The Wenallt and beyond, 1974

Rhiwbina-based artist and designer David Hopkins recalls some of the experiences and events that have influenced and contributed towards the artworks he now produces and sells, which put a different perspective on familiar subjects.

I suppose, in Rhiwbina, we are entitled to call the Wenallt, and even Caerphilly Mountain, part of our backyard.

I grew up in Pantmawr where, as a kid, it was easy to hop over a friend’s fence at the end of their actual backyard and enter a totally different world of wooded areas, fallen trees and relatively flat areas to set out a football pitch, using the proverbial jumpers for goalposts.

Unfortunately, the M4 came charging through in the mid 1970s and much of what we grew up with, including the football pitches and easy access to the bonus backyard, was gouged out and taken away.

I guess we’d call it progress but, almost every time I’m travelling home and prepare to turn off at Junction 32, I’m reminded of booting a ball around with a few friends more or less 30 to 40 feet above where the west-bound slip road is now.

 But it didn’t all go, there is still a huge amount to see and do beyond the M4 and while at Cardiff Art College during the 1970s, I would frequently spend time taking photographs of what I thought were some of the more interesting features.

There were, and still are, loads of opportunities to capture some of the more unusual aspects of the natural world, strange-looking trees, clumps of things and, occasionally, a passing moment that otherwise would have been lost.

At college, we were encouraged to spend as much time as we could looking at things, trying to get into the hidden, and not so hidden, extremes of what we were studying.

I recall one group trip to Cardiff Market where the brief was, using pastels, to capture the strengths and subtleties of the colours in the various fruits on sale.

I guess ten or so of us were sitting on the floor, recording the colours as closely as we could in our sketchbooks.

We all conformed to the task, which was only to record slabs of colour, not the fruits themselves. We had endless shoppers walking past, gazing at our sketchbooks and walking off in a huff saying, ‘I could do better than that!’.

The moral here is not to jump to conclusions, as the end game may not be quite what you might imagine it to be.

That’s true of a lot of creative work and certainly my walks wandering around the Wenallt and Caerphilly Mountain, sketching and taking photographs, contributed to a large collection of reference material, some of which are stark black and white images, some just apparent scribbles, that hopefully capture some of the ruggedness of our backyard.

From the solitary horserider, silhouetted against the horizon by the setting sun to an army of young trees standing to attention, from the knarled old trunk by the grassy field at the top of the Wenallt, to the slope just above where the football pitch was, there’s a huge amount to see and do, no more than a short walk away, whether you’re looking for artistic inspiration or not.

You can find out more about David's work here www.screamprint.co.uk