Sprogs, Sculptures And Sketchbooks

I babysat three young relatives today and I’m absolutely shattered. How do parents cope? Kudos, parents. I took them to see Keith Bayliss’ exhibition, The Enclosed Garden, at Mission Gallery. After I threatened them and they stopped running round and being loud, we all settled into the lovely contemplative ambience of the exhibition and absorbed the beauty of the sculptures. I settled the littlies down with their sketchbooks and some pens and they sat on the floor for the best part of an hour, drawing quietly. The drawing above is by Owain aged 7 and the one below by his sister, Rhiannon, who is 5.  Without prompting, Owain drew the male figure and Rhiannon the female one. I thought that was interesting.

The male figure has a bowl on his head and the female figure has a bird. Nathan, their cousin, also 7, drew the male figure as well. His is the drawing below. He also included a lovely little sculpted bird that was on the wall above the figure. It’s great to see the completely different styles between the three of them.

They like working in their sketchbooks and they’re very careful to sign and date their work, like proper little artists. I tried sketching them sketching, but even when they’re doing something quiet, they fidget and wriggle and change position all the time, so I didn’t get much that I was happy with and now I’m way too tired to do any more drawings. I’m off for a bath and an early night once I’ve blogged – they’ve worn me out lol 🙂

 

Gallery, Students, Tip.

Ink sketch at Elysium

 

I had a very bitty day today and it wasn’t satisfying at all. Started off with admin and stuff to do on the computer, took AGES to book some train tickets online. It would have been quicker to walk to the station and back again! Then Husb and I took a load of rubble from the studios to the recycling tip. Fascinating :$. But now I know where to put old fluorescent tubes. And this afternoon was my stint sitting the current exhibition at Elysium Gallery. I generally volunteer for the 2.30 – 5.00 slot on Thursdays so if anyone’s passing, drop by and say hello 🙂

This afternoon, thirty students from the local Art College turned up with their tutor who gave them a lecture based on the work in the gallery. I thought it was an excellent idea. They should do it more. While she was teaching, I scribbled a couple of the students listening – they all had to sit on the floor. I didn’t – I have old knees. Actually it’s not just my knees. The students looked ridiculously young to me, as do policemen these days. Let’s face it, I’m a mad old cat lady lol 🙂

Didn’t get much art work done, apart from this sketch in Faber Castell Pitt pens sizes F and B in my little cat-themed sketchbook.

Mens’ Heads And Scary Harry Potter

Ink sketch.

Went to the cinema this evening to see The Artist but because of the daft queueing system, by the time we got to the front, the film had already started so we decided to see The Woman In Black. Now, I’m not a big fan of horror films, but it’s Harry Potter right? Couldn’t be THAT scary with little Daniel Radcliffe right? And it’s a Hammer film and they were always camp and cheesy right? NOT IT’S NOT!!!! IT’S A REALLY SCARY MOVIE!!!!! I’m never going to turn a light off again!

Before the film started [and I turned into a nervous wreck] I sketched some mens’ heads. The little lad at the top had one of those ‘hairdos’ that young lads seem to be inexplicably fond of these days [I’m now officially a mad old cat lady] and the other guys had varying degrees of male pattern baldness, which I rather like. Better than the daft haircut on the wee lad anyway.

So I’m going to have a nice cup of tea now and try to calm down.

Couples And Irony.

Ink sketch: couples on Valentine's night.

 

We went out for a lovely meal this evening, because it’s Valentine’s Day and because we don’t need much of an excuse to go to PAs in Mumbles, one of our favourite restaurants. Usually when we eat out, we’re surrounded by families, single sex groups, friends on a night out but tonight it was only couples, which was a bit weird but also a bit lovely because the people in there ranged from twenty-somethings to eighty-somethings, all focussed on each other, holding hands, smiling. Dead soppy but nice at the same time.

We had a gorgeous meal and I thought I’d do some scribbling between courses as I don’t have a problem chatting and drawing, so I started sketching a youngish couple across the restaurant. Then the main course came and by the time I’d finished it, an elderly couple had arrived and sat in front of the original couple. I’d already sketched in the table and things on it, so what to do? Stop and start again? Well no. This is real life and things don’t always run smoothly, so I drew the new couple in over the existing drawing. It makes the elderly man look transparent. But it’s what happened, so here it is.

There was music playing in the background. It’s never loud in there, just nicely ambient but I noticed this track tonight because I think someone on the staff was having a laugh, given the occasion; Roy Orbison’s ‘It’s Over’ 🙂

Friendship And A Fine Stilton.

Ink drawing: still life.

An old friend came to stay over the weekend and we had a really nice time, lolling around watching films and the telly, eating comfort food to cope with the cold damp weather and relaxing in that comfortable zone that comes with many years of friendship. And today, another old friend came over for a visit and we went to lunch. She arrived at 12.30. We were still talking at 5pm! Didn’t get much work done down at the studio, but you know, it doesn’t matter because there are some things that are more important. It’s so easy to get immersed in work and before you know it, months, even years, fly by and you realise that the only contact you’ve had with friends is through Facebook and Twitter, not the real world. So it’s important to make some time in our hectic lives for those people who really matter, and to enjoy real life contact, long involved conversations over lunch or tea. Of course, new friendships form from social networking, but old ones need to be nurtured.

This evening I decided to settle down in the kitchen and draw a still life. I rarely do these, much preferring to draw people or cats, so make the most of it lol :). My weekend friend stopped by Fortnum and Mason’s in London on the way to Wales and brought us this most excellent Stilton cheese in a lovely jar. Beautifully creamy, salty, tangy and well mouldy, I’ve scoffed half the Stilton already. It’s too strong to eat a lot at once, so I’ve been nibbling little bits throughout a couple of days, seeing what goes with it best. Fresh, juicy slices of Conference pears are very good, but this evening I discovered a perfect match with a gorgeous locally-produced, home pressed, organic apple juice made from Grenadier cookers, a present from friends who have a smallholding a few miles from the city. I’d found it too sharp when I first tried it but it is a wonderful accompaniment to this top-quality Stilton. So they both had to go into the still-life setup, along with our teapot and its ‘sheep’ tea-cosy, important accompaniments to friendship and relaxation.

 

Watching The Rugby

Ink sketch.

Here’s The Husb indulging one of his favourite pastimes today, lying on the settee watching an international Rugby match on the TV. Of course Wales was playing. And Wales won. So he’s a very, very happy Husb. Final score Wales 27, Scotland 13.  Well played, excellent game, minimal shouting and swearing from the region of the settee.

I stood at the end of the settee to do the drawing, with my Pilot drawing pen, currently my favourite; I’m having a bit of a break from Faber Castell Pitts. It’s in my little cat-themed sketchbook. The foreshortening is good fun, but I don’t think he’s too pleased at the view of his male pattern baldness lol.

😉

Old Friend @ The Etsy Shop.

Ink sketch.

This is my friend who has come to visit from England for the weekend; we’ve been friends now for over 30 years. We used to riot round the place, painting the town red, hanging out in clubs and pubs so disreputable that they wouldn’t be allowed to exist these days 😉 . Now we entertain ourselves by visiting the allotment, strolling by the sea and shopping on Etsy. Old age doesn’t come alone. It’s weird that in all these years, this is the first time I’ve drawn her. It isn’t a good likeness because it’s the first time I’ve really studied her for a drawing; it’s a very quick sketch; I have a rotten cold; and I got completely preoccupied with her designer cardigan, which is LUSH! Now I’ve broken my duck and done the first drawing, I must persuade her to sit for me again so I can get a better likeness – she has an amazing face. She’s doing a bit of browsing on Etsy, looking at some lovely etchings by a young printmaker, Ellie Snowdon, who has done a beautiful series based on some of Aesop’s Fables. I sketched with a Pilot V5 Hi-Techpoint pen size 0.5 into my favourite little ‘paper blanks fantastic felines’ sketchbook, around size A6.

 

 

The Work Behind THE WORK

Biro sketches.

An artist friend recently opened an Etsy shop and posted  a link on Facebook. Her work is lovely, but one FB ‘friend’ posted that it was way too expensive. I was very irritated by this as I thought it very reasonably priced – each piece is original and beautifully made. I was reading some stuff recently in a-n magazine, the professional journal for British artists, about how art is undervalued and under-appreciated in Britain – people often seem to have no idea of the amount of training, practice and work that goes into creating a piece of art. I think we artists are partly to blame. We are rarely seen doing our art in public [it’s one of the reasons I sketch when I’m out and about] and people generally only see our finished pieces, not the masses of preliminary drawings, moquettes, notes, research and so on that go into making the finished artwork. Perhaps we should routinely put our preliminary work into exhibitions, so that the public can see how a final piece is arrived at.

I’ve been working on some block prints based on photographs I took from my second floor window of unsuspecting pedestrians below, exploring the concept of the artist as voyeur. I do some digital manipulation in Photoshop but I also draw from them, to get a feel for the shapes, the figures and the personalities before I begin to cut the blocks. Here are some of the preliminary sketches I did today, in biro into an A4 brown paper sketchpad that i bought on a visit to New York City.

Welsh Cakes, Swansea Jack And Ladies Who Lunch.

Ink sketch: ladies lunching.

Managed to catch Husb’s cold so I wasn’t feeling too good at the studio this morning; by midday I had an urge for hot chocolate and a Welsh Cake – unusual because I don’t have a sweet tooth but I’ve noticed that I like chocolate and cakes much more when I’m unwell. I wandered down to a little cafe called Starvin’ Jacks as they make their own Welsh Cakes. Jacks is the nickname for people from Swansea and it’s supposed to have come from a famous dog, Swansea Jack, who rescued many people from drowning around the Swansea coastline back in the 1930’s. There is a memorial to him near the beach opposite the old cricket ground.

I settled into a chair about halfway along the cafe, facing the window, and commenced scribbling. These elderly ladies were lunching happily with friends. The hot chocolate came with lashings of whipped cream and a small chocolate flake and the Welsh Cake was spicy and delicious. Coupled with the Beecham’s Powder I took before going to the cafe, I was fortified for a couple more hours and managed to get quite a bit more drawing done back at the studio, developing preliminary sketches for a large composition. I drew this in my little cat sketchbook that I had for Xmas. It’s currently my favourite sketchbook, having usurped my little A6 recycled leather-bound sketchbook as soon as I unwrapped it. Do other artists have favourite sketchbooks I wonder?

A Stroppy Fish Out Of Water

Ink sketch: mother to be.

Another drawing from my hospital visit yesterday, accompanying my young relative to the ante-natal clinic. It was a weird place, not somewhere I enjoyed being. I thought it was a bit like a meat market if I’m honest. There wasn’t a problem with the medical staff, who seemed very kind, patient and helpful, but the surroundings and bureaucratic processes made the experience very institutionalised. I’m so glad I’m in rude good health and don’t have much experience of hospitals, clinics and surgeries because with my stroppy and anarchic nature, I’d be an Impatient rather than a Patient. I found it discomfiting and I felt like a fish out of water, but all I had to do was sit down, shut up and sketch which suited me.

This young woman looked exhausted and fed up [in fact all but one of the mothers-to-be looked tired and fed up]. She had her hair pulled up into a very tight ponytail which made her face look rather gaunt, increasing the impression of tiredness. It was freezing outside and she was dressed in many layers and she rested her hand on her baby, like many  mothers-to-be. The sketch is done in a Pilot DR drawing pen [size 0.5] into my lovely little cat-themed sketchbook.