Swansea Fringe 11: Ria Plays In Black.

At Crowleys Rock Bar.

Here’s another sketch I did at Swansea Fringe the other week, of one of the musicians in the most excellent band, Ria Plays. She wore black, in a black venue on a black stage and I drew in the dark. I guess I’m a bit of a masochist when it come to my art 🙂 I did a very quick sketch in ballpoint pen then worked into it with Derwent Inktense blocks and a water reservoir brush.

Problem with working in the dark is that it’s hard to judge the intensity of the colours and a lot of the musicians I sketched with the Inktense blocks turned out yellow! Ah well, they’re ready for a cameo on The Simpsons 😀

Swansea Fringe 10: The Red Drummer.

Altered Myths.

This guy had everything – tattoos, drums and red hair. Great to draw. Not easy though, because he’s a vigorous drummer and his arms were a blur most of the time. That’s a challenge for me, do I capture a split second in time, as I have here or do I use some technique to show rapid movement, like Marcel Duchamp‘s painting “Nude Descending A Staircase” (below)?

Marcel Duchamp.

If I was to develop something from my drawings and photographs, like a painting or linocut, I might be more considered and design some way of expressing movement, but in the crazy atmosphere of a live rock gig, I think I’ll just leave it there. This is one of over 30 sketches I did at this year’s Swansea Fringe.

Detail: cymbal.

Swansea Fringe 9: Another Drummer.

False Hope For The Savage.

Here’s another Swansea Fringe sketch from last weekend’s after-party. Drummers are often shoved to the back and it’s hard to get a good line of sight to draw them, but “False Hope For The Savage” gave their drummer plenty of space – so much energy and a lot of fun to draw.

Swansea Fringe 8: False Hope For The Savage

As if I couldn’t get enough sketching at the Swansea Fringe the other weekend, I went back the following Friday to the Fringe after-party for some more rock and scribbling. Here’s local band False Hope For The Savage. They’re cool!

Swansea Fringe 7: Zed Motel.

Using Inktense blocks.

Sometimes when I’m sketching, I’m not happy with the result I get with the materials I’m using. That happened with the singer of Zed Motel, a band at Crowleys Rock Bar during Swansea Fringe the other weekend. I liked the effect of the Inktense blocks that I used with a reservoir brush, but they were too chunky to get any of her facial features. It’s hard to get a likeness anyway, between movement and the intrusion of the microphone, but there’s slightly more detail with a ballpoint pen into a smaller sketchbook.

Ballpoint pen.

Swansea Fringe 6: Rock Foxes.

Foxy Rock Boots!

Here’s another sketch from the recent Swansea Fringe, where I cwtched into a corner of Crowleys Rock Bar and drew musicians for 3 nights. It’s not easy sketching bands, there are lots of people on stage and they tend to move around a lot. I have to make a decision who and what to draw and there are different reasons for the choices I make. When I saw The Rock Foxes straight away I thought “I gotta draw her boots!” And so I did. 😀 You can see the comment I wrote on the sketch …. “punk in a red frock“. Brilliant band.

Swansea Fringe 5: Swanhill.

Two from Swanhill.

It’s been just over a week now since my three-night stint as a Swansea Fringe sketcher. It was a great idea and seemed to go down well with the bands. I’m well happy, I did 30 sketches, a lot of work in a relatively short time. And loads of really good practice too. Drawing and listening to rock and metal – living my best life! Here are two musicians from a cracking local band, Swanhill. I loved their set. Check them out here.

#StandingStoneSunday 12

Y Garreg Goch. The Red Stone.

It’s #StandingStoneSunday again on social media and here’s one in a hedge in Carmarthenshire. You can read more about its intriguing captivity here. 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.

The stone captured behind wire.

Swansea Fringe 4: Cool Shirts.

Scribbling Through The Night.

Here are another couple of sketches from Crowleys Rock Bar during Swansea Fringe last weekend. The singer of Teal Flood is on the left, and on the right a musician from bi-lingual band The Night School. These are very quick drawings so it’s not always possible to get an accurate likeness and I’m sure the singer would have preferred me to have drawn a smaller mouth 😀 But sometimes that’s just how a sketch turns out.

Annibyniaeth / Independence.

The guitarist from The Night School wore a really cool Annibyniaeth (Independence) T shirt from here….

Swansea Fringe 3: Heavy On The Ride.

Two guitarists.

My three-night stint as a Swansea Fringe artist yielded 30 sketches …. and a lot of aches! I was hunched over my sketchbooks for about 4 hours each evening and my body wasn’t too happy. But I LOVED it. Drawing and listening to rock and metal – like I’d died and gone to rock heaven! Here are two sketches of “Heavy On The Ride”. They’re fab … listen to them here ….

A small detail in Photoshop Gradient Map.