If You Knows, You Knows.

Spent a lovely day yesterday down at Swansea Print Workshop, learning how to set wooden type and print it up in our lovely Columbian Press. It was an introductory day course, headed by Mark Pavey. It was great, I loved it. At the end of the day I had a big smile and dirty hands – perfect!

The wooden stuff.

I can’t remember what the name of the font is, I should have written it down but I was so excited playing! I’m going in again this week so I’ll get all the technical details then.

And the meaning of the acronym? Well, if you knows, you knows 😉

#StandingStoneSunday

A painting of a reddish standing stone on a dark brown background. It stands behind a barbed wire fence, painted in white.
One of my favourites.

Here’s a favourite standing stone that I painted in the field while I was out and about with Dewi Bowen as he was researching his new book “Hunting The Wild Megalith”. It’s Garreg Coch in Carmarthenshire and it’s been protected for many years by a barbed wire fence.

We’ll be at The Workers Gallery on Saturday 29th April from 16.00 – 18.00 to sign copies. The Rhondda Valley is particularly lovely at this time of year, why not explore and join us? There will be cake!

Listening Heads: 1

A small drawing of a man's head in profile. He has a beard and a man bun and looks to be in his thirties.
A Face In The Audience.

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.

Mucking About

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.

Revisiting The Stones.

Maen Llia.

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.

Maen Llia in Bannau Brycheiniog.

Dewi will be signing copies of his book on April 29th, 16.00 – 18.00, at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir (here).

Holiday Sketching

A photograph of a coloured watercolour sketch in a very long landscape sketchbook lying on the grass on Brikrigg common with a tin of Inktense watercolour blocks and a brush with a reservoir of water attached.
En Plein Air.

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.

#StandingStoneSunday

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.

#Caturday

Sparta Puss on a blanket.

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.

Her little white socks.

Scraping It On.

A horizontal rectangular canvas painted overall in orange with some areas of white highlights. The surface of the paint is very textured.
Just a palette knife so far.

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.

Laying A Ground.

A photograph of two stretched canvasses covered with Cadmium Orange paint.
Scraping an orange ground onto the canvasses.

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.