao 😀