Tea And A Pop Up

Back in April 2014 I travelled to Pakistan with another Swansea Printmaker to do a residency at the Zaira Zaka Print Studio near Rawalpindi. It was an amazing, exhausting and inspiring experience! My fellow printmaker, Hannah Lawson and I are bringing our experiences back home in a four-day pop-up studio at Swansea Print Workshop, fromContinue reading “Tea And A Pop Up”

The Blue Stones

I’ve been thinking about how to develop the drawings I did last weekend in North Pembrokeshire. I have seven drawings from four different Neolithic sites and I thought that one or two of them might look good as cyanotypes. Cyanotype is an archaic form of photography invented in early Victorian times by Sir John HerschelContinue reading “The Blue Stones”

A Humongous Proof

Today was day 2 of a Masterclass with woodcut artist John Abell at Swansea Print Workshop and I carried on cutting the humongous piece of MDF I started yesterday. I used compressed charcoal to darken the surface while I cut with my Flexcut tools. Finally, I reached the point where I wanted to get anContinue reading “A Humongous Proof”

Humongous!

I am doing a two-day masterclass with epic printmaker, John Abell, at Swansea Print Workshop. John specialises in humongously large woodcuts, click here to see some of his awesome work. I’ve done some small woodcuts before, on plywood, but didn’t really get on with the method. Today, I was presented with a table-sized lump ofContinue reading “Humongous!”

One From The Archives 23: The Mirror

Reflection, musing on masculinity.  Having a large mirror in the life drawing room can add a lot to any drawings. From a purely technical point of view it means you can draw a figure from the front and back at the same time without it looking like two separate drawings. I also like to experimentContinue reading “One From The Archives 23: The Mirror”

One From The Archives 22: The Gaze

This model gazes at the viewer, completely at ease and totally confident in her own skin. Most life models are by nature, confident about their bodies and have no problem with being looked at. It is their job after all. Usually though, they tend to look away from the artists. On a purely practical level his isContinue reading “One From The Archives 22: The Gaze”

One From The Archives 21: Nude Reflected

I love this printmaking technique. It has all the flexibility of painting with a healthy dose of unpredictability thrown in. . A full-colour monotype can be as simple or as complex as you like. This one started out as a very simple life drawing and just developed into something wild and wonderful.  This is aContinue reading “One From The Archives 21: Nude Reflected”

The Dragon, The Star And The Crescent Moon

Back in April 2014 I travelled to Pakistan with another Swansea Printmaker to do a residency at the Zaira Zaka Print Studio near Rawalpindi. It was an amazing and exhausting experience – jet lag, culture shock, a visit to the ancient monuments at Taxila; working day and night in the studio with my fellow artistsContinue reading “The Dragon, The Star And The Crescent Moon”

One From The Archives 19: Eve Sleeps

I love the versatility of this method. It has a fantastic range of darks and lights, as well as a dazzling palette.  A full-colour monotype is also a unique artwork because of the way the ink is applied to the paper. In this print I have used the warm, vibrant reds and yellows of theContinue reading “One From The Archives 19: Eve Sleeps”

One From The Archives 16: Dystopia

This is an etching of one of the male models I work with. It was developed from the nude study below, which I drew with Renaissance materials, inspired by artwork I did for a television series about da Vinci. Each printmaking technique has its own advantages. This one allows me to indulge myself, using allContinue reading “One From The Archives 16: Dystopia”