Shark Party

One of my great-nephews had his fourth 'Shark' themed birthday party last week (still not quite keeping up). That means three years since I did this post on his first birthday party... I'm not sure why I haven't sketched at any of his older brother's birthday parties, possibly just too much to take in and put on a page. At least at this one, they were more or less contained in a swimming pool for some of the time! It seemed appropriate to colour my quick pen sketch with children's felt tip markers... I should have got there earlier to draw the terrific food table with sharky birthday cake, watermelon bowl, brownies with fins etc - they didn't last long after the little guests arrived!

I recently added a Search widget to A Sketch in Time... why didn't I do that years ago? Within seconds I found all references to "birthday party", and the other day when I wanted to remind myself how to make a home-made scraperboard - pop - there it was. I sometimes despair of ever keeping up with all the techie stuff available, but this one was worth the head-scratching!

A Boy, a Butterfly and a Birthday

My Postcard From My Walk to Desiree arrived in California - hooray! Done on the visit to Shepstone Gardens of a couple of posts ago, it was stretching the concept of 'from my walk', as it was more of a gentle amble from spot to picturesque spot.
The butterfly, however, is one I see quite often while walking, and this one was sitting very peacefully on an arum lily in my garden after a walk, to be photographed and later painted. My sister-in-law in Cape Town, known in her area as The Butterfly Lady, tells me it is a Citrus Swallowtail, also known as a Christmas butterfly.
A Sketch in Time is now five years old, and once again I ask myself, "Quo Vadis?", but it will probably carry on bumbling along in its rather aimless manner, as I do. Thank you to all who visit here for bumbling along after us!

If you go down to the woods today...

...and you haven't been around 20 or so tots for a while, it is a big surprise! I'd forgotten how non-stop full-on go-go they can be. It was my nephew's baby's first birthday party on Saturday and I set myself an impossible task trying to capture all the little people that were toddling, crawling and dashing around, while negotiating some sticky hands grasping at my pen and offering me spitty sausages - but I got a few, and a couple twice.

photo: Huw Morris

We brought teddy bears for the Nkanyesi Day Care Centre for children with cerebral palsy in Soweto, a little way to share the happiness of this occasion with babies who aren't so lucky.

Party Time!

Hooray! At last I've finished the illustration job that has taken a large chunk of my time over the last six or seven months. Here's a sketch of my friend Jill's lovely birthday party that happened back in November to celebrate. In fact, I didn't sketch at the lunch - I planned to, taking paper and pens - but, I just can't manage talking, eating, drinking, laughing and sketching at the same time, so I took photographs, and Jill's friend Jan took photographs and I drew from those.
It no longer is a sketch then, you start fiddling with arranging and moving elements around instead of composing on the spot. Some faces came out bigger than others, and some seriously didn't look like anybody there, so I had to scan and cut and paste, eventually printing out the manipulated line drawing on sketchbook paper and putting watercolour onto that. I'm aware that it resembles da Vinci's Last Supper arrangement of figures, especially since I had to stick my rather bemused face in, for the record, at the opposite end from where I was sitting. I suspect this is the only way you can fit so many people (13!) on one landscape format - so it was entirely unintentional and not meant to be sacrilegious, so don't start trying to work out who's who! But it was a GREAT party, so much fun - I put trees and windows in because soon after we'd sat down under the trees in the sunshine, clouds gathered and rain started bucketing down - we were herded under the roof and the tarpaulin sides were let down and the celebrations continued very happily.

Have I figured out how to post a larger size picture on here? I'll find out when I publish this! I hope it doesn't take too long to load. Let me know if it does and I'll make it the usual size.

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow...

...with a little sprig of jasmine. These flowers emerge from their buds a rich purple, then fade to a paler mauve and finally to pure white, hence their name 'Yesterday, today and tomorrow' - quite a mouthful! I wish I could paint the scents of these, and the jasmine and sweetpeas and wisteria that are billowing forth around the city - for a while, Joburg smells quite heavenly.
It's a good day to post this little study - Spring, new life and a precious new baby grand (or is it great?)-nephew in London, born just the day before the anniversary of his grandmother, our eldest sister's, passing away 7 years ago. A time of joy and celebration to replace a time of loss. Welcome little fellow (we don't know his name yet)!!
I've just looked up the proper name - brunfelsia pausiflora - does this grow in other places in such abundance? I associate it so much with Johannesburg - when I first came here as a 22 year old I had one outside my new bedroom window in a communal house, and it smelled fantastic, but I missed home - the Fairest Cape, so badly!

Toot-too-toot-toot!!

I thought these Inca lilies/alstroemeria looked a bit like trumpets blasting a little tune - it's Sketch in Time's first birthday! I'm so pleased to still be here - I really wasn't sure that I would keep it up for long, but it's been an enormous pleasure. Got me off my backside as far as drawing, painting or sketching almost daily, helped me to hone in on some of my real interests - rediscovered lovely watercolours after long years of neglect... and meeting all of you, artists, bloggers - some quite awe-inspiring in their proficiency, others fellow-travellers on the way, it's always a joy to see what's coming off your brushes, pencils and pens - and interested visitors... thanks to everyone who's dropped in to have a look and sometimes to leave a comment, I feel part of a very warm and giving community... and look!! I got a present!...

...from Ronell at African Tapestry. Coming from her, one of my blogging, sketching icons who I watched for ages before launching myself forth into the blogosphere, it's a real honour. In her reasons for passing on the award to me... "experiments with all kinds of media, who often tries new directions, new techiniques, new approaches." I think it's called ADD, Ronell, but thanks so much!
And thanks to my sisters, Gillian and Vivienne, who've joined me in this venture - blogging has been a fantastic way to keep in touch with each other's lives over great distances and peep into the little details that make you seem a lot closer - keep going, girls!
Right, onwards and upwards into the next year, whatever it may bring, I hope I'll be sketching it...

Return of the Weavers

I finally finished the right hand side of these sketch journal pages yesterday - I blogged about the left page in November last year, and when I noticed the little yellow birds back, busily darting around the garden and little green globes starting to form at the ends of bare branches, knew it was time to get this double page done. As Gillian (good and loyal sister) noticed in her comment on 'Walking the Talk again', things are coming around for the second time... which means... tomorrow is this blog's first birthday! I promise not to rehash last year and cover the same subjects all again, but the Walk, and the Weavers alerted me to the fact that I've gone full circle and kept this going for a whole year - wow! I'm trying to think up an appropriate celebratory subject to paint or sketch for tomorrow, and some sage words to impart, but really, I'm just quite chuffed!

Birthday Boy

It's our baby boy's birthday today - a startling seventeen years old. This is a portrait I painted of him about two years ago, and though it is like him, looked too old at the time. I think it about fits now, though there are subtle differences - and his hair is a lot longer! He wants me to paint a huge portrait in an Old Masters style, of him in a velvet jacket with a pipe and a goblet of whisky! Now should I invest hours and weeks and canvas and paint on such a whim? Would it be something that'd amuse him for another 2 or 3 years, then join the detritus in the back of his cupboard? Will he treasure it always and be a reminder of how much his mother loved him? It was so much simpler when he just wanted a birthday cake that looked like a snail...

(Oil on canvas 60 x 45 cm)