David, Non And A Lovely Lad

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This young man was one of the huge queue at the Goat Street Gallery, waiting to have their portraits done as part of BBC1 ‘The One Show” filming in St. David’s yesterday. He’s a very nice lad and a terrific model, very still and patient and held the pose for about half an hour.  I drew him using a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen in sizes S and F into my leatherbound Steampunk A5 sketchbook, going slightly across two pages.

St. David, Wales’ patron saint, gives his name to the city and also the vast cathedral, but this was built by the Normans at least half a millenium after he lived. He was born a couple of miles away and there is a tiny, ruined stone chapel dedicated to his mother, Saint Non, close to the Coastal Path, which is supposed to be David’s birthplace. I much prefer the simplicity of Non’s chapel to the grandeur of David’s cathedral. It’s more in keeping with the Celtic christianity which they practised back in the sixth century.

I’ll blog the rest of the portraits I drew over the next few days.

 

 

Long Day In The Tiny City

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Another late one, just got back from a day in the tiny historic city of St. David’s where I was one of a group of figurative artists being filmed by BBC1s “The One Show”. We were based in the Goat Street Gallery and we worked from 11.30 to 5.00pm, drawing or painting the general public who were queueing up the street. I’ll tell you more in tomorrow’s blog because I really want to get off to bed. I am shattered.

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Here’s Ann who sat for me for about half an hour. I drew her with Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens sizes S and F into my leather Steampunk sketchbook.

A Quickie

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Just time for a quick blog tonight. Husb and I went to an outdoor screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ on the street beach this evening and just got back so I did a speedy scribble of an old lady’s head, took me 4 minutes. And now to bed. Exciting day tomorrow. It’s what I’ve been practicing for.

Felafels And Rain

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I’ve spent a long day hunched over a computer, from 9 am to 7.30 this evening, doing business stuff. I was hoping to have a workout on the gym on the beach but the heavens opened this evening and I wimped out. I did a bit of yoga in the living room and watched telly instead. Husb cooked tea, he made brilliant felafels from a tin of butter beans and some spices and fresh coriander.

I am carrying on with 3 minute head studies from photos, practicing for something on Thursday. I drew these with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size F into my leather Steampunk sketchbook, size A5.

Muck Spreading

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I didn’t draw or blog yesterday! I am a bad person! Sometimes life gets in the way. Husb and I ended up shovelling lots of farmyard manure, transporting it to the allotment and piling it on some of our raised beds. Several hours of muck spreading in the heat and flies. Then we went foraging and collected plums and blackberries.

So here’s today’s sketch, a digital one, again of a head. I’m practicing for something that’s happening on Thursday. I’ll tell you about it later in the week.

Husb posed, with the light from his laptop creating strange shadows up his face, making him look weird. I used my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 with the free Markers app, laying down a dark background and working over it with lighter tones.

Heads And Curry

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Went to our local curry house this evening, the incomparable Vojon. I’ve been practicing gesture drawings of heads this week, keeping to a 3 minute time limit, but working from photos. This evening, I did some sketching at the curry house. It isn’t as easy or as quick to work from real life as people fidget and you can get close up to photos.

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The first chap was covered in tribal tattoos. The couple were totally focused on eating their curry. I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size S into my little spotty A6 sketchbook.

The Trim Trail And The Lurgi.

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Had a bit of a lurgi this week so I hadn’t been down to the Trim Trail for a few days. It’s a free outdoor gym on the promenade of Swansea Bay, about 15 minutes walk away. I try to get a half hour workout 3 or 4 times a week. Stupidly, I didn’t pace myself and jumped straight into it despite still having quite a heavy cold. That was a mistake. Feeling rotten again now. I managed a couple of 3 minute head sketches, practicing for my secret assignation next week 😉

My Steampunk Sketchbook

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I’ve been scribbling away today into my rather funky leather bound Steampunk sketchbook, size A5. It isn’t brilliant paper but it looks so cool. I bought it a while back in London’s Camden Market but have hardly used it.

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Carrying on with the ‘head’ practice, I set myself an upper time limit of 4 minutes a drawing and worked from photographs searched from Pinterest.

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So here’s a quarter of an hour of sketches, using two Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens, sizes S and F.

A Secret

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I will be carrying on with quick gesture drawings of heads for the next week. I need the practice as something special is coming up but I can’t say too much about it yet. It’s a secret 🙂

These two elderly men were drawn into my tiny A6 sketchbook with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size S. I only allowed a maximum of 3 minutes each.

Head Gestures

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I did some gesture drawings of heads when I was out and about in Swansea earlier. Gesture drawings are ones that are done very quickly, capturing the essence of the subject, zooming in on the most important details.

The drawing on the left was done in a few seconds, way under a minute and the others took perhaps a couple of minutes each. No more. I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size S into my little spotty sketchbook, size A6.