Coffee And Spit Bite

More geeky printmaking stuff from last weekend’s B.I.G. Etching course with Andrew Baldwin at Swansea Print Workshop. The aluminium plate was degreased with whiting and soy sauce to get it ready for drawing on with instant coffee solution. I forgot to take a photo of mine being drawn, but Andrew Baldwin has kindly lent meContinue reading “Coffee And Spit Bite”

BIG And Greasy

  I spent a happy but exhausting weekend at Swansea Print Workshop on a specialist course in the ‘BIG’ non-toxic etching technique, pioneered and taught by Andrew Baldwin of Trefeglwys Print Studio. Andrew has invented a new etching ‘ground’ and has also experimented with a range of household materials to take the place of someContinue reading “BIG And Greasy”

Drawing The Environment

The second stone circle at Y Pigwyn on Mynydd Bach Trecastell is a lot more complete than the first, with almost all its stones still in place, although they’re not very big. We took young Nephew with us, he’s a country lad and used to the rough terrain, he found a sheep’s skull, a ram’s horn andContinue reading “Drawing The Environment”

The Mountain’s Challenge

Friday saw another excursion into the bleaker parts of South Wales hunting the wild megalith. The weather forecast predicted sunshine with the occasional shower so I had high hopes for this visit to Mynydd Trecastell / Mynydd Bach to the site called Y Pigwyn which has two Neolithic stone circles and the remains of aContinue reading “The Mountain’s Challenge”

The Life Model (Female Nude)

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop and we had an older female model this evening. I really enjoy drawing older people, bodies and faces are so interesting, lived in, expressive. It was pretty full tonight, with a wide age range of scribblers, from early 20s to 70s, great to be able toContinue reading “The Life Model (Female Nude)”

Proofing The Stones

I’m travelling around South West Wales with archaeologist Dewi Bowen who is researching his new book on Neolithic / Bronze Age monuments and I’m drawing the stones as we travel across the – mostly – wild spaces of South Wales. But I’m a printmaker as well as a scribbler and I’m developing ideas for printsContinue reading “Proofing The Stones”

The Tiniest Sketchbook?

I recently went to the Womanspire16 awards organised by the Welsh organisation Chwarae Teg and I took along my new tiny sketchbook. It’s the littlest sketchbook I’ve ever had. I got it in a Xmas cracker quite by chance. You can see the size of it next to my keys – yes I have aContinue reading “The Tiniest Sketchbook?”

Back To Basics

I went back to sketchbook work a few days ago, have done very little for ages, but young nephew was having a sleepover and the following day he was doing competitive ju jitsu and kick boxing so Husb and I went along to watch. It was a great opportunity to sketch figures in motion, somethingContinue reading “Back To Basics”

The Stone In Merlin’s Town

The final drawing from last Friday’s archaeology / art / film excursion around West Wales is of the standing stone in the grounds of Carmarthenshire Museum, a fine old building in lovely ground in Abergwili, just outside the town. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about it, except that it was moved from its originalContinue reading “The Stone In Merlin’s Town”

Prison Or Protection?

Across the field from the Clos Teg standing stone there’s another maenhir in the hedge, Y Garreg Goch – the Red Stone, a monument of red standstone. It’s trapped between two fences and until recently was overgrown with ivy. It looked to me like it was imprisoned, but archaeologist Dewi reasonably pointed out that beingContinue reading “Prison Or Protection?”