Squashes And Shortbread

Didn’t do art today. Had a planning meeting this morning with a fellow artist to organise two public access art collaborations – I made shortbread, I think meetings go better over homemade cake or biscuits. Then I was teaching all afternoon. Then more planning early evening and the admin stuff. This is the reality ofContinue reading “Squashes And Shortbread”

A Surprise Squash

A friend popped by today with a present – a Turk’s Turban squash, one of nature’s most spectacular vegetables. I want to do some artwork from it before I eat it but what to do? A watercolour? Or a collage? hhhmmmmm Here it is with some collage papers.  

Sprog Scribbles

I have a regular babysitting gig each week, with a small nephew and I try to get some scribbling done. Trouble is, sprogs are notoriously mobile, he doesn’t stop wriggling, crawling and moving, so he’s not the ideal model. Still, it’s good practice in speed drawing and one day – one day – I’ll getContinue reading “Sprog Scribbles”

B.I.G. And Baked

After I filed and degreased my new copper etching plates, I cleaned and prepared a section of the inking up area of Swansea Print Workshop to apply Andrew Baldwin‘s B.I.G. hard ground to the surface of my plates. It’s built up in thin layers until there’s a fine, even amount of ground on the plate.Continue reading “B.I.G. And Baked”

File And Degrease

Take a sheet of warm, shiny copper. File the edges, first with a coarse file, then two successively finer ones to make a gently bevelled edge. Smooth the corners so they are slightly rounded. Flip the sheet over and gently remove the burr around the back edge with the finest file. Then take the copperContinue reading “File And Degrease”

Fat Is A Felinist Issue

  Yo Humans. It is I, Sparta Puss. I haven’t been able to get my paws on the pooter box for ages because the bald monkeys I live with are ALWAYS hogging it. Idiots. The she-ape has had me on a diet. She says she’s fed up with people fat-shaming me on Facebook, whatever thatContinue reading “Fat Is A Felinist Issue”

The Scourge Of The City

I did this drawing of a seagull a couple of weeks ago at Swansea Museum from a stuffed seagull in the Museum’s stores. I think it’s a herring gull (but I’m not sure). If it is, then it’s on the conservation danger list, which surprises me because there are thousands of them around here. They’reContinue reading “The Scourge Of The City”

The Bugs

  Here’s a selection of bugs from my series of silkscreened postcard-sized prints I did recently at Swansea Print Workshop. One’s a cockchafer and the other a violet ground beetle from a collection at Swansea Museum’s archives.   I printed some onto paper prepared with chine collé. I had printed sheets of handmade paper madeContinue reading “The Bugs”

A Tissue Issue

Workibng with Kelly Stewart at Swansea Print Workshop last week, I experimented with different ways to screenprint my range of drawings. I’ve always liked the chine collé technique especially with handmade paper made from recycled saris. I get it from the haberdashers in Swansea Market and it has a great texture and a some juicyContinue reading “A Tissue Issue”

The Bits In The Middle

The first stage in producing my recent set of screenprints was doing the drawings.   Then came the bit in the middle. I had to produce a set of transparencies. Some were photocopied from the original drawings onto a special Overhead Projector (OHP) acetate – the two bugs and the heron.   Some were redrawnContinue reading “The Bits In The Middle”