Sketches at the Animalarium

The Animalarium is a small private zoo at Borth, Ceredigion, Mid-Wales. It was originally set up as a rescue centre for unwanted exotic pets, the most impressive of which is Rajah the leopard. I din't draw him as he was constantly prowling on the top of his shelter and was nigh on impossible to observe for more than a few seconds.

The owners are passionate and informative and encourage you to get closer to the animals where practicable- I came away having handled corn snakes, monitor lizards and having had a 3 stone boa constrictor draped over me- all complete firsts!

There isn't much shelter on site and on the day I visited the weather was changeable, but I cruised round with sketchbook and attempted to draw the animals, occasionally aided by my husband tempting them with tidbits from the feeding pots to get them near to where I stood.

I started with the goats, however they were restless as they were waiting for their feed time. I managed a study of an older billy who was content to sit and chew the cud.

The pony stood fairly still although he eventually moved away, hence the forelegs not being very accurate. I did find that life class has helped me focus on getting an overall outline down fast to begin with.
The meerkat sentry was the best model, as he only really moved his head. I didn't get the mass of his lower body, though, as it was bulkier where his weight settled in his seated position.

The lynx was only too happy to stay put- I think it was the female as she was smaller. The sun came out and she was half drowsing.
The emu was a quick capture of shape as the male chased his offspring (emu dads are the childrearers) back to the far side of their enclosure, previously I'd not been able to see all of him. I think the legs should have been a little further forward.

I made a second less detailed study of the lynx to catch the way her limbs were sprawled out.

The wallabies were busy feeding in their shelter. I kept to a simple line and I think it worked better than trying to put any tone in- the line shows their dynamic shapes better. The rhea (ostrich-like bird) was seen at a distance, when I went closer to photograph him he tucked his head under his body and resembled a giant fluffy toadstool on two legs!

The lemur was really only interested in being fed grapes. His brother had the same idea so it was difficult to settle him for any time between skirmishes. I managed to catch his wide-eyed "spectacles" okay, and was pleased when I later compared it to the photos I had taken.

The hornbill kept moving his head from side to side, athough from the angle I was looking at him from I could continue to draw by referencing the mirror image. I couldn't see his feet or lower body as he was sat among foliage at the time- I did get a couple of reference photos later.

The perfect model! I had great fun drawing this African Horned Turtle. Unfortunately he was flopped out against a support post, and in moving my head to see the rest of him I failed to get the width of his shell in the right place- the outer line shows where it should have been as I realised my mistake at the end.

As we were leaving, the wallabies came out for a walkabout. I again concentrated on their lines as they were moving around a lot, hence the superimposed studies rather than lose time turning a page.
There were many other animals I either didn't have time to draw or who just moved too fast- the marmosets being one example. There were also a couple of caymans in the reptile section but the dim lighting made them difficult to see. I came away with a good range of different animal shapes and felt I had trained myself to observe better than when I visited Newquay Zoo last year. Life class is not just about drawing people!

As a postscript, the final picture was done later in the week when I returned to my friends in Cwm Duad, and did a brief sketch of two of the horses grazing, from the same viewpoint as last year. Again, I think the overall shapes are better observed although I have not done any horse studies in the interim period.

The larger horse has thickset stubby legs as he is a draught breed. The smaller horse is a true Thelwell barrel-on-legs character- a miniature Shetland with a personality to die for.

Proportional Misrepresentation: Life Drawing part 1

Having finally got round to becoming a member of St Ives School of Painting, I really had no excuse to avoid life class any longer, and attended my first one last night. Arriving early, I had plenty of time to fiddle with easel, chair and trolley to find the best working position for the A3 sketchbook I had brought with me for a first go, as well as chatting to one or two of the other people there. I had packed a varied selection of media to use and opted to start with sanguine conte.

As the tutor rightly pointed out, I drew the shoulders too wide, and the arms too short in relation to each other. Actually I was relieved to have produced a humanoid shape, however inaccurate, as I consider myself to be particularly weak in drawing people and had fallen back on the line and negative shape exercises I have been working with on the still life assignments.

I changed to charcoal and attempted to model the form in tone, not easy as the fluorescent overhead lighting limited the amount of shadow/light contrast.

Although I caught the slope of the shoulders correctly, the width of the further collarbone is too great, and the upper arm too narrow. I had problems also with the foreshortened hand resting on the knee, and in hindsight I think the size of the head may be on the small side.

The next pose, standing this time, went from bad to worse. I concentrated too much on trying to catch the twist of the body and made the legs far too short. Once again the tutor came to my rescue and showed me that the head-to-navel should be equal to the navel-to-feet measurement.



I attempted to correct the lenght of the legs (the original foot position can be seen) but the size of the head is too big- it only divides by five and a half times into the body.

For the fourth pose I opted to use a 6B pencil, and the reclining shape proved much easier to get to grips with, although I had to carefully consider the size of the nearest foot.

Overall I thought this was far more successful, although possibly the lower buttock is a little too rounded where it meets the podium surface.

We stopped for a tea break which gave me the opportunity to see some of what other people had been doing. One lady, an art teacher preparing for a project on movement relating to the Degas exhibition, had been working in neocolor, and the medium showed a really nice texture in her studies. The man next to me (I recognised him as an artist working in town) had inks set out, and I asked him what he was making marks with; they proved to be long thin willow sticks trimmed to either a point or nib, with which he was exploring the amount of control and unpredictability in the marks made.



After our break, the next pose was particularly challenging from where I was sat, and I found myself failing to observe the relative positions of feet and chair. I also omitted the right hand, as I ran out of time while attempting to correct the feet.

When faced with another standing pose, I attempted to construct a box and grid to ensure the shape fitted, however I still went wrong on the top half/bottom half split. I'm not sure whether my eye was thrown by looking up at the model, as she was on a surface a foot above the floor and I was seated. I've made a note to myself to try at least a couple of poses next week while standing at the easel.

For the final pose, I had turned the page and was preparing to start when a loose sheet of black paper fell out of my book, so I changed to white conte and concentrated on a tonal study (in negative). This I felt was the most successful of all my attempts this evening, and was a good motivation to return next week.

I enjoyed the class much more than I had expected. Most of the poses were 10 minutes, except for the reclining one which was held for 15 minutes, so it really forced me to concentrate on getting the likeness down (although without the panic which ensues when given only 5 or less minutes). The class tutor circulates frequently and offers helpful comments where needed; I had had the opportunity to tell him of my reasons for attending and that it was my first ever experience of drawing the nude. I'm rather looking forward to next week, although I need to make some reference notes about anatomical proportion and try to bear these in mind while I draw.

 On this first visit, I deliberately chose only to use my sketchbook while I adjusted to being outside my comfort zone in a completely new envirionment. Next time I will be working for at least some of the time on larger paper, and I may take a wider selection of media with me to experiment with, such as pastel pencils and oil crayon.

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Ten

Day Ten- Worms Head, Rossili and Oxwich

In the morning we decided to visit Worm's Head, and walked out to it experiencing the same hide and seek with fog which we'd had in Brecon. The tide was in so crossing was (fortunately) not an option, and it looked like a fair old scramble, so we retraced our steps (I found a flattened fledgling looking like a baby dragon on the road).

Here be Dragons...

Eventually we found a path down to Rhossili beach, a fascinating strand of surf layering up like lace,  windblown sand covering the most mundane flotsam and turning it into mysterious sculpture and loads of half buried razor clam shells- when a wave nearly caught us the number of rising bubbles betrayed the population below. The clouds ebbed and flowed over the hillside behind and I managed enough reference shots to be able to develop a painting later on (still on the to-do list as I write).

 We walked out to the remains of a buried wreck and filled our pockets with tellins and razor shells then climbed halfway back up to sit and have lunch on a convenient bench. Later we explored eastwards to Oxwich, discovering, on a rising tide, many shells, pebbles and fragile sea urchins which were dutifully collected for still life work later, and both getting wet feet as the waves rose.

 We moved inland and parked by an old estate mill, walking up a private drive to find the castle, opposite a beautiful Regency mansion now in need of repair. I had some wonderful photos of the trees along the avenue, and the lake in the valley, despite having to clear drizzle from the lens every few minutes. We halted our walk when we reached an old Victorian stable block with a 1920s garage addition, and returned to explore the mill and adjacent fishpond before returning to Port Eynon. As dusk fell I went out alone to collect smaller pieces of driftwood on the beach- I had it in mind to collect a 7 foot long piece I'd spotted earlier- but the failing light and the rain on slippery rocks made me review my decision. The driftwood proved useful in an exercise for still life in line- here is the result.

 I did however find yet another dead seabird among the rocks (and took a photo). We spent a relaxed night- after being greeted effusively as old friends by a German family who had followed us from St David's- chatting to guests and a visiting YHA warden who hails from Shropshire, full of tall tales about her walking, cycling and bog-snorkelling adventures.

Needless to say the sun finally came out properly as we prepared to leave, and there was only time for a couple of photos. We stopped at Caerleon for a conker hunt (supplies for our local conker tournament), only to find that the school had felled the tree we knew, eventually we found another near the Roman amphitheatre but had to scrump on private land for our harvest. Fortunately this year we found a route back to the motorway which did not take in the less scenic aspects of Newport (that spoof song- the banned one- is still going round in my head), so saved 40 minutes of arguing over map-reading skills!

We're already planning our next Welsh adventure in May next year, although it will be based probably more around Cwm Duad and St David's: the former being in easy striking distance of places we haven't been, the latter being my current muse...I may have to pack the paints and easel...

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Nine

Day Nine- Weobley Castle and Port Eynon

Our last two days were to be spent on the Gower, an area we did not know, and I have to say we both struggled to see its attraction as the weather got worse and we took more than one wrong turning. Eventually we stumbled on Weobley Castle, a strange polyglot of a fortified house, and stopped to explore. It was interesting, and mostly out of the wind and rain which was a bonus, and in the room set up as an exhibition I found another dead bird on the windowsill (this was to become a theme in the closing days of our holiday). As I returned to the car two escaped sheep followed me, so I managed to draw them before they scuttled up the drive in search of freedom.

We were staying in Port Eynon (or Einon depending which map- Welsh or English- you have), and arrived to find it bleak, closed, and the only activity being a funeral attended by what appeared to be most of the farming community- judging by the number of four-wheel drives arriving. Even the pub was shut until some obscure mid-afternoon hour (which I'm guessing was the wake). Having two or three hours to kill we were relieved that the sun made an appearance long enough to picnic on the beach, which was mostly composed on the leeward side of shells, with some interesting pebbles which were holed with bubbles and seemed to be a form of pahoehoe (Lava with bubbles of gas- the word is Hawaiian). The fantastical geology proved to be the cinch for me however as the shapes and cracks in the rocks were heightened by some form of dark lichen or algae growing in the cracks.

And this is what it became later in the studio at home...

The beach was really rather nice, it was a shame about the town, in the words of Chris Rea it really was an "out-of-season holiday town in the rain". The nearest shop proved to be a garage some 4 miles and two villages away. Luckily the hostel here is a converted lifeboat house quite a way from the town (and the parking) so after lugging our baggage over the distance we were quite happy to relax and take stock. It also helped that the guests and resident warden were an interesting cross section who were all prepared to join in with conversation, so we tapped their local knowledge, planned the morrow, and listened to the rain beating on the windows....

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Eight

Day

Eight- St

Davids, Oriel-y-Parc and Caerfai

Mike wanted to circumnavigate Carn Llywd which looms over the hostel, so in the morning we set off for the cliff path in search of what appeared to be a burial chamber on the cliff edge. It was a collapsed kist chamber, so I drew while Mike took photos.

 Having eventually found our path around the hill we had lunch before heading into St David's for much needed supplies, and to find the artist-in-residence at the Oriel-y-Parc visitor centre. I was distracted when looking into the gallery area to see a Ben Nicholson on the wall- further investigation yielded a slew of St Ives artists: Heron, Lanyon, Wells etc as the theme for the year was "The Sound of the Sea", and it was also a rather vicarious thrill to be able to get my nose VERY close up to a Turner seascape to study the brushwork. There were several Graham Sutherland pieces on display: Pembrokeshire having been his muse, and in the foyer the BBC programme where Rolf Harris paints a version of "Road to Porth Clais" was playing, so I settled down to watch it. Eventually I finally made it into the residency studio, where Rhian Davis was contemplating a generous blob of yellow on her brush and was immediately amused to see she has the same sort of paint colour reference charts that I make up, which got the conversation going quite nicely!
Rhian is a marine biologist, and started painting a year ago, using her late father's materials. Her work is colourful, semi-abstract and features marine environments, and I took to her bold use of colour straight off. She was welcoming and friendly, and our conversation led to discussing subject, motivation, self-discipline and experiment.
The combined experiences of Oriel-y-Parc resulted in my getting very fired up creatively. It is definitely the most informative visitor centre I have ever been in and I thoroughly recommend it if you are in St Davids. I dragged Mike off to nearby Caerfai beach, which has bands of green and Barbie-pink striped sandstone in the cliffs, and while he rockpooled I got busy drawing.

 After some time working on different areas of rocks and cliffs, I got up to join him, only to find the remains of a dead magpie tangled in weed, which I really had to draw for posterity- I have a special affinity with magpies.

As dinner cooked, I sat outside the kitchen door and drew the mass of Carn Llidi rising behind us.

 Lastly, that night I drew the shapes of the fields below the hostel, very simply, using the side of a brush pen. Possibly it was the only time I really used my chosen medium to its full considered extent, rather than just grabbing a particular pen to make marks with.

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Seven

Day Seven- Aberieddy, Porthgain and Trefin

The sun had deserted us now and although I had hoped to do some colour work at Abereiddy's Blue Lagoon in the morning the colours proved to be elusive, thankfully I have photos from last year. I sketched the ruins above the quarry lagoon and did a colour pencil study of the rocks at the mouth, and attempted to capture the shapes and colours of the rear rock face in oil pastel.

Returning to the car for elevenses (which should have been lunch) I did two quite different styled line drawings of the different cottages around the cove. I remembered taking a photo of the fields above the second study last year, showing the colour and contours in the lines of hay.

 We moved on to Porthgain, a gem of a place crammed with history, geology, a really good art gallery and the most iconic harbour, all of which inspired the most work out of me last year, but having got stuck on a painting I needed to do some further drawings to work out how to progress. I made several studies from different viewpoints before we decided to lunch at the pub, a Tardis filled with historic photographs.

Two views of the harbour from the top of the cliff, and the basis of my "stuck" painting

My "stuck" painting- it will have a boat in the large empty expanse of harbour but I can't decide whether it should be more realistic or abstract in form...

Finally a lower viewpoint from halfway down the steps, I liked the contra forms of the two piers from this angle, with the slipway just visible in the background, and jammed up the narrow footpath while I drew.

After lunch we walked out to the day marker and my eye was caught by the tumbling adjacent cliffs with their angular slate shapes.

 On the way back I looked over to the ruins of the stone works on the harbour, so I drew them as the definition was lost in previous photos due to the angle of the sun- a happy event which led me to develop an idea in oil pastels which may eventually surface in oils. The shapes of the buildings remind me of the ruined masadas I have seen on the fringes of the Sahara and Arabia.

and the studio version...

Our third destination was Trefin, another surprise discovery last year, with rippled rock formations and a seal and cormorant having a full-on barney in the bay, and we had timed this visit for low tide to explore the beach further.

 I made a study of the rocks before going off to potter over the exposed rock platform, at which point the camera took over as I discovered lots of abstract ideas on the shoreline. In the evening I drew the hostel from a different angle, using a letterbox format across two pages, and later discovered two artists among the guests, the mother (Sheila Bradburn)  having been both a book illustrator and fashion illustrator, and her daughter an established artist now studying for her degree part-time. We compared sketchbooks and styles and the conversation went on late into the night.

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Six

Day Six- St Davids and Porth Clais

While it had been lovely to catch up with friends, we were now headed for Pembrokeshire, and decided to visit the cathedral as a funeral had prevented us from doing so last visit. I sat at the top of the grounds to try to draw the building, proving in the process that I really need to get to grips with perspective again.

 Thankfully my husband was kept busy by a gentleman doing a tourist survey while I struggled.

The later part of the day we spent at Porth Clais- immortalised in Graham Sutherland's "Road to Porth Clais", which we had stumbled on by chance last year while walking the coast path, memorable for a sighting of a pair of red kites.

After some gentle walking and home-made cake at the tea-hut, I spent some time drawing boats until the sun had gone over the hill.

Having unpacked at YHA St Davids I went outside to draw the old granary outbuilding which serves as an extra kitchen in peak season.

A Welsh Sketchbook - Day Five

Day Five- Carmarthen and Cwm Duad

After a very hot day exploring Carmarthen, finding an interesting design exhibition, a Roman amphitheatre now adjoining a council estate, and a good art shop, we returned to Forest Edge to chill out. I went to chase the horses again and found them either sulking in their boxes or sleeping in the heat.

The chickens came to peck around the grass as the heat lessened, soon followed by the dogs, both very restless at the anticipation of dinner.

 I drew the valley view while waiting for the BBQ which our hosts were providing- it was a good opportunity to deal with trees- my personal landscape bete-noire. As the opposite hill has been recently logged it opened up a range of different shapes and textures to record.

Lastly I tried to catch Jack, the other boxer, who stayed still for ages until I put pen to paper...

...so I gave up and made notes on the design exhibition we'd found that afternoon in Carmarthen.