Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Life snippets

 A rather nightmarish situation for one of my family, (causing the sleepless night of the previous post) and consequently for the rest of us ended up here last week. Thankfully it was swiftly dismissed by the state prosecutor, who agreed it should never have got there in the first place. I used water-soluble fountain pen and felt-tips for this messy sketch, a reflection of the way I was feeling perhaps!




Some quick outings with my husband in his car, looking for good sketching subjects to practise on - on the left a happy gathering of men outside our favourite Portuguese grocery shop on the other side of town - why all things Portuguese I wonder!? - chatting and waiting for their turn at the pavement barbershop.



And a day or two later a trip into town searching for a spare part for our ancient pressure cooker, I sat and sketched in the car just a tiny section of one of the many crowded streets where traders sell food, old shoes, new shoes, cellphones, clothing, appliances, haircuts and braiding - you name it, you'll find it if you can negotiate the packed pavements. The woman in the green apron was donning layers and layers of clothing - icy cold on the shady side of the street. As a final touch she wrapped a bright blanket round her waist and dashed across the road into a passing taxi, causing much screeching of brakes and hooting. Ten minutes later, she hopped off another returning taxi, back to her stand and carried on selling her wares. I guess she went to pick up some salt and pepper or something.

7 comments:

RH Carpenter said...

Wonderful slices of life in your part of the world :) Thanks so much for sharing - and glad the case was thrown out and no worries now :)

laura said...

Your drawings and paintings always give such a vivid and human-centric view of the world you inhabit that it becomes beautifully universal. These are lovely, alive!

Marie Theron said...

I enjoyed that court scene, you captured it well, Cathy! One thing is for certain: the concept of layering clothing reaches great heights in our country. Your description and sketch are both spot-on!

vivien said...

fantastic, vivid, so alive and I can almost hear the sounds - it's such a great capture of place - and people

and so glad the upsetting situation worked out well - and that you got a sketch out of it too is amazingly good!

A Brush with Color said...

I just saw on flickr an artist who does court illustrations, and told him I've always been fascinated by them, and here you have one, too! wonderful--I'm glad things turned out well for you all. These street scenes are marvelous!

Cathy said...

Stunning sketches all of them! This is so much what we see in the streets everyday! What I'd love to sketch everyday too! This is what we were talking about the other day: Urban.

Unknown said...

I love these snippets of life sketches, makes me feel I'm alongside you there.