A photograph of a black square canvas which has 9 black and white abstract badges lined up in a 3 by 3 square towards the top left hand side and a black and yellow abstract badge on it's own in the bottom right corner. The artwork is called Outsider and reflects the loneliness of the yellow badge which is different to all the others.
“Outsider”.

Yesterday I made a couple of sheets of little circular designs, 24 in all, trying out some ideas for some Adult Education sessions I’ll be running soon. Today I chose 10 of them to make up into badges and mount onto a small canvas that I painted black.

I’ve had the badge machine for a while, it was an impulse buy during the Covid19 lockdown, but I haven’t done much with it. I really like the work of contemporary printmaker and artist Ryan McGinnis and I remembered seeing some of his canvasses mounted with screenprinted badges at an exhibition way back, 2007 I think, and that’s inspired me.

I tried them out in different combinations. I like them all, the way they’re laid out onto the background gives a different meaning to each image. I think I like the one at the top the most, I’ve called it “Outsider”.

Playing Small

I’ve been playing with small designs today, random images onto 45mm circles using brush and ink, graphite sticks, Sharpie pens and coloured pencils. It’s for an adult education project I’m working on ….. there’s more to come.

More Porto Pavement People.

Some more of the very quick sketches I did last week on holiday. I like to stand on the pavement and speedily scribble people walking along, most people move quite fast. I prefer to follow someone from when they’re quite a way down the road.

I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S, into a tiny textured sketchbook.

Porto Pavement People.

Striding in the street.

I sometimes stand on the pavement and scribble people walking along. Most people move quite quickly so my sketches are speedy. I generally spot someone when they’re quite a way down the road and follow them as they get closer, focusing on the essence of the figure, not the details. I did a few of these when Husb and I were in Porto last week.

I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S, into a tiny textured sketchbook.

The Rediscovered Sketchbook.

From the Crystal Palace Garden, Porto.

Sometimes I put a sketchbook down and forget about it for months or even years. I don’t know why I do it, some of them just seem to fall out of favour or maybe a I fall in love with the novelty of a new one. This little leather-clad book is one of these. I found it at the back of one of my sketchbook shelves just before I went on holiday last week. Some of the sketches go back 9 years but there’s still plenty of paper in it. So I took it with me and did some quickie sketches with my Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens.

Old And New

At the Crystal Palace.

Here’s another sketch I did on holiday in Porto, Portugal last week. It was very hot (for me anyway) and Husb and I took refuge in the beautiful Crystal Palace garden near our little hotel. There was loads to sketch there but I settled on this view of an old statue, probably 19th century, in front of a very modern building across the road. I scribbled it with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S first, then added in some colour washes with Derwent Inktense blocks.

Strange Trees In The Dark.

A drawing of heavily pollarded trees in a park in Porto, Portugal. There are 7 trees, mostly dark against a mid-grey background.
Jardim da Cordoaria.

I was so taken with the odd pollards in the Porto park, Jardim da Cordoaria, that I went back the next evening with my landscape Khadi sketchbook and Derwent Inktense blocks and spent a while drawing the strange trees in a mix of natural night-time darkness and harsh orange/yellow street lighting.

Pollards In A Park In Porto

Jardim da Cordoaria.

Husb and I went away for a few days, which is why I haven’t blogged recently. It’s our first trip outside the UK since before Covid19 and to be honest I was nervous, but we met up with family from different parts of the world in Porto in Portugal and it was so lovely. The city is wonderful and I became fascinated with these pollarded Platanus Gigantus, I haven’t seen pollarding like this before, in a park near our hotel, Jardim da Cordoaria. I sat and sketched with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen and a stick of charcoal into a very small pocket sketchbook.

Going To A New Home….

Just a few of my sketchbooks.

In a few weeks some of my many sketchbooks will be going to a new home in a permanent public collection. But I can’t tell you where just yet. I’m teasing you 🙂

Another Head.

Another head drawn the other night at Swansea’s Volcano Theatre. I love drawing when I’m out, catching people unawares, absorbed in their own world.