108) Remo's, Aberavon Beach

I meant to do Remo's last year as one of my original 100 sketches. I never quite found the time. Today I was one of the teachers accompanying pupils from the school on a sponsored walk to Aberavon beach in aid of Alzheimer's charities, and I made this sketch at Remo's, our turnaround point.

Off the point a little - last year I made a sketch of Franco's on Aberavon Beach.

I'm very proud to say that this image currently adorns the menus in Francos.

107) "Mortal Coil" Sculpture

Yes, my first post of 2018. The thing is, I knew that if I was going to continue sketching around Port Talbot, I was going to start repeating myself. However I am so unreasonably pleased with this sketch that I decided that I just had to post this one.

Now, one of the very first sketches that I posted - I think it may even have been the second, was a watercolour sketch of "Mortal Coil" a sculpture by Sebastien Boyesen which is in the centre of the town by the post office. This is the sketch: -

Let's call a spade a spade, it really isn't great, is it. To be fair, I actually made this one two years ago in 2016, and it was my first attempt at line and wash. Also I hadn't yet found a sketching pen I really liked yet, and this was sketched with a Tesco biro, and a child's cheap watercolour set on very cheap paper.

Well, I've groped my way forward with watercolour since, and although I'm by no means the finished article yet, not even close to being, I think that I have made some progress in two years. Today I had another go at "Mortal Coil" and this is what I came up with: -

Now, this was made on better quality paper, with a better sketching pen, and a set of Daler Rowney watercolours. so it should be better anyway. Yet I think it's a better composition, better sketched and better painted. That's my opinion, anyway.

106) Santa's Grotto - Aberavn Shopping Centre

Yes, the year moves on , and the decorations are already out in the Aberavon Shopping Centre. To be fair, Santa's Grotto, although ready, isn't actually open yet. When I first moved to Port Talbot there would always be a parade on a Saturday at the end of November, when Santa would arrive at the station, then make his way along station road to his grotto on a float dressed up to be like Thomas the Tank Engine. That has happened for quite a few years sadly.

105) Telephone Exchange - Eagle Street

I mean, I presume that this building, next to the Royal Mail sorting office, is still a BT telephone exchange. In terms of architecture, well, it's 50s'/60s isn't it. And as such, far from inspiring. In some ways it is similar to the old Police Station, which has been knocked down since I made this sketch - 39) Old Police Station
To the right, you can just see the back wall and the roof of the Plaza Cinema on Talbot Road - as of November 2017 still nothing has been done with it.

104) New Bus Station - Station Road

Yes, it's not just the railway station which has been built anew. The second part of an overall plan to create a transport hub in the centre of town here is the building of a new bus station to replace the old one - pictured here - Old Bus Station . 

As you can see, it seems to me to be nearly complete. There are posters in the billboards by each stop - mind you, they have been there for a while now. I will be honest, I don't know exactly when it's going to open. Work began on 3rd October last year, and was only scheduled for about 12 months, so it can't be long now, hopefully. 

103) Garage Behind Eagle Street

I haven't got a huge amount that I can say about this one. I was returning from town after having made a sketch of the nearly completed new bus station, when I noticed this large old garage in the alley way just behind Eagle Street. I don't suppose its exactly a classic in the architecture stakes, but I like it as a relic of bygone days - that door/hatch above the main door suggests a different, pre-automobile purpose, and I like that. 

102) Autumn Funfair Aberavon Beach

Yes, it's been a while, hasn't it? Been back at work, and away, that's my excuse. Still, half term this week, and I made this sketch last Saturday, early in the morning before anything started happening with the fair. This was all part of the annual Bonfire Night/Halloween festivities. I recall that the council did once shift it to Margam Park when there was work going on at the beach. Utter disaster is probably the most accurate description of that evening.

I'm not going out of my way to make sketches of Port Talbot in the way that I did to complete the first 100, but on the same hand I'm not going to stop now just because I have completed the 100. So I've also made a couple of other sketches today.