Hot hot hot

After my last rather grumpy and ugly entry, I thought I would find a sunnier image to post today. I haven't had time to paint or sketch so this is an old one, which lives with my sister Gillian in Texas - and it's appropriate - at last summer has returned to Joburg and it is hot, as it should be at this time of year. Although this painting has many faults which are glaringly obvious to me now, I feel I was at the time making headway with my watercolours - getting freer, cleaner (still some mud here) and fresher... and then I stopped... why? Now I'm back to square..if not 1, then 2 or 3. I've wandered off into other mediums and I think with each one I reach a certain stage, and then switch tack, so never actually become totally adept at any of them. I'm feeling the pull of watercolours again, and am wondering whether to commit to a year or two of just those... but then my expensive oil paints may dry out and I'll lose whatever familiarity I've built up with them. Can one juggle a few techniques at the same time (I have to use pen, ink and graphite for daily-ish sketching too), or should you stay true to one until you're quite on top of it? Any advice appreciated!

Darkest Africa

A messy sketch of a messy situation (I made it worse here by adding colour) - daily, sometimes twice daily 2-3 hour powercuts are wreaking havoc with business, traffic and most alarmingly so far, the gold and platinum mine and steel industries, which can't risk sending miners underground in case of emergencies where they'd need to be brought up again in a hurry. So they all closed down for a couple of days last week - back up now, I believe, which means power 'load-shedding' as they call it for the rest of the country. This is the future for the next 5-8 years we've been told. Better post this before it goes again...

A Haircut

I did some very quick line sketches when I took my son to the hairdresser on Thursday.. I am so out of practice at drawing in public, and get nervous and jittery in case people notice and come over to look, which one little stylist did do, and it was perfectly OK - she also draws, and was so interested and said it was "cool", so what is there to get twitchy about? It's a good place to draw people - lots of mirrors so you can observe fairly surreptitiously, people sit stillish, and the stylists wear such funky clothes, shoes and hairdo's. Next time I'll try not to be so chicken. I added the colour washes later at home - don't know if I'll ever take the full sketching kit to the mall!

Leaving home again

Our firstborn 'little' daughter left for Dubai yesterday, to start a new, amazingly grown-up sounding job as supervisor in a couture design studio. It's strange how when they're at home for any length of time, at the great age of 26/7, you start muttering about how they should really be independent and leading their own lives... and when they DO, all you can think of is this small, delicate, innocent child that (surely) badly needs your protection, and advice, and constant presence to show them the ropes. BUT, I really know it will be good, and she will be a better more rounded person for it, and she's way, way braver than I ever was... Bon Voyage, little Pie!!!

Alien Invader

This is the product of Friday's power cut - went gardening and pulled out a number of these beautiful plants. They are quite charming - the twisty green tendrils winding up trees and through shrubs and up the bamboo candle holder. The fleshy magenta-tipped white blossoms, which turn into delicately spiked green lanterns, which burst, releasing gazillions of pretty fairy-light puffballs, which float and dance delightfully into the breeze... and take over and strangle your garden, and your suburb, and your bushveld and your COUNTRY... how evil is that!?
I have been trying to find out what it's called - common or any other name, and where it originates from and had no luck. (But we had a visitor here once who said we could get arrested for harbouring this intruder!)
Does anyone know? Botanical sister? It has milky sticky sap and the leaves are oval with a little point at the ends.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide...

Well we've had a long power cut today - becoming a regular feature of Life in Johannesburg - thanks to amazing lack of foresight and planning...ugh, but I won't go into all that. I will think of something much more pleasant. One good thing about a powercut is that it forces you to leave your computer and tea-kettle and go outside and garden (which I did) and start a new drawing, which I did but it isn't finished yet. So I'm going to post some pages from an old sketchbook that I did one holiday at Arniston - my son is the little fisherman in the black & white sketch, so it was a long time ago.
Arniston is a wonderful historic village near Cape Aghullas - the southernmost tip of Africa, now also of course inevitably, a growing holiday resort, though the residents and owners have been (so far) quite committed to preserving its original nature. It's also called Waenhuiskrans, due to a cave on the shore that is big enough to hold an ox wagon with its team of oxen (though they would never have been able to get down there), and the original little white thatched-roof house fishing village is called Kassiesbaai - a vibrant and characterful community that still make their living taking their colourful little boats out every morning to catch whatever the trawlers have left them. We are very lucky to have good and generous friends who've invited us to share many an idyllic holiday in the sun and azure sea with them at their beach house. We have a little dream of retiring there one day...
Steps leading down to a white-pebbly beach. Ancient fisherman - strandlopers - built circular rock catchment areas to trap fish in at low tide
Some of the fishing boats pulled up the slipway with a few of the old Kassiesbaai houses sticking up in the background

One happy little boy lost in a world of his own - and hungry seagulls and cormorants ready to help him with his catch. The rocks on the beaches are smooth, round and white, but the cliffs are black and rough - agony to bare feet!

Stitch

For fun, decided to do an Illustration Friday project for the first time today (though it's a Tuesday - is that OK?). This weeks topic is 'Stitch', and I thought I'd turn the traditionally feminine, delicate art of embroidery into something that looks like hard work by a strong, muscular, butch little lady. She ended up looking quite cute and girly though - and she did put her make-up on! I did the lace by stencilling through a bit of scrap lace with a brush dabbed in some black shoe polish - was quite pleased with the way it came out.