It’s that time of year again. The house disappears under a ton of wrapping paper, shards of ribbon, bits of last year’s Xmas cards, recycled as gift tags and, satisfyingly, fancy carrier bags loaded with prezzies. I drew with an app called Markers onto my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet.
Last week I said about the charity collection box that was stolen from the nativity scene in front of the Unitarian Church on Swansea’s High Street. The church was raising money for a homelessness charity this year and has had a nativity in a large glass case every Christmas for decades, since I was a very small child. My Mam and Nana and aunties would take me, my little sister and cousins to see it and I remember being so excited, it brought it home to me that it was Christmas. Well, the church set up a crowdfunding appeal to replace the £200 or so that was lost and thanks to peoples’ kindness and generosity, has raised over six times that amount. Please click here if you’d like to donate.
I stopped by and scribbled, en plein air, one of the nativity figures in white, sanguine and black conté crayon into my A4 brown paper sketchbook. For many years, European art colleges taught partly through the copying of classical statues. I find it so difficult to copy another artist’s work and style, the urge to put my own stamp on it is too great, I’m afraid.
Here’s Worm’s Head on the Gower Peninsula, named from the Viking Wurme which means Dragon. So it’s Dragon’s Head which in Welsh is Penddraig. Anyway, I drew this yesterday during a very bracing walk on the cliffs at Rhossili, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I used black, sanguine and white conté crayon into an A4 brown paper sketchbook and worked very quickly because it was so windy and cold.
It’s the end of the old year and we’re nearly into 2018 so Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi, a Happy New Year to you xxxx 😀
Husb and I forced ourselves out of our comfort zone aka the settee and took off to the magnificent Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula for a brisk walk. It was bracing as we headed past the National Trust centre towards Worm’s Head which had been cut off by the ferocious sea this afternoon. I found a spot that wasn’t quite as windswept as everywhere else and did some drawing en plein air, using black, white and sanguine conté crayons into an A4 hard-backed, spiral-bound brown paper sketchbook. I did a quick impressionistic sketch, partly because it was not easy drawing in high winds, and also because I don’t like working naturalistically with land- and seascapes.
There’s a little Unitarian Church at the bottom of Swansea’s High Street and every year since, well, at least since I was a kid, which is a long time, there has been a glass case with a nativity scene in it and a charity collection box every Christmas. This year, the church has been collecting to support homeless people but someone broke into the collection box and stole the donations. The lowest of the low! What an awful thing to do. They have set up a crowdfunding page to try and raise some money to cover the loss. If you can spare a little and want to donate, please follow the link here.
I stood outside the nativity scene on the street a couple of days ago and had a bit of a scribble on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet with a Markers app. Here’s Joseph. I find it odd drawing someone else’s art as I want to put my own stamp on it and it looks quite different to the original.
The weather was glorious today, chilly but very sunny, so Husb and I went for a walk on the beach to start to work off the excesses of the last few days and blow the cobwebs away. Of course I had a scribble into my tiny little cloth covered Paper Blanks sketchbook and a biro (ballpoint) pen. It was a very quick sketch but that’s okay, the important thing for me is to draw every day even if it’s only for a minute or two. It’s like a singer practising their scales.
A walk on Swansea Beach
This time of year there are many family traditions being played out across the Christmas holidays and one in my own family is to visit memorials of those we have lost. Every year we go to the crematorium to lay flowers and clean memorial stones. I reflected on the ancient use of stone for graves and memorials which is still part of our culture. It makes sense really, stone lasts for aeons. The sky was strange today, brooding and heavy around the white crematorium chimneys. The sky caught up with us and it snowed heavily a few minutes after I did this very quick sketch. I used white, sanguine and black conté crayon into an A4 brown paper spiral bound sketchbook.
Greetings hairless apes. Sparta Puss here. I managed to get my paws on the pooter when the bald monkeys were not looking. The male monkey drew me with his little tiny pooter box and the she-Simian added some snowflakes. It’s that time of year again when the monkeys send greetings to each other and what could be better than an annoyed kitty? The apes brought me some special snacks and treats and I’m going off to eat them. So Merry Spartapuss one and all.
I went visiting today and had a scribble, of course. I don’t often do interiors and still life but I think that maybe I should do more. When I see historical paintings in galleries it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that these were paintings of modern houses and possessions in their day, a record of everyday life. This is a household getting ready for Christmas, with wrapped and unwrapped presents occupying every nook and cranny around the large flat screen TV. I drew this into my A5 cat lined notebook by Peter Pauper Press with a graphite stick.
It’s that time of year. Season’s greetings and all that. Here’s what Sparta Puss thinks of it. Drawn by Husb with snowflakes added by me. She looks happy, doesn’t she? The midwinter festival has been around in these parts since well before Christianity, originally known as Alban Arthan (the Light of Winter) to the Celts and Yule to the Nordic and Germanic peoples. So have a Cool Yule, Alban Arthan Dda, Nadolig Llawen, Merry Christmas one and all.
I am putting my series of drawings of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder. If you want to buy one, you can see them by clicking on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page.
To see my exciting new project, please click the image below.
The Swansea Open, December 8th to February 2nd 2019, Glynn Vivian art gallery. I just heard today that I have had 2 artworks accepted into the Swansea Open exhibition and I’m chuffed to bits as Swansea is full of talented artists and the competition is stiff. I submitted two monotypes of the Mari Lwyd, based on drawings I […]
Coming up from November 10th, an exhibition of miniature prints at Swansea Print Workshop. The main exhibition showcases the Leftovers VIII international touring show but members of the print workshop will also be displaying tiny prints for sale ….. some lovely Xmas presents there! Here are some of the tiny drypoint etchings I’m submitting, they’ve […]
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