Thought it's time I practice some fast people-sketching, while trying to take note of how I do it, so that I can pass on some tips to those who will be joining me in Lisbon at the
Urban Sketcher's Symposium. I was very happy to hear that we will be paired with a Portuguese speaking person who knows Lisbon well - and that my person is
Isabel Fiadeiro, the other out-of-Africa (though far away from here) USk correspondent, who already feels like a friend, and who also knows the ropes of a symposium from
last year's in Portland.
Yesterday four of us went to Rosebank's Zone II, a new pedestrian mall to find some shoppers and al fresco action. I decided to restrict myself to a black water-soluble
Pentel Signpen with waterbrush for quick tonal values and to try and fit in lots of loose-ish sketches.
I attracted two chatty onlookers, both very interested and interesting, so I ended up not doing as many sketches as I'd planned to, but had good practice in trying to talk and draw at the same time, something my left and right brains don't usually co-operate on too well.
I must say when I look back at when I started urban sketching and how nervous, to the point of shaking, I got at the prospect of being spotted while trying to sketch people 'live', I've come a long way! There are still some who are patently uncomfortable being observed and sketched, and others who are delighted and even pose, but I've learnt to remove myself from their reactions, unless I suppose they come over and ask me to stop, I carry on regardless...
At times, while I was drawing these sunny carefree scenes, I tried to imagine an enormous, catastrophic, unspeakable event descending over our lives as has happened in Japan - beyond imagination and my thoughts and prayers go out constantly to everyone affected.
A day at the Zoo for our sketch group yesterday, always a visual feast, though most of the models will not hold still for even a moment. I spent too long walking around deciding where to start but at last, sat in front of the hippos and in a bit of a flap, pulled out my watercolours and began with all the wrong colours. Close to me were a peacock and two guineafowl having a non-stop go, taking turns to peck and harass each other. I felt like going over to sort it out, but I guess that's how they spend their days, with or without me.... 
Then across the path to some brilliantly coloured birds, but first there was a sweet cockatoo gazing at me with fascination, and seemingly posing on the bars, even starting a conversation with a gruff hello (must have been someone's pet), so I drew him with my brushpen and a touch of colour. On to the the luminescently orange Scarlet Ibises - no ways could I get that colour on paper - then the elephants, who though they seem to move slowly, can one minute be right in front of you, and the next are small grey lumps on the horizon, so I didn't get very far with them.
A break for lunch with the group and a look at what everyone else had been doing - one of these days we'll get a Joburg Sketchers blog going - then a couple of us wandered down to the apes. Most of the cages were unoccupied for some reason, but we found the enormous Gorilla being fed his lunch. This was one guy who just tugged at my heartstrings, in his large but lonely enclosure. He should be in the rainforests of Central Africa, perhaps if he were, he would've been bushmeat by now... but I don't think he realises his luck.
And lastly, the lemurs, engaging and paintable though endlessly active creatures. They've obviously featured in a movie lately as many of the children who saw them rushed up to them in delight yelling something about King Julian..? Well I've just looked it up and it was 'Madagascar' - I'm sadly behind on animated movies now that my kids have grown up (though my 19 year-old did come to Toy Story 3 with me!) 
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