Stage One And A Ghost

It’s been a busy couple of days with the pop up studio at Swansea Print Workshop, a lot of visitors coming in the see our work and talk to Hannah and myself about our residency at the Zaira Zaka print studio in Pakistan last year. It’s been lovely to meet so many people interested inContinue reading “Stage One And A Ghost”

To Paint Or Not To Paint?

That’s the question, isn’t it? Some printmakers think it’s acceptable to hand-colour etchings and some don’t. I do. This is a little drypoint I did a few weeks ago at The Bagpuss Window based on a drawing I scribbled when I was in Pakistan last year. I’ve added colour with Winsor & Newton half panContinue reading “To Paint Or Not To Paint?”

You Learn Something New…..

These holes at the Taxila UNESCO World Heritage site in Pakistan had been puzzling me for some time. I found out this evening what they are ….. probably. Hannah Lawson and I opened our pop-up studio at Swansea Print Workshop this evening with a Welsh / Pakistani tea and we did an illustrated talk aboutContinue reading “You Learn Something New…..”

Tea And A Pop Up

Back in April 2014 I travelled to Pakistan with another Swansea Printmaker to do a residency at the Zaira Zaka Print Studio near Rawalpindi. It was an amazing, exhausting and inspiring experience! My fellow printmaker, Hannah Lawson and I are bringing our experiences back home in a four-day pop-up studio at Swansea Print Workshop, fromContinue reading “Tea And A Pop Up”

The Curate’s Egg

Tonight’s life drawing is like the Curate’s egg – good in parts. I had the most horrific foreshortening on the left hand. no matter how many times I measured it, the darn thing looked badly drawn. I used Winsor & Newton’s willow charcoal and white conte crayon onto a piece of Fabriano Accademica that IContinue reading “The Curate’s Egg”

Watching The Match

The rugby World Cup has been thrilling so far and after Saturday’s epic woodcut session at Swansea Print Workshop, a few of us decamped to local hostelry, The Brunswick, to watch the match between Wales and Australia. It was a tough game, we lost but we’re still going through to the next round. Exciting stuff.Continue reading “Watching The Match”

A Humongous Proof

Today was day 2 of a Masterclass with woodcut artist John Abell at Swansea Print Workshop and I carried on cutting the humongous piece of MDF I started yesterday. I used compressed charcoal to darken the surface while I cut with my Flexcut tools. Finally, I reached the point where I wanted to get anContinue reading “A Humongous Proof”

Humongous!

I am doing a two-day masterclass with epic printmaker, John Abell, at Swansea Print Workshop. John specialises in humongously large woodcuts, click here to see some of his awesome work. I’ve done some small woodcuts before, on plywood, but didn’t really get on with the method. Today, I was presented with a table-sized lump ofContinue reading “Humongous!”

Blobs And Scribbles And A Milestone

Here’s a second head study I did at Swansea Print Workshop’s life drawing session this week. It was the last sketch of the evening and I did it in about 10 minutes. I think it’s my favourite from the night because it was so quick, more lively than the ones I concentrated on. I usedContinue reading “Blobs And Scribbles And A Milestone”

Virtual / Physical

  Just back from the weekly group at Swansea Print Workshop. Tired now. I did some portrait studies and a full length nude. I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with the free Markers app. I’m getting a bit fed up with it so I think I’ll prepare a load of paper and get backContinue reading “Virtual / Physical”