More Making Mari

The flat pack Mari Lwyd kit I’m making up isn’t difficult, but it’s time consuming. I’ve assembled the upper and lower parts of the skull and now I’m pasting it all over with paper and PVA glue. This will give it a good surface for painting, increase the strength of the sections and add aContinue reading “More Making Mari”

Making The Mari

I carried on making up the Mari Lwyd kit that I bought from TRAC Cymru, the Welsh folk development organisation. It’s been beautifully designed by the artist and storyteller David Pitt and the instruction video is easy enough to follow, but it’s an elaborate piece and needs time and care. The upper skull is nowContinue reading “Making The Mari”

A Flat Pack Mari

This is my Xmas present to myself, a Mari Lwyd flat pack kit. I’ve wanted a Mari Lwyd for ages but it isn’t easy to get a horse skull these days, since the internal combustion engine took over from carts. This kit has been designed by Swansea-based artist David Pitt AKA The Crowman AKA DaiContinue reading “A Flat Pack Mari”

The First Proof

I did some more carving on my new Mari Lwyd linocut this afternoon, more or less finishing the head. I thought I’d take a first proof print to see what else needs to be done to the head and to have a think about what, if anything, I might do to the rest of theContinue reading “The First Proof”

Cheese And Trackie Bottoms …..

It’s Boxing Day. Yesterday was Christmas Day. I’m on holiday so mostly I’m stuffing my face with cheese and cherry liquer chocolates, slobbing around the house in trackie bottoms and watching Netflix. But I managed to drag myself off the settee for half an hour earlier to go for a socially distanced and masked walkContinue reading “Cheese And Trackie Bottoms …..”

A Carving, A Cat, And A Horse’s Skull

After a long break, I did some lino cutting today. It’s been months ….. I don’t think I’ve gone as long as this without doing some printmaking. The pandemic has had a strange effect on me and although I’ve been doing loads of painting and drawing, I haven’t been able to work up the enthusiasmContinue reading “A Carving, A Cat, And A Horse’s Skull”

Finishing A Sketchbook

A few weeks into the pandemic lockdown, when it became obvious that it was going to last a long while, I set myself some lockdown challenges. One is to improve my painting skills, which I’ve been doing with the Friday Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, practising faking well known paintings. Another is toContinue reading “Finishing A Sketchbook”

Carrying On Carrying On

I carried on working on a painting I started a couple of weeks ago, based on a charcoal drawing I did en plein air into my Khadi sketchbook. I am trying to develop a style of my own – I’ve never done much painting and it’s my lockdown challenge. I really like the German Expressionists andContinue reading “Carrying On Carrying On”

Bare Bones

I started doing charcoal drawings into this Khadi sketchbook a few weeks after lockdown started. When I realised that the pandemic was going to be here for a while, I found that I was struggling to do any creative work so I decided to focus on improving skills instead. I have been doing a weeklyContinue reading “Bare Bones”

Quick, Short And Angry

I was in a really foul mood this evening, caught the bad side of Twitter and was raging. So Husb dragged me out for a long, fast walk.  We ended up in Cwmdonkin Park which has been one of my favourite places for drawing en plein air during the pandemic. I was still in aContinue reading “Quick, Short And Angry”