I sat on the bank of the River Wye today, in Wales, looking across at England. The river forms the border in the town of Chepstow and Husb and I did a day trip and ended up there. I had a bit of a scribble en plein air on my Khadi paper sketchpad with DalerContinue reading “The Gloucester Hole”
Tag Archives: Swansea
Sparta Puss And van Gogh’s Bedroom
I recently painted van Gogh’s Bedroom In Arles and here’s a one minute timelapse film of it. Sparta Puss “helped”. I painted it during a Zoom tutorial with the painter Ed Sumner who started the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook at the start of lockdown in March 2020 to give people something toContinue reading “Sparta Puss And van Gogh’s Bedroom”
My Little Helper
Here’s a little time lapse video of Sparta Puss helping to paint a copy of a portrait of Frida Kahlo by the artist Nettsch (Annette Feldmann). She often helps. She’s very good at drinking the painting water; walking across the palette and leaving multi coloured footprints on the floor; chewing the end of the brushContinue reading “My Little Helper”
The Sticky One
Here are some more sketches I did at Rosehill Quarry yesterday during the labyrinth refurbishment. I had some of my home-made walnut ink with me but no nib pens, so I rooted around on the ground for a bit of stick and used that instead. I should do it more often because it’s very freeing.Continue reading “The Sticky One”
Cockling The Labyrinth
Back in 1987, the Rosehill Quarry Project was turning an overgrown disused quarry on the outskirts of Swansea’s city centre into a nature reserve and community park. One of the things that was built there was a Cretan labyrinth. It was cut into the turf, revealing the red ash surface of the old tennis courtsContinue reading “Cockling The Labyrinth”
Rosehill Quarry Brought Me A Husband
I did this sketch a couple of weeks ago in Rosehill Quarry, a place very dear to me. Swansea musician and composer Angharad Jenkins, “Sienco”, who lives near the Quarry worked with the local community to write a new folk song based on the history of the place, which is fascinating. The stone from RosehillContinue reading “Rosehill Quarry Brought Me A Husband”
A Day Trip
Husb and I had a day trip out today, we’ve had so few since Covid19 lockdown began in March 2020. We met up with some friends at Caldicot Castle, where there was plenty of space to keep distanced. It’s a gorgeous place and the lovely weather meant we could stay outside and soak up theContinue reading “A Day Trip”
Little Vistas
Husb and I went for a coffee and scribble to the cafe above Waterstones bookshop in Swansea today. It’s a gorgeous place, it used to be the old Carlton cinema and Waterstones renovated it very sensitively. There are a lot of interior classical features – pillars, friezes, floor to ceiling windows – which frame littleContinue reading “Little Vistas”
Just Back …..
Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. It’s late and I’m off to bed soon. Here’s a 10 minute pose from our brilliant model. I drew with sanguine and black conte crayons onto vintage paper. Nos Da, Good Night
The Making Of A Pandemic Painting
Here’s a short video, under 5 minutes, showing how I made this family Zoom painting, “18 people, 2 Dogs and a Cat”, from floundering at the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, through 9 months of faking famous paintings, to my first large scale original painting reflecting our family’s response to the pandemic. It’s subtitledContinue reading “The Making Of A Pandemic Painting”