Husb and I went to a political panel event in Penybont ar Ogwr / Bridgend last night. Of course, I had to have a scribble. I can’t stop myself. I scribbled this audience member with a ballpoint pen into my leather-bound A5 sketchbook.
I did some teaching today, with a group of adults at GS Artists in Swansea as part of their excellent 9to90 Community Arts programme. We did an introduction to charcoal drawing …. and it was MESSY! Loved it! I started out by getting people to play with blocks of compressed charcoal, to do mark-making and get used to what the charcoal can do.
Here’s one of the wonderful standing stones featured in Dewi Bowen’s new book, that I was involved in. As Dewi travelled around researching the ancient megaliths of South Wales, I went with him on his journey, drawing and painting in the field – literally fields! This is the magnificent Maen Llia in the beautiful setting of Bannau Brycheiniog.
Dewi will be signing copies of his book on April 29th, 16.00 – 18.00, at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir (here).
Spent a few days in Cumbria this week with very intermittent Internet access, which has been really nice, relaxing. The weather was lovely so I went walking and sketching with my Khadi landscape sketchbook, Inktense blocks and reservoir brush. Here’s a view from Birkrigg Common.
SATURDAY, 29 APRIL 2023 FROM 16:00-18:00
Author Dewi Bowen and myself will be signing Dewi’s new book “Hunting The Wild Megalith”, featuring artwork by me, at the gorgeous Workers Gallery in The Rhondda Valley. There will of course, be cake and refreshments! Come and chat to me and Dewi about our escapades across the years, the horizontal rain and snow, the Welsh mud, and the sandwich-obsessed Welsh ponies we met as I suffered for our art.
Come and spend a Saturday up the lovely Rhondda Valley and get yourself a helping of cake, art, literature and standing stones. More about the event here.
Please note that only registered Assistance Dogs are able to be on the premises.
Sparta Puss has been posing quite a bit lately, and I’ve been taking photographs and playing around with them in Adobe Photoshop. Here she is lying on a nice woven blanket and I’ve put the photo through the Water Paper filter.
I’ve started applying the paint to one of my new paintings. On top of the orange ground, I’ve scraped on a few areas of Titanium White, with a palette knife, which will be the highlights. It’s going to be another nocturne.
I did a bit more to the canvasses I’ve been recycling. I have a couple of ideas for paintings so I used Liquitex Heavy Body opaque Cadmium Orange to lay down a background colour. I don’t like working on top of white, I find it intimidating. I’ve used the orange a few times now and it gives a lovely warmth to the finished painting.
I recycled a couple of canvasses I didn’t like a while back, ready for some new painting projects. I scraped a load of acrylic gesso over the surfaces, deliberately leaving them textured. Then I daubed one of them with some leftover pinks and purples from another painting I’m working on – waste not want not. This is the one I’ll continue with.
I carried on with my portrait of Sparta Puss today, but concentrated on the still-life bits – the chocolate tin and toiletries. I think all the components are now in place, I just have to refine them with several layers of thin washes and I need to knock back most of the light bits.
I’m painting with Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics onto a 40 x 40 cms stretched canvas using brushes by Daler-Rowney, Winsor & Newton and Isabey.
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