Unsettling Times

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 wentContinue reading “Unsettling Times”

Scribbling In The Scotch Mist

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,Continue reading “Scribbling In The Scotch Mist”

Four Chelsea Buns, Two Small Loaves And A Quick Scribble

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 withContinue reading “Four Chelsea Buns, Two Small Loaves And A Quick Scribble”

Then Came The Deluge

  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!Continue reading “Then Came The Deluge”

My Cat Is A Chonky Cat

It’s pouring down and there are floods locally, so I’m not going on my government-sanctioned lockdown walk today. Which means I won’t be going to the park to draw some dramatic trees. So I grabbed some willow charcoal and scribbled my cat instead. Looking at her objectively, I think the vet might be right, sheContinue reading “My Cat Is A Chonky Cat”

The First Cut

I made a start on carving my two latest lino blocks. The first cut is made with my smallest cutting tool to carefully carve the outlines. It’s the fiddliest bit of the process, I think and it takes time and concentration. It rained today for the first time in ages and Sparta Puss commandeered myContinue reading “The First Cut”

Paisley Daps

This coronavirus situation is weird for me, creatively. I seem to be unable to do anything meaningful, I have no ideas about how to do some art that is relevant. It will come with time, I suppose – I hope. In the meanwhile, I need to just knuckle down and practice. So I drew myContinue reading “Paisley Daps”

Force of Nature 2

Here’s another sketch I did at Swansea’s wrecked West Pier yesterday. Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge managed to destroy it and the sand dunes have now started leaching into the mouth of the River Tawe …. who knows what will happen? There used to be an island out there centuries ago. Legend has it thatContinue reading “Force of Nature 2”

Force of Nature 1

Husb and I took a stroll along the beach this afternoon to the West Pier at the mouth of the River Tawe. It was recently badly damaged during the triumvirate of storms – Ciara, Denis and Jorge and it’s shocking how nature has ripped huge amounts of concrete apart and splintered vast wooden piles likeContinue reading “Force of Nature 1”

A Roundup Of The Blue Field Trip

Out In The Field Last week I went on a couple of FIRE Lab field trips with colleagues Steph and Joelle to walk the River Tawe Path, making cyanotypes, or blueprints, along the way. I’d prepared Bockingford paper with a solution of two chemicals, Ammonium ferric citrate and Potassium ferricyanide, in a darkroom and took themContinue reading “A Roundup Of The Blue Field Trip”