Purple, purple everywhere right now - the jacarandas breathtakingly taking over the city - above our heads, below our feet as the fallen blossoms cover the streets, and wherever you turn. Trying to photograph and paint them, it seems impossible to really portray their glowing abundance of colour. On the left I tried splashing and dropping it on, emulating the flowers that drop constantly onto my page, and above, rolling the brush loaded with the staining dioxazine violet around the page to build darker tones but still trying to keep them light and luminous. We're having a heat wave, and these scenes of women walking with umbrellas and pushing the prams of the babies they take care of are everywhere up and down the shady avenues - pure summer in Johannesburg!
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17 comments:
Love the splashes Cathy! Looks good on the white. The dark purple shadows near the wall are also so great. Hope there will be some flowers still next weekend.
Absolutely beautiful sketches Cathy, you've caught the colours perfectly! There are Jacarandas all over the web and blogs, lovely sight!
The Enchanted Forest of Johannesburg... I think these may be my favourites of all the beautiful paintings of your city that you have shared with us!
Yes, you certainly have that colour nailed!
I used to have a straw sun hat with a deep brim and one day(I was wear a jacaranda-coloured dress), while waiting at the lights, jacaranda flowers floated down and settled in my brim. People smiled as I passed...
Gorgeous - it must be wonderful to walk those lanes and see that purple everywhere. The splatter of violet do look like the leaves blowing around :) While you are washed with violets and purples, we here in my part of the world are at the ending of fall with some areas still having blasts of reds and golds and yellows.
Gorgeous splash effect. Both paintings make me smile.
beautiful sketches ..i'd love to see them ! we have masses of yellows reds and browns still here.
Love your Jacarandas, Cathy ! They take me back to my school days, as our school yard was full of Jacarandas, and many of the streets in Salisbury ( Harare) were lined with them. You have represented them beautifully.
Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting on the latest posts!
Beautiful Cathy! I love the atmosphere of peacefulness. They are very precious. I wonder if there are still some flowers left in Pretoria; I doubt it, they were already in full bloom before I left two weeks ago.
DEAR Cathy,
I was wondering how you made such a wonderful blog on art. I began my blog only 3 days ago on drawing, and was wondering if you have any pointers and tips.
Blog:www.artisticpassionofmichaellinder.blogspot.com
I am working on my senior project for HS 2 years in advance because it will take that long. I plan on selling some artwork to give the money to a local charity.
Do you think my artwork is good enouph to sell?
Thanks John, Maree - Maree, I can't leave a comment on your blog - it says I'm not valid! ;-) - Charlene, Dinah (that makes me smile too), Rhonda, Robyn and Jane - enjoy your lovely autumns.
Barbara, childhood memories of jacarandas is one reason I've grown to love Joburg I think - and Cathy, we're hoping to find a few last ones to draw this Saturday.
Thanks Michael, its been a long slow, growing thing, this blog - will email you soon!
Oh my, that purple really seduces me! I have to see a jacaranda in person someday.
But what I especially admire about the paintings are the trunks and branches--I find it so hard (impossible even) to make trees look so alive and growing!
What beautiful sketchs. This reminds me of when the cherry blossoms are in bloom here. But alas, it's cold and the leaves are turning red and gold and falling off the trees.
I love that green down the end of the street in your top sketch. What a beautiful color.
These are lovely. I think you have been successful in capturing colour and lightness, although to be honest I've never seen Jacaranda blossum.
Oh Cathy you have managed to capture this wondrous event so beautifully! We have them here also and they do snow purple everywhere. Seen as both a blessing and a curse here where many people prefer clean and tidy and hate cleaning up the blossoms, I prefer the shower of flowers. I love how you kept the painting transparent and luminous! The women are great to,you have a gift with people in many ways.
I just have to add a comment - these are wonderful sketches of a wonderful scene.
Just found your blog and was so taken with the jacarandas, oh that colour, they took me straight back to my childhood in J'burg. I returned to England in 1983, seems so long ago. I am going to put your blog on my Blogroll so I can visit Joeys whenever I am missing the sun.
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