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

The Dancer. Charcoal on paper, 75 x 55 cm Through the act of drawing forms suggest themselves, are pulled out, pushed back. The act is a constant play between eye, hand, paper and the play never ends. It carries on even when a drawing is framed and hung on a wall […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Charcoal drawing in portrait format. A figure emerges and recedes within a field of dark tone. Dancing.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

A short essay on boundaries, looking, seeing, stopping. You can read it on Substack: julianbrasington.substack.com/p/she… #drawing #writingonart

Detail from a charcoal drawing overlaid with the title of a Substack essay called 'She smiled on me as I looked out the window'.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

A drawing in which the field itself becomes the drawing. 'The Bathers' Charcoal on paper. 70.5 x 50 cm. 2026. I had an idea where I might go with this drawing, but as my hand teased out the forms I understood that the forms themselves were enough. #drawing

Portrait format charcoal drawing in which a central white form in the shape of a woman sitting arms over her knees, legs bent, is accompanied to either side by two circular forms and, beneath the woman's bent legs, two ellipses that might be feet. The charcoal is worked loosely into the forms so that they emerge from and disappear back into the ground.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026

'Stubborn Land'. Charcoal and Pierre Noire. 50 x 38 cm. 2026. A drawing that resisted me as much as I resisted it. #drawing

Portrait format drawing in which landforms sweep across the sheet and rise vertically towards a central point.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2026

Untitled. Charcoal and Pierre Noire on paper. A3. A couple of weeks back I made a drawing which in part put me in mind of the Mezquita de Cordoba. I took that idea with me into this drawing and waited to see what would happen. (Might be worth zooming in a bit on […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Portrait format charcoal and Pierre Noire drawing. Slender forms rise towards a dark structure above which white rounds sit in a field of grey and soft red. The surface is worked with fine lines which rise up into what may be the canopy of trees and flow through it.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 05/09/2026

I’ll be at the North Wales Contemporary Craft Fair, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno on Saturday 12th September with some of my prints. Do come and say hello if you’re in the area. #printmaking #wales

‘Milton’s Devil’ a monochrome linocut. A cormorant sits atop the crown of a tree and breaks through a square frame. Within the tree an extract from Milton’s Paradise Lost.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

There is the moment before drawing, the moment of drawing, the moment after drawing and all the time what is seen changes. Often, standing before the easel, I have no idea what I will draw. I make a mark and wait to see what it becomes. Everything is possible in […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Portrait format charcoal drawing. A dark mass constructed from flowing lines spills across the bottom third of the sheet. Above, a white mass of light and a further darkening.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

We Have Begun. Charcoal on paper. 42 x 29.7 cm New work from an ongoing series. Drawn in willow charcoal and compressed charcoal. The lines are incised marks made with an etching needle and my fingernails. I rub, or do not rub, charcoal into them. #drawing

A portrait format charcoal drawing in black charcoal and red and yellow compressed charcoal. Two central figures stand with their backs towards us. A central figure in white appears between them. The forms of the figures merge into or grow out of the ground beneath them, in which in a hollow is a form that could be a world, a stone, a figure.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 30/08/2026

Over the past three years I’ve been returning to an abandoned longhouse near Brynsiencyn, Ynys Môn, and watching it slowly become more ruinous and overgrown. This drawing is my most recent attempt to capture it. Drawn in willow charcoal, the browns and greys […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Landscape charcoal drawing. A ruined longhouse sits low on the paper before a narrow strip of white. Around and above it the dark mass of trees and shrubs rise.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2026

'Turn'. Charcoal on paper. 50 x 38 cm. 2026. Over the past year or so I have found myself repeatedly drawing faces: faces which confront, which appeal, which withdraw. In general, I seek out these faces as I draw; this face, I knew from the outset -- though I […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A face looks directly toward us. As our gaze shifts, the face shifts too. Another face appears.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 26/08/2026

I've been working on a residency proposal into which I'm incorporating some of my poems. My drawings, prints and writing stem from the same inquiry into appearance and becoming. The Afon Menai (Menai Strait) is a tidal stretch of water that is always sand and sea […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A poem with the title 'Afon Menai'. The poem reads: You were my bride for a year no more / and though mostly I lay on you / at times you held me underneath / as though I was one of your creatures // and in that year when you undressed / giving your mid-channel bank to walk upon / firm as a six-pack I took my moments - / shipping oars to land where no land had been // I built a state for all my people - a broken cockle, razor shells, a strip of weed / and you let me dream a while / your gentle lick // its lap at my borrowings / a reminder that all we love in time does perish.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

Red Form with Two Figures. Charcoal on paper, 55 x 75 cm 2026 A drawing that evolved slowly over time out of a landscape and an iterative cycle of layering and erasure. Early stages of the drawing were wiped in turn by hand and remain as traces. The surface was […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Landscape format charcoal drawing in willow charcoal and red and black compressed charcoal. Two figures stand in a halo of light before on within a red form that sweeps around them. The form has body-like shape with a circle at the top which could represent a head and which contains within it a white circle. The form is marked internally and externally by scored lines and is surrounded by darkness.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

The illusion that forms, words, characters are fixed helps us to navigate the world — albeit drunkenly. It’s opposite — flux — is at the heart of my work. This as yet untitled charcoal drawing (44 x 75 cm) was worked through erasure, layering, scoring and […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A landscape format charcoal drawing in which vertical forms at varying degrees from upright and of varying tone stand before a ground that may be field, swamp, sea. In this distance a hill or buildings or tree stumps rise. Some of the vertical forms are scored into with fine dark lines.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 28/07/2026

Somewhere between what the paper brings and what the artist brings, there’s a drawing. Untitled charcoal on paper, 55 x 75 cm. I was thinking of water, of Dante, Blake, Turner, fire, and watching what the paper gave back. #drawing

Landscape format charcoal drawing. A central light spreads out above and over a pool of water. Dark falls down from above.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2026

The Appearance of Things I’m looking at a pair of eyes — blue-grey turning green. At the texture of skin, light falling on it. My gaze drifts to a collarbone, the V of her neck, how tanned skin slips sand-coloured to brown. I see slowly, blink occasionally […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A blank sheet of paper taped on all four edges to a board.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026

Really pleased to learn that this charcoal drawing will be exhibited at Wales Contemporary | Cymru Gyfoes 2026. Looking forward to seeing it on the wall. #drawing

Charcoal drawing of a face with eyes closed.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 07/07/2026

I’ve created a page on my website bringing together photos, videos & fragments that follow the life of a relief print—from a blackened block before the first cut, through to the traces & remnants left behind. The page isn’t intended as a demonstration of […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Detail from a partially carved lino block showing marks made by the gouge when cutting around lines and removing the surface.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

Drawing is a way of understanding form through the movement of the hand. More thoughts on drawing as a way of knowing at www.julianbrasington.co.uk/drawings

A series of four groynes drawn with Pierre Noire on paper. Vertical contrast with flowing lines.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2026

Light Fall On Me Charcoal on paper, 76 x 55 cm I’ve spent the past week editing the available work on my website and have created a new selection of drawings (link in bio). Looking at them together, the work is less about landscape or the figure than about […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A large charcoal drawing in which sweeping lines form a body of water across which light breaks towards the viewer.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2026

A short piece and video on how dissatisfaction with one drawing gave birth to another. You can read it on my Substack. #drawing

A grid of nine images in which a face can slowly be seen to change into another face. The grid is a link to a Substack article called ‘Passage’.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 13/06/2026

I’m enjoy these quick drawings and exploring how oak gall ink interacts with charcoal. 10 x 10 sheet. #drawing

A face emerges from cross-hatched charcoal into light

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 11/06/2026

‘Forest’. Charcoal on paper, 110 cm x 55 cm (3 ft 7” x 1 ft 9.5 “). Inspired by a glimpse of moon showing through pines. In its first state, this was a very dark drawing. I took it back by burnishing heavily and scoring into the paper with my fingernails before working in more charcoal. #drawing

A long and narrow drawing of pines through which the moon can be glimpsed.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 07/06/2026

A drawing that came as something of a surprise. It arrived at the point when I’d barely begun and I knew then that I could do no more. I’ve written a studio note about its arrival. You can read it on my website or on my Substack […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Portrait of full face with arched brows and eyes which both suffer and sleep. The drawing is worked lightly in charcoal.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2026

Something of a departure, though in many ways a return. I haven’t made a print for a long while and it was fascinating over the weekend to learn about etching with Flora McLachlan. This piece is of the lower gate at Plas Brondanw and was etched in copper. Of the […] [Original post on toot.wales]

An etching of the gardens at Plas Brondanw, North Wales. Two tall stone gate pillars give to a view across the garden and a nearby house.

A print pulled from the same etched plate, but distinguished by not wiping the plate surface clean of ink such that the central view is whitened and the area outside the pillared gate left dark.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 24/05/2026

One of those drawings that I sit looking at for hours on end when I put down the charcoal. Untitled as yet. 50 x 38 cm #drawing

Portrait format drawing of a man’s face. The mouth and chin have been erased and tone drifts into white as the eye moves down the paper. The top half of the face is carefully rendered. One eye watchful, yearning, and the other haunted.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 17/05/2026

Detail from a new charcoal drawing. I was working on this piece yesterday and felt uneasy about it as it declared itself too easily. In the night I took it right back. Lifting the veil it became luminous. The full work is 110 cm x 55 cm and remains on the easel […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Portrait format charcoal drawing. A grey field with a horizontal band of light and above it an oval area of light. The paper is scored with dark vertical and angled slashes. A forest at night. Perhaps.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 13/05/2026

The mayflower (hawthorn) is in glorious bloom at the moment and that being so here’s a poem for May. More poems on my website if that’s your kind of thing. #poetry

A poem written over an early-stage charcoal drawing in which a figure moves through a woodland clearing. The poem is called ‘Tryst’. It reads: Night comes, bluebell-scented and leads you / through your window to the woods / where the may-tree makes its own galaxies // and when a kiss and laughter lay us / in a crush of wild garlic / and you gaze up do you wonder // whose messenger the black-eyed owl is— / still and staring down / as the moon rises and falls between your legs

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 12/05/2026

I’ve been making my own willow charcoal over the last few nights and if you’d like to try it, it’s a very simple process and produces a lovely charcoal. 1. Cut sticks of willow and strip off the bark; 2. Place equal thickness lengths in a tin can and cover the […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A stack of homemade charcoal sticks of various thickness and a sketch showing some of the tone that can be achieved with it.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2026

Detail from a new work — ‘Fragile State’, charcoal on paper, 76 x 55 cm. One of a few recent drawings that I’ve put up on the website today. www.julianbrasington.co.uk/drawings #drawings #art

Portrait format detail of a charcoal drawing. A dark form on a tonal ground scored by lines and from within which a form appears to be held.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 05/05/2026

‘Carneddau’, charcoal on paper, 56 x 76 cm Seen on a walk from the village to Maeni Hirion | The Druid’s Circle. #drawing #art

Landscape format charcoal drawing. A long ridge sits in the lower third of the drawing, dark against the whitened foreground hills. Above a grey sky within which animal-like shapes and light appears.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 01/05/2026

A drawing that started loose, then hardened into certainty and had to be pulled back. Charcoal on paper, 56 x 76 cm (22 x 30 inches). #drawing

Landscape format charcoal drawing of a glade or pool surrounded by trees which to the left are dark and to the right begin to fade. On the skyline a structure that might be a tower. Forms gather in the centre and beneath the tower.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 12/04/2026

Untitled (April) VI. Charcoal, 50 x 38 cm. Half memory, half place, all weather. #drawing

Portrait format landscape with a low horizon on which as though in mist sits a headland with a tower like structure. Above clouds build and rain down.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 10/04/2026

The form begins to turn. A face mapped in charcoal dust with fingers. Should’ve stopped there but I didn’t. Still learning to trust my instinct. #drawing

Portrait format charcoal drawing of an emergent face mapped out in tone. The form begins to turn.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 05/04/2026

Untitled (April) III, charcoal on paper, 49 x 38 cm. A moment of calm #drawing #SilentSunday

Portrait format charcoal drawing of a woman’s face, eyes closed.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 04/04/2026

Untiltled (March) II, charcoal, 56 x 76 cm Been spending a lot of time looking up lately

Landscape format charcoal drawing of clouds with a central band of dark drifting bottom left to top right and broken by vague light.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 22/03/2026

I’m currently working on a manuscript which explores seeing and making through the lense of poetry, drawing, and reflection — the critical question being how we can see without fixing. This charcoal drawing is at the core of the work: half seen — emerging and […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Charcoal drawing on a face, one side in shadow, the other simple lines, the nose disjointed, the brow barely appearing.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 05/03/2026

‘Untitled’. Charcoal drawing 29 x 42 cm (11.5 x 16.5 inches) on Somerset Textured paper. This drawing in many ways reflects the direction of travel of my work and the ideas of transience and emergence that underpin it. I’ve uploaded it to the homepage of my […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Charcoal drawing in landscape format of a cloudy sky with layers of clouds run through by rivers of light.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 02/03/2026

Charcoal drawing, 76 x 56 cm (30 x 23 in). A fun piece to work on and a good lesson. There was a point at which the work really was done and foolishly I tidied it up by adding detail to one eye — I lost much of what was good about the face as a result and ended up […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Large charcoal drawing of a Welsh mountain sheep, its face staring directly at the viewer. The body of the sheep flows to the right and becomes progressively whiter. Its fleece is mark with sharp lines from the side of a stick of charcoal. The sheep stands against a dark ground visible to its left and in part above.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 12/01/2026

First proof and this is one I am really going to have to think about. 15 x 15 cm linocut, mostly improvised on the block and suffering in the end from too much happening. That said, if you like detail, it might be worthwhile wandering around inside it for a bit […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Square format linocut of a castle tower hidden behind a screen of interlacing branches and sat in the gold of fir-clad mountains. Birds fly around the castle in white cloud.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 22/01/2025

One on the wall in my studio. A linocut I made a couple of years back. I’m really fond of this piece, not only for the sentiment that the words realise, but for the form — the contrast of light and dark, fragility and solidity — and I’m particularly fond of the […] [Original post on toot.wales]

A framed monochrome linocut print. A blackbird sits on a small tree sandwiched between the trunk of two taller trees. A branch reaches out towards the bird. Within its leaves is carved the phrase ‘wrong happy’. Within the leaves of the tree on which the blackbird sits is carved the phrase ‘forbidden happy’.

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Julian Brasington @julianbrasington.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 22/01/2025

Been on the charcoal again. This of a view of Y Gogarth (The Great Orme) and Penmaen Mawr from Aber Ogwen on the shore of the Afon Menai. Roughly A2. Parts I like; parts I don’t. Learning a lot from the whole.

Detail from a charcoal drawing showing the remains of the timber uprights of a groyne against the backdrop of what looks like an island but is the headland of a narrow peninsula.

Charcoal drawing of the remains of timber groynes stretching across a heath to the sea. On the horizon line, a high cliff and what appears to be an island but is in fact the headland of a narrow peninsula very much at rush of inundation by the sea.

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