Been doing a lot of these lately. Compressed charcoal on heavy cartridge paper. #drawing #charcoal

Sat listening to Ólafur Arnalds ‘Momentary - choir version’ on loop and with my eyes closed I got the urge to draw with my eyes shut. I put two A3 sheets of paper together on my easel, shut my eyes and, with my right hand holding the top of the easel so that I […] [Original post on toot.wales]

The things that lodge inside us. Saw a stunning cloud formation yesterday and went to draw it in charcoal and this happened. I do and don’t like it as a drawing. The little house was added as a final touch and was unintended at the outset. It makes the […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Layered drawing. Working through an idea. This was going to be bigger and then it felt right to stop so I stopped. Lines in graphite lain one upon the other to see what can’t be seen. One of a series of pieces that I’m working exploring the hidden. Zoom in and walk around. #drawing

Currently working on a charcoal and Pierre Noire drawing on this abandoned Ty Hir. It’s a place that I visit often and have watched steadily decline. #drawing #ynysmon #abandonedplaces

Pen Llŷn. Work in progress. Charcoal. Not sure how this one will turn out. I’m building it up slowly in the hope of holding onto the light. #drawing #charcoal

Just posted a short blog which borrows from John Berger’s notion of point of crisis in the drawing process and applies it to the writing of poetry and the trickery of words. The image is a detail from a linocut of mine called ‘Between words’ […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Tidying up my studio today I came across a very light ghost print that I had made a couple of weeks ago. Rather than stashing it away, I decided to work on it with a mix of willow charcoal and compressed charcoal. Very liberating. #drawing

I’ve had this piece on the back-burner for a year or so now, wondering what medium I might use. Decided to give monotype a go the other day and I’m pleased with how it’s come out. The print is 10 x 18 cm on Sunome Senaka paper. The verse is a poem of mine. You’ll […] [Original post on toot.wales]

New monotype print on Sunome Senaka paper, 12 x 21 cm. Pressed using fingers and a pencil.

Monotype on Kozo paper. I’m enjoying this process — nothing planned and but a rectangle of black ink to work from, it’s all in the moment. #printmaking #seascape #art

I’ll be exhibiting at Oriel Glasfryn, Caerwys, alongside ceramicist Pierre Williams and four wales-based artist printmakers Saturday 19th July through to August 25th. Private view this Friday. I have 20 framed works on show so it’s a good opportunity to see a […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Incidental monotype. I ink up on a glass plate when printing and cleaning up before lunch today I swept a palette knife over the glass to clear up spent ink and saw something like this. I masked an area, lay a sheet of Kosho paper on top and burnished the ink onto the paper with a spoon.

A short account of my first attempt at etching with copper sulphate. https://www.julianbrasington.co.uk/pen/a-first-etching #printmaking #art #etching

Spent the day exploring etching with fellow artist printmakers Aimee Jones, Andy Abram, Ann Lewis, and Jane Evans. A new process to me and one that I thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely return to. Happy to come away with this 10 x 10 cm piece. #art #printmaking #etching

Willow charcoal and Pierre Noire drawing (23 34 cm) of the western of two chambers that once lay inside a broadly rectangular cairn at Dyffryn Ardudwy. The chambers are surrounded with stones from the cairn. I drew this on site standing at an easel and as I […] [Original post on toot.wales]

If you’re down in southeast Wales, you can see this little wood engraving at Oriel Cric in Crickhowell through to July 12th. Hand-burnished to Somerset Satin paper, it measures 5 x 7.5 cm (2” x 3”). You can also see it and other engravings on my website […] [Original post on toot.wales]

First stage proof of a 10 x 10 cm linocut on Awagami Kozo paper. Wondering if I want to inject more light or leave it as it is. In thinking (still) of a title, I remember the eyes of one of the crew of a support boat who had sailed across a stormy Irish Sea in […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Charcoal sketchbook. One of the books I’m currently working in — this one with drawings in willow charcoal and Pierre Noire of Ynys Seiriol, Bwlch Llanberis, Aber Ogwen, Eglwys Cynhaearn, Eglwys Cwyfan, Knicht, and Yr Wyddfa from Plas Brondanw. #Wales #drawing #pleinair #sketchbook

Feeling out of sorts after returning home from a two week residency at Plas Brondanw and seeking consolation in the meditation of grey stuff #linocut

Charcoal drawing 51 x 33 cm. Inspired by the light falling through hedgerows on a country lane, I’m working on a series of these sinister, and in some ways holy drawings. A large scale for me to work at given the general scale of my linocuts and engravings, and very liberating.

I’m a few days into a 2-week residency at Plas Brondanw in North Wales and enjoying the opportunity to spend time in the house when it’s not otherwise open and to experiment with subjects and materials that are outside my comfort zone. #plasbrondanw #drawing

A video story of the process behind my most recent linocut. The video includes some carving and a technique whereby the hand holding the gouge is kept steady whilst the ‘free’ hand rotates the block. I find this enables greater precision. I’m often asked how long […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A year ago, I saw someone open a book lamp in a bar. It was a pretty expensive product. Since I combine electronics and paper crafting, I had to DIY it and develop an easy-to-use circuit template and instructions for it. This educational project is perfect for […] [Original post on chaos.social]

A linocut birthday present for my mum. She was asking the other day if I could do violets, so I thought I’d give it a go. There are lots in the garden at the moment, making it a great time to do studies. #linocut #violet

First proof of the wee beastie. There’s a bit of tidying and a bit of thinking yet to do, but I’m pleased with how he’s come. Hand-pressed to Somerset Satin paper.

Working away at this and wondering how much light I may yet want to let in and at the same time resisting the temptation to eat away at some of the small leaves before I make a first proof and am then able to properly see what I have. In lino, once it’s gone, it’s gone. #printmaking #linocut

Spent a warm afternoon drawing in the dunes at Traeth Penrhos near Ynys Llanddwyn. This one is charcoal and Pierre Noire on a 28 x 37 cm sheet of white Legion Stonehenge paper. #art #charcoal

Work in progress. The text is from Milton’s epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ (book IV). It’s slow work and every so often I take rubbings to see how things are progressing. Once carved, I’ll proof it and then decide if I want to let more light into the tree. The fourth […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Eye? Aye Captain I’ve decided to keep on of these for myself as I like how it looks framed without a mount. It’s a 14.5 x 14.5 cm linocut which I have pressed by hand to Somerset Satin paper. From an edition of 25 prints. The morning and the evening are the same […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Pencil sketchbook drawing (A6) of a weathered and partially submerged groyne in the sea at Aber Ogwen, North Wales. I’ve been drawing these groynes in different media recently as part of a project on succession. Sea and wind make wonderful forms of them and in […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Been lovely and sunny here lately and then yesterday the clouds came back. Love them them too luckily and got very messy — fingers and palm black with charcoal. The worked area here is around 45x30 cm (17x11”) on a sheet measuring 57x38. Willow charcoal on 300 […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Not been able to get out drawing lately, so it was lovely to head out today to three different churches. Whilst I’m not religious, I’ve been drawn to churches as places to sketch since I was a teenager. There is something about the quiet of them and their […] [Original post on toot.wales]

I’ve just put five recently editioned works up on my website — this linocut included: ‘Firmament: the fourth day’. A large piece for me, the sheet measuring 43 x 38 cm. Only three prints in the edition. The other pieces are all monotypes and as such are one-off […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A poem which I have, until today, long left unfinished. This was the first stanza of a longer poem, and these three lines have rattled around in my head for years, and it was only yesterday I realised that the reason I couldn’t finish the poem was that the other […] [Original post on toot.wales]

‘Ty Hir’, a monotype print of a ruined Welsh longhouse. The print is made from a drawing I did last year and was pressed by laying down ink on a glass plate and pressing the drawing to Zerkall paper using pencils. It’s a one-off. The paper measures 53 x 38 cm […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A sketch from yesterday’s trip to Ynyscynhaearn — willow charcoal and Conté Pierre Noire pencil and carre. Originally on a small island, the church sits in a walled enclosure. After sketching, I went into the church and found a book there with a photo of a 1951 […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Lots of different pieces going on here, but taking a break today to deliver work for an exhibition opening next month at Plas Brondanw and, if the wind lets up, to do some sketches of Eglwys Sant Cynhaern. Fingers crossed.

Work in progress. Linocut. Other than the outline branches and leaves, I have now idea how this will unfold — which is good. Each mark suggests new marks: a process akin to feeling your way around a block of stone or lump of clay and modelling to find what’s buried within. #linocut

‘Copse in a ploughed field’. Monotype on Zerkall paper, 17 x 11.5 cm. I used Seville Black ink (Cranfield traditional letterpress), which gives a very smooth and light layer of ink when rolled on the glass. I’m very much enjoying this way of working. #printmaking

Been struggling to print drypoints today so I consoled myself by wrapping up the day with a monotype after a Leonardo Da Vinci drawing. The print was made by laying paper on an inked surface and using soft and hard pencils to draw on the back and press the ink […] [Original post on toot.wales]

I have got used to filling in customs declarations when I mail prints, though I still hate having to do so. The heart, though, is borderless. A poem I wrote on the theme and a photo from a few years back of the pillar box near the sanctuary church of St. Michael […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Been busy with monotypes again this morning. A very liberating process to work with. These two based on a charcoal drawing I did a week or so back on the shore of the Afon Menai. Going to play a bit more with this idea and then select my favourite as a one-off print. #printmaking #monotype

I ‘discovered’ this linocut today having made and then abandoned it two years ago. Wondering what it it that makes us give up on things, and what it is that brings us back to them, I’ve written a short blog called ‘Abandonments’ www.julianbrasington.co.uk/pen/abandonments

❤️ Dydd Santes Dwynwen Hapus ❤️ In Wales, today is Dydd Santes Dwynwen / Saint Dwynwen’s Day. St. Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. Unable to marry the man she loved as her father had betrothed her to another, Dwynwen fled her home and made a […] [Original post on toot.wales]

‘Yr Wyddor Gymraeg’ (the Welsh alphabet), a 17.5 x 25.5 cm linocut on 145 gsm Zerkall paper. Unlike the English alphabet, yr wyddor Gymraeg has no letter K, Q, V, X, or Z, and in contrast again yn Gymraeg the following are all individual letters: Ch, Dd, Ff, Ng […] [Original post on toot.wales]

One on the wall in my studio. A linocut I made a couple of years back. I’m really fond of this piece, not only for the sentiment that the words realise, but for the form — the contrast of light and dark, fragility and solidity — and I’m particularly fond of the […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Been on the charcoal again. This of a view of Y Gogarth (The Great Orme) and Penmaen Mawr from Aber Ogwen on the shore of the Afon Menai. Roughly A2. Parts I like; parts I don’t. Learning a lot from the whole.

A short blog with two new (old) poems and a few thoughts on how little we know of the world and of all that there is. https://www.julianbrasington.co.uk/pen/rhydymain-poems

Afon Menai at Aber Ogwen. The sea at its silkiest — when it breathes like this and slips beneath the hull of your little boat it is the gentlest of monsters.