Sometimes when I’m out and about sketching I have only a few seconds, maybe a minute or two, with a particular subject or pose, so I have to scribble away quickly, and the drawing often becomes very stylised. Here’s a Mari Lwyd from a few years ago, sketched at a Hen Galan pub crawl on the Gower Peninsula.
Here’s an unusual view of a Mari Monotype, it’s all set up before I took the print. I inked an acrylic sheet, did the drawing of the Mari Lwyd onto it with cotton buds and brushes, and then laid some pieces of mulberry paper onto the surface to act as chine collé. This is the last view of it before putting a piece of paper over it and putting it through a press to take the print.
Here’s another Mari Lwyd sketch from my archives, one from Gellionen Chapel in 2017, back in those heady days before Covid19. we’re creeping closer to Hen Galan, Mari Lwyd’s very own night, which also happens to be the “old” New Year. It’s drawn in black, sanguine and white conté crayons into a spiral bound A4 brown paper sketchbook.
Carrying on with my archival Mari Lwyds, here’s a rare chance to see a copper etching plate, done with Andrew Baldwin‘s B.I.G. technique known as “faux mezzotint” back in 2018, in the time before The Plague.
We’re at that time of year when the old Welsh tradition of The Mari Lwyd / Y Fari Lwyd, is awakening from her slumbers ready for her night, Hen Galan, on January 13th – the New Year in the old Gregorian Calendar. This was drawn at the Gower Heritage Centre’s annual Wassail and Mari Lwyd Parade at the beginning of 2020, just before the Plague hit and life changed.
A Happy New Year to you. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi. Here’s my latest Mari Lwyd, a linocut with chine collé using the foil wrapping of the very popular (in the UK) Tunnock’s Tea Cakes. I like the way the stripes of the foil interact with the stripeyness of Mari’s ribbons. She’s a little early, as her night is January 13th, Hen Galan, but that’s a Welsh tradition so I’m using her to greet the world today, according to the modern calendar 😀
I’ve had a bit of a blog holiday over Christmas, trying to have a rest, but back to normal now for 2024.
We’re at that time of year when the old Welsh tradition of The Mari Lwyd / Y Fari Lwyd, is awakening from her slumbers ready for her night, Hen Galan, on January 13th – the New Year in the old Gregorian Calendar. This monotype with chine collé is based on a sketch I did when the Ystrad Mari visited Gellionen Chapel in 2017, here’s the sketch below…
I think the sketch is quite funny, about as jolly as a horse skull can be, but the monotype is much more sinister. The chine collé is paper made from recycled saris and it’s very fibrous.
I’ve made the first cuts on from the first lino block of the project I’ll be working on for the next couple of months. I’m experimenting at the moment, trying out different ideas and ways of cutting into the lino. This is a small detail from a drawing I’ve done. I’m using Flexcut tools and traditional grey lino.
I can’t work out if I think this Mari is sinister or funny, there’s an edge to this drawing. I drew her at Gellionen Chapel in January 2018 when it was visited by Mari Ystrad from Ystradgynlais.
The chapel is over 330 years old and set in isolation on Mynydd Gellionen Mountain, with spectacular views of the Swansea coastline way into the distance. I drew with black, sanguine and white conté crayons into a brown paper, spiral bound Seawhites sketchbook.
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