Swansea Fringe 2023: VAILS

Here are some sketches of the band VAILS, from last weekend at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe. I drew this first one into my rough Khadi sketchbook with a stick of Nitram charcoal. Then I did some very free sketches into my smooth sketchbook with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen. These are quick, as thereContinue reading “Swansea Fringe 2023: VAILS”

Swansea Fringe 2023: Lurcher 2

A couple more sketches from Lurcher‘s performance last weekend at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe. I drew this into my Khadi sketchbook, which is really rough paper, not suitable for pen work but great for my Derwent Inktense blocks. I scribbled the lines of the body and guitar straight onto the page with the point ofContinue reading “Swansea Fringe 2023: Lurcher 2”

Swansea Fringe 2023: Lurcher 1.

Another of the bands at Hangar 18 at this year’s Swansea Fringe, Lurcher‘s bassist’s great expansive movements onstage got me scribbling frantically. At one point I had 3 drawings of him on the go as he moved around so much, I was determined to capture him on paper. It’s unusual to see such a livelyContinue reading “Swansea Fringe 2023: Lurcher 1.”

Swansea Fringe 2023: Celavi 2

Celavi was the first band that Husb and I saw this Fringe season, in Hangar 18 and I drew Gwion, who has an extraordinary look, like a Neil Gaiman character interpreted by Dave McKean. The colour theme of the set is vivid pink and black so I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen andContinue reading “Swansea Fringe 2023: Celavi 2”

It’s That Fringe Time Again! Celavi 1.

It was the annual Swansea Fringe again this weekend and I immersed myself in Heavy Metal, Rock and Scribbling at a couple of Swansea’s heavier venues. Here’s my first drawing of the Fringe, at Hangar 18, of the singer Sarah from the Bangor-based Nu-Metal band Celavi. She wore this amazing stage outfit of black PVCContinue reading “It’s That Fringe Time Again! Celavi 1.”

Quick And Little.

Here’s another little sketch from the recent heavy metal gig I went to. These scribbles are small and very quick but they’re important, they train your eye and your hand to work together, and to focus on the essentials before you. Artist’s sketchbooks are a record of our practice, because art is something that hasContinue reading “Quick And Little.”

Hairy Man.

I saw him at the Mondo Generator gig the other night. I was drawing legs, as I’ve been doing lately at metal gigs, but I thought his hair and beard were interesting enough to look up.

More Metal Legs.

Husb and I went to a heavy metal gig on Tuesday – yes it was a school night but it finished at 11pm so not too late. Mondo Generator played at The Bunkhouse, a tiny rock venue in Swansea. I couldn’t pass up the chance to see and hear the legendary Nick Oliveri play andContinue reading “More Metal Legs.”

Friday Night at the Patti.

Husb and I went to a gig last night, The Beat at the Patti Pavilion, a beautiful old venue on the seafront that had put on gigs all through the 1970s. Friday nights at the Patti are a fond memory of my youth and I saw some wonderful bands there. The gigs have been resumedContinue reading “Friday Night at the Patti.”

Exhibition Time!

The drawings I did at the Swansea Fringe at the back end of 2022 are now being exhibited in one of Swansea’s live music venues, The Bunkhouse. It opened tonight, work by 5 artists in the downstairs bar. The top two rows in the photo are my sketches, the two bottom rows are drawings byContinue reading “Exhibition Time!”