Tag Archives: Brecon Beacons

Like Liquid Silk

I did some development work today, using one of the drawings I did en plein air on a recent field trip with colleagues from Swansea University’s FIRE Laboratory. I sketched some culverts up in the Brecon Beacons, near the source of the River Tawe and today I worked on a very large piece of vintageContinue reading “Like Liquid Silk”

A Heavy Fog

Here’s a drawing I did a while back, en plein air, walking on the Brecon Beacons in winter with a sketchbook of black paper and a stick of white soft oil pastel. It was a very misty day, the fog hung heavily over the landscape and washed out the colour from the surroundings.    Continue reading “A Heavy Fog”

Close Up

Here’s a closer view of the drawing I did of Maen Llia yesterday. We drove up to the Black Mountains in changeable weather but, as often happens, as soon as we stopped the car, thick black clouds loomed over the hills and dropped torrential rain onto us. Nearly Midsummer and we’re huddled in the rain!!!!Continue reading “Close Up”

The Licking Stone

  I’ve been travelling around South Wales drawing ancestral stones since February and today I paid a return visit to Maen Llia. I loved it so much the first time that I wanted to go back and draw it again from a different angle and also to spend some time there absorbing the atmosphere. LastContinue reading “The Licking Stone”

The Old Quarry

I’ve been looking at the photos I took yesterday up on the Black Mountain, selecting some for sketches. I’m using a white conte crayon, which is quite chunky, into a Daler Rowney ‘Ebony’ spiral bound A4 sketchbook. Here’s Husb and Number One Niece walking around the site of the old lime kilns and quarry. QuarryingContinue reading “The Old Quarry”

Misty Mountain

Husb and I joined one of our nieces for a walk today on part of the Black Mountain north of Brynaman. Between the holidays (lots of pyjama days) and the awful torrential rain and storms, we’ve been going a bit stir crazy so despite the dire weather forecast, we thought we’d head on up theContinue reading “Misty Mountain”

The Final Cwtch

Another unseasonable warm and bright day, but glorious weather to say goodbye to artist Ann Jordan’s ‘Cwtch’, a giant woollen blanket and environmental installation. You can read more about this extraordinary piece here. It is in it’s final resting place, a circle of eroded peat bog up on the Black Mountain in the Brecon BeaconsContinue reading “The Final Cwtch”

Whinberries On The Beacons

We spent a couple of hours foraging for whinberries on the Brecon Beacons earlier today. Whinberries are a type of blueberry or bilberry and the picking season is very short. I haven’t been out picking them for years and I can’t remember how I cooked them before. Traditionally, they’re baked in a pie. I’ll sleepContinue reading “Whinberries On The Beacons”