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”

Etching with Hogarth!

  I like to draw from life and always carry a small sketchbook. I’m enormously inspired by the work of William Hogarth, who catalogued daily life in the 1700s with his meticulous metal engravings. This is a drypoint from a paper plate based on a sketch I did in a tiny Cotman sketchbook. It’s theContinue reading “Etching with Hogarth!”

Life Drawing: May and September [parental guidance]

One week at life drawing group, an administrative error meant that we had our older male model AND our younger female model for the whole session. I’m used to working with just one model at a time so it was quite a challenge to draw the two together, getting them in proportion in relation toContinue reading “Life Drawing: May and September [parental guidance]”

Skeletons I Have Known [2] SKULL ATTACK!

Keeping to the seasonal Halloween theme, I’ve been doing a series of pieces based on the human skull that includes sketches, pastel drawings, cyanotypes and blockprints. These two small drawings were done in chalk, compressed charcoal and Faber Castell Pitt pens into a brown paper sketchbook. I’m going to call the series Skull Attack, whichContinue reading “Skeletons I Have Known [2] SKULL ATTACK!”

Skeletons I Have Known [1].

  People who’ve read my blog before will know that I share my studio with a skeleton, a lady called Felicity. But I’ve drawn other skeletons too. This one, nicknamed Fred Skelly, was the subject of many drawings during a life drawing course at Gorseinon College. He was once a man – smaller pelvis, shorterContinue reading “Skeletons I Have Known [1].”

All Day at the Print Studio.

  Very busy day today at the printmaking studio in Swansea. Made two full-colour monotypes, plus two ‘ghosts’. Have been on my feet for 7.5 hours and I’m shattered, but reasonably happy with the results. I based the monotypes on drawings made from life with a professional model. The prints are made in oil-based pigmentContinue reading “All Day at the Print Studio.”

Steampunkery at Mozarts

It was the first anniversary of the Swansea Steampunk Association Meet this week and there was much jollity with lashings of Earl Grey tea and home-made cake at Mozarts, a faded Victorian club of slightly shabby grandeur. Behind the classical façade is a large entrance hall with a magnificent patterned tiled floor leading to someContinue reading “Steampunkery at Mozarts”