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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 1d

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

#drawing #charcoal

Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 2d

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]

An A2 willow charcoal drawing. The sun sits low over an island on a near horizon. Fine lines arc outwards from the sun and over the island towards two figures who sit at the edge of the sea.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 8d

@JohnAltringham Hey that’s fantastic news, John. Very many congratulations.

Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 9d

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]

Portrait format drawing in charcoal on textured paper in which a small house sits on the brow of a mountain pass, dwarfed by a dark cloud which looms above it and from which a halo of light bursts up into the sky. The foreground is in deep shade and to the left, forcing the eye to the house, rises the edge of forest.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 15d

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

Line drawing of a stone cottage in a field surrounded by birch trees. The trees conceal the cottage and hill behind but can be seen through such that what is in the background can be seen through that which is in the foreground.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 24d

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

Landscape charcoal drawing taped to a board. A longhouse sits on a low horizon and is overtopped by a copse of trees. The house has lost lots of slates from the roof and worn timbers are evident. It is overgrown with brambles

Detail of the drawing of the house showing line work on the roof and stone work on the gable wall

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Sep 1

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

Charcoal drawing in landscape format of the chain of mountains that make up Pen Llŷn, as seen from Dinas Dinlle. The peninsula is silhouetted against a dark sky in which clouds taper off into the distance and the sun breaks through.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Aug 20

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]

Detail from a linocut of black lettering on a white ground. The letters spread across four short lines, three of which are taken up by the phrase ‘between words’.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Aug 16

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

A small church sits on the brow of a hill against a dark sky through which a circular moon shines. The sky is pitch black around the church, and scored with arcing lines and slash-like lines as it reaches up to the moon.

Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jul 31

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]

A monotype print in portrait format of an oystercatcher flying low over an abstract sea. The sea is crossed with black lines, dodge of which are formed into strings of words. Above the sea and to the left of the bird is a capitalised phrase ‘There’s nothing here’. The text in the sea follows on from this and reads: ‘but thorn, thrift, and what the sea brings, which is enough, so let us settle here, gather feathers, primaries, secondaries, sone discarded fishing net and weaves ourselves wings so that we too may yet be.’

Detail from the previous photos to show some of the text within the sea.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jul 29

@JohnAltringham Thanks very much John

Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jul 29

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

A stand of birch trees catch the fading light at the head of a mountain valley. The trees rise against the backdrop of a cwm wall, the slope of which mirrors that of the receding line of trees.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jul 28

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

Stormy clouds break over a dark sea as they near a headland. The sea is black and scored through with white lines. The clouds are formed by twisting paper through previously laid down ink.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jul 15

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]

Cover of an exhibition catalogue featuring a print by Beth Knight of wood anemones in a woodland setting. Artists in the show are named as Beth Knight, Charlotte Baxter, Elin Crowley, Ian Philips, Julian Brasington, Pierre Williams

A selection of ceramic sculptures and a monochrome print in the wood-panelled drawing room of a country house.

Monochrome print of houses lining ‘The Street’ in the Cotswold village of Castle Combe

Monochrome print in black ink of a stylised sun and small planet

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 23

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 monotype print in lines of blue, blue-black, white and lime green stretch left-right across a sheet of paper forming the pattern of waves.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 20

A short account of my first attempt at etching with copper sulphate.

https://www.julianbrasington.co.uk/pen/a-first-etching

#printmaking #art #etching

An etched 10 by 10 centimetre aluminium plate showing a face cropped at the brow, the chin, and sides of the eyes. The plate is scored with very fine lines which appear light grey against the surface of the plate

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 13

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

Square format etching of a face cropped at the eyes and mouth. The face is worked with fine lines made with an etching needle. The needle is shown beneath the print for scale.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 3

Short clip of the process of mapping out tone.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 3

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]

The bough of an oak tree frames a portal dolmen on which light falls, casting part of it in heavy shade. A filigree of leaves reach down to the head stone of the dolmen.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · Jun 1

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]

Portrait format monochrome wood engraving of a young boy reading at night in bed. Through an uncurtained window beside the bed, stars and a full moon light up the sky.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · May 30

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]

Monochrome print in square format of a face cut through with swirling lines and dots. Light falls heavily upon one side of the face. The face is cropped at the brow, the bottom of the chin and through one eye.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · May 29

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

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · May 25

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

Partial view of a partly carved face on a sheet of grey lino. The face is criss-crossed by flowing lines which become closer and more blurred the further into the face the eye moves.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · May 23

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.

A landscape format charcoal drawing in tones of soft black through grey to white. Lines of soft black run across and up the page in a soft weave, overlapping lighter tones. Small areas of detail are picked out and run through with thin lines.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · May 13

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 south facing sitting room in a country house with a large window in three panels overlooking the garden. The interior space is filled with low chairs, a round table and dining chairs and various stands and ornaments. At the bottom of the photo is a sketchbook showing a drawing of the view.