#Caturday Saturday: The Visitor.

It’s #Caturday and this is a local handsome boi who pops around for a visit every few weeks. He stops by for a chat (he’s very vocal) and receives some snacks before going on his way again. He seems very well cared for, I think he’s just a bit of a wanderer who likes to hang out with people.

Heavy Paper!

I have a block of 20 sheets of heavy textured Khadi hand-made Indian paper. I’ve had it around the place for a few years now, not sure what to do with it. I took a similar block with me on my recent  residency in Germany  and started drawing onto it with twigs dipped in ink. So that’s what I’m doing with this block of paper.

This time, I’m also using a fairly large soft brush dipped in my home-made walnut ink. I’m holding the thought of my recent walk, with Husb, from Ilston to Parkmill  which took us though woods and along the heavily shaded river bank, which was nice because it was a very hot and sunny day. The sunshine glowed through the heavy tree canopy.

Random And Open.

Husb and I went for a walk recently, from Ilston to Parkmill on the Gower Peninsula, a very atmospheric route through woods and along the tree-lined river. I didn’t do any sketching on the walk, I focused on soaking up the mood of my surroundings. I held on to those feelings today and, working with Khadi handmade paper, Indian ink and my own home-made walnut ink, I made marks quickly and without direction. I’m trying to keep the randomness and openness that I worked with during my residency in Germany last month.

Joio! Enjoy!

The mini-festival that Husb and I went to over the weekend is part of the annual Swansea Bay Live events characterised by the logo “Joio / Enjoy”, put on by Swansea Council during holiday times. I had a few scribbles while I was listening to the excellent local band Disco Panther.

Blokes At A Festival.

I spotted these three blokes of a certain age at the Amplitude Festival, a weekend of films and bands at Swansea’s Amphitheatre. They were having a nice time. Of course I had to scribble them. I love sketching at gigs, the music makes it seem like it’s not like hard work. It is, but the music takes me somewhere else.

Forty Years Later…

There’s an amphitheatre behind the leisure centre in Swansea and back in the 1980s there were loads of free live gigs there. Then for some unknown reason they stopped and the amphitheatre has been empty and forlorn since the mid-80s. Until this Friday when Swansea citizens have been treated to a weekend of films and bands at the new Amplitude Festival, sponsored by our local authority. It’s only taken 40 years!!! But it’s been great. Of course, I had to have a scribble and I caught this lovely lady dancing. She was so happy.

I saw loads of people I knew, we had been at the gigs 40 years ago, only then we were young 😀

Muted.

I’ve been having some fun playing around with my little single figures, drawn in ink on my recent residency in Germany. I’ve been pushing them through Adobe Photoshop and experimenting with some very vibrant colour combinations. But this one here seemed to suit a muted effect. I put it into the “Torn Paper” filter and this is what came out.

I went to the artist residency with four other Welsh women artistsChris Bird-JonesSarah Hopkins , Rhiannon Rees  and Rhian Haf. We have been supported by Wales Arts International. We are all members of AGOR Abertawe, set up to facilitate creative activity between women artists in Swansea / South Wales, and the Brandenburg area. We were mostly at the Atelierhof Werenzhaim, an artist community founded in 1996 by artists from East and West Germany in a 14th century former feudal tavern estate.

Feeling The Heat.

Another of my “Singleton” drawings, pushed through Adobe Photoshop gradient map. I like the heat of this colour combination, it makes the figure so different from the black and white original.

I went to the artist residency with four other Welsh women artistsChris Bird-JonesSarah Hopkins , Rhiannon Rees  and Rhian Haf. We have been supported by Wales Arts International. We are all members of AGOR Abertawe, set up to facilitate creative activity between women artists in Swansea / South Wales, and the Brandenburg area. We were mostly at the Atelierhof Werenzhaim, an artist community founded in 1996 by artists from East and West Germany in a 14th century former feudal tavern estate.

This is one of the simplest of the twig’n’ink sketches I did in Germany recently and I had to try it out in many Photoshop filters before I was happy with it.

I went to the artist residency with four other Welsh women artistsChris Bird-JonesSarah Hopkins , Rhiannon Rees  and Rhian Haf. We have been supported by Wales Arts International. We are all members of AGOR Abertawe, set up to facilitate creative activity between women artists in Swansea / South Wales, and the Brandenburg area. We were mostly at the Atelierhof Werenzhaim, an artist community founded in 1996 by artists from East and West Germany in a 14th century former feudal tavern estate.

Spots Before My Eyes!

Still loving putting my “singleton” figures through Adobe Photoshop. I drew the original with a twig and some ink onto Khadi paper and put it into a Stamp filter, a Spot Half-Tone filter, and then through a Gradient Map. You can see my original here.

I went to the artist residency with four other Welsh women artistsChris Bird-JonesSarah Hopkins , Rhiannon Rees  and Rhian Haf. We have been supported by Wales Arts International. We are all members of AGOR Abertawe, set up to facilitate creative activity between women artists in Swansea / South Wales, and the Brandenburg area. We were mostly at the Atelierhof Werenzhaim, an artist community founded in 1996 by artists from East and West Germany in a 14th century former feudal tavern estate.