Category Archives: Drawings

New drawing from my three month cycle tour of Iceland

This drawing began as a simple idea – to draw my bike in Iceland, even before I finished that thought the idea had grown into some a bit more challenging.

The drawing is composed of 10 A2 panels fixed together. This was such a fun project and is the first of many.
Panel 4 shows my son cycling away to our next wild camp. Panel six by inference has me looking at the landscape with my bike
The title is …….
‘Welcome – To The Desert – Ódáðahraun desert – Vatnajökull National Park Ísland’. Graphite and oil on card height 71 cm x Width 402 cm.
This is a low resolution image and was a challenge to image. I did so by imaging each panel separately and joining each image together, being extremely careful to match up tones and edges as best I could.
….. The drawing is not for sale ….

New drawings from mine and my son’s cycle tour of Eire

New drawing inspired from mine and Aaron’s cycle tour of Eire. This is a view of the Glacio Karst landscapes on the Atlantic coast of the Aran Islands …….

Glacio Karst – Oileáin Árann agus aigéan atlantach No.1 graphite on card 43×61 cm 2024

This is a low resolution image, High resolution images are available and the artwork is available to buy, Ltd. edition prints are also available, contact me if interested.

 

 

 

New drawing inspired from mine and Aaron’s cycle tour of Eire. This is a view of the Glacio Karst landscapes on the Atlantic coast of the Aran Islands …….

Glacio Karst – Oileáin Árann agus aigéan atlantach No.2 graphite on card 43×61 cm 2024

This is a low resolution image, High resolution images are available and the artwork is available to buy, Ltd. edition prints are also available, contact me if interested.

 

 

 

 

More drawings from Iceland

From mine and Aaron’s 3 month cycle tour of Ísland. One of our many wild camps. This is almost in the centre of Island. There are no shops, no convenience stores any where near. We took ten days of food with us. We did not need to take any water as all the rivers have pure drinking water and so we could refill our water bottles along the way. It was the best cycle tour we have ever done.
‘Self Portrait with bikes and Tents. Ísland’ Graphite on card. 61×43 cm 2024.
From mine and Aaron’s 3 month cycle tour of Ísland. One of our many wild camps. This is almost in the centre of Island. There are no shops, no convenience stores any where near. We took ten days of food with us. We did not need to take any water as all the rivers have pure drinking water and so we could refill our water bottles along the way. It was the best cycle tour we have ever done.
‘Self Portrait with bikes and Tents. Ísland’ Graphite on card. 61×43 cm 2024.
Do you have any memories of adventures you would like to see as an artwork ….. I do commissions ….. so get in contact for more info.
A new drawing of mine and Aaron’s cycle tour of Ísland . This is close to another wild camp and one of the many volcano’s we cycled past. This one is called Herðubreið This type of volcano is a tuya which is a flat topped volcano situated in the northern part of Vatnajökull National Park, in the Highlands at the east side of the Ódáðahraun desert and close to Askja volcano,. The desert is a large lava field originating from eruptions of Trölladyngja and other shield volcanoes in the area. Cycling here is extraordinary. To cycle through ash fields and lava plains littered with ancient …. and not so ancient debris thrown out from volcanic eruptions ….. here and there evidence of life in the form of small brillantly coloured wild flowers …… surrounded sometimes in silence except for the sound of the tyres on the ground was amazing ……
‘Herðubreið – Ódáðahraun desert – Vatnajökull National Park Ísland’. Graphite and oil on card 61×43 cm 2024.
Two Portraits – Between Herðubreið.and Askja. Graphite and oil on card. 64×164 cm. 2024
Comprised of 4 individual panels attached and reinforced on the back. From mine and Aaron’s three month cycle tour of Island.
The shadows of myself and Aaron are important referencing the transient nature of our journey and our philosophy to leave a place as if we had never been there …… leaving nature as we find it ….. with no traces …. absolutely no rubbish or equipment left behind.

Drawing the Aurora Borealis

‘Radically Limited Access to Reality – Enhanced’

Graphite on Card 25×48.5 cm 2024

 

I Observed the Aurora Borealis on the 10th and 11th May from just after 11 pm to 3 am. It was extraordinary even to my unaided eye’s I could see hints of colour. The crescent Moon was also visible sinking slowly into the West, and is in the lower left of the drawing. This is the first of several artworks about this experience. The drawing is composed of three panels joined together and angled somewhat.

Yma o Hyd

 

Loor – Brechiek, Ynysek Syllan 27x27cm 2023 unframed £250

Loor – Brechiek Ynysek Syllan. 27x27cm graphite on paper

The title is in Kernewek, as I continue to learn Cymraeg I have developed a deep interst in the original language of this country – Kernewek and Cymraeg separated into semi distinct languages around the 8th/9th century. In some ways Kerenwek is a regional Dialect of Cymraeg and the South West was original known as South Cymru. As well as learning Cymraeg I am also learning Gaeilge and Gàidhlig, So I think it is time to start learning Kernewek.
It is fabulous to know that even after so many centuries of cultural persecution and a deliberate attempt to wipe out these wonderful languages, that we still have them and that a fluent speaker in Cymraeg and a fluent speaker in Kernewek can understand each other today.
There are many places with names that have a Cymru origin – Pen y Ghent in Yorkshire is one. The name Cumbria derives from the Cymru name for that part of the world and had it’s own Cymru dialect – Cumbric – and still today some farmers will use an ancient counting system which is thought to be a dialect of Cymru to count their sheep on the fells. It is a huge loss to us all that Cumbric is now an extinct language. It is a fundamental loss of cultural history though there are on going attempts to regain this language…. learning these languages is great stuff and has a deep personal and gentic meaning to me. Hence the title.
Yma o hyd

New drawings from my 3 month cycle touring artist in residence in Iceland

New drawings from my 3 month cycle touring artist in residence in Iceland

 

I will be adding drawings to this blog post over the next days and posting larger art works as they are finished to future blog post’s . These are from Askja in the Vatnajokull national park. We cycled across Iceland twice, and if you are not aware then know that there are no shops …. no convenience stores ….. no fuel stations …. no bus stops ….. no trains …. we took with us enough food supplies to last us 10 day’s and we got it just about right …. on our eleventh day as we rejoined the ring road we had a couple of cupa soups to keep us going until we reached a campsite. Water was no problem though. You can drink from almost any stream or river in Iceland

 

Cycle tour – Ísland No.1 – Father and Son – Two Portraits. Askja Ísland . Mix media graphite and Oil paint on board 2024 No.1 (not for sale)

 

 

Cycle tour – Ísland No.2 Father and Son – Two Portraits. Askja Ísland . Mix media graphite and Oil paint on board 2024 No.2 (not for sale)

 

Cycle tour –  Ísland No.3 Volcanic Landscape Near Askja mixed media graphite and oil paint on board 2024 £250.00

 

 Cycle tour – Ísland No.4 Volcanic landscape  Near Askja Ísland . mixed media graphite and oil on board 43×61 cm 2024 £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.5  cycling across island on our way to hveravellir 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024 £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.6 Cycling Across Island on our way to Askja 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024 £250.00

Cycle tour – Ísland No.7 Near Hveravellir 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024  £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland No.12 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024. £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland No.11 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024. £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.10 Vatnajökull Glacial Lagoon. 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024. £250.00

Cycle tour – Ísland No.9 Vatnajökull Glacial Lagoon 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024. £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.8 Vatnajökull Glacial Lagoon 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024. £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.13 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024 £250.00

 

Cycle tour – Ísland   No.14 43×61 cm mixed media graphite and oil on board 2024 £250.00

 

 

Cycle tour Wild Flowers in a volcanic Landscape – Ísland No.17 2024 £195.00

 

 

Cycle tour Wild Flowers in a volcanic Landscape – Ísland 2024 £195.00

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing trees

I love drawing trees, it’s that simple and it’s that difficult. It’s difficult to keep track of the seeming chaotic growth of different trees. I like the character of trees, sometimes they take on personalities of there own, that is a conceit of course, but a positive one I hope…… a trick of the human mind that tries to impose a familiarity with the shapes and growth of particular trees. Useful enough to the artist for exploring different atmospheres and weathers .

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These drawings are fun, yet they can take hours and hours to achieve. That is when you find one that you wish to draw, that can also take hours and hours……thats fun to because usually it means I am cycling with sketchbooks and exploring the world. here I can make a parallel with stone balancing……it’s not like you are looking for a stone that you think you can balance, it’s more like you notice something out of the corner of your eye….something that there are no words for……or rather it’s more like its that the creative part of your mind that does not use this kind of language that see’s something.

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All the same you know when you find that stone…..or when you see that particular tree that almost asks to be drawn.

 

 

Oddly I have never felt the need to paint them…..they lend themselves perfectly to drawing. Usually I am using 9b graphite pencils and although I do not paint them in oils I do use graphite washes to add atmosphere and texture

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This one – ‘Willow Tree’ (left) is one I did many years ago in a park in Krakow Poland not far from the student halls of residence. Just across the road in fact. On the whole I spent 2 years on and off visiting Krakow and 10 months doing a postgraduate in fine art at the academy of fine arts in Krakow.

A favorite place to draw trees is Australia. I do not get there as often as I would like……I particularly like the ghost gums and the paper bark eucalyptus trees. And the scent of the eucalyptus forests is quite wonderful. I think again it is the messiness of these forests that attracts me. But also with the ghost gums the contrast in bright sunlight is extreme.

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At some point in the future…..for plans are afoot…… I will return but on that occasion I will be with my bike cycling and exploring with my sketchbooks.

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