Tag: Sketching

Visiting the Moon

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Today we visited the museum of the Moon, an art installation which is on till tomorrow. We got in free but there have been events there that you had to pay for.

The Moon is a huge inflated sphere, a balloon, hung from the ceiling of the Kings Hall in Stoke-upon-trent, part of Stoke’s town hall.

I’m afraid I didn’t get the details of the artist who made it, but it is very beautiful. The Moon is fully rendered with all its craters and mare (or seas). The seas are actually flattened areas where magma or lava has welled up from the interior and flowed out across the Moon’s surface. They are caused because of the speed of impact from asteroids and meteors hitting the Moon, the energy of momentum is converted into kinetic, heat, energy.

But thats the side we see, because the Moon is tidally locked with us, so the face we see is always pointed towards the Earth. If you observe the Moon over time it swings and sways so you can see slightly more than 50% of the Moon but we never see the back. The sides, top and bottom is squashed up so its not easy to distinguish what is visible.

So walking around the installation you can see things you might only have seen in blurry film from the Apollo missions almost 50 years ago. Huge craters where impacts must have shook the Moon to its core. You realise how much more scarred and cratered the dark side of the Moon is. Pitted and dented, the back of it has been impacted over millennia.

The Moon has also slowed the Earths spin which is why when humans are shut away in dark caves to experiment with our body clocks, we think a day ends after 23 hours or so. That is because as we evolved over millions of years the Moon was orbiting the Earth closer to us, and as it moved away gradually  (less than a centimetre a year?) it slowed the Earths’ spin to 24 hours a day.

At the moment the Sun can be eclipsed by the Moon. It just happens that the Moon is 400 times closer to us than the Sun and 400 times smaller. So the Moon appears to be exactly the right size to cover the Sun when there is an eclipse. As time goes by the Moon will move further out and “perfect” eclipses will end. Finally the Moon will break away from the Earth. When that happens the Earths rotation will become chaotic. It already spins on an axis that is tipped over at about 23°. If the Moon flys off into space its gravity will no longer help hold the Earth steady. Who knows we could end up tipped right over.

I’m not an expert so my figures might not be completely accurate. If you want more information please check out Astronomy websites.

The Museum of the Moon is an installation run be Appetite. They help produce various arts projects over the year. We also heard diary entries from the First world war, and a dance performance called “in Flanders feilds.”

I drew the Moon because my camera isn’t good in low light levels. The juxtaposition of the Moon installation and the old Kings Hall made for a marvellous and eerie afternoon out.

Llandegla fishery

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Up in the hills between Ruthin and Wrexham in north wales is a little fishery called Llandegla. Its almost at the top of the hill  before you get to the top then drop down into Wrexham, on the road, on the left hand side ( there is another fishery further down the road on a side road).

There’s a cafe and camp site for small caravans in the grounds of the fishery and the opportunity to catch fish if you want (Vegetarians look away now).

We had lunch there, hot smoked trout with new potatos and mixed leaf salad, which was delicious.

I kept up my habit of sketching, and did a few pictures, one of them I gave away because a boy there was interested in doing art.

So day trips continue, where will we go tomorrow?

Rain

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It’s a bank holiday Sunday and normal service has resumed (it’s raining) whether the weather on bank holiday Monday improves again? Well the forecast says it will.

So anyway I thought you might like an interesting fact?

Raindrops are apparently not teardrop shaped! I guess we think they are because they speed by so fast, persistence of vision (the way our eyes track things) mean that they blur together so they look long and thin….Like, er, teardrops….. or raindrops trickling down a window as they smear themselves against the glass, wetting and sliding at the same time.

So what do raindrops really look like? On slow motion cameras they resolve into little oblate spheroids….Like little tangerine shaped water droplets, that’s because air resistance squashes them up slightly in the direction of travel.

Trouble (or not) is that I’m sure people will carry on drawing them as teardrop shapes because thats how they look to us….

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Rhyl Air show

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A sunny August bank holiday weekend, at least today, forecast is for rain tomorrow……

Rhyl beach is long and sandy, there were food stalls and lots of things on show including the RNLI and RAF and Royal British Legion for the Poppy appeal.

We walked along the coastal path, towards the town and watched planes zipping by, aerobatics, an old Blenheim and a couple of Spitfires. All free, and as we had walked down from my sisters house we didn’t have to pay for parking!

Rhyl airshow takes place every August Bank holiday, when a free show is held and the planes fly out over the sea. There can be big crowds but it was not bad today….lots of space on the sand and great viewing conditions.

First we saw a five plane aerobatic team, then an old autogyro from the 1960’s, later on old war planes, a Blenheim and a Dakota and two Spitfires. There were other planes following, looping the loop, doing stalls and twists, soon there was a fighter jet trainer shooting across the sky.

The climax was a team of around 6 red devil parachutists, falling from the sky with smoke trails. I say 6 as the sun was shining in my eyes and I could not see the screen of my phone. As there parachutes opened they also flew the welsh flag below them. Brilliant afternoon. I even got slightly sunburnt!

I managed to get a few reasonable photos on my old Samsung phone, I also did some quick sketches of the planes.

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Recent sketches.

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When you are out for lunch, or going for a day trip its good to ditch the camera sometimes and just sketch the view. It might end up a bit skewiff but that doesn’t matter, you are making personal memories, things to remember, like the way my friends hat dominated our table at a local restaurant Amore, in Newcastle-under-lyme or the fact I always seem to eat lunch before I think about recording what it looked like. We had a huge meal at the New Inn at Dyserth. Then drawing a view of a landmark, trying to catch its character and the sunlight hitting the tree trunk just at the right angle to cast its shadow on the huge stone walls behind it. Drawing the oddly angled steps that are made to bend round protruding rocks and the stone wall at Dyserth Falls…oh I cram a lot in on day trips!

 

Conwy sketches

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If you decide to take a day trip to Conwy, north Wales, on the other side of the estuary to Llandudno and the Great Orme mountain, can I suggest you don’t take a cheap sketchbook, an ok blunt pencil and a couple of old biros with you because you have forgotten your good drawing tools?

Firstly it doesn’t make drawing easy, particularly if you choose to walk along the battlements of a castle. If the sun does decides to shine then you can’t get dark enough shadows to show the foreground trees and you can’t get the subtlety of shading on the mist shrouded mountains in the distance. Each sketch becomes more random and quick. The only good one you give away to “Eric the storyteller” of snowdonian folk tales because you managed to capture a reasonable image of him.

Off down to the smallest house in Great Britain, built 400 years ago, now there is a house to draw. Luckily you dredge up an old black felt pen and make tentative marks. How to show how tiny the house is? The clue is to draw the welsh lady by the door, passing on wisdom and history. She is a good figure to add for a sense of scale. Mission accomplished while queuing to enter the house, the felt pen has run dry, but the image is clearer than the previous ones.

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Pastel sea

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I did a pastel workshop a few months ago and I found it quite difficult to get a good likeness of the sea.

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The detail is so hard to reproduce. Especially the soft, spray, and foam areas. The colours are also difficult. As you add pastels to the paper surface it catches in the “tooth” of the paper. The problem is that some of the paper’s are like sand paper, and could take the skin off your fingers! I wonder how to handle the pastels to get a softer effect.

I think I would go back to another workshop to gain more skills. I enjoy trying out new materials and techniques. There will be a charge for it, but it is worth it for the experience.

 

Mow Cop

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Mow Cop…..

If you ever drive on the A34 between Stoke-on-Trent and Congleton, look to your left as you are driving North, just past little Moreton Hall. You might catch a glimpse of Mow Cop on top of the hill…

Mow Cop is a folly, built to look like a castle, and it stands above the village of Mow Cop, giving views of the Cheshire plain and Shropshire and the Welsh hills.

We decided to visit today as a group I am in- Stoke USK, (urban sketchers group) is due to visit on Saturday but I can’t make it.

I did some brief sketches of the castle and the view, clouds were quite low over the plain and rain was threatening. I irritated myself because I started the castle drawing too far over the page so had to start again.

While we were there we saw a carved stone with lettering on it. I could just make out the words. “To the Glory of God
A camp meeting near this spot on May 31st 1807 began the Religious Revival led by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes known as Primitive Methodism (unveiled?) By the president of the Methodist Conference 13th May 1948”

I knew that the Methodists had started in the area; Bethesda chapel in Hanley , the city centre of Stoke on Trent, is currently being restored. I imagined people gathering at Mow Cop, listening to the Victorian preachers, in rain, wind and hail. A romantic view I know. But the place is very atmospheric.

We finally tried to walk up to the castle, but the steep steps defeated me so I only got half way up. Richard managed a bit further.

Want to visit?  The castle is a bit difficult to find. Once you are on the hill you can’t see it as well. However there is a good sized car park when you get there. You will see a National Trust notice board and it gives the opening times. Roads approach from the A34 and a road from Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent.

The live and dead tree

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The live and dead tree sits hard on the ground.

One twist of bark still attached…

Like Ivy clinging to the trunk,

Twisted knotted rope like round and taut.

 

Green leaves, large and serrated, sprout out,

Twigs and branches caught in the embrace,

Dead wood holds up life to the sun,

Wise, wide trunk so aged.

 

How did you die?

We’re you struck, hit, broken, by wind or storm?

Did you find disease in your skin?

Is the clinging umbilicus of your wooden baby your clone?

 

Your age is ancient, your body skeletal.

Your upper limbs and branches peeled of all skin.

But still you sit hard on the ground,

Immortal, in a way reborn.

Today’s drawings

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Today I had the pleasure of going out with The Orme Art group for our annual trip to a landscape venue at an old house and its grounds in Staffordshire.

The weather was very windy,  so I decided to take a small sketch pad  and coloured pencils,  soft pastels, and fine tipped ink pens. I thought I had my portable chair in the back of the car but it wasn’t there when I opened the boot. Luckily there were chairs in the garden of the large house for us to use.

The other artists there were either painting with watercolours or acrylics, but we were in a reasonably sheltered spot, so they were not affected by the wind. There is something wonderful, sitting in a green space,  looking at the landscape, the shapes of the trees and leaves. Noticing where the shadows fall, which direction the light is coming from. Choosing the medium which is most appropriate for the drawing you are doing. I find using black pens are good for quick sketches, and outlining and shading shadowed areas. The pastels bought out the colours on an old tree, where only one section of bark was still attached and so only a few branches were still in leaf. I used the coloured pencils to try and give an impression of the solidity of the house with feathery leaves superimposed on the walls and windows. Finally I drew a quick sketch of one of the other artists as she painted the tree that I had drawn.

Having a small A5 sketch pad that is ring bound is really useful. You can draw across the whole page without it flipping shut on you. Yes the holes and wire can get in the way a bit, but being able to fold the whole book back allows for easier handling. You can use it in portrait or landscape positions, and it is easier to fold shut if you get caught in a sudden rainshower.

I spent about an hour on the drawing of the house, and 20 to 30 minutes on the landscape/tree. The quick sketch of my friend took about 15 minutes.

The one thing I should have worn is sturdy shoes! There were a lot of insects about and I’m lucky I didn’t get bitten!