Night of a 1000 drawings

On Thursday evening my daughter and I went to the Night of a 1000 Drawings at the old Park Station in the city. I've been to 'new' Park Station before, to catch or meet trains to and from Cape Town, but I didn't even know about this old section to the south of it, abandoned and disused apart from the odd party event. I can find very little information about it, but I think it dates back to the Gold Rush. It is a magnificent building with soaring arches, beautiful wood and tilework, marble steps and pillars - I sincerely hope there are plans to restore and preserve it, though I can't find any reference to it on the net.
The event was great fun - the public had been asked to donate A5 drawings to be sold for R100 (less than £8 or $14) each on the night and the funds raised go to city charities. I only heard about it a day or two before, so didn't draw - next year! You had to buy envelopes with stickers, then peruse the drawings and choose the ones you liked, then at 7.30 there was a signal and a mad rush to put your sticker on your chosen artworks. There was some stiff competition for some of them - we got the ones we picked, though Dominique had somebody begging and pleading with her to part with her treasure.
As for my sketch... oh, buildings are a challenge for me!.. I found a nice secluded vantage-point but got confused with all the arches and what you could see through them, and completely overworked the watercolour. Those stars were projected onto the ceiling - it started pumping as the music got progressively louder but I was happy to depart with a sketch and my two purchases - I think the daughter would have liked to stay and party.

Memes and memories

I was awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award by Maree Clarkson, who lives not too far away from me, and is a new, welcome addition to my list of South African bloggers (I hope we can get together for some plein air painting sometime, Maree!)
As you know, with these awards - or memes I heard from Jeanette they're called - you're supposed to list seven things about yourself - which I have done before and don't want to repeat... so let my mind amble off in all sorts of directions, and I did some doodles, and had some flashbacks and spent far too much time on this, but its been fun, and hope it's fun to look at.

First of all did you know that...

(1) I have my own personal French* Chef who cooks magnificent meals for me, and whoever else is a la maison - with unflagging energy, creativity and enthusiasm.
*Well, he did a year at Alliance Francaise and practices a lot on his French-speaking customers, so speaks more than most people that I know.

(2)I have a weird semi-phobia about phoning people - I want to, and mean to and am very happy when they phone me, but to actually dial, is a major hurdle to overcome...

(3) I love cricket (I know, I've said that one before) - to watch that is, not to play - you can hear my French Chef chuckling to himself as he manned the camera in this little video clip that I found from when our son was about 7 and bowling...Then, my mind strayed back in time to some distant memories - I note with dismay that I appear rather bad-tempered or ungracious in most of them - I hope that I've mellowed since then!

(4) I got Honours from the Royal Academy of Ballet, in the then Rhodesia, for the one and only ballet exam I ever did at age 8, for which my mom made me a beautiful pink tutu. A few weeks later, my cute, red-haired little sister was chosen to present flowers to Lady Bird Johnson at the Bulawayo Museum, where our Mom worked as an artist, and who had then to make her a beautiful green tutu... I was incensed with rage and jealousy. I know now that I would probably have collapsed into a bashful ball of blushes and tears, and Gillian carried it off with sweetness and light, but oh, it was a bitter pill to swallow!

On to some early Drawing memories!...

(5)In Bulawayo, nobody thought I was any great shakes at drawing - I remember looking and looking at faces and wanting to draw them in what I now know to be a three-quarter view, where the eyelashes, and parts of the lids and sometimes even the eyeball protrudes into space, but did I succeed at this quest? Emphatically not, said my best friend...





(6) And I tried a bit of anatomically correct drawing of 'a lady' - earnestly and seriously following the curved contours, and was outraged that my classmates put such a lowly, base spin on my carefully observed work of art...







Then we moved to Cape Town, and after being used to stern derisory criticism of my artworks, suddenly...

(7) I was the main 'drawerer' in the class! I had never had such recognition, and was completely unprepared for the demand for my efforts. A pile of assorted papers grew huge on the seat next to me - that my classmates brought and demanded to be filled with their requests - which to my memory I never did, probably offending some for the rest of primary school...


Well - not exactly earth-shattering revelations... but I was thinking when I recalled the last three that I'd love to hear other people's early memories and experiences of their art or drawing beginnings - whether they put you off or spurred you on, so let your minds wander back, and let me know...in the comments or on your blogs!

Now I'm supposed to pass it on...um, so many creative bloggers, so many awards... I think this time I pick
Ginny Stiles- A lively, busy artist who shares her interests generously
Charlene Brown - a sketchercise buddy who writes and paints beautiful light-filled pictures in British Columbia
Robyn Sinclair-another sketchercise bud who is currently making a very lovely series of the Tuscany landscape
Jana Bouc - always creative, always amusing and always worth a visit
Helen Percy Lystra - lovely poured paintings and fascinating frames

I'm going to leave it there - I have spent far too long on the computer again, and I know many who I would give this to, have it already...if any of these nominees want to 'pass' - there's no obligation from my side - just an appreciation...

One more thing!... Coop of Essex left a comment the other day to ask if anyone would be interested in making an Artist Trading Card (2.5 x 3.5 inches) with a portrait of Frankenstein on it and sending it to him - he's collecting them for an online gallery, and maybe to exhibit in a real gallery later... sounds like fun and there are some great entries over on his blog. I might get to that - after complaining about rushing through too many things!

Strange doodles

You wouldn't think a simple action like picking up a coffee cup would give you a flash of how life could change completely in an instant - but something in my back went twangg and I was suddenly unable to perform a hundred tasks and movements that I'd previously taken for granted. Thankfully it is on the mend - whew! - and bending and stretching seems once again feasible!
I've been reading an old out-of-print book that came my way called 'Techniques of Drawing' by Fred Gettings - full of interesting insights, one of which is the connection between handwriting and drawing. When I think how little I write longhand these days, it's no wonder a pen sometimes feels awkward and unnatural in my grip. He recommends creating abstract forms from your own handwriting and developing them into 'meaningless' drawings with texture, light, shade and form. My doodle above is not this exercise, and I can't remember if I did it before or after reading that, but I enjoyed making the (gobbledy-gook) script just as a tone in the negative shapes - makes me think I should make the effort to write more often.
I did some urban sketching yesterday - and felt strongly the awkwardness of the pen as I started drawing the excavations on the left. A bit more comfortable with the curvy staircase on the right, but still not as loose and free as I'd like to be. These with more info if you'd like, over on Urban Sketchers...

What I love

I've received this Award - again! - from Adam Cope, someone with a real, palpable passion for painting and everything to do with it, including teaching it to others. Do visit his blog Dordogne Painting Days and have a look-see.

The award involves naming seven things that you love, but I decided that instead of composing a written list, I'd spend the time drawing the 'things' with this dip pen, which I've re-discovered and love, and sepia ink, ditto...

My studio - still in a mess, but I love it anyway!

Portrait Party

Julie Oakley led me to this at The Portrait Party, where this Valentine's month it's self-portraits and 'learning to love yourself' that are the challenge! I was tempted, like Julie, to use an older, gentler photo to draw from but decided I'd get to grips, as she did later too, with my 53 year old face. My first attempt, that I was quite pleased with even though I overdid the wrinkles rather - I felt it showed a wicked-witchy, mischievous side that I don't think many people know about me...but I knew the proportions were 'off' and I couldn't work out where, so I traced the reference photo in Coreldraw and laid the tracing over my drawing - ! - below the eyes, it was way, way off. I really didn't like the way the tracing looked! (I think I saw this method of self-correction used by Jeannette Jobson on her blog a while ago but can't find the exact link now)Adding tone, line and wash - with Karisma very soft Graphite Aquarelle - improved matters and it does look more accurately like me, but is that the total point? I think I prefer the witchy one.

(Now I feel like I've hung all my laundry up on a very public line to dry!!)

The Mielie Lady

Another summer sound of Joburg, besides the Icecream men, is that of the Mielie ladies. They tramp the streets with bags of mielies/mealies (corn on the cob, or maize) either on their heads, or as our local saleswoman does, in an old dilapidated shopping trolley. They all seem to have voices like foghorns, that you can hear coming six streets away, and carry on fading for the next six, shouting MIIIEEE-LLL-IIIIES! over and over. They have been immortalised in the comic strip 'Madam & Eve' by Stephen Francis and Rico, which appears in our Mail & Guardian newspaper, where the granny makes it her mission to chase the poor woman with a slingshot. I found our annual vendor taking a break on a wall across the road from our house, and asked if I could sketch her. I don't think she understood me, as she watched me very suspiciously, but cracked a smile when I showed her the quick line drawing I did - I worked on it some more later as I didn't want to prolong her unease. And scribbled another one as she pushed her trolley off up the slope, finishing the surroundings after she'd gone.
Then there are the broom and feather-duster men, who you also hear coming for miles, as the neighbourhood dogs frantically start barking and egging each other on as the salesmen whistle and yell and ring everyone's bells. Sometimes they're parked on a nice grassy street corner, displaying their wares, and if you need a feather-duster, you know exactly where to find them! I sketched this in my new moleskine, which I'm not familiar with - and tried to put a watercolour wash over it. Oops, mistake...

Jacaranda Time

A purple flush is creeping over Johannesburg... the jacarandas are coming into bloom and our notorious city is transformed into a thing of beauty and a joy for October into November... Since the demise of my camera (only yesterday - it feels like a week!) I've been toting my bag full of sketching tricks around, and bravely parking around the streets to draw. This nervous one below was the first - on my way to fetch my son from school in Northcliff, a gorgeous hilly foresty old suburb full of resplendently lush gardens. None of which you can tell from this sketch
The Pilot fineliner I used bled far too much into the watercolours, and the distant view melded into the foreground
This morning I parked on a Melville street and drew the (top) view towards the city, with water-soluble pencil, which worked better - then stopped in at our prettiest little church to spend a quiet hour in the garden - well, I would have to look up more superlatives - it is just bursting with colour, light, life and abundance. It was planted and nurtured by my friend, our now-retired pastor's wife, Wendy, and assistant gardener and verger, Joshua - a haven of peace and beauty to all who enter or walk past. This is just a little bit - I'll have to go back to do more.

Polly Wolly Doodle all the Day

Lots of doodles going on while I'm busy trying to put a plan or two together - very difficult for some of us you know! I did a doodle of the 'cloud' sculpture on the 'Different Strokes from Different Folks' project, though I haven't sent it in, as it is just a doodle from memory, and a whimsical thought I had about it.

Then a doodle after looking at one of Raoul Dufy's little watercolour and ink landscapes that I have on a postcard...

then just a doodle...

then yesterday

I popped in at the Everard Read Gallery to have a look at a small exhibition of some of Lucian Freud's etchings - mostly portraits - and came home and did a pen & ink self-portrait doodle, which is quite frightening and I hope it doesn't look too much like me, but I'm afraid it kind of does. I think my nose and mouth do that when I'm concentrating!

I'll let you know when my plans come together, and I'll stop all this doodling and do some proper painting.

That darned cat

I'm busy painting something very hard... eggshells on a white plate...why? why? But in the meantime here is a sketch of our devoted-to-each-other cat and dog that I did a few evenings ago. This is what I wrote on the page...
I'm not good at drawing animals...I absolutely love my pets but just don't get excited about rendering them on paper. But sometimes they are the only available models, so here they are again - Gucci-dog being good and still, and Kenzo-cat being devilish. She seemed to challenge me as I drew - if I was doing her eyes, she closed them, if her head, she licked herself, her paws, she stretched them, her tail, she flicked it, all the while staring at me and saying, "Draw THAT, sucker!"

Morning at the airport

Our daughter who went to Dubai returned today (hooray!) and the plane was delayed. Since rediscovering sketchbooking, almost an occasion for jubilation - a chance to observe and sketch from life... I had to wait a while for a seat, and then of course had mostly back views, except for people staring up at the arrivals screen, who soon turned away again. I started with the man to the right of middle, very shakily, then became surer as I went along.

By the time I got to these figures on the right, I was beginning to enjoy myself trying to capture the essence of each individual, then someone came to watch over my shoulder and I got all flustered and started chatting to her instead (an art teacher from Vereeniging), then the plane and lovely daughter arrived, then we went home and had some tea.

To market, to market

On Saturday BFG and I went to the Irene Village market, which is held twice a month in the grounds of Jan Smuts House near Pretoria. We heard you have to get there early before the good stuff is sold out, so we arrived at about 9.00am - very cold and frosty, and there was already a queue to buy the enormous fresh farm eggs.

Everyone was wrapped up warmly to begin with, but layers were discarded as the sun rose. I took all my sketching stuff, but the market was so sprawling and busy, and so much to look at, I'm afraid I did these later at home, from my digital pics... next time I will take a folding chair and find a place to park myself. There were so many real characters to people-watch...

like Elsie in her huge homemade hat selling the fluffy cotton rugs that she and her workers weave on her smallholding, where she says the owls warn her if there are any intruders on the prowl - they stop their constant grinding, chattering and hooting and become very quiet!

These musicians were selling their bamboo pipe-organs (is that what they're called?) and making a joyful noise. There was also a string quartet in the tea-garden, camel rides for kids, antiques, arts & crafts - and the corrugated iron house of General Smuts which was very moving in it's restored simplicity and historical significance.

Drawing Day

Yesterday was Drawing Day... and I really didn't have much time to do it, but in between shopping and other essentials I stopped in at the wonderful Moyo restaurant at Zoo Lake, a favourite R&R place for Johannesburgers, for coffee and some quick pencil drawing... The restaurant owners promote and collect original contemporary African art, so around every corner are sculptures, mosaics, structures of wood, stone and metal... funky fountains and sparkling mirrored angels in amongst the trees and foliage.

Chairs and lighting come

in weird and wonderful designs

The waitresses wear bright feathered headdresses, flamboyant earrings and traditional looking aprons...

and the coffee was good...

Glad I got out there and joined in!

Knitting & drawing, drawing & knitting

I don't know what possessed me to draw my knitting - after those brushes I've become a sucker for punishment. This is my load-shedding jersey (or sweater to any American visitors popping in). When electricity cuts became a regular feature of our evenings, I thought it would be something I could do that I wouldn't need to see too well for... which is probably the reason I suspect I may prefer the look of the knitting-in-progress itself rather than the end product. All the lovely nubbly textures, the uneven meandering ribby lines, the interesting lacy holey bits - look so compelling bunched and draped around their needles - but extended over my (non load-shod) upper body... well, might just not come up to original expectations. And, wouldn't you know it, the powers(ha!)-that-be have announced that there will be no more load-shedding, as the poor old substations were collapsing under the strain of all that mass switching off-and-on again. So this may be as far as my jersey gets, though it is also a very good thing to do during rugby season...

Sugarland is Sweet...and so are you!

I just happened to spend some time sitting in the gorgeous autumn sunshine today, and just happened to find a sketchbook next to me, with some coloured pencils, and just happened to find a print in the sketchbook of a photo of my sister Gillian, so naturally picked up the pencils and tried to sketch it... Then later this afternoon, she called on Skype, and we chatted about this and that, and I said I was trying to think of a blog to do with Sugar is Sweet...etc (following on from my two previous posts, Roses are Red, Irises are Blue - which she hadn't cottoned onto - is it that obscure?) and she suggested Sugarland (where she lives) is sweet and so was she, being the cheeky sort and not shy in coming forward. So it all seemed meant to be, and she is quite sweet, really, and pretty!

Catch her while you can

Half our sitting room has been taken over by a wedding dress, designed and made for a friend by my eldest daughter (the one now in Dubai) and which is now being beaded by her sister, Alexandra. She hardly ever sits around long enough for me to draw her, so I took advantage of her relative stillness to do a quick sketch - ignoring the grumbles - I'm sure one day she'll be glad her mother insisted on immortalising her for posterity!
The dress - actually a coat to go over a simple silk slip - is looking beautiful. It will be travelling to Canada for the wedding. I am starting to get jittery that it will be all finished in time, but am - very slowly - learning to zip my lip, trust that my children are adults and know what they're doing and will in fact get the job done without my twittering on the sidelines!

This isn't easy you know

Now I've gone and ruined my accordion sketchbook, trying to draw the dog and cat in one of their covoluted sleeping poses - from a photo up on the computer screen, as they always move the minute I start trying to draw them. I got both of these attempts completely wrong.

This was slightly more accurate, though the dog is too small, and his face a bit weird - I painted the big shapes first, then added the lines with my bamboo pen, (which isn't drawing as well as I'd hoped - I have little control over whether lines are thick or thin, or come out at all) and the values are all very bland - the dog and cushion they sleep on are rather similiar in tone, but Kenzo the cat could go much darker.

It's interesting to see today's Making a Mark post about mechanical and optical aids... I find myself feeling irritated and tense when sketching from photos, though they are definitely a useful tool when trying to remember features of a landscape, for instance - as long as I don't follow them too slavishly.

This sketch of Gucci (excuse the undignified pose!) that I did quickly after messing up the Fabriano was much more enjoyable, and I think is a lot more expressive in line and character. So - conclusion, I think drawing from life is my thing. I'll be happy to leave the photo-realism to others - for now, anyway. (I tend to make sweeping statements one week and back-peddle on them the next)