The singer in the Shlug band performs in his pants. That’s British pants, not American pants. He performs in his kecks. His trons. His undies. And he’s brilliant. And the band is brilliant. I sketched them recently at Hangar 18 in the Swansea Fringe.
I did the portrait sketch with Nitram charcoal and the scribbled pants with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen.
Here’s a few speed sketches I did of the very fast and furious band Shlug at The Swansea Fringe recently. Incredibly loud and rapid music and a lead singer who doesn’t stop, rapidly becoming one of my favourite bands. It’s a challenge to draw that quickly, especially in a dark venue (Hangar 18) with lots of jostling going on. But I like a challenge.
It’s hard to get a likeness with speed sketching, but what’s really good is that it forces you to get down the most essential components of the figure.
I messed around with this detail from one of the sketches in Adobe Photoshop Gradient Map just for fun.
It’s #Caturday Saturday and here’s a wacky photo of a surprised Sparta Puss with a little kitty pal who looks, frankly, a bit wooden 😉
2 – 3.30pm, Saturday 21st October 2023 at Mission Gallery (click on link for free Eventbrite ticket)
Printmaking Demonstrations with Swansea Print Workshop Members, Rosie Scribblah, Anne Gullick and Louise Hughes.
Join us at Mission Gallery as we experience three printmakers showcasing their practice. This free demonstration session will give you a glimpse of how they work and allow you to chat with the artists whilst they work.
2pm: Linocut demonstration with Rosie Scribblah
My printmaking practice is based on drawing from life. I carry a sketchbook wherever I go, and I reinterpret these drawings into linocuts and woodcuts, monotypes, and screenprints. I’m not particularly precious about the medium; I often combine different printmaking techniques on one piece of work.
Using her existing blocks, Rosie will be printing her Mari Lwyd designs onto monotype papers. She’ll also be bringing ‘flat-pack Mari’ to the gallery!
2.30pm: Collagraph demonstration with Anne Gullick
The natural world provides me with plenty of inspiration. I try to capture textural qualities, colours, patterns and forms and incorporate them into my work using mixed media techniques and processes.
Anne will share her block-making process, and demonstrate how to impress marks to create imagery using a variety of tools. She’ll carefully apply ink, allowing for tonal variety and strength of line, and she’ll print onto a range of prepared papers.
3pm: Gelli Print demonstration with Louise Hughes
As a retired educationist, avid traveller and wildlife photographer, I am developing a new artistic avenue as a printmaker.
This is a relatively new method of printmaking without the need of a press. Louise will show us how to apply ink using a brayer onto a soft gelatine plate. She’ll use objects and stencils to mask the plate and transfer textured images to paper.
Some more sketches the very loud and very entertaining punk band Rock Foxes at the Swansea Fringe last weekend at Crowley’s Rock Bar. There’s some terrific banter between the band members. When I’m speed sketching, there’s usually only enough time to get an impression of what’s before me, especially with rock bands who tend to be moving a lot. My impression of Rock Foxes is black and red, lots of both.
The sketch in colour is done with Derwent Inktense blocks and a reservoir water brush into my Khadi textured sketchbook. The portrait sketch is Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens into my smooth sketchbook.
Here are a couple of sketches of the punk band Rock Foxes at the Swansea Fringe last weekend at Crowley’s Rock Bar. I did this with Derwent Inktense blocks and a reservoir water brush into my Khadi sketchbook. I put too much water onto the paper and my lines ran but I like it.
The quick portrait sketch is done with Nitram charcoal into my smooth sketchbook.
Here are three sketches of the Indie Rock musician Dafydd Hedd and a fellow musician who appeared the Fringe last weekend at Crowley’s Rock Bar. I did the pen sketches first but wasn’t happy with them so I switched to Nitram charcoal into my Khadi sketchbook, which I prefer.
Another sketch from Lurcher‘s performance last weekend at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe. This time I left the bassist alone and scribbled the lead singer. It was a quick sketch and the venue was dark so I didn’t notice the wobbly hand until the next day. I really like it.
Just a bit of fun for #Caturday. I was doing some monotype prints the other day, using Gelli plates and bubble wrap and I picked up this rag from the rag bin, a piece of cotton covered with little cartoon cats. After I finished printing each colour – Process Magenta and Process Cyan – I pressed the circle of bubble wrap onto the rag and here it is.
scribblah 