The Stone Outside The Village

A journey around Carmarthenshire today, to find, record and draw more Neolithic stone monuments, the first is the Is-coed Stone just outside the gorgeous seashore village of Ferryside. And now I’m tired and aching zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I’m travelling around South West Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze AgeContinue reading “The Stone Outside The Village”

Memory And Imagination

Working on Fabriano paper with my home-made walnut ink, I’m drawing expressively from my experiences trekking up local mountains to draw Neolithic and Bronze Age stones. The ink flows like liquid silk, holding the brush strokes when undiluted and moving freely across the paper when thinned out with water to make a variety of washes.Continue reading “Memory And Imagination”

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”

Mud, Stones And Ice Cream

Yesterday we trekked up the mountain near Trecastle to visit the Nant Tarw stone circles and cairn. The Bronze Age circles are made up of small, rather insignificant stones and although fascinating historically and culturally, they were not particularly inspiring visually. However, the scenery was absolutely spectacular, with the Fan Brycheiniog face of Mynydd DuContinue reading “Mud, Stones And Ice Cream”

Through Darkness To Light

Drawing ‘The King’s Quoit’ from another angle, I could see underneath the capstone, through the inky darkness below the huge rock into the bright sunlight beyond. The shape reminded me of being in a cave, looking out through the entrance and it occurred to me that the ancient people who created these monuments might haveContinue reading “Through Darkness To Light”

Yes? No? Maybe?

I did an initial cut on a square of soft vinyl a couple of days ago, dividing the piece into 9 small squares and now I need to get an idea of whether they’re okay, which ones need more cutting, which to discard. I could ink it up and put it through a press butContinue reading “Yes? No? Maybe?”

Rain And Racing In The Rhondda

Husb and I had a day off today, a rare thing when you’re self-employed and we went off to The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir for an afternoon of slot-car (Scalextric) racing with our young nephew. It was pouring down outside but we were warm and having a whale of a time inside, surrounded by gorgeousContinue reading “Rain And Racing In The Rhondda”

People Watching

  I tend to go through phases when I make prints, making a sequence instead of random one-offs. This helps me to focus on subject matter, developing a theme and also lets me explore the technique. I did this series a couple of years back, combining transfer prints with drawing. I have hundreds, maybe thousandsContinue reading “People Watching”

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”

The Ratter

I’m tired and haven’t had a chance to do any drawing today – I’ve been slaving over a computer since this morning so I’m blogging a drawing of Sparta Puss I did a while back. She’s a fanatical hunter and she’s one of those cats who brings their prey home alive and sets the unfortunateContinue reading “The Ratter”