Another lockdown walk this evening and another charcoal drawing of a grand old yew tree in Cwmdonkin Park. There are loads of yews there, gnarled, ridged, wrinkled. Some of them have branches that have grown back into the main trunk of the tree, other branches wrap round the main trunk like they were ivy. I’m drawing into a lovely Khadi hand-made paper sketchbook. The paper is heavy, textured with deckle edges and it’s an ethical company too.
Husb and I are still following our lockdown exercise routine most days, even though the restrictions are much more easy going now. It’s a good system that’s kept us going for the past four months so we might as well keep it up. I stopped to do a charcoal sketch into my Khadi sketchbook of this formidable old yew tree in Cwmdonkin Park. It’s gnarled and twisted and the shapes writhing all over, in and out of it, trigger the imagination. If you click on the link, you’ll find information about the childhood of the poet Dylan Thomas’ in the park.
I also made a rhubarb crumble – our back garden is a rhubarb jungle – it’s been fantastic this year but I’m running out of ideas for using it up. Luckily it’s popular in my family. I didn’t get to take a photo of it before my nephew got his share – he’s a strapping lad and a massive crumble fan. Husb will see the rest off.
Husb and I have been walking regularly through the pandemic and we’re keeping up with it even though the lockdown has been eased. One of our routes takes us through Cwmdonkin Park, made famous by the poet Dylan Thomas, and there are many large specimen trees. This one is huge and spreads out from a wide trunk. I used willow charcoal into my Khadi sketchbook.
Yesterday the weather was lovely, warm and sunny not like today which is pouring down. Anyway just 24 hours ago Husb and I went for a walk in Penllegare Woods. We hadn’t been since before lockdown started. I saw this strange contorted tree so stopped to sketch it. I used Daler Rowney medium sticks of willow charcoal into a Khadi sketchbook.
It’s been an unsettling few days with the weirdest weather – torrential rain and gales in mid Summer, the death of a beloved elderly relative and the pandemic lockdown more or less lifted in the English part of the UK. Strange and tough times, I needed a short break from blogging and drawing. I went for a quiet walk this evening to Cwmdonkin Park, always a peaceful place for me, and I did a drawing of some of the trees into my Khadi sketchbook. Today I switched from Winsor & Newton fine willow charcoal to Daler Rowney medium willow charcoal sticks. They give a more robust line which forces me to work simply with little detail, pushing the drawing towards European Expressionism, which is alright by me.
I met up with a friend in Clyne Gardens today, where it’s easy to keep a safe distance. It was raining, but not heavily, what my Mam used to call “Scotch Mist” as she sent us out to play in the summer school holidays. We sat on a picnic table near the Touring Tea Room, a lovely vintage caravan serving tea, coffee and home made cake (lemon sponge cake glazed with lemon curd) and chatted in real life. I like social media and Zoom but after all these weeks, it was so good to talk to someone in the real world over a cuppa, even if we got wet.
I did a quick scribble while my friend went to get us a second cuppa, and the sketch is softer and smudgier than normal because of the damp. The Khadi paper is thick and strong so it didn’t crinkle or disintegrate.
I went out earlier for my sanctioned exercise and as it was looking like rain and very windy, just strolled to a small public mews garden, probably Victorian. It has quite a formal arrangement of lawns and paths but there’s a tangle of very mature trees around the edge. I did a quick sketch with willow charcoal into my Khadi sketchbook, then headed back before it rained. Then I made two small loaves and some Chelsea Buns.
There’s a hot spot in my oven, it’s annoying. I have to cover my baking with foil part of the way through the cooking time and I didn’t get to it quickly enough today. Tasted good though.
Husb and I went for our daily authorised exercise today and ended up in the lovely Cwmdonkin Park where I stopped to draw this very striking row of trees. I laid down the basic details with willow charcoal into a Khadi sketchbook – then the heaven’s opened and a deluge of Biblical proportions hit! I ran under a large tree and managed to spray the sketch with fixative before it got smudged. I like it though. It’s the quickest one I’ve done and has the least detail. But I think it also has the most dynamism – it’s getting towards an Expressionistic style. I love European Expressionism so I’m well chuffed with it. The weather forced me to be much braver and more spontaneous than I would normally be.
I’ve got a brand new portable printing press. From the Portable Printing Press Company. It’s lush.
I’ve put it on top of my antique mangle, which isn’t in good enough condition to turn into a printing press itself, but it’s really solid and sturdy so it’s a good base for my new press.
Husb and I went for our daily exercise walk this evening and saw this weird tree with a lovely frill of fungus on it. It’s very, very quiet out walking during the virus lockdown. We saw very few people but a couple of sweet cats crossed our path.
Let’s have a break from viruses and pandemics and look at some trees because trees are nice. I drew these in the grounds of Dinefwr country park near Llandeilo a while back, using conte crayons in black, white and sanguine. The one above is a brown paper sketchbook from Seawhite’s of Brighton, the one below I prepared by sticking brown parcel paper into a white sketchbook with a Pritt stick.
To own one of my series of silkscreen portraits celebrating great but often neglected women artists please click the image.
To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.
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