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.
Here are some sketches of the band VAILS, from last weekend at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe. I drew this first one into my rough Khadi sketchbook with a stick of Nitram charcoal.
Then I did some very free sketches into my smooth sketchbook with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen. These are quick, as there is no time to draw anything other than the essential details. The band, just two musicians, is brilliant!
A couple more sketches from Lurcher‘s performance last weekend at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe. I drew this into my Khadi sketchbook, which is really rough paper, not suitable for pen work but great for my Derwent Inktense blocks.
I scribbled the lines of the body and guitar straight onto the page with the point of a black Inktense block, then went over the lines with a reservoir brush so the water turned the lines to ink. Then I daubed water around the figure and rubbed the wet areas with pink and dark olive green Intense blocks used on the flat side, to give a blocky effect.
I went back to my smooth sketchbook for this drawing. I started with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, but it wasn’t working for me, so I switched to a stick of Nitram charcoal and scribbled a very quick one.
Another of the bands at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe, Lurcher‘s bassist’s great expansive movements onstage got me scribbling frantically. At one point I had 3 drawings of him on the go as he moved around so much, I was determined to capture him on paper. It’s unusual to see such a lively bass player!
Celavi was the first band that Husb and I saw this Fringe season, in Hangar 18 and I drew Gwion, who has an extraordinary look, like a Neil Gaiman character interpreted by Dave McKean. The colour theme of the set is vivid pink and black so I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen and Inktense blocks in those colours. I wet the paper with a reservoir brush before applying the blocks on their side to get that chunky look, then I worked into the black with my fingers, the textures reflect my experience of the band’s music.
It was the annual Swansea Fringe again this weekend and I immersed myself in Heavy Metal, Rock and Scribbling at a couple of Swansea’s heavier venues. Here’s my first drawing of the Fringe, at Hangar 18, of the singer Sarah from the Bangor-based Nu-Metal band Celavi. She wore this amazing stage outfit of black PVC and pink tulle and I interpreted her with a black Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size 0.5, and a pink Inktense block used with a water reservoir brush.
I love drawing at gigs, the music and atmosphere influence me. It’s dark mind, and I can barely see the paper as I draw, and I have to work fast, so it’s a bit of a surprise the next day when I get to see what I’ve scribbled in the daylight.
Husb and I went walking up the mountains a few weeks ago, to Llyn y Fan Fach on Bannau Brycheiniog where I did some fairly detailed work with pastels onto painted paper. But before I started on the bigger pieces, I did a couple of hasty scribbles into my tiny leatherbound sketchbook, to work out what was there in front of me. And then I forgot about them! Here they are. They’re an important part of my arts practice, analysing what’s going on.
They’re very basic, minimalist, but they capture quickly the essential features that need to be recorded. The lake is the site of a Welsh famous legend … here.
I spotted another artist drawing in the room and I drew her. We were both lost in our sketches.
scribblah 