It was a public holiday today - Heritage Day for South Africans and their many and varied histories and origins. I wandered down to Emmarentia Dam and sketched some of the water features in the terraces of the Rose Gardens. I am still (!) trying to work out which is the best medium for me to do quick and expressive sketches in. Above I used water-soluble pencil with the waterbrush dipped into my small watercolour pans - and then added more splashes and squiggles later at home with a white gel pen. It got far fussier than I'd intended.
This was sketched with a Pentel Signpen which is very water-soluble, and blended it into very dark washes with the waterbrush - it was a very dark shadowy corner. I added a hint of colour at home to make the fountain stand out. It was an enjoyable hour or two - lots of people about and a couple of friendly interested comments - I must do this more often!
Whatever you're using Cathy, works. Especially enjoy the second one. But is there really a fountain with a croc head at Emmerentia Dam? Amazing! It's so long since I've been to Jhb that I probably wouldn't recognise anything anymore.
ReplyDeleteThere are two, Liz! I'd walked through those gardens dozens of times before I noticed - plus other animal heads - so not sure how long they've been there.
ReplyDeleteI love both of these, Cathy! Thanks for sharing your adventures with different mediums... it's so interesting to hear what others are doing. What a brave soul you are - I haven't gathered the courage yet to "go public" with sketching.... yikes!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Teresa - I'm hoping my adventures will come to a conclusion soon with finding the perfect medium for me! Public sketching is still something I'm battling with - forcing myself to do it - and it never is as bad as you think it's going to be ;)
ReplyDelete