The Japanese Way

I normally use a printing press to take prints from the plates and blocks I make, but today I had a go taking prints by hand. It hinges on the alchemy between the right sort of ink at the right consistency and the right paper. I’ve been experimenting for a while but today I hitContinue reading “The Japanese Way”

Life Drawing Female Nude

This is the other life drawing I did at Swansea Print Workshop last week, working with a middle aged female model. I am always influenced by the model and often draw each of them in different styles with different media. I am using a very free line with this model, drawing with conté crayons inContinue reading “Life Drawing Female Nude”

A Hand Study

Here’s another sketch from this week’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I had about 10 minutes to kill towards the end so I did a study of the model’s hand – good practice. I drew into a large, A2, brown paper sketchbook with white, sanguine and black conte crayon and some compressed charcoal. IContinue reading “A Hand Study”

Just Another Stone In The Wall

Here’s a quick video of me out drawing recently, one of the standing stones I’ve been visiting this year on a mission to draw many of the ancestral monuments on the Trail of the Boar Hunt (Y Twrch Trwyth), an ancient Welsh legend from The Mabinogion. It’s an unusual stone in a wall at YsbytyContinue reading “Just Another Stone In The Wall”

Black, White And Sanguine

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop working with a super model, such an interesting body. I drew into a large, A2, brown paper sketchbook with white, sanguine and black conte crayon and some compressed charcoal. I quickly sketched in the rough outline of the figure in white and then drew into itContinue reading “Black, White And Sanguine”

The Husb

Husb is so patient, being married to an artist means he is constantly under scrutiny and liable to be scribbled at any time. And he sometimes finds his way out of the sketchbook and into other media. This is a full-colour ‘stacking’ monotype based on a sketch I did of him when we were onContinue reading “The Husb”

Stones On Show

My very first solo show is coming up in September in the fabulous Workers Gallery in Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley. Check out the details here. I have spent the past few months travelling across South Wales with Rhondda-born archaeologist Dewi Bowen and Swansea film maker Melvyn Williams, hunting the wild megalith, accompanied by my portable drawingContinue reading “Stones On Show”

Devil’s Bridge

Hunting wild megaliths in West Wales last week, we took a detour to Devil’s Bridge in Ceredigion, near Aberystwyth.It’s an extraordinary gorge – at the top, three separate bridges are stacked on top of one another. The most recent is an iron bridge  from 1901, under this is one from 1753 and under that, theContinue reading “Devil’s Bridge”

Drawing In The Street

I went down to the picket line outside the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea yesterday, partly to show my support for the strikers, partly to get some sketchbook practice. I worked into my A5 leatherbound sketchbook with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S. I started with a very quick sketch, just a fewContinue reading “Drawing In The Street”

On The Picket Line

“Staff at all sites across National Museum Wales have been out on continuous strike action for over two weeks now, following a dispute of over 2 years about a cut of 15% to the take home pay of the lowest paid for their weekend work – while senior managers face no cuts at all. TheContinue reading “On The Picket Line”