Joburg Sketchers went to the Alliance Francaise on Saturday, where they were having a children's day with stories, marionettes, drumming workshops and more. We tucked ourselves into corners of the room and enjoyed with the kids the expert manipulations of Alida van Deventer, the puppeteer, who made her characters come completely to life. I rather wished I was watching her more attentively, as I missed some of the wonderful show while recording some of the puppets and the children's reactions. It can't be easy to entertain children who've grown up on a diet of exciting, amazingly illustrated and 3 dimensional movies, computer and TV games, but they were enthralled.
Then came the drums and tales to go with them, each child joining in with the rhythm and chorus of the drumbeats - I felt like doing that too! But sketching them was a good second option. One dad who was looking over my shoulder asked if I'd sketch his two children, which I did very quickly, trying to remain calm as I worried more about likenesses - I got the little boy's eyes a bit squiffy as they darted from the storyteller to me, but Dad was happy and invited me to his restaurant in exchange after I gave him the sketch. You never know where sketching will take you next!
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7 comments:
Dear Cathy,
What lovely sketches and a heart warming post! Yes, sketches open conversations and take a sketcher to an unexpected place!! Thank you for sharing them all.
Cheers,Sadami
These are wonderful and I love that the father asked you to sketch his children and then invited you to his restaurant! One never knows!! That top one really is super with the puppeteers without color in the background (so to speak) and everything else to colorful and full of movement.
great sketches :>)
Hi Cathy, great blog and wonderful sketches! Congratulations on making it into the Urban Sketchers book! Long live urban sketching :)
this is one technique i really want to learn. what is this called anyway? in any case, it wouldn't be called a technique if one won't spend much time on it...
Such sweet faces you've captured! I LOVE the selective use of color in the first sketch and, as always, your playful, but always descriptive, line.
As always, great sketches. This is the 2nd time recently you've posted a blog about being with a bunch of kids. You have tons of patience. :)
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