It was the first anniversary of the Swansea Steampunk Association Meet this week and there was much jollity with lashings of Earl Grey tea and home-made cake at Mozarts, a faded Victorian club of slightly shabby grandeur. Behind the classical façade is a large entrance hall with a magnificent patterned tiled floor leading to someContinue reading “Steampunkery at Mozarts”
Tag Archives: sketchbook
Nice nibbles and a nice cat in NYC.
I was at a benefit auction of prints for Manhattan Graphics Studio in Bloomsbury’s auction house, NYC. It was good fun and I was bidding for a lovely piece by Carol Wax. It was at the end of a very long and hard day at the International Print Fair and I was shattered andContinue reading “Nice nibbles and a nice cat in NYC.”
Pooped at the Printfair!
A drawing in my Tate Postcard sketchbook from my trip to NYC to see the International Print Fair a couple of years ago. We had been walking around Manhatten for days, going to exhibitions, talks and demonstrations of printmaking and we were pooped! We holed up in this very modernist cafe near the BloomsburyContinue reading “Pooped at the Printfair!”
Sometimes Less Is More
One of the hardest things in creating a work of art is knowing when to stop. It’s too easy to keep on going and overwork something which then loses its spontaneity and liveliness. I find it useful to do formal drawing exercises to try and overcome this; things like speed sketching, drawing with aContinue reading “Sometimes Less Is More”
Printmakers – the Misers of the Artworld?
All the serious printmakers I know never ever throw anything away. Left-over ink is carefully wrapped in cling film, prints that haven’t worked out are recycled for drawing or collage, paper stencils are carefully peeled off screens and applied to a background sheet as a unique monotype/collage, old bits of wooden furniture and offcuts ofContinue reading “Printmakers – the Misers of the Artworld?”
Spider Alley. (via Doodlemum)
Fabulous post from the incomparable Doodlemum 🙂 Spider Alley, the place only the bravest children dare enter. Brave the sticky webs and wrapped bundles of mummified bugs, spun and wrapped, ready to stick in your hair. Run, run, run! … Read More via Doodlemum
Scribbling USA: the Haves and the Have-nots.
I’ll scribble anywhere and platforms on the tube are great because you can often get crowd scenes and people tend to stay reasonably still. When I went to New York City I sketched on the subway – loads of homeless people sleep down there and you could find them tucked away at all hours andContinue reading “Scribbling USA: the Haves and the Have-nots.”
Stonehenge in Madrid; The Wall; and a Drowning Dog
Our mate Mike wanted to celebrate his fortieth at Roger Waters’ “The Wall” but the British gigs were sold out, so we piled off from Ynystawe to Madrid in March. It was cold and rainy, while Swansea basked in an unseasonably warm and dry Spring. We spent two days being culture vultures, doing ElContinue reading “Stonehenge in Madrid; The Wall; and a Drowning Dog”
An Early Morning Cat, The Eisteddfod and a brilliant floating office.
Had to get up early yesterday and as I was lying in bed trying to convince myself that I needed to wake up [I’m not a morning person] I reached for my sketchbook and did some drawings of Ming the Merciless who was lolling around on the bed. She throws some great shapes. Continue reading “An Early Morning Cat, The Eisteddfod and a brilliant floating office.”
An Ancient Castle, Shakespeare and a Secret Garden.
Every year our council puts on some outdoor performances of Shakespeare plays in front of Oystermouth Castle in Mumbles. It’s one of those semi-ruined Norman castles and is a spectacular backdrop to the plays. We went to see The Merchant of Venice. I’d done it in school but back then I’d never really understood howContinue reading “An Ancient Castle, Shakespeare and a Secret Garden.”
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