The Old Post Office

Sketches from a few weeks ago when I went to an art exhibition in an old building that used to house Johannesburg's Post Office processing site. Enormous sorting sheds where trains and buses would offload piles of mail, buildings that used to be stables for the P.O. horses, strange machines whose purpose is a mystery (to me anyway). This all hidden behind walls that I've driven past so many times and vaguely wondered if there was anything interesting behind them. We went back to draw before it's all changed - the City Library still uses some of the premises for storage but loft apartments are in the planning stage for others.

In the meantime, Summer has arrived! Gardens are buzzing, jacarandas are in their full purple magnificence, birds and frogs are calling and swimming pools are sparkling in an early heat wave. Why is it that enormous mountains of work - absent and leaving me twiddling my thumbs all through the winter months, when sitting in a sunspot and ploughing through it would be an appealing alternative to sitting on icy windswept pavements - suddenly arrives in truckloads, just when all my urges are telling me to go outside and paint, sketch, experience. Moan, moan, moan and I shouldn't when work is often hard to come by, but really...

Heritage Day

 It was Heritage Day on the 24th September, when South Africans celebrate their very many different histories, traditions and cultural backgrounds. With my English, Scottish and Swedish ancestry long jumbled up in the past, I would have quite liked to potter around in the garden at home with a good old South African braai to finish off the holiday - but a sketchcrawl had been called, so off I went to the Constitution Hill venue, expecting to draw some of the buildings as I did nearly three years ago.

Well, it was a very busy place, with a 'Light the Way' event planned to coincide with the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York just getting into gear. I had started sketching one of the stair towers housing the 'Flame of Democracy', of the old awaiting-trial blocks which have been preserved as a reminder of the Concourt's grim past - but when some very loud thudding music and dancers started getting into action in the square, I turned my attention to them. (perhaps that distraction was why I put the leaning fellow's hand on the tree in the foreground :-o)
After some frantic drawing, eventually there were too many people blocking my view, with quite a crowd gathered around watching every move of my pen I decided it was time to escape the heat and noise and return to my corner of suburbia, and a relaxed braai with my family.

Trees in the City

On a gorgeous Spring morning last Friday, a few sketcher friends and I met in Braamfontein to record a 'Parking Day' event where artists and activists were supposed to take over parking bays and transform them. It had been cancelled at the last minute and not an activist was to be found. Lots of cars in the parking bays, students to and from nearby Wits University, some vigilant security guards steering a few beggars away from the streets and cafés - I decided to try and draw the row of public art tree sculptures that runs all the way up Juta St, but all these things got in the way. I added the colours so you can spot them among the other activity!

James Hall Transport Museum

It was International Museum Day on Monday, and to mark it, on Saturday our sketching group motored over to the James Hall Museum of Transport on the other side of the city. As we wandered around the halls crammed with metal, rubber and chrome I admit my heart sank a bit at the prospect of trying to draw some of these mechanical beasts with all their precise angles, lines and engineerings. But down one rather dusty row of cars waiting for restoration I spotted a curvy, lumpy old character that took me straight back to my childhood and my grandparent's home and car in the (then) little seaside town of Hermanus.

My mother stretching to see over the unfamiliar wood and leather dashboard and straining to turn the big circle of steering wheel, my sister and I bouncing around the roomy back seat excited to be the first to see the blue of the sea, smell the smells of Sea&Ski suntan lotion, icecream, salt and sand, peering through the slatted blind of the tiny back window... I'm not even sure it was the same kind of car (I am of the ilk that describes cars as 'red' or 'black') but I was away, drawing and appreciating the beauty of these relics at last. Such craftsmanship, attention to detail and solid gravitas, the more you looked the more there was to love.
Joburg Sketchers produced an impressive set of sketches of a fraction of the collection of this wonderful museum - another place we'll just have to go back to!

A Bunch of Sketches & Visitors

 Yikes - it's April, and autumn already, and I've been so busy sketching and painting and thinking about what I want to/need to/have to do - posting it all has taken a back seat. To think I once started blogging to try and motivate myself to draw more... well, something's working at the moment!

We've had a couple of visits lately from sketchers from other parts of the country and the world. Ex-Joburg Sketcher Barbara Moore came up recently from her new home in Simon's Town in the Cape, and three of us had a relaxed morning catching up and sketching on a beautiful clear autumn day at Zoo Lake.

An icecream man pondering the lake with a beaded dragonfly mobile behind him

Waitrons and a mirrored angel - over cappucinos at Moyo restaurant 

A couple of weeks before that French urban sketcher Michel Davinroy was in town. He had been sketching prolifically on his own, but joined us at a Dance Umbrella rehearsal at the Market Theatre for the difficult challenge of capturing the unpredictable movements of contemporary dancers, mostly in the dark!

And yesterday, we arranged a mid-week sketching session in the nearby suburb of Melville to meet Brighton, England resident and world traveller Fiver Löcker.

It's exciting that we are so much "on the map" that sketchers from around the world are starting to seek us out to draw together, and enrich us all with their stories, sketches and enthusiasm! 

Car guards and basket ladies outside the Golf Tearoom in Melville

Fiver sketching on her iPad in the eclectic clutter of Antz café, Melville

Stormy Day in Fordsburg

I'm cutting and pasting this post from the Urban Sketchers website, catching up a bit on posting here on my once again neglected blog - only Feb and life is already too busy!:
For the 46th WorldWide Sketchcrawl on Saturday 31 Jan our group went to the historic suburb of Fordsburg on the outskirts of Johannesburg. We met outside this building on Mint Rd and discovered that there was a bustling market getting into gear behind us. Some self-designated car guards and a vendor selling clothes hangers - everyone trying to make a rand or two for the day...

 Before we could get going on the market, there were rumblings of thunder and some fat drops of rain, warning us to get under cover, so we took advantage of the kind offer of an artist, Hermann Niebuhr, who has a studio in the area to use his balcony to sketch from. We got there just in time before there was one of several deluges. (Sorry about the quality of the images, my scanner is was out of action.) Below are Marlene and John - with the luxury of chairs and a table - sketching the view.

And the sketchers huddling under the tin roof along the balcony - we still got pretty wet with some interesting droplet effects on some of the sketches.

Maboneng

We went sketching on Saturday in the Maboneng Precinct, an area on the East side of town that was once a no-go but which has been mostly reclaimed from crime and urban decay by private developers who've built galleries, shops, studios and restaurants . It was a nightmare getting there and back, as much of Johannesburg was experiencing one of our now frequent power cutting programmes, trying to save us from total blackout in the near future - so all the robots (traffic lights to you in the rest of the world :)) were out. A few of us managed to make it all the way there, and once our jangled nerves were calmed, we found a lot to draw - the most interesting being the street life and characters.

 Uncle Merv's serves coffee and smoothies and hires out bicycles if you're brave enough to take on the taxis, jaywalking pedestrians and other surprises.

A different kind of Food Truck - an old Chevvie with a container on the back serving customers on the pavement. I had two little boys accompanying me for this one, first gleefully setting off firecrackers all around me till I complained, then sharing the tyre I was sitting on (lost my little sketching stool) one very helpfully holding my palette for me.

And a last few squiggly sketches of passersby - there were so many interesting characters wandering past, and a beautiful old building in a bit of a sad state that I wanted to sketch but couldn't spend the hours that it would take me. The squiggle on the left was a recycling collector surfing expertly past on his home-made trolley with his huge sack of plastic behind him - SO fast downhill on his tiny wheels - one of the surprises you wouldn't want to collide with on a bike!

The Sheds

After a long dry spell from any drawing or painting while admin and emails and a short trip to the Cape occupied my time, I finally got out for a bit of sketching time. First over lunch with my husband at a pub called the Jolly Roger, where I sketched a scene across the street, until a flamboyant woman and her young date/friend/son? sat down at a nearby table. I couldn't resist furtively getting her down on paper, hoping very much that she wouldn't spot me and ask to see the results - not sure if she would have appreciated them...
Then I made a last minute sketch date for our group to go to a new market at some renovated old mining warehouses on the outskirts of the city called The Sheds@1 Fox on Saturday. Only four of us turned up with such late notice, but with interesting industrial spaces, delicious food and drinks stalls spread around, nice music and a relaxed vibe, we'll have to go back and explore it some more. The Happy Me in the bottom sketch is not, incidentally, referring to the wine in the foreground (though it could!) - it's a 'bubble tea, gourmet coffee, smoothies and mixology' shop in the background, which I did indulge in at that time of day!

Spring in Killarney Park

Joburg Sketchers were invited (yay!) to come and sketch at Killarney's pop-up activation event to renew community interest in their local park. I didn't even know there was a Killarney Park though I've driven around there quite often, so was curious to see. An avenue of jacaranda trees has been gated off from the surrounding suburb which consists mostly of loads of large, old blocks of flats - I should think mostly of the 1950's to 60's era - on the day they were unveiling a heritage plaque at an Art Deco building, though I didn't find that. 

In a month or so those bare branches and pathway are going to be draped and drenched in purple as jacaranda season begins.

 I didn't know where to begin, but eventually decided on the jauntily blowing bunting flags that receded into the background. The people I added are of rather strange proportions, but it gives an impression of the vibe of the day.

This little group of old ladies with various walking aids at their sides seemed very happy to sit there all day in the sun, watching the world (or at least the locals) go by. It's probably a long time since they've been able to do this without worrying about safety - always a concern if there aren't many people around.

The face painter was extraordinary, whizzing through the queues of children with sponges and brushes, turning them within seconds into kitties or butterflies, spidermen or tigers. As usual, so much to sketch - a few more from the other sketchers here on our Facebook page if you're interested.

Sky High in Jozi

I'm sorry Blog for neglecting you so long - one of the reasons I started here was to motivate myself to do more drawing and art - right now I'm doing so much I find no time to report back!

On the painting course that has just come to an end, was a lovely person who works for the company who built the student apartments that I've been drawing as it progressed. Jill got us an invitation to come and sketch at the top of the newly finished block, bringing to a pinnacle (I won't say end - I hope to go back) a serendipitous urban series that I had no idea was happening when I started. Mill Junction has the most astonishing 360° view of Johannesburg and its southern/western suburbs - at last was the perfect time and place to dust off my Japanese fold Moleskine that we excitingly found in our goodie bags at the Lisbon Urban Sketchers Symposium three years ago.
I sketched fast, trying not to get bogged down in details and get as much done as possible in the time, but it was the first Suddenly Summer day after winter (blink and you miss Spring) and extremely hot up there, so after only about 90° and four hours I had to call it a day. And I did do details - it was fascinating to see how streets that I've driven on and around for years connect and intertwine with landmarks, familiar buildings and each other.
Students started drifting up to start fires for their Friday evening braais (barbeques) in the beautifully designed recreation area up there, and the sketchers reluctantly returned to earth and the more familiar street level view of this ugly/beautiful city, and its high-walled suburbs.

SketchCrawl #44 at Hillfox

For the 44th World Wide SketchCrawl I wracked my brains to think of a warm place for our Joburg Sketchers to go and crawl around. Though our winter skies are generally clear blue and cloudless, dry iciness creeps and whistles into every corner. After a small poll, we decided to go to the Hillfox Value Centre, a rather ugly and sprawling shopping complex, but which houses a huge Food Lover's Market and the B&B markets.

 After starting with coffee at the F.L.M. to warm up and to welcome a couple of newcomers, we moved over to the B&B which was looking a little empty and forlorn of crowds - cleverer people had stayed at home under a duvet or near a fireplace. At least we had good views of the stalls that we chose to sketch, without too many bodies blocking our way. A couple of our group were told they weren't allowed to sketch by officious officials, I suppose they had little else to do without customers to harass.

  I went for the more colourful options I could spot in the gloom - first the hookah stand and then onto Clive, with his incredible array of beaded creatures and plants. I only fitted about half of his wares into my sketch, and those (surely frozen) fingers just kept working away at more.

  This warehouse-like basement was no warmer than a Joburg back street in the shade so we headed back to F.L.M. for lunch, where once again I forgot to do the photos of sketchers and their morning's work, you can see them here on our Facebook page. After lunch some of us hung around the bakery section, a place that always calls to me, sketching the wares a better option than eating them, if only I'd remember that. I then crawled, shivering, back to my car which, having been standing for a few hours in the sun was deliciously warm so I did a quick last sketch - cars, shopper, car guard -  before heading home.

Outside SciBono, Newtown - cold!!

Winter has finally hit us with a vengeance - it was a freezing cold day last Friday when we'd arranged to go sketching in town, so we searched until we found a spot in the sun and out of the icy wind. First, a not very inspiring, but typically 'Joburg' one overlooking the parking lot of SciBono Discovery Centre over a cup of coffee at a restaurant, then we moved over to outside the entrance where high school students had gathered after their tours. 

 While I was drawing these kids, others came over to have a look and were keen to be in the next sketch, so I abandoned the first one in line and got onto the next one. I added colour to the first later at home - not sure it wasn't better as a simple line drawing - and I wish I'd brought my longer sketchbook and drawn the buildings soaring  up above them, as they were.

I had decided to sketch with a water soluble fountain pen and watercolours on Friday, trying to challenge myself out of a bit of a sketching slump - coincidentally just before Marc Holmes did a post about this technique - have a look at his beautiful results. Mine much messier, I used a Pilot disposable V-pen which dissolves  readily with a bit of wash. I do enjoy the slight unpredictability of what happens with the ink and colour, and the softening of chosen sections of linework - but maybe too random and slapdash here, I will apply more forethought next time!

Those Magnificent Men

I joined our sketching group on our second trip to the Museum of Military History on Saturday - our first being four years ago, amazing we've been meeting that long, with two original members and a few newer ones along the way.

I wanted to sketch the Spitfire that last time was in the middle of the display area, my Dad  having been a Spitfire pilot in WWII. I couldn't find it and presumed it had been taken somewhere for an exhibition or for maintenance, so started sketching this plane from the 1st World War, a Scout Experimental 5a (SE5a) of the Royal Flying Corps. Sitting there squinting at its details in the dimly lit hall, you can't help but feel the ghosts of the young men that were brave enough to go up in these then revolutionary and flimsy looking flying machines. The straps that held them in, the tiny wires they'd adjusted wing angles with - as my focus moved to the background and I added the propeller of the plane behind it, it dawned on me that that was the Spitfire huddled in the corner... ah well, I was enjoying the play of light on the ribs and bones of the older plane. I ditched the water(aquash)brush  that I've been using, and its scrubby colour - great to mix up some juicy washes with a real brush. I feel the need to find a way to enjoy sketching again - it's been getting a bit mechanical lately (ironic to try it on machinery!)


I wanted to make a quick second sketch before leaving, so with a loaded brush just put down the main shapes of the BMW 'Afrika Corps' motorbike without getting too bogged down in the detail. These were used by the Germans in North Africa c1942, this one rebuilt from spare parts donated by collectors and from spares shops.

These are some of the other sketches done - you can see them all here on facebook and get a better idea of the whole museum.

It occurs to me that I sometimes pick old songs and movies as titles for my blog posts, that some younger visitors may never have heard of before - this one's from a movie that came out when I was ten, and thought was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.

Changing Newtown

These are admittedly pretty ugly sketches of a hard-to-love section of town (I'm learning to!) but it has been fascinating to watch it change.

I didn't know at the time I started sketching in this street last year how much those old grain silos in the background were going to be transformed over the next nine months. I noticed that they'd started cutting windows in them once I started drawing them in this first sketch (below) that I posted last August.

I went back there to sketch a couple of months later to find that more windows had appeared, and shipping containers were piled on top of the silos...

...and last Saturday when my sketching friend John and I returned - in the top sketch - curtains are up, pot plants and paint... a whole new block of accommodation called Mill Junction for nearby Wits and University of Johannesburg students! I'm not sure what the green circles on top are, maybe something to do with its green and energy-efficient claims.

Impala Stampede

I went with a small group of Joburg Sketchers into the city on Saturday, to the financial district on Main St. I wanted to draw this sculpture which is a replica (or restoration?) of one created by Herman Wald - commissioned in the 60's by Harry Oppenheimer in memory of his father Ernest. The iconic original bronze was located nearby in the Oppenheimer Park, but during a stage of urban decay and neglect was vandalised and presumably sold for scrap.
Anyway, here it is now, looking beautiful  - joyous in summer, as I last saw it, with fountains playing and agapanthus blooming. But on this autumn day with a chilly wind whistling round the tall buildings, me sniffing and snorting with the back end (I hope) of a rotten cold and the statue mostly in shade, all seemed a bit deserted and forlorn, with the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court peering sternly through the grasses. The security guards who stopped to chat assured me that during the week it's a hive of activity, so perhaps I'll go back when it's busier (and in summer when it's warmer.)
The only other interaction I had was with a rather unsteady fellow who wanted to discuss politics with me, but couldn't quite remember the politician's name he wanted to talk about - and also omitted to remove his earphones so couldn't hear my point of view if I'd had one. All in all not the best ever day out sketching, but at least I can tick the Impalas off my to-do list!

Blubird of Happiness

Refiloe behind her veggie stall

View from our café table

Honey and pots for sale

Pastel de Nata!

 The Joburg Sketchers went to the Blubird Wholefood Market on Sunday morning - invited by the organiser, it was nice to feel so welcome! Interesting to note the different reactions to our presence in this upmarket shopping centre after the lively feedback we had in the city a few weeks ago... some surreptitious peeks over my shoulder, sideways glances and generally non-committal. One lady came over for a friendly chat before asking, "you are going to vote for the D.A. aren't you?" so I think she had an ulterior motive!
We were joined by four new sketchers - with one originally from Lisbon, and Pasteis de Nata on sale at a bakery stall, it was lovely to reminisce on the Lisbon urban sketching Symposium of three years ago. Registration has opened for the 2014 Symposium in Paraty, Brazil and I'm sad not to be rushing to put my name down - just too far away and too much expense for a few days of sketching indulgence, tempting as it is!