Design: painted table top

This small table was a custom order for a client in Vancouver BC, Canada. The lady had painted a yard sale find in this beautiful rust colour and then felt unsure about how to accentuate the table top. The piece reminded me of a gambling table, so I came up with a decor of squares like a board game.

Wood, oil paint, artists oil paint. 2001. 

Work in progress: figure group

The first figures formed on the workbench in my new studio: a group of three, mainly slab built. They are leather hard by now and should be bisque fired soon.

Upper Class

Scarva Earthstone E/S 60 smooth textured crank

40 x 15 x 15 cm

Work in progress: new studio

After looking around for a long time my potter colleague Phil found the perfect studio near Blackwood, Caerphilly in South Wales. It is brand new and just big enough for two people. It's unit #2 on the photo:

Phil's throwing wheel was the first implement to be installed, then an old book case to display new pieces or to store greenware on until we've bought proper storage shelves.

A friend of mine, John Wells, built a formidably strong work bench for me. I'll be using it for most of my sculptural work with clay, and hopefully also for printmaking if we manage to keep dust levels low at the studio.

Just recently Phil's big kiln arrived, a second-hand Cromartie in great shape. Here you can see the owner polishing his purchase. A few days ago it was connected to the power supply.

Painting: Watercolour

This is one of my first attempts on still life in watercolour. I wanted to see how transparent objects can be rendered. And how to make apple skin look vibrantly red. In this case I resorted to using wax crayon on top of the watercolour paint.

Fruit Bowl

SAA watercolours on Bockingford NOT 300 gsm. 2011.

28 x 38 cm

Printmaking: Collograph

I made this collograph on hardboard, using wood glue, acrylic texture medium, carborundum and linocutting tools. For the first layer, different colours were applied to the printing plate, then I overprinted with white ink.

Tree Shelter

Speedball waterbased relief ink on cartridge paper. 2007.

43 x 48 cm

Painting: Oil

In April wild garlic was spreading its strong scent along the lanes around my village. The white flowers are striking: I wanted to paint them in a crystal glass to learn a bit about the reflection of light and colour in glass.

Wild Garlic

Oil on canvasboard. 2012

Printmaking: Lino print

Going for walks around the village of Machen, Caerphilly, where I live now, I often pass an allotment nearby. After the harvest season the gardening paraphernalia are put away for the winter. Straight beanpoles and round water butts create a combination of interesting lines in an otherwise quite empty landscape - an attractive motif for images in black and white.

Machen series: Deserted Allotment. 2010.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Another place that stands out in Machen is our village church with some intricate wrought iron work in the graveyard and stately trees on the hill behind.

Machen Series: St John's Churchyard. 2010.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Typical of Welsh villages in my area are rows of terraced houses with stone walls and brickwork around windows and doors. I cut them into linoleum, together with long wrought iron railings, the ubiquitous butterfly bush and garage sheds. Plus some rubbish, typically to be found in the lanes behind houses.

Machen series: Street. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

This is the view from my kitchen window: cottages across the valley on the other side of the river Rhymney. Its banks are lined with poplars, lime and ash trees.

Machen series: Tudor Gardens. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

The last image in this series shows another of the typical features in the former mining area around Machen: a tram viaduct. It crosses the Rhymney west of the village. Actually, the viaduct doesn't really cross the river, it connects the bridgehead on the riverbank with an embankment further on. But I wanted to combine river and arches...

All the prints in my Machen series are cut on conventional printmaking linoleum. I'm going to try some new material soon: relief printing vinyl!

Machen series: Viaduct across the Rhymney. 2011.

Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

Drawing: charcoal and chalk

This drawing was done at a class tutored by Jantien Powell of Chapel Cottage Studio in Llanddewi Rhydderch near Abergavenny in south east Wales. The motif is a Window in Bath, after a photograph of the Pump Room in Bath, Somerset. The Pump Room is a an elegant restaurant within the building complex of the Roman Baths. The impressive chandelier seen through a dark window had caught my eye.

Charcoal and chalk on Fabriano Tiziano paper, 160gsm, sahara. 2012.

Painting: Watercolour

Birch trees make for a convenient motif in watercolour painting because one doesn't need to draw too many branches. The bark of the tree trunk can be rendered by dragging different colours across, which is fun to do.

Birch Trees

SAA watercolours and ink on sketching paper. 2010.

Painting: Watercolour

A while ago my watercolour teacher, Howard Jones from Caerphilly, showed our class how to paint a quite realistic looking waterfall. Here is my version of it.

Waterfall

SAA watercolours and ink on Bockingford NOT 300gsm. 2010.

36 x 26 cm

Recycled furniture: Chest of drawers

This two-drawer chest is the last piece of furniture I painted in Canada. I swapped working on it for another unpainted chest of drawers which I turned into "Wired" (see post 27/4/2010).

This photo also shows the handpainted floor of one of my Canadian studios in Yarrow, British Columbia.

Acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, wood. 2001.

Painting: Oil

The village of Machen near Caerphilly in South Wales is located between the river Rhymney and a ridge to the north, Machen Mountain. A narrow lane leads up there, perfect for a walk. There are farms and grassland, hedgerows and oak groves. The tree silhouette always shows a defined line: that's how high a cow can reach nibbling at leaves. 

Machen Mountain

Oil paint on Daler-Rowney canvas paper on hardboard. 2011.

16 x 16 cm