Mad Old Bat

One thing this trip to Boise, Idaho has already taught me, Get Out OF The Dark Age! When it comes to IT I’m so used to faffing around with lots of, mostly, archaic technology that I’m used to. My mobile phone is a phone, my PCs and laptop are out of the Ark, but you learn to cope until you’re in a situation where something doesn’t work as it normally does.If I stopped being a stubborn mad old bat and got a smartphone, it would have everything I needed in one place. I think I’m converting.

so I’m blogging on a borrowed Mac iPad and I haven’t yet figud out how to download photos so I can post them here. Hang on a minute, something’s happening. It’s linking to a photo, I think! well, let’s see what it’s done, eh?!

 http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/459627_10151368176581417_507529807_o.jpg?dl=1

Yaaaay it’s one of the drawings I did from the bus taking me from Swansea to London to get the plane. It was very early and there was a low sun casting deep shadows acros frosted fields. Only enough time, s few seconds, to scribble quick impressions. Tomorrow I promise to find out how to put all the drawings up properly.

This artist residency is supported by Wales Arts International and Arts Council Wales.

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Stranded!!!!!

In a foreign country! In a posh hotel in San Francisco! Could be worse I s’pose :).

Ever had one of those days? Aeroplane delayed in London; huge queue at American Immigration; missed the connecting flight; not another one until tomorrow! So the airline had to put me up for the night. Which is why I’m in San Francisco, not Boise.

Not a problem except that here I am on the other side of the world, in the wrong place and no-one knows I’m here. No problem – I’ll phone them. But my mobile phone network doesn’t work here. So I thought I’d email from one of those pay as you go email terminals in the airport. Except that my email provider and Facebook decided that I was a hacker and  locked my accounts down. Like I’m supposed to let Hotmail and Facebook know when I’m travelling abroad? pppfffttt! I finally settled on making a hugely expensive International call from the hotel to Husb who was fast asleep because it was 4am back home and he did some international calling and emailing to the people in Boise who had been waiting in vain for me to step off the plane. So it’s sorted now – as long as I get on that plane tomorrow!

WordPress recognises me so I can still communicate with the world through the hotel’s complimentary Internet access. Unfortunately, the leads that connect my camera to the computer that allows me to photograph all the sketches I did today and post them on my blog – is in Boise. So are my clothes and toiletries. So I’m in this posh hotel, surrounded by sparkling posh people, and I’m all smelly and dishevelled, like a mad old cat lady. Well, mad middle-aged cat lady. With a sketchbook………

This artist residency is supported by Wales Arts International and Arts Council Wales.

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Out Of The Darkness (female nude)

Rose Davies female nude

I’m off to the USA in a few hours to work in Wingtip Press with a group of artists from Idaho, Utah and Oregon. I’m so excited!!!! On one of the days, I’ll be leading the group in a drawing workshop, using the maniere noire style. The phrase means ‘in the dark manner’ and is usually associated with mezzotint. I learnt this technique from Irish artist, Aoife Layton and I love the way that the image comes out of the darkness. The effect is lush and voluptuous. Mezzotint seems to be making a comeback and there are lots of British printmakers using this technique now. Apart from Aoife, I particularly like Martin Langford, who works in mezzotint, etching and linoblock.

And now I must try and get a bit of sleep because tomorrow is going to be a long day.

A day in the life of a box.

Today’s delightful blog from Doodlemum with Arnie the Cat taking centre stage……

Drawn In The USA

28 studio

Yeah I know, that’s a cheesy title. But what do you expect from an ageing rock chick??!! In 48 hours I will be in Boise, Idaho, working with a group of artists in Wingtip Press. And I’m getting really nervous now, so I’m checking and double checking my lists and I don’t know how many times I’ve made sure my passport is packed and other obsessive stuff. I’ll be doing loads of drawing when I’m in the USA and I like to draw on pre-coloured paper, so here’s some I prepared earlier. I have a mixture of papers; it’ll be interesting to try out some papers I’ve had for ages and not used before; Bockingford, Arches, Somerset, Aquarelle and WSH. I’ve coloured some of the more robust ones with oil pigment – rhodamine red and yellow ochre – after coating them with gesso first. Others I’ve coated with ink wash and I’ve also included a discarded cyanotype (on Bockingford) that I recycled – that’s the one in the front on the right.

I’m just tying up loose ends here but I’ll probably be faffing around until the last minute and you can bet that once I’m on the coach for Heathrow, I’ll remember something I haven’t packed! I’ll be blogging every day from Boise so you can follow my adventures with rattlesnakes and coyotes. Drawn In The USA is the name of the ‘project’ that I put together for funding from Arts Council Wales, who are contirubuting towards the travel costs.

Ciaou Miaou

26 sparta

Greetings bald monkeys. Sparta Puss here. I have taken control of the pooter box while the apes are out. It’s been a while. The monkeys play with their pooters all the time. Anyway, lots been happening since I last addressed you. I’ve been hunting loads of rats and bringing them in and throwing them at the apes. They’re a bit thick and it took them ages to take the hint. There are rats in the compost bin. Idiots. Anyway,they went and emptied the compost and the biggest rat I’ve ever seen ran out! Too big for me – I scarpered up the wall and watched.

The she-monkey was hilarious. She tried to climb the wall too! And the shrieking! Oh if you’d heard her shrieking you’d have laughed as much as I did. Anyway, the male ape, give him some credit, dispatched the rat quickly, but then he buried it! What’s the point of that? It would have fed the three of us! And Little Ming too. I’ll never get the hang of these moronic monkeys.

The she-monkey has been smearing dirt into a paper book again and she claims that the grubby page above looks like me. Humour her, poor dear. It was when I was sitting on top of the boiler overlooking the garden, my favourite place, being menaced by some tulips. I bit them.

Ciaou Miaou

Sparta Puss

A Lady In Black (Female Nude)

25 tonya

Just got back from this evening’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. This model is great, full of character with a very complex face. I used a piece of discarded mountboard (matte) that I prepared with 2 coats of acrylic gesso. When it dried I sponged an ink wash randomly across the surface. This evening, I drew the figure directly with a traditional dip pen and Indian ink, then brushed on a mid-tone ink wash before picking out the highlights with a white oil pastel. Finally, I did a small amount of very fine pen linework with a Faber Castell Pitt pen, size S. It took one hour and it’s roughly size A4. Time for bed now……..

The Secret Power of The Senedd

What our First Minister gets up to underneath the Senedd! From Notsogreatdictator Smith, with tongue firmly in cheek.

The Secret Power of The Senedd.

Pressing The Piggah!

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I spent the afternoon at Swansea Print Workshop, inking and pressing a little lino block I’d cut earlier this week. The subject is Arthur, the Mangalitza boar from Pontyates. I forgot to take my digital camera so tried using the camera on my phone. It’s rubbish and really complicated to get the image onto my computer, involving something called Blueray, Husb’s smartphone and emails. I won’t bother again. Anyway, here’s a blurry picture of the magnificent Colombian Press, dating from 1855, with the inked block ready to go.

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I’m just in the proofing phase at the moment, tryng out different papers, inks and pressures on the Colombian. This one is printed using Intaglio Printmakers Velvet Black litho ink (oil-based) onto a very white, lightweight Japanese hand-made paper.

Bones And Brown Paper

SONY DSC

I like studying anatomy. I love the interface between art and science. Sometimes I get access to a skeleton and scribble happily for hours.

SONY DSC

These drawings are on very large sheets of brown wrapping paper, using black, white and sanguine conte crayons. Working on this scale gave me the chance to focus on mark-making rather than doing a scientific illustration.