The Curate’s Egg

Tonight’s life drawing is like the Curate’s egg – good in parts. I had the most horrific foreshortening on the left hand. no matter how many times I measured it, the darn thing looked badly drawn. I used Winsor & Newton’s willow charcoal and white conte crayon onto a piece of Fabriano Accademica that IContinue reading “The Curate’s Egg”

Cats And Dogs

I started a new sketchbook earlier this week, a Peter Pauper Press book called ‘The Cat’s Meow Journal’. That’s Sparta Puss ‘helping’ me to photograph it. Not! The first scribbles are of the two little Patterdale Terriers belonging to Jane Simpson of Galerie Simpson in Swansea. I popped in a couple of days ago andContinue reading “Cats And Dogs”

Green Man And Apples

Husb and I went to Llanelli this evening, to the newish Theatr Fwrness to see a performance of Autumn Fires by local storytellers Carl Gough, David Pitt and Eleanor Shaw. “As we descend into the darkness of winter we gather by the fire, yet that flame which ensures our survival still reduces us to ashContinue reading “Green Man And Apples”

Watching The Match

The rugby World Cup has been thrilling so far and after Saturday’s epic woodcut session at Swansea Print Workshop, a few of us decamped to local hostelry, The Brunswick, to watch the match between Wales and Australia. It was a tough game, we lost but we’re still going through to the next round. Exciting stuff.Continue reading “Watching The Match”

A Humongous Proof

Today was day 2 of a Masterclass with woodcut artist John Abell at Swansea Print Workshop and I carried on cutting the humongous piece of MDF I started yesterday. I used compressed charcoal to darken the surface while I cut with my Flexcut tools. Finally, I reached the point where I wanted to get anContinue reading “A Humongous Proof”

Humongous!

I am doing a two-day masterclass with epic printmaker, John Abell, at Swansea Print Workshop. John specialises in humongously large woodcuts, click here to see some of his awesome work. I’ve done some small woodcuts before, on plywood, but didn’t really get on with the method. Today, I was presented with a table-sized lump ofContinue reading “Humongous!”

Blobs And Scribbles And A Milestone

Here’s a second head study I did at Swansea Print Workshop’s life drawing session this week. It was the last sketch of the evening and I did it in about 10 minutes. I think it’s my favourite from the night because it was so quick, more lively than the ones I concentrated on. I usedContinue reading “Blobs And Scribbles And A Milestone”

Virtual / Physical

  Just back from the weekly group at Swansea Print Workshop. Tired now. I did some portrait studies and a full length nude. I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with the free Markers app. I’m getting a bit fed up with it so I think I’ll prepare a load of paper and get backContinue reading “Virtual / Physical”

One From The Archives 23: The Mirror

Reflection, musing on masculinity.  Having a large mirror in the life drawing room can add a lot to any drawings. From a purely technical point of view it means you can draw a figure from the front and back at the same time without it looking like two separate drawings. I also like to experimentContinue reading “One From The Archives 23: The Mirror”