Dribbling Bideford Black.

I had a little bit left of the Bideford Black paint I made recently. It wasn’t a lot so I tried thinning it down with water and took a fairly wide, flat brush to make stripes across one of the sheets of paper I’d prepared with gesso and walnut ink. The Bideford Black wash broke up on the surfaceContinue reading “Dribbling Bideford Black.”

Surrealist Swirls.

I used the Bideford Black paint I made yesterday. I didn’t have any idea what to do. I’m trying to get away from always working representationally and letting my imagination take over. It’s way out of my comfort zone! I took a fairly wide, flat brush and made swirls over one of the sheets ofContinue reading “Surrealist Swirls.”

Bashing Bideford Black.

After coating some sheets of paper with my home-made walnut ink yesterday, I decided to stay with natural pigments and make paint with some lumps of Bideford Black I’ve had lurking in a box for years. I’d made paint with it before, using water (here). This time I mixed it with Nori paste and vodka.Continue reading “Bashing Bideford Black.”

#Caturday.

It’s #Caturday Saturday and here’s a blast from the past. Sparta Puss from 10 years ago, drawn in pen into a small sketchbook. She’s sitting on an old glass-fronted cabinet that Husb and I rescued from the street. There’s a cyanotype I did of Husb on her left.

Orange #Caturday.

It’s Saturday #Caturday and here’s a blast from the past, a little reduction linocut of Sparta Puss when she was a kitten, dating from 2010. She’s looking a bit cross, as usual.

WTAF? Revisited.

A couple of weeks ago I had a session on the Columbian Press at Swansea Print Workshop, using some antique and vintage wooden Letterpress. It didn’t work out too well, the letters were very dirty with a build up of ink and gunge over many years. I cleaned them up with vegetable oil and fineContinue reading “WTAF? Revisited.”

The Last Of The Annual Cockling.

Here’s the final tiny quick sketches I did in my little leather-bound sketchbook on Sunday. I was at Rosehill Quarry’s annual meet-up to tidy the Cretan Labyrinth. Each year the edges need to be recut, the old trampled cockle shells removed and new ones laid. The labyrinth was cut in 1987 when Swansea’s Rosehill Quarry wasContinue reading “The Last Of The Annual Cockling.”

More From The Annual Cockling.

A couple of very quick little sketches from the annual labyrinth maintenance at Rosehill Quarry. I had to work quickly because people moved fast. Very good practice though

The Annual Cockling.

Back in 1987 a Labyrinth was cut into the turf in Swansea’s Rosehill Quarry, a unique urban wildlife park. It was installed by Bob Shaw and local author and pre-historian Dewi Bowen. It’s based on an ancient Cretan design and the incised path is filled with crushed cockle shells that are a by-product of the localContinue reading “The Annual Cockling.”

A Rub-Down With Wire Wool.

I spent the afternoon at Swansea Print Workshop, practising with letterpress again. After last weeks big fail, I went back to an acronym. The type is old, wooden, vintage and some possibly antique and I’m not familiar enough with it yet to be able to tell what condition it’s in until I’ve printed it. ThisContinue reading “A Rub-Down With Wire Wool.”