Sketch Blog 2021
I'm still out sketching in 2021! This page is arranged month by month, starting with January at the bottom and the latest just below here.
St.Woolos Cathederal, early morning in autumn. Unlike the Hand Post shown below most of it really is old.
The Hand Post. An old and well known pub in Newport. Old, but not quite as Tudor as the architecture suggests!
November
I've painted the great Pill pub the 'Ship & Pilot' before, but I hadn't noticed what a great view of the Transporter bridge there is from there. Especially in the autumn evening light.
Newport Corinthians FC play at Coronation Park, Stephenson St. Which is dominated by the nearby Transporter Bridge, making it a truly distinctive venue. Twmbarlwm is also clearly visible in the distance.
The morning sun lights up the western facades on High Street. I'd wanted to paint the refurbished market arcade, but the works aren't finished yet, as is apparent in the picture.
I had yet another try at this scene, this time with more autumnal weather. I may even have another go in the winter.
Autumn on Corporation Road.
The Carnegie Library on Corporation Road. What would you do with your money if you were an American Billionaire? Setting up hundreds of free libraries seems a pretty noble idea.
Autumn on Commercial Street.
The Motor House on the Transporter Bridge's eastern side is an industrial building which could only have been built at a particular point in history. Something purely functional disguised as a sort of delicate pavilion.
I picked a spot to paint from, which turned out to be below the reach of high tide. I noticed water rising slowly around my shoes, and quickly moved a few yards 'inland'. Quarter of an hour later I would have been waist deep in the Usk.
October
In the morning the sun angles down Alexandra Road bringing out the details in the decorative brickwork. I thought Fanny's cafe deserved another picture too. The trouble with starting this at 8.30 in the morning was that I smelt all the breakfasts being cooked.
The building facades on Dock street date to when it was the administrative centre of Newport's busy port & docks. As far as I can see the Riverview Club never had much of a view of the river. Perhaps from the top storey.
The quirky shape of the former premises of Phillips & Sons Ltd. Brewers, Wine Merchants and commercial stables, is totally functional, but it has some nice touches in the curvy brick entrance. It's now the loading area for George St. Furnishers.
A neoclassical mansion near the centre of town, Kingshill was once the bishop's residence. I painted it from a different angle earlier in the year, showing part of the amazing view of Newport from this site. The building has been thoroughly restored inside and out. which has possibly saved one of Newport's oldest domestic buildings.
The Neo classically derailed facade of Beechwood House, with a huge cedar tree.
Malpas Court, another massive 19th century private home, has no time for the Neo classical stuff. Every detail is in the latest gothic fashion. There must have been a fashion for cedar trees too because the space in front is dominated by some massive examples - one appearing to the right of this picture. There was a mobile covid testing centre there when I painted, which I hope fixes the picture for ever in 2021
Another view of the footbridge which I painted earlier in the year.
I've often painted the Usk riverfront, but I needed quite a wide paper to fit in the distinctive college building and the even more distinctive footbridge. I liked the way St.Woolos is still visible at the top of Stow Hill to the left. This one is in the early September sun.
Another wide format river picture, this one was done in June. There was a colourful evening sky by the time I was finishing so that's what I painted in.
Posting some wide format pictures I've painted in September reminded me that I forgot to post some I did earlier in the year. This is the railway bridge again, this time looking south from the former Sainsbury's site. Another gloriously sunny day, this time in May.
I like the sketch view of the castle & town bridge shown below, but I thought I would go back with a wider format of paper to capture more of the bridge and the silhouette of the town behind it. Again it was a brilliantly sunny day. I may well return to the same spot to see what colours I find on a greyer day, which would unfortunately be more typical.
September started very sunny. And I was now free from troubles at home so I could go out and paint. So I went out to paint one of my favorite places, the castle. I chose a viewpoint slightly different from ones I've used before, in the loading area of Clarence House. It's fenced off. Luckily the gate security people were friendly and let me in to sketch.
I painted the railway bridge on its own first, as I've never viewed it at this angle before. and then painted the view of the castle shown left the same day.
September
I did get out one Sunday to see some music being played at the Phyllis Maud arts space, the ex-gents toilets in Courtybella Gardens. I did a pencil sketch, and finished from a photo this picture of the band 'Calamity'. They were great - as were the other artists.
I was stuck at home for much of August, in a bad situation with cowboy builders working on my house. I painted this at home from photos. Its a detail from a building on Charles Street, shown in a painting I posted under March.
The Western side of Caerleon Bridge. Not an easy place to get a view of. I wondered to myself what the ruined structures on the opposite bank were.
George St. Bridge from Jack's Pill. I waited for a day with threatening clouds to show the bridge and its wire structures light against a darker sky.
The corner of George Street and Commercial Road , featuring the Alma. The Facades facing the memorial park have been renovated and look great.
I suddenly got an idea for the composition of a picture as I cycled past the ex-AIC Steel premises, with the heavy lifting gear in front of the Transporter Bridge.
August
Another hot day in late July. I had some prints up for sale all this month in the 14 Locks Centre, and I painted this one with the Centre in the background to add to my show there.
I guess not too many people would recognize where this is in Newport. But they would if they had been paddling in the Ebbw River behind Tredegar Park. The bridge is the Cardiff Road leaving town. The hot weather had kids & families messing around on the riverside all along the Ebbw.
Through a fence I could see lovingly cultivated crops growing in the allotments at Coomasie Street. I made a quick sketch on the spot, and then poked my phone through the fence to take some photos to paint this view from. I liked the unusual setting for the Transporter Bridge.
I started this as a very quick sketch. As I was painting the sun came out quite strongly and made some striking shadows coming through the steel girders at the Transporter.
I had painted the view from George Street bridge looking toward Twmbarlwm before, but wasn't very satisfied with it, the sky was too boring. So I took advantage of one of the days of 'changeable' weather in mid July to paint the view again.
Back along the new town river fronts, I thought I would paint the old quay timbers near the pedestrian bridge before they rot away completely.
Next to the Riverfront Arts Centre, it could almost be a harbour in a seaside town.
The Hereford Arms in Maindee on another blazing hot day. I was under the impression that this place had been sold as a residential development, so I was surprised, and pleased, when it turned out to be open and I accepted another pint. Or two.
I had thought about sketching the convoluted victorian details at the Lyceum for a while. There were some very hot days in July, including this one. so I was very pleased to be offered a pint here while drawing. I accepted. I also liked the old cobbled alley to the side. It looked so nineteenth century I could imagine Bill Sykes murdering his dog there. Or Nancy. Perhaps the next building on the corner ( an undertakers) gave me morbid thoughts.
Havelock Street Presbyterian Church. The coloured stones make it very distinctive. I also like the way the rooftops of Baneswell fall away to the left.
The Technical College, which for a long time was Newport Art College, and is now residential. One of Newport's most distinctive buildings.
July
A corner on Clarence Place. Why all the exotic detail. I've no idea.
The bottom of Stow Hill. The Pen & Wig doesn't need any introduction. The building next to it, recently Argos, was ,I think, originally a music hall, and then the first moving picture house in the area.
Herons usually fly off when I try to sketch them. This one stayed around long enough for a quick sketch. A rabbit made an appearance too.
View from bridge 111 on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, up near Abergavenny
A lock near fourteen locks.
Three locks just below Cwmbran.
I am showing some of my prints at the Fourteen Locks visitor centre during July, so I thought I would paint a few scenes on the canal . I 've enjoyed using the cycle paths a lot during the last two years.
The corner of Friars St. and Commercial St. I presume the same friars as the Austin friars.
The corner of Austin Friars and Commercial St. While it's not a chateau, this building could easily be a fin-de-siècle building somewhere in France. In this part of town something this grand must have originally been a bank. They should have put the name into the stonework somewhere though, because whoever it was has been forgotten.
June
Skinner Street. I was wondering why it looked different, then I realised that the big nasty brutal fire escape from Olympia House has gone. The most ugly structure in Newport (that means seriously ugly). I don't know how they escape from Olympia House now, and I don't mind, I'm just glad its gone. Which opens up this view of the street from various cafes.
The back of the bus station, the pig sculpture, and some fancy brickwork. As I stared at it for several hours while sketching the windows began to look like eyes and the brick details above like lacquered eyelashes.
Chateau de Bags, Leather & Luggage on Commercial Street.
The Waterloo Hotel itself. Again. I was asked to paint this view, and was happy I did it.
Also on Alexandra Road, a shop looking frozen in time from the 50's. I met the owner, who explained that he wasn't using it as a shop and just liked to keep it that way as he remembered Jean's sweet shop.
The bar of the Waterloo Hotel is an incredible place. It's closed at the moment but I was lucky enough to get in for a few hours sketching.
Back in Pill, the official looking facade of the old Police Station, and next to it G W Elliot Ship's Chandlers, conveniently placed for the docks. And the bridge in the background.
Late spring in Commercial Street.
In the showery weather during early May went to Ridgeway, from where I've painted Twmbarlwm several times in other seasons. The dark cloud casting the shadow turned out to be a heavy shower of hail.
In town, unlike Pill, the most impressive buildings are, or were, banks.
May
Another pub with a ridiculously ornate facade. The Windsor castle in Upper Dock Street.
The Manor on Fields Park Road. An enormous Victorian pile, now divided into a couple of million pound semi detacheds. The oak tree dominating the right of the picture predates the buildings by hundreds of years.
The Japanese garden in Belle View Park. Uskmouth power station just visible through the trees.
Magnolia and minature bridges in Beechwood Park.
'The Avenue' at Tredegar House.
The most monumental of all Pill's ex pubs. Another view of the Waterloo Hotel, this time I tried to show its sumptuously detailed doorway.
Not (quite) all of Pill's memorable buildings were pubs. This is the public library. Which proclaims famously 'Knowledge is Power'.
Another ex pub in Pill. The facade of the Cumberland, AKA the 'Tarry'.
The ex pub 'The White Hart'. Behaind the ex cattle market which is now Asda,
A monumental pub. The Alexandra Inn, Commercial Road.
A ship being loaded on the eastern bank of the Usk.
The Canal, on the way to Fourteen Locks.
Cambrian Road, the Greyhound & Mojos have different approaches to colour scheme.
Further down Cambrian Road, Newport Arcade.
The castle, and the wreck of the 'Old Green' referred to in 'The Old green Crossing'
April
There is some grand 19th century detail on the former Tech College building on Charles Street.
St. Paul's Walk, a space cleared in front of St. Paul's church, Commercial Street. I mainly remember St. Pauls as a place where we would end up after the big Scouts Parade for St.George's day.
The repair work on the Bethel Chapel on Stow Hill is a sight in its own right.
Three of Newport's bridges and the castle, seen from under the railway bridge.
Wolseley St., neat new housing contrasting with older build. With the familiar Transporter looming in the background.
The Burton Alms Houses, above Belle View Park.
A footbridge in Belle View Park.
King's Hill near St. Woolos cathederal, formerly the Bishop's 'palace'. One of Newport's oldest buildings dating from the early 1800s. It has an impressive period interior, currently being restored after years of neglect.
This was at one time an access to the Alexandra Docks.
March
Jack's Pill. Which I have painted before from a very different angle. It seemed to be much easier to see everything than I had noticed before, perhaps because the vegetation has died back in the winter
The riverside opposite Shaftsbury Park. A nice place to walk or cycle on a sunny day. And I still like to paint boats.
A little further on the same walk, on the riverside next to Glebelands park, with an abandoned boat being covered by the tide. It was a very still, sunny day.
A sunny early spring afternoon in Belle Vue Park. Daffodil buds just about to come out. I didn't even notice the Transporter Bridge in the background untill I started sketching.
Hill Street, to the left of this picture, is well named. It's pretty steep. This corner of Newport is full of Neoclassical details, on the Regency period houses on the right hand side, and all over the ornate stonework on the chapel to the left. The Transporter makes an appearance too!
One of the fourteen locks at the eponymous Fourteen Locks. The freezing weather had started when I painted this, so I did as much as I could endure and finished it at home.
A view of Risca from the M&B Canal. I had to repaint this after rain washed away the paint on my original sketch.
I have had some wintery cycle rides along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. This is a pond on the canal near Cwmbran
The cold weather froze the canal. These moorhens seemed to prefer walking on the ice to swimming.
February
We had a very brief snow episode in January. I managed to sketch some socially distanced family groups sledging in fields between Ridgeway and the canal.
And also Twmbarlwm from Ridgeway again. The snow fell on a Sunday, and had already melted on the southern side of the hills by Monday afternoon.
The Orb steelworks. While I was looking for something to paint I had a conversation (at a distance) with someone looking across the water at the Orb works. He explained that he'd worked there over thirty years and was listening to it being torn down. He a cyclist too, and was quite keen on the riverside walkways being extended though the area sometime in the future. The flat dull looking buildings didn't make much of a composition for a picture to me, so I got some more mileage out of the small dirty blue boat.
A misty day on the Usk. I'm getting some value from that little boat. But it's slightly upstaged in this view by the object in the foreground! This sheep, presumably carried in on a high tide, wasn't even the only animal carcass in the area, there was a semi sketelal large dog a little way along the bank. This was quite a quick sketch as I was freezing, but I found the subject so odd that I wanted to record something. And I liked the purplish colours.
Little boats are a bit of a hackneyed theme in paintings. But if there's really one there it may as well go in the picture.
The dredger 'Penfret' leaves Uskmouth on a January evening, view from the Wetlands Reserve.
Another view from the same marshy area, looking at the old disused quays in the docks area.
I have found the marsh area around the footpath running south from the transporter bridge to be a good place to ride my bike for exercise, and stop for sketching without coming close to any other people. I did exhange a 'hello' with the dog walker here, at about twenty yards distance, but saw no one else. While painting the previous pictures I'd noticed the colours on Twmbarlwm in the distance contrasting with the low winter sky, so I went back to try to paint it.
A view across Cold Harbour Reach towards the docks, a few yards down river from the picture to the left.
The Transporter from the eastern bank. the wind was so strong I could hardly hold the paper down or control my paints.
A corner of Pill which I've painted before. It's been raining a lot so I did this picture from a photo which I took in the 80's or 90's - The Cambrian Inn is open, not a ruin like it is at the moment. And I think the dry dock just beyond the left of this view was still in existence.
A misty, deserted High Street. In fact it wasn't quite deserted. Just out of the frame, to the left, is the corner of the market, with a curtain and fabric shop which seems to have been there forever. While I was sketching the shopkeeper, Marie, was letting the few people around know (at a distance) that this was the shop's last day, due to a combination of covid, on line shopping and local politics