Surrealist Swirls.

I used the Bideford Black paint I made yesterday. I didn’t have any idea what to do. I’m trying to get away from always working representationally and letting my imagination take over. It’s way out of my comfort zone! I took a fairly wide, flat brush and made swirls over one of the sheets ofContinue reading “Surrealist Swirls.”

Bashing Bideford Black.

After coating some sheets of paper with my home-made walnut ink yesterday, I decided to stay with natural pigments and make paint with some lumps of Bideford Black I’ve had lurking in a box for years. I’d made paint with it before, using water (here). This time I mixed it with Nori paste and vodka.Continue reading “Bashing Bideford Black.”

Talking About Red

Here’s my second podcast. It’s about the colour red and is mostly based on the book Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox by Victoria Finlay I hope you enjoy listening to it but if you’d prefer to read, here’s a transcript of the podcast. Hello, Rosie Scribblah here. Welcome to my second Podcast. It’s been aContinue reading “Talking About Red”

Making Mari My Own

I’ve finished putting my flat pack Mari Lwyd together and now I’m customising her. I had a roll of banana paper knocking around so I ripped it up into small bits and pasted it over the surface with PVA glue. I wanted something more interesting than plain white. The Mari Lwyd is a very old WelshContinue reading “Making Mari My Own”

A Mari Lwyd Day

I wasn’t feeling too well yesterday so didn’t do much of anything at all but I bounced back today with my two Mari Lwyd projects. I printed my lino block, in black Caligo Cranfield Safewash relief ink, individually onto white card and then in blocks of four onto A4 sheets of hand made paper madeContinue reading “A Mari Lwyd Day”

More Making Mari

The flat pack Mari Lwyd kit I’m making up isn’t difficult, but it’s time consuming. I’ve assembled the upper and lower parts of the skull and now I’m pasting it all over with paper and PVA glue. This will give it a good surface for painting, increase the strength of the sections and add aContinue reading “More Making Mari”

Making The Mari

I carried on making up the Mari Lwyd kit that I bought from TRAC Cymru, the Welsh folk development organisation. It’s been beautifully designed by the artist and storyteller David Pitt and the instruction video is easy enough to follow, but it’s an elaborate piece and needs time and care. The upper skull is nowContinue reading “Making The Mari”

A Flat Pack Mari

This is my Xmas present to myself, a Mari Lwyd flat pack kit. I’ve wanted a Mari Lwyd for ages but it isn’t easy to get a horse skull these days, since the internal combustion engine took over from carts. This kit has been designed by Swansea-based artist David Pitt AKA The Crowman AKA DaiContinue reading “A Flat Pack Mari”

The First Proof

I did some more carving on my new Mari Lwyd linocut this afternoon, more or less finishing the head. I thought I’d take a first proof print to see what else needs to be done to the head and to have a think about what, if anything, I might do to the rest of theContinue reading “The First Proof”

Cheese And Trackie Bottoms …..

It’s Boxing Day. Yesterday was Christmas Day. I’m on holiday so mostly I’m stuffing my face with cheese and cherry liquer chocolates, slobbing around the house in trackie bottoms and watching Netflix. But I managed to drag myself off the settee for half an hour earlier to go for a socially distanced and masked walkContinue reading “Cheese And Trackie Bottoms …..”