Recycled Head

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I’ve been rummaging through the drawers in my studio and finding loads of prints, cyanotypes and drawings that didn’t make the grade, so I’m reusing them. It’s a pity to waste the paper because it’s good quality. This is a piece of Bockingford, around A3 size, with a cyanotype that didn’t work out. I did a quick scribble of Husb as he was working on his laptop, using black and white conte crayons and a carbon stick. I don’t like working on a pristine white surface, it’s too intimidating; working on top of old art is much easier.

The Badger Awakes

Bonkers bloggage from this Welsh Wit! Hilarious and not too long!

The Badger Awakes.

Chalk And Cheese

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I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, which is tiny ink drawings made into weeny little sketchbooks. I’ve promised myself that I’ll try to work in chalk and charcoal on a larger at least once a week. Here’s the head of a man onto a rough hand-made paper that I bought at The Tate gallery and prepared with a dark ink wash; it’s a little smaller than A3 size.

It’s been really cold here and pouring with rain. I’ve been wearing winter clothes and boots and I’m constantly hungry, so I’ve been munching on the cheese in the fridge; a fine local farmhouse extra mature cheddar, a deliciously sweet Gruyere and a lovely piece of Y Fenni, a Welsh cheese infused with mustard seed, all bought from the most excellent Swansea Market. I also managed to buy some cut-price-almost-out-of-date luxury fishcakes from the Co-op that oozed hot, liquid Emmental when they were cooked this evening. I’m cheesed-out!

The origin of the phrase ‘Chalk And Cheese’ is likely from John Gower’s Middle English text ‘Confessio Amantis’ from 1390.

South Africa – vibrant despite inequality

A fabulous artblog with some gorgeous drawings…..

pattimcjones's avatarPATRICRAFT

ImageA group of us in London attended a weekly musical vigil every Thursday for years throughout the 90’s outside the South African Embassy to show our opposition to apartheid; In April 1994 black South Africans queued for hours to vote for Nelson Mandela ANC everyone felt things were going to change… 34 black miners were shot for protesting at Marikana platinum mine last August in an action reminiscent of the Sharkville massacre (protesters at Marikana had travelled hundreds of miles away from their homes in the Eastern Cape to look for work, having to live in tin shacks without electricity, water or bin collection).

I eventually visited South Africa earlier this year (initiating workshops to kick-start links with an SMU in Wales) and was overwhelmed by the exuberance and kindness of the people.

Everywhere there was music so I sketched as much as I could…….

 

IDrum prep Cape Town

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The Cwmdonkin Cuppa

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Well, today was Bank Holiday Monday and true to British tradition, the weather was dreadful, cold, windy and pouring with rain. Luckily, Husb and I went for a nice long walk yesterday when it was lovely and sunny and we ended up in Cwmdonkin Park, made famous by Dylan Thomas, who lived close by and played in the park as a child. The lovely old pavilion, painted a traditional green and white, is now a little cafe serving tea and Joe’s ice cream, scones and cakes. We stopped for a nice cuppa and I scribbled the little teapot on the wooden slatted table. I especially liked the way the shadows folded down between the strips of wood.

Drawn into my A5 pink recycled sari sketchbook with Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens in sepia, sizes F and S.

The Rat!

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This morning was so gorgeous, warm and sunny so I took the washing out to the garden to peg on the line and there was this dead rat! Sparta had been hunting again. Normally I forget that I’m a feminist and scream for Husb, but I gritted my teeth and fetched my sketchbook. I’m an artist, I should be prepared to draw whatever life puts my way. I felt sorry for the poor thing. It was only a young rat and looked as if it was sunbathing in the grass, apart from the flies that were bothering it. Then little Ming scampered over and started playing with it. EEEEWWWW!!! Then I started yelling for Husb.

Berlin And The Geek

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Spent a very long but happy day at Swansea Print Workshop, working with a talented group of artists to produce a body of monotypes, which we hope will form the basis of a portfolio to go to the USA in the Autumn. I based mine on a drawing I did of husb when we visited Berlin a couple of winters ago. He was wrapped up warm in a well-padded bright yellow jacket and I drew him in a tiny sketchbook on the Berlin Metro on our way to visit the Stasi museum. We’re such a jolly couple.He’s a real gent and always stands for ladies, so I get a lot of opportunity on public transport to sketch him from below, looking straight up his nose.

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It’s not a flattering angle but I don’t like doing straightforward portraits; I like quirky. The monotype process created two unique pieces, one full-colour and one ‘ghost’. They are oil pigment (litho / relief ink) onto BFK Rives 250 gsm handmade paper, 15cms square. For a geeky explanation of the process, please visit my website. I am a geek. You have been warned 😀

Scruffy Kitteh

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It’s very cold this evening with a sharp easterly wind so Husb and I are cwtched at home in front of the telly with cats on laps. I’ve been colonised by little Ming the Merciless, who is easily one of the scruffiest cats ever born. She draws blood when we try to brush her so she stays scruffy. Here she is, on my lap, drawn with a Faber Castell Pitt, sepia size F pen into my pink silk A5 recycled sari sketchbook.

A New Model

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I like drawing a new model because I haven’t had a chance to lapse into visual shorthand so I take more risks. So this evening, in the life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop, I got out my dip pen and white ink, a piece of thick Bockingford prepared with a black ink wash and scribbled away. The pen did NOT like the white ink, which is much claggier than black ink and kept blotting. So I watered it down a bit and then it was too translucent, so I had to keep going over the lines. Never mind, I enjoyed drawing the pose a few times over half an hour, but switched to black ink onto a creamy Somerset for the one-hour pose. The dip pen liked it much more.

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The Golden Badger of Wrexham

The Golden Badger of Wrexham.

Bonkers bloggage from the crazy pen of Notsogreatdictator Smith……