I haven’t been doing drawings in my sketchbook regularly for a while, so back to basics today with this sketch of Sparta Puss who occupies the footstool almost permanently. I drew with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into a leather-bound, Steampunk style sketchbook. Richard The Bird, our family Senegal parrot, stayed a few daysContinue reading “Scribbling Sparta Puss”
Tag Archives: #artforsale
The Three Rs
The Three Rs – Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse; it’s what I do with paper all the time. If something doesn’t work out, no point in keeping it hanging around. And as I use really good quality paper, I’m not going to bin it. I did a massive drawing on Fabriano Accademica about a year ago (youContinue reading “The Three Rs”
Walnuts And Mud
My journey around ancient monuments last week ended is an unbelievably muddy field just outside the tiny village of Meinciau in Carmarthenshire. Some distance from the road, through a couple of fields is The Gwempa standing stone, a large menhir covered in elaborate patterns of lichen and scored heavily with lines near the bottom. TheContinue reading “Walnuts And Mud”
Welsh Cakes And Cockle Hats
Today is Saint David’s Day, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant, in Wales and small girls are dressed in a traditional Welsh costume with a daffodil corsage, small boys are put into Welsh rugby shirts with a leek corsage and copious Welsh Cakes are eaten. For aeons these have been baked on a griddle or bakestone, maen inContinue reading “Welsh Cakes And Cockle Hats”
Arthur’s Table
Up a mountain (Mynydd Llangynderyn), over a ridge, through a bog to a pair of small sub-megalithic burial chambers next to each other under a rocky outcrop. Together the pair is known as Bwrdd Arthur (Arthur’s Table). This is the western burial chamber, called Gwal y Filiast (Kennel of the Greyhound Bitch), which is theContinue reading “Arthur’s Table”
Channelling Cezanne
Each ancient stone monument I visit on my travels across South Wales affects me in different ways and this is being reflected in my drawings. Here at the Neolithic ring cairn atop Mynydd Llangyndeyrn, Carmarthenshire, the angular stones contrasted sharply with the grassy hummocks surrounding them. I’m not interested in doing topographical drawings, I wantContinue reading “Channelling Cezanne”
The Sentinel
The Sentinel is a massive quartzite standing stone, the first ancient monument we met as we walked up Mynydd Llangyndeyrn, which translates from the Welsh as the Mountain of the Church of Saint Cyndeyrn. The stone was flat on the ground until 1976, when its socket was found and it was re-erected. Nobody is sureContinue reading “The Sentinel”
Grumble In The Jumble
What influences a drawing? Lots of things; the subject, the artist’s reactions to the subject; the drawing materials; the weather. That’s right, the weather. I was so cold by the time I reached this sub-Megalithic burial chamber on Mynydd Llangynderyn that I couldn’t be bothered to faff about with my carrying tube of paper andContinue reading “Grumble In The Jumble”
Stones, Slurry, Sun
This morning was bright, sunny and cold and I took off with archaeologist Dewi Bowen and film maker Melvyn Williams for a second day following the trail of Bronze Age monuments across West Wales. We had a trek up Mynydd Llangyndeyrn, between the villages of Pontyberem and Crwbin to see a magnificent standing stone; aContinue reading “Stones, Slurry, Sun”
Up The Workers (with added cat)!
I have a permanent exhibition at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir where I am one of the gallery artists. Started by Gayle Rogers and Chris Williams just over a year ago, The Workers has developed into a major cultural force in The Rhondda Valley. Originally the village library, Gayle and Chris took it over afterContinue reading “Up The Workers (with added cat)!”