Sponges, Brushes And Cloths

Continuing with the work I was doing yesterday, and will probably be doing over the next few days, working onto Fabriano paper with my home-made walnut ink, making expressionistic drawings inspired by, but not directly related to, the several days I have recently spent wandering mountains around South Wales to draw Neolithic and Bronze AgeContinue reading “Sponges, Brushes And Cloths”

Letting Go Of The Comfort Blanket

Here’s something scary, I’m getting out of my comfort zone which is working from what is in front of me. I’ve been clutching to the comfort blanket of working from reality all my life and now I’m trying to let go. And I am not enjoying it one bit. But making art is something IContinue reading “Letting Go Of The Comfort Blanket”

Larks Hovered, Kites Circled, I Drew…

Out and about again today with archaeologist Dewi Bowen and film maker Melvyn Williams searching out ancient stone monuments. We had a tough walk up to a late Neolithic stone cairn on Mynydd Bach Trecastell not far from the little village of Trecastle in Powys. To be honest, the cairn wasn’t particularly interesting, I’ve seenContinue reading “Larks Hovered, Kites Circled, I Drew…”

Birds And Burial Chamber

The final drawing from Thursday’s field trip visiting some of the many ancient stones of South Wales. I hadn’t realised how many there are across the country. Our ancestors left a huge amount of monuments across the Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape. This is the Carn Llechart chambered tomb, just a hundred yards or so NorthContinue reading “Birds And Burial Chamber”

Sleeping Giant, Black Stones

Here’s another drawing I did yesterday on my journey around sites of ancestral stones in South Wales, using carbon and white conte crayon onto Fabriano Accademica paper prepared with homemade walnut husk ink. We travelled up the Swansea Valley, past Ystradgynlais and on to Abercrave where we stopped for a few minutes to show theContinue reading “Sleeping Giant, Black Stones”

Stone Circle And Lark Song

Back to the ancestral stones today with a brisk walk up Mynydd Llechart above Pontardawe to the Carn Llechart cairn circle. It’s been a gorgeous day, quite warm and very bright and sunny, deep blue skies with no clouds. The larks hovered and sang all around us and we met some jolly dog walkers, despiteContinue reading “Stone Circle And Lark Song”

Build It And They Will Come

  Back in September 2015, my artist chum Melanie Ezra and I ripped up filthy old carpet, bleached what needed bleaching, filled the window of a semi-derelict dirty old shop with art and artefacts,  set up an event page on Facebook, opened the doors and developed our artwork in the premises during daylight hours. OverContinue reading “Build It And They Will Come”

Drawing The Stones

I’m continuing to work on a series of drawings of ancestral monuments across South Wales and here are the drawings I’ve done so far on my travels  with archaeologist Dewi and film maker Melvyn. I’m chuffed with the range of the drawings and the way my work is developing into a more expressive style overContinue reading “Drawing The Stones”

The Liminal Place

Out and about visiting ancient sites in and around the Rhondda Valley, we stopped on the way from Hirwaun to Treherbert to look around the Hendre’r Mynydd Iron Age settlement. It’s a bit more modern than the ones we’ve been visiting, probably less than 3000 years old. My travelling companion, archaeologist Dewi Bowen, described itContinue reading “The Liminal Place”

Rocking!

Carrying on with our search for ancient monuments, we came across this famous one on the hillside above Pontypridd. It’s The Rocking Stone, or Y Garreg Siglo in Welsh. This seems to be two massive stones laid one on top of the other, probably a glacial erratic placed by a glacier in the last IceContinue reading “Rocking!”