More From The Annual Cockling.

A couple of very quick little sketches from the annual labyrinth maintenance at Rosehill Quarry. I had to work quickly because people moved fast. Very good practice though

The Annual Cockling.

A very long thin watercolour and ink sketch showing a man in the foreground next to a pile of cockle shells looking down on a part of a labyrinth where two figures are bent over working. In the background are layers of foliage in different greens going right up into the blue/grey overcast sky.
Rosehill Quarry Labyrinth.

Back in 1987 a Labyrinth was cut into the turf in Swansea’s Rosehill Quarry, a unique urban wildlife park. It was installed by Bob Shaw and local author and pre-historian Dewi Bowen. It’s based on an ancient Cretan design and the incised path is filled with crushed cockle shells that are a by-product of the local seafood industry. Every year local people meet up, bring a picnic to share and recut the labyrinth edges and refill the path with new cockle shells, donated by Swansea Council.

I strolled up the hill today and found a good point to have a scribble. I did a few quick preliminary sketches into a tiny sketchbook and then worked up this larger one into my Khadi landscape book, using Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens sizes S and M, and Derwent Inktense watercolour blocks.

Up The Rugby Club: 1.

Husb and I went to a birthday bash this evening for some friends who are both 50, in a local rugby club. It was fun, a buffet with cocktail pasties, mini sausage rolls and coronation chicken sarnies. And the rambunctious Green Dragon Band playing crowd pleasers that filled the dance floor. Great stuff. Of course, I had to have a scribble!

Metal Legs: 6.

And here’s the last of the Heavy Metal legs in my little sketchbook. This is a very scribbly pair of legs. The hot summer is bringing out the shorts and I get to see close up just how big men’s feet really are when they’re not partially covered with the bottom of trousers.

Metal Legs: 5.

And even more legs in shorts from the Suns of Thunder gig at Elysium last week. The sunshine is bringing them out! In my tiny leatherbound sketchbook using Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen (size S) and nitrile charcoal stick.

Metal Legs: 4.

Foreshortening isn’t a biscuit…

And some more heavy metal legs. I was in a tight space in the audience for Suns of Thunder at Elysium the other night so I looked down and drew what I saw, lots of men’s legs in shorts with some pretty groovy foreshortening. Foreshortening isn’t a biscuit by the way 😀

Metal Legs: 3

And another pair of legs from Heavy Metal night last weekend. Loved listening to the music, loved drawing people’s legs and shoes.

Metal Legs: 2.

A drawing in pen and charcoal of a pair of men's legs from the knees down, wearing knee-length shorts and big slip-on shoes with no socks. He has a lot of tattoos across his left calf.

More legs from the heavy metal gig at Elysium the other evening, with Suns of Thunder. It’s not the easiest to draw in the middle of a crowd, but it gave me some great foreshortening to work with. I used the continuous line drawing method to get the positioning and proportions right.

Metal Legs: 1.

Husb and I went out to see a heavy metal band the other evening, locals Suns Of Thunder at Elysium. Fantastic – very loud, very dancy – I had to have a scribble! I had my tiny leather-bound sketchbook with me and it’s too small for a lot of detail so, what to draw? I looked around and there they were, lots of heavy metal legs in shorts, big footwear and tattoos. I don’t often get a chance to draw lots of legs like these, close up in a crowd, so I made the most of it.

Cafe, Coffee, Scribble…

Popped into my favourite cafe, Waterstones in Swansea, earlier for a coffee and of course, I had to have a scribble. Just a quick one.