Metallic Bits …

I’ve been working on a typographic linocut recently, a collaboration with the awesome Welsh rapper and multi-disciplinary artist Rufus Mufasa and nine other women artists in Wales . She’s about to release her new bilingual album Tri(ger) Warning(s), which has been steered by a number of key Welsh language words. Each artist has chosen one word to interpret and here’s a snippet of mine. I’ll reveal the rest during the next few days, in the lead up to the exhibition of these artworks at GS Artists in Swansea, launching on Friday 16th February (18.00 – 20.00).

In a departure from my normal printmaking practice, I’ve used metallic watercolour paints to add colour – and sheen – to the black and white linocut print. I’m really liking the effect.

Plygain Scribbles.

Husb and I went to a Plygain this evening, a traditional Welsh Xmas celebration. Well, okay, it’s a bit late for Xmas, but the Blackbird choir, Cór Aderyn Du, had a hectic itinerary at Christmastide. I drew some of the choristers as they sang, it was interesting to sketch the contorted faces.

The Plygain also had a visit from a very naughty Mari Lwyd, Y Fari Madarch Abertawe / The Swansea Mushroom Mari.

Smiling And Splendid Women.

I’m still trying out some ideas for my next artwork, which I’m basing on the South Wales Miner’s Wives in the Miner’s Strike of 1984 / 1985. I’m taking inspiration from a documentary video made at the time by the late Professor Jen Wilson. The film is on YouTube and although a bit clunky by today’s slick news standards, it’s fascinating to watch.

Brand New …..

…PAINTS!!!!!!

I love unwrapping things! I bought these months ago but decided not to open them until I needed to ….. and that was today. Look at the lovely packaging/

I’m going to tease you and not let you see these luscious little beauties in all their glory until tomorrow. Mwahahahahaha 😀 😀 😀

Storm Damage: The Covid Archives 2.

About a week before the first Covid19 Lockdown began in Wales, Husb and I took a walk down to the West Pier at the mouth of the River Tawe – Abertawe in Welsh and also the indigenous name of Swansea. It had recently been wrecked in a ferocious storm so of course, I had to have a scribble. I used conté crayon in black, white and sanguine into a spiral bound sketchbook.

The damage was really serious but before any repairs could be started, the Pandemic hit and that was it for most of the next 2 years.

#Caturday Archive: Lockdown Sketch.

It’s almost 4 years since the Covid19 Lockdown began. I did quite a lot of artwork, although not the things I had planned to do. Most of my work for the 18 months of lockdown was quite light, in contrast to the grimness of the pandemic. On #Caturday Saturday, here’s Sparta Puss enjoying a snooze on a blanket in 2020. I drew her in conté crayons in white, black and sanguine.

And here she’s snoozing on my linocutting tools!!!!!

A Strange Thing Happened: The Covid Archives 1.

It’s nearly 4 years since the UK Covid19 Lockdown started. We didn’t know then that it would go on for nearly 2 years. A strange thing happened to me – I started to paint. I hadn’t done any painting since my early days at Swansea Art College back in the 1970s, but something about the Covid situation pushed me towards painting.

An Archaic Artform.

I’ve been cutting some small experimental lino blocks to try out different ideas for a new piece of artwork based on the Welsh Miner’s Wives in the Miner’s Strikes in the 1980s. I cut one based on a newspaper photograph and one featuring text from a song sung by women on the picket lines. I tried printing them together and I really like the result. It’s archaic, reminds me of the early days of printing in Europe when images and texts for books were carved into wooden blocks, before the invention of moveable typeface.

Inspired By P.P.P.

Back to Swansea Print Workshop this afternoon, third day in a row, carrying on with little experimental blocks researching my next print about the Miner’s Wives in the 1980s Miner’s Strike. I want to put some text into my work so I had a bit of a play with a lino block and some lettering inspired by the great printmaker Paul Peter Piech, an American artist who spent the last decade of his life in South Wales.

The wording is from a song the Miner’s Wives sang on the picket lines in South Wales.

Re-Visiting Monotype.

I spent a happy morning down at Swansea Print Workshop today, re-visiting a technique I used to do loads – it’s called the 3-Colour Reduction Monotype (or 3-Colour Stacking Monotype). I haven’t done this since before Covid19, over 4 years, maybe longer. Why does time shoot by so fast? I based this monotype on a very quick soft pastel sketch onto Khadi paper while I was travelling in Pakistan, a country of spectacular landscapes.