Finally, here they are, two of my newest little [A6] photopolymer etchings. There are more to come but I’ve just got back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop and it’s my bedtime, so I’ll post the rest over the next couple of days. Goodnight 🙂
Just pulled a nine hour session at Swansea Print Workshop; exposed three new polymer [solar] plates and did 20 proofs from 7 plates and 3 blocks. On my feet all day and completely shattered now. And I forgot to take my camera so I can’t post the proofs I did. So here’s a drawing I did a while back of Husb and his kitteh, Ming the Merciless, asleep. Which is what I am going to be very, very shortly 🙂
Fascinating blog from the Pontyates charcutier
I returned home a few days ago with a van full of butchery equipment, another high street butcher has closed and I was there picking the carcass of knives, hooks and trays like a vulture. Although I was pretty chuffed with my haul (and a wooden block and some stainless steel tables were to follow), I drove home in silence, there was no radio blaring, I didn’t hum a happy tune or sing to myself. I felt pretty bad to be honest. I don’t know the full ins and outs of the business in question – whether it was the right site, whether it was staff problems, whether they’d expanded to soon but it’s a horrid thing seeing a business come to an end.
I’ve had some troubles these past few weeks myself – the breeder that I’ve been sourcing my animals from has decided to concentrate solely on breeding, rather…
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After the recent two-day course in photopolymer intaglio at Swansea Print Workshop I’ve become a bit obsessive to say the least and I am going into the workshop tomorrow to proof print the 4 A6 plates I completed last week and to expose another three plates from scratch. I’ve been experimenting with a different drawing material; the original plates were exposed from drawings done on Truegrain, but I’m going to use drawings on tracing parchment for the next three plates, which will be 10cm squared as that’s the maximum size of so many miniature print exhibitions nowadays. I’ve adapted these drawings from my sketchbooks – I don’t want to split up my sketchbooks and this might turn out to be a good way to develop the work in them – I have thousands of drawings!
We’re cropping well from our allotment and here’s Little Ming doing a quality control inspection on our latest pick of broad beans. We’ve grown mainly Claudia Aquadulce that I planted last Autumn; I also tried Imperial Longpod and Red Epicure but they didn’t come to much. We pick the young leaves throughout the Spring because they make a delicious salad with the French sorrel and wild garlic that are in season at the same time and they’re also good in stir fries. I reckon we’ll get one more bag off the plants.
Here’s another drawing I did at last week’s life drawing group. In keeping with the Renaissance techniques I’m trying to incorporate into my work, I used the whole sheet of paper [it was only A6] and filled it with little quick sketches from the same pose.
I used some handmade paper that I bought at the Tate Gallery shop a while back and coloured it with diluted sepia ink and drew with a dip pen and black Indian ink.
Despite the torrential storms throughout June, we’ve picked loads of loganberries and strawberries. Over 4 kilogrammes of loganberries so far and plenty more to come. We’re running out of room in the freezer so this evening we had a jamming session. And here’s Little Ming posing with eighteen jars of newly made loganberry jam. There’s no sign of a let up in the bad weather – apparently it’s due to Spanish Plumes. I wish the Spanish would keep their Plumes to themselves!
Here’s one of the drawings I did at life drawing group on Thursday night. I’m keeping to Renaissance techniques for a while, using tiny pieces of handmade paper with a coloured ground and a dip pen, with a little ink wash. I’m enjoying working with these techniques, very focussed and disciplined.
My pal and fellow Swansea artist Angie Stevens, who draws the fantastic Doodlemum blog has been in the news, in the papers and on the TV this week as her wonderful blog has gone stratospheric. Here’s a link to her lovely family and some of the artwork that is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Well done Angie :).
Today was the Swansea Plinth’s last day and there was a fantastic dance group of young people breakdancing. They are so lively and moved incredibly fast so it was a real challenge to draw them. But I did my best.I’ve posted some more on Facebook, you can visit if you want 🙂 The heavens opened and it POURED down halfway through their routine but they carried right on with great enthusiasm, real troupers. Apparently Britain has been hit by a Spanish Plume, which is dragging incredible storms from the Iberian Peninsula. Interesting, but a colossal pain in the neck in the middle of summer.
Despite the weather, Swansea is a pretty cool place to live in. We have a fab beach and there’s so much art and culture going on, probably more than in most cities of comparable size. As well as the Swansea Plinth programme of events today, there are the galleries, museums, theatres, mainstream and independent cinemas, and there was also a programme of cultural events outside the Waterfront Museum, including a 360 degree cinema. All FREE. Great place to be.
It’s been such a busy couple of months that it’s literally a case of ticking a box and then straight onto the next thing! Today I organised a slot on the Swansea Plinth, which is a part of the Adain Avion Cultural Olympiad event. I, along with three other artists from the Life Drawing Group based at Swansea Print Workshop, sat on the plinth for two hours and drew. Just drew into our sketchbooks in full view of the general public. I’m a great believer in letting people see artists at work and we had a lot of interest, people stopped and chatted and looked at our work. The two security guards [above] took photos of this drawing on their phones.
You have to be quick, people and seagulls generally don’t hang around, but sometimes you can catch people in conversation, like this Big Issue seller and an elderly man. It was pouring down before I left the house this morning, so I was kitted out in jeans, boots and a mac, but as we all arrived at the plinth at 10am, the rain stopped and the sun came out!!!!! And it stayed like that all day.
I did a load more drawings and I also catalogued the drawings from the other artists and you can view them on Facebook if you like 🙂
Another busy day, drawing in the studio then picking strawberries down on the allotment – the weather has been really bad for fruit. The heat and humidity are perfect conditions for botrytis and quite a few of our strawberries have been affected, so we’re picking whenever there’s a let up in the drizzle. It was a lovely sunny evening so we made the most of it before I caught the second half of the life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I also picked up the photopolymer [solar] plates that I exposed yesterday. There’s Little Ming, above, with them and below, with today’s strawberry bounty. She likes posing for photos. That’s her boiler with a view that she’s sitting on.
We did another huge pick of loganberries from the garden as well – lots of jamming to do this weekend!
Another long hard day, this time at Swansea Print Workshop, doing the final day of a photopolymer [solar plate] course. I’ve completed the plate I started last week and taken some proof prints, using Charbonnel ink, which I haven’t tried before – it’s gorgeous. Here’s one of the proofs. I’m hoping to do a fairly large edition. I also exposed another 4 x A6 plates and I’ll go in next week to print them up.
Tired now 🙂
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