I went on a train journey earlier today and had a bit of a scribble on my Galaxy Tablet. Trains are great for drawing because I can take sneaky looks at people. I was visiting the print collection at Pomegranate Fine Art in Cardiff, possibly the finest collection of contemporary original British prints in Wales.
I sketched with a Magic Marker app but I’m getting a bit bored with it as it’s very basic and not very subtle. I prefer my paper sketchbooks.
Went to visit relatives today and did a scribble of the family dog, Attilla the Hunny. She’s very large and boisterous, which is where the Attilla bit comes from and Hunny because she’s a real sweetie. She did not like being drawn because I had to stare hard at her. My kitties LOVE posing while I draw them, the more I stare at them, the more they love being the centre of attention. But poor Hunny was very uncomfortable with it and kept fidgeting.
Drawn on a Samsung Note with a Magic Marker app.
Husb and I were in Dieppe last week with some friends. It’s a fabulous place to stroll around and we climbed up above the ancient castle to look over the town. I took the opportunity to sketch a bit and as I drew, a small French boy came up to me and asked, in French, if I was a painter. Now I’m all for trying to speak the local language when I travel. I think it shows respect and consideration, so I mustered up my best pidgin French and replied to the small boy’s question. To the delight of my friends, who speak the language, I confidently assured the little lad that I am indeed, a paintbrush.
I went to a consultation event this evening about Swansea’s bid to be the UK City of Culture in 2017. There were some performances at the beginning and then we split up into groups to discuss various aspects of the bid. It’s very exciting and will be a huge deal if it comes here. I did a quick scribble of a singer who had an instrument I hadn’t seen before. I don’t know what it is. I found out that Swansea holds the world record for the most people dressed as Smurfs in one place. Now that’s culture for you.
I did a drawing in my sketchbook a couple of months ago of a dead crow that Husb and I found when we were out walking and this week I developed it into a drypoint etching. I scratched the image into a paper drypoint plate and printed with black drypoint oil-based ink, partly onto handmade tissue paper with gold leaf as chine colle. I made 6 prints so it’s a very small edition, but you won’t get many more from any drypoint plate. I’ve called it a murder because the collective noun for crows is a murder. And it’s dead.
Today’s been one of those days which is mostly admin. That’s the reality for anyone who’s self employed. It’s not sitting around all day doing creative stuff. I wish. So I really didn’t want to do any drawing today but I set myself the target to draw daily and draw I must.
And the easiest thing to do is to draw my feet, tucked up on a footstool with the telly on. This time I used the Samsung Tablet, having a play with the Magic Marker app . These are my multi coloured Convers. I got them in a sale. That’s the only sort of shopping I like 🙂
Husb and I spent a couple of days in Dieppe in North-West France last week and I did a few scribbles as I wandered around. I’m a bit of a sap for old churches, especially those with flying buttresses and gargoyles and Saint Remy has loads of crumbling gargoyles grimacing down into the narrow, cobbled streets, each different and each with gaping mouths to let the rain through. This one has a tiny little man crouching beneath him, but the church exterior is in very poor condition and many of the features are indistinct.
I forgot to prepare my sketchbook with brown wrapping paper before I went and had to use some scraps from my friend and a spray-on glue which showed through. There really isn’t a substitute for Pritt in my opinion. I drew with Faber Castell Pritt drawing pens. I’ve come back with a cold! A French lurgi, or should that be Un Lurgi Francais?
Husb and I have just come back from a quick visit to Dieppe, delightful place. We went by ferry and it was so much more relaxing and much less hassle than flying. I did a few scribbles in my sketchbook but on the way back on the ferry, I sketched this other traveller using the Magic Marker function on my tablet. I’ve been meaning to practice with it but other things have been getting in the way. It’s quite entertaining and easy to use when I’m travelling but I’m not going to be giving up my sketchbook!
On the road again visiting Stonehenge. We have had a look at it from the road a couple of times but did a proper visit today. It was packed with tourists and boiling hot but I could still feel a sense of awe. It’s difficult drawing something so iconic because it’s been done before so many times but you just have to get on with it.
I used to think that the surface texture on the stones was due to weathering or even done by the people who made them. But it turns out that in years gone by, local farmers used to sell hammers to tourists to hack off bits of the stones as souvenirs.
Just got back from a public meeting at The Cove to save Swansea’s historic Palace Theatre. I’ve blogged about this before because it’s a beautiful building sadly fallen into a terrible state of repair. Distinctively wedge-shape, like the Gridiron Building in New York City, it was built in the 1880’s and Charlie Chaplin performed there before going off to America. Anthony Hopkins started his career there and it was the first place in Wales to show a silent movie. It’s been a music hall, a theatre, cinema, bingo hall, gay bar and nightclub and now it’s semi-derelict with trees growing out of its walls and roof.
Click here if you want to find out more about the campaign to save this gorgeous building. Hopefully, the campaign might set up a preservation trust, a charity that will be able to attract funding to bring it back to life.
Drawn into my clothbound A5 sketchbook with Faber Castell Pitt pens sizes S and B. Drawing groups of people is challenging because of the perspective and proportions, but good practice.
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