This morning I visited Orkney Museum in Kirkwall for a meeting about a potential exhibition there next year. They have a small space next to the Archaeology rooms, which is ideal. It is great to be able to visualise a place […]
Bad weather meant people were more willing to give me 15 minutes of their time to come indoors and have their portraits drawn. But some intrepid archaeologists kept going. Today’s portraits Catriona supervisor in Structure 8 and Ben supervisor in Trench 10 Mark and […]
This morning the site was closed so I spent some time preparing my talk for Saturday at the Pier Arts Centre. It’s called Work in Progress and is quite hard to put together, as the work to date is really […]
Good afternoon A-N I would like to draw upon your experience and knowledge please. I am looking for an online shop selling high quality drawing surfaces. I would preferably like to try wood free paper (but am open to […]
Today I met two experts who showed me treasures. Pottery specialist, Roy, who let me draw a magnificent piece of a Neolithic pot and a small piece of fired clay, with what appears to be the impression of a finger. Afterwards, the ‘Rock […]
Two portraits this morning, with sound recordings explaining archaeological procedures, in the trench and for finds. While waiting to draw Anne, I was able to draw her being filmed with an expert examining a find. This afternoon, I made a number […]
Today was Open Day on the Ness of Brodgar Dig. Despite bad weather crowds of people came to see how the excavations are progressing. The rain limited my drawing time but I managed two drawings during the (almost) dry spells. […]
Today, the dig had a day off, because everyone will be working on Sunday for the Open Day. So I spent the day visiting old haunts and thinking about the project. The residency is half way through and I have begun […]
Rain stopped all action for the morning so I spent a few hours considering work to date and how it might be best to proceed. There is too much going on in my head to write about it here but I can say […]
A wet and windy day meant intermittent drawing, mainly in the shelter of the trenches. It was good to get in close to the action and see real traces of Neolithic human activity. A heap of burnt material piled up […]
High winds this morning made taking the tarpaulins off a bit of a challenge. The other side of archaeology – paperwork and endless measuring Excitements of the day – 1 Getting into a trench and painting a row of little red flags […]
A very windy day, with variable weather – so, unless I could find shelter from the wind, it was best to concentrate on quick drawings of people including the visitors’ tour If you are not a member of a-n, please leave comments for […]
So here we have a progress shot of my latest drawing, I have been working on this sporadically, typically in short bursts for quite sometime. I thought I’d share a little about my working methods and some of the […]
A second portrait. This is Hugo – and his last day working in Structure 14 The first week in any new place is about getting used to the context and working out what is to be done – and in the […]
Fine weather and lots of work done, including my first portrait, another watercolour, and a view across from the Ness. Many quick sketches made. The first series was of a tour of the site to introduce newcomers and update proceedings for others. […]
A wonderful sky to begin the day. One watercolour and four drawings achieved during the morning, with accompanying sound recordings. By lunch time rain arrived together with a gale so all work was abandoned for the day. During my afternoon off […]
Fine weather all day and very hot. Lots of drawing, colour notes and recordings of background sound. Some drawings (not shown here) are across both pages of the sketchbook. These will be joined up with colour added later.
A wet start to the residency but, despite the rain and swarms of flies, it was good to begin getting acquainted with the site. I sat in my hire car to paint the weather and did some drawings of the archaeologists catching […]
Visiting a few old haunts on Orkney before the residency starts tomorrow
Good evening lovely people, I make drawings usually on paper or canford card using ink. I was wondering if there is a product that anyone has used that will give the finished drawing a sheen? All suggestions welcome. Thank you […]
Today I arrived in Orkney across a rolling sea. I have the weekend to settle in before starting my residency on Monday.
