sketch books – Page 3

The Broken Tree

This tree pulled me over. It was broken, fallen, but new trunks had grown up out of it. I was in a very bad place at the time and this tree inspired me with a message of regrowth and regeneration.

After trawling through photos and sketches, I’m getting stuck in to working out different bits of the composition. This is partly to get familiar with the details and partly to work out if this is what I want to go with. This is based on a photo I took of the spectacular fire spinner DdraigContinue reading “Getting Stuck In…”

Trawling For Inspiration.

I’ve been trawling through my sketchbooks and photo archives for images to inspire me to develop a large-scale woodcut or painting of the annual Mari Lwyd celebrations locally. These are showing some promise. The fire spinner is the amazing Ddraig Williams and he’ll be a central figure if the composition works out as I want.

Roughing It: A Starting Point.

I’ve been mulling over an idea for ages, years, for a large woodcut or maybe a painting. I’ve been doing smaller pieces of work that have been independent of each other, but also try out elements of a potential larger artwork. Today I finally got off my bot and grabbed an A3 sketchbook (brown paper)Continue reading “Roughing It: A Starting Point.”

Heavy Paper!

I have a block of 20 sheets of heavy textured Khadi hand-made Indian paper. I’ve had it around the place for a few years now, not sure what to do with it. I took a similar block with me on my recent residency in Germany and started drawing onto it with twigs dipped in ink.Continue reading “Heavy Paper!”

Random And Open.

Husb and I went for a walk recently, from Ilston to Parkmill on the Gower Peninsula, a very atmospheric route through woods and along the tree-lined river. I didn’t do any sketching on the walk, I focused on soaking up the mood of my surroundings. I held on to those feelings today and, working withContinue reading “Random And Open.”

Joio! Enjoy!

The mini-festival that Husb and I went to over the weekend is part of the annual Swansea Bay Live events characterised by the logo “Joio / Enjoy”, put on by Swansea Council during holiday times. I had a few scribbles while I was listening to the excellent local band Disco Panther.

Blokes At A Festival.

I spotted these three blokes of a certain age at the Amplitude Festival, a weekend of films and bands at Swansea’s Amphitheatre. They were having a nice time. Of course I had to scribble them. I love sketching at gigs, the music makes it seem like it’s not like hard work. It is, but the music takesContinue reading “Blokes At A Festival.”

Forty Years Later…

There’s an amphitheatre behind the leisure centre in Swansea and back in the 1980s there were loads of free live gigs there. Then for some unknown reason they stopped and the amphitheatre has been empty and forlorn since the mid-80s. Until this Friday when Swansea citizens have been treated to a weekend of films andContinue reading “Forty Years Later…”

#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.