Drawing Dancing in the Dark

  Last night I went to an AMAZING drawing and dance performance at the Volcano Theatre premises in Swansea, by Marega Palser and three other dancers. I’m not normally a huge fan of dance, but this combination of extreme movement, creative soundtrack and spontaneous drawing was fantastic. Marega also had an exhibition of her drawingsContinue reading “Drawing Dancing in the Dark”

A Recycled Lady!

  I often use discarded prints as the basis for drawing – I raid the waste paper bin at Swansea Print Workshop for prints that other artists have thrown away as they’re usually on really good paper, a Somerset or Bockinford, and often embossed and coloured which makes an interesting starting point for a drawing,Continue reading “A Recycled Lady!”

A Biro, A Boiler and Two Cats.

Every cat I’ve shared my life with has loved our large central heating boiler. It’s a massive floor-standing one with plenty of space for a cat and toaster on the top and one or two cats on chairs and stools in front of it. Here’s a drawing I did a few years ago of myContinue reading “A Biro, A Boiler and Two Cats.”

Faces On The Bakerloo

Here are some more sketches done on tube trains, ideal for people-watching. This young man above was chatting to his friend and didn’t notice me – one of the few people talking on the London Tube! What struck me was his childlike face. His features were scrunched up into a much smaller area, unlike anContinue reading “Faces On The Bakerloo”

A New Model! A New Muse!

  I’m a gingery Celt living in a predominately gingery Celtic part of the country so it’s an absolute joy to have a new model from Africa working with our life drawing group.  Swansea has had a fair bit of immigration in the past, as it was a thriving port and is a thousand yearsContinue reading “A New Model! A New Muse!”

A Life Lived Fully

  I’ve been sitting with my dear aunt in her nursing home and spending the time drawing her. She mostly doesn’t recognise anyone and stares into space or dozes quietly, but now and again she’ll look directly at me, smile and give me a broad wink before slipping back into quiet isolation. It’s a hardContinue reading “A Life Lived Fully”

Rickety Stairs and Giant Mountains.

  Travelling across Pakistan in a minibus 4 years ago along the Karakoram Highway, we stopped in Kohistan for lunch and a cup of tea. The ‘cafe’ was an ancient wooden building with wobbly rickety stairs on the outside leading to the flat roof. It was unbearably hot inside the dark little shack so weContinue reading “Rickety Stairs and Giant Mountains.”

Heavy Man, Little Women and Huge Corset.

  A load of artists got together in the centre of the city last Saturday to do two hours of disruptive art events, a mostly humourous approach to involving the public in some off-beat art and completely independent of any funding bodies and their agendas.Although the organisers had cleared the event with police and localContinue reading “Heavy Man, Little Women and Huge Corset.”

Tent City, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

  I did some sketchbook drawings of the anti-capitalism protest outside St. Paul’s Cathedral during our visit to London earlier this week. I was surprised that the Cathedral staff had previously wanted to evict the protestors as there weren’t all that many there, they seemed a pretty peaceful bunch and they weren’t blocking anyone fromContinue reading “Tent City, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.”

Cat On A Rucksack On A Blanket On A Footstool

This drawing had to be done! Little one-eyed Ming the Merciless, our fluffy Tortoiseshell [Calico] cat, doing her ‘Princess and the Pea’ stuff again earlier today, dossing on top of a large packed rucksack that had been left on top of a large, well-stuffed leather pouffee that was covered with a thick fleecy blanket. AnyContinue reading “Cat On A Rucksack On A Blanket On A Footstool”