I’ve finished printing a load of little Mari Lwyd linocut prints for Hen Galan cards in mid-January. As far as I know there isn’t an official collective noun for lots of Mari Lwyds, but quite a few people on social media have suggested a Mischief of Maris, to reflect the naughty, sometimes bawdy, nature of the tradition. I’ve printed in black ink onto 5 different colours of hand-made sari and wool papers.
I carried on with the little Mari Lwyd lino block that I cut the other day and started printing. I used Cranfield Litho / Relief SafeWash ink onto a lightweight fibrous paper made from recycled saris that I bought in Swansea Market. I’m happy with the proof print, now to make a whole lot of little Mari Lwyd cards for Hen Galan, the “Old” New Year which falls on January 13th, according to the orthodox pre-Gregorian (Julian) calendar.
The stone near Penlan Uchaf outside Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire has an amazing view over the countryside and out over the sea to the Worm’s Head, in the background. It’s very colourful, covered in bright lichens.
This is a painting / drawing I did a few years ago, travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawing board, portfolio of Fabriano paper and a bag full of assorted artist’s materials. Dewi is researching his latest book on Neolithic monuments and Melvyn is making a documentary film of our literary and artistic adventures. We are following the legendary trail of the boar hunt, y Twrch Trwyth from the Mabinogion, recording the Bronze Age ancestral stones that those ancient hunters might have encountered.
Greetings Hoomins. It’s been some time since I got my paws on the ‘Pooter Box. It’s that time of year when my monkey servants go into a cheese coma so I snuck a few minutes on the ‘Pooter to wish you all the greetings of the season. It means nothing to me, of course, except that the female ape might give me an extra Dreamies ration, but the male monkey is too tight – you’d swear they were HIS Dreamies!
I must say, I make a very fine Xmas card!
Here’s a quick sketch I made in a gallery a few weeks ago, I really like drawing hands, even if I don’t get them right, they’re so interesting. And I’m starting to like drawing spectacles as well, used to hate them.
The Covid Lockdown made me appreciate the important things in life – family, friends, home, community – and also the simple little things I took for granted. I used to pop into the café in Waterstones bookshop in Swansea for a coffee and a scribble in my sketchbook, perhaps every fortnight or so. Just sit and sketch quietly. I didn’t realise how much I appreciated it until it was taken away. Now it’s back and I really love going in there and scribbling. Here’s a continuous line drawing I did last week, it’s a good technique for getting things in the right place in relation to each other.
I was teaching this afternoon, demonstrating different types of black drawing materials. I killed two birds with one stone as I also wanted to enter the Rhys Ifans Portrait exhibition coming up at GS Artists in Swansea. I did this fairly quick sketch, about 30 minutes, with four media – pencil (4B), willow charcoal (thin), graphite block (6B) and a conté crayon. Of course, I can see all the things that are wrong with it, but too late now.
GS Artists is having an open afternoon on December 17th, it’s free to come along and there will be art and cake.
My family are used to me by now. When they visit they’re fair game. They get scribbled! Here’s my young nephew strumming his guitar. I want to get better at drawing musicians so I’m taking every opportunity to sketch them in action. I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into my A5 leather-bound sketchbook.
It’s that time of year again, the old year is fading out and in Wales the Mari Lwyd is starting to stir. For a few years now I’ve been making some New Year cards from linocuts I’ve done of the Mari Lwyd and here’s my new one, sketched onto lino and ready to cut. In the picture above you can see my roller (nitrile), a bamboo Japanese baren, my Flexcut tools and leather strop, a bench hook and a little block of grey lino.
It’s #StandingStoneSunday again and here’s a drawing I made at Tair Carn Uchaf in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Carmarthenshire. Carns (or Cairns) are piles of stones and these three are exceptionally large. People still add to them and someone has built a small tower on top of this one.
I drew it on my adventures with pre-historian Dewi Bowen and filmmaker Melvyn Williams a few years back, in the days before the Covid lockdown. All the megaliths on our travels are connected to the tale, Y Twrch Trwyth (The Boar Hunt) in The Mabinogion, the Welsh book of myth and legend. Dewi is researching many Bronze Age stones across South Wales for his new book “Hunting The Wild Megalith”.
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