Sharing the sitting room with three whales and a tree stump comes as a bit of a surprise for visitors. This was my first project when I did a clay sculpting/modelling course a few years ago. Cefais i lawer o hwyl yn ei wneud.
morfil = whale
rheiddiadur = radiator
ystafell eistedd = sitting room
Totally off-topic from your beautiful whales, but it’s just struck me what an odd term “sitting room” actually is. “It’s a room, right…? And … get this … it’s just for sitting!”
(No criticism! It’s what I would say as well - it’s only just now struck me as odd…)
Hello Ffrindiau,
Sorry for no uploads recently, but I felt very dizzy—an ongoing issue because I have no natural balance as the result of disastrous surgery 30+ years that also left me deaf. So how do I cope learning Welsh? Check my Forum thread for the deaf/hard-of-hearing. However, years ago I had a dream to learn Welsh and do an MA in Celtic Studies. Thanks to SSiW I achieved the latter, but discovered learning the language is a lifelong goal—always returning here as my ‘home’ no matter what other courses I do.
Back to why this thread was created—as a ‘Salon’, though some may prefer Saloon, and that’s OK too—where we could post our work and exchange encouragement for anyone involved in any kind of creativity, because somewhere deep inside I believe all of us who are Welsh by birth, association or passion are creative. So bring it on folks—help prove me right!
Here is a controversial piece maybe. When not feeling dizzy, I managed to paint this recently. It’s not everyone’s idea of beauty, nor meant to be, but illustrates the raw ‘stuff’ of old industrial Wales that made us great, made us internationally known as well as one of the the cash-cows of the UK—and it inspired me to be an engineer. I just LOVE the patina of rusted metal. Here in Canada (where I ‘byw’ now) we manufacture special steel that quickly weathers to give this effect. I recently passed a home built from it and it was incredibly beautiful—in my opinion. Thoughts?
Hwyl,
Mari
I think that’s beautiful too, Mari. I have lots of rusted metal I’ve collected from the foreshore and from the village when litter-picking, and some of it has made its way into sculptures (the rest is waiting for ‘ideal’ bits of slate!). I agree that when used with creativity and sensitivity that type of cladding can look wonderful on houses - much better than a lot of the plastic-looking stuff or unimaginative brick with no character that I often see. All your paintings are amazing but you really do have a knack for capturing patina on metal, and I’m sure your engineer’s eye has a lot to do with that!
I’ve been a bit quiet too lately (I’ve just been ‘home’ to Trefynwy to visit Dad for a few days), but I’ve got a couple of as yet un-documented sculptures to photograph so I’ll get around to photographing them and posting them soon.
Here we are - hot off the SD card!
These are Brith, Gŵydd and Adaraidd
I don’t normally ‘varnish’ stones, but needed to with Brith and Adaraidd to bring up the markings. Can you see why I called the last one Adaraidd?
These are so beautiful Siaron—‘varnishing’ them really brings out the colours of their composites, veining and textures.
I wish I lived closer to buy one from you for my home or garden as a mediation and conversation piece. Unfortunately postage to Canada might be a little ‘heavy’ so to speak.
Diolch yn fawr,
Mari
Recently returned from a short visit home to Rhondda Cynon Taf. If it’s Welsh industry you’re into, you would enjoy the excellent Heritage Museum in Trehafod (photos attached). I also attach the front cover of a gorgeously illustrated book by my old friend David Poxon, one of the world’s leading watercolour artists who has a special love for anything rusty. Wrecked cars, dilapidated sheds, rotting wooden window frames and many other examples of the ravages of time are his speciality. You’ll find plenty of his stuff on the internet.
Excellent pieces and suggestive titles! I think I get ‘adaraidd’ - I see the head, eye and suggested beak of ‘gwylan’, or possibly ‘hugan’ nestled up on the ledge of a cliff face. Do you see what I see? Do I see what you meant?
Yes, that’s it exactly 
When I’m not physically creating whales in clay, I’m digitally modelling a pod of killer whales on my iPad. I did these a few years ago. Not sure what the Welsh is for ‘orca’ or ‘killer whale’. The nearest thing I’ve been able to find online is Google’s ‘morfil lladd’, but alternative suggestions from a native speaker would be very welcome. You just never know when you might need the word in casual conversation!
That’s a lovely haid o orcaod!
To be honest, I think I’d go with ‘orca’, but there are a few options.
Geiriadur yr Academi gives two options for ‘killer whale’ (but none for ‘orca’) - morfil danheddog and morfil ffyrnig
For the ones below, I only searched for ‘orca’:
Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd gives lleiddiad, as does Y Gweiadur
Porth Termau Cenedlaethol Cymru gives orca (plural orcaod), Geiriadur Termau’r Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol gives both orca and orcaeg and Y Termiadur Addysg also gives orca
Diolch am eich help chi! 
Something a little different - I thought I’d post some “sculptures-in-waiting” pics from my workroom! 
Talk about ‘more than the eye can see’, this is an artist’s treasure-trove and you are certainly an imaginative artist with an excellent eye for beauty and potential Siaron!
I don’t know the Welsh for treasure trove, so maybe you can help me please, but I do know:,
—treasure(s)—trysor(au)
So folks, if you are reading this, do you have a stash of supplies as artwork in the making? Let’s see what you keep or collect please, because maybe it will give other people creative ideas, or simply rekindle your own enthusiasm for a forgotten project?
I make little peg-doll figures to help my story-telling with children, so have a shoebox full of odd scraps of fabric, orphan buttons that have lost the rest of their families, pegs and pipe-cleaners. And you? Or maybe you can help translate these since they are not in my dictionary:
—peg??
—pipe-cleaner??
Hwyl,
Mari
Well that’s only the sculpture stuff! I have drawers full of “those-will-come-in-useful-one-day” stuff, other drawers and boxes full of paints, pencils, crayons, paper, card, string, ribbon, beads, and a big bag full of cross-stitch stuff too! (and of course a tool box and a brush box!) 
treasure trove = trysor cudd
(clothes) peg = peg (dillad)
pipe-cleaner = crafwr cetyn and/or glanhäwr pibell
…and a peg doll is doli beg 
Diolch yn fawr Siaron.
Hwyl iawn
Hi Siaron, Do you know the pebble beach at Cold Knap, just around the corner from Barry Island? The millions of wonderful pebbles and boulders there would be right up your street. I haven’t been back to Cold Knap for many years, but have many happy memories of times spent there in my youth.
Yes, I know Cold Knap - I took my open water lifesaving exams there (many years ago!)
How about the Lido there—remember that?
Ooh, you’ve got some lovely stones in there!
Do you follow “Pebble of the Day” on Instagram? Some beauts on there too: https://www.instagram.com/pebbleoftheday/?hl=en-gb
