Joburg City Centre

Our small sketching group was invited to go and sketch in the city by a group of artists who are holding an exhibition called Joburg Joburg, which aims to engage its immediate surroundings and to promote the renewal of the city centre.

We have ventured to the edges of the city in Newtown a few times, but never really braved the inner streets until now. I started on one of Joburg's oldest buildings, Victory House, while we waited for everyone to arrive (finding architecture as difficult as ever!) - quite a crowd of nine when joined by some of the participating artists. We then walked along to Ghandi Square, which was fairly quiet on a Saturday morning, but a few shoppers and people waiting for buses.

We then tried to go to our next destination outside the City Hall, but found the roads closed and access denied as they were shooting "dangerous scenes" for the new Avengers movie! We did hear a huge crash while we were sketching nearby in the Library Gardens, where political and church meetings, ladies selling religious tracts and boys on skateboards were all on the go.

For the first time, the progression of a sketch of mine of a food vendor's stall was being videoed by a young photographer from Pretoria, when the owner of the stall came over, irate that we were focusing on his enterprise (we had asked someone who we thought was the owner) ...another first for me... so we had to reluctantly give up on that, after spending so long setting up angles and supports.

I sketched the skateboarders instead, who didn't mind at all! More sketches and photos of the day here....

Sandton Sprawl

I had to go shopping in Sandton recently, the commercial and business hub of Johannesburg, and dubbed "Africa's richest square mile" though I think it's bigger than that now. Fifty years ago this area was all horse trails and smallholdings... Sandton City mall and office complex was built 37 years ago (dwarfed now by new developments) and currently there are 32 new buildings planned and under construction. The 'Twin Towers', only 30 years old are about to be demolished and rebuilt!
I did the top two sketches from the Sandton City parking garage across the road - the Standard Bank building that had been there a week before Christmas was gone and cranes and building piles in its place. The following day I went to the industrial area of Wynberg (two shopping trips in two days, wow!) and saw this great view of the Sandton skyline from the warehouse parking lot - the top building that I sketched the day before is on the far left of the panorama.

Draw, draw, draw

I have been busy drawing for my upcoming course, 'Objets Trouvès' with Greg Kerr which starts in Johannesburg next month. Part of our prep was to find an object - not your regular Still Life subject matter which may have been drawn and painted to death already - but something unusual and perhaps strange or unappealing that happens into your life or surroundings.
I had a few false starts with things I found - a woodwork plane - too linear, a toiletries travel bag - too tedious with its zips and meshes, a computer fan - too hard and mechanical... when one day a storm approached, the wind blew, a painting flipped off the mantelpiece knocking off and breaking an early attempt at turning wood on a lathe by my son - which made me a bit sad until...aha, voilà! I had my objets!

There's something deeply satisfying about completing and beholding 20+ drawings you've done of the very same item. I usually draw something, tick it off and seldom feel inclined to do it again, so before I began I dreaded all that slog before me, certain I'd be bored to tears halfway through. But tackling one frame at a time, and with options of different mediums to do it in I became absorbed in the challenges and new perspectives of each rendition.

Starting with three drawings with the humble HB pencil, moving onto six in charcoal and going onto my favourite method, water-soluble ink with bleach, water, brushes and pens (I had whittled a new bunch of bamboo pens while watching cricket on TV days before) which I explored and experimented with for the remainder of the 20 - I've only shown three of those ones here, will get to photographing the rest sometime. So interesting to play in this technique but be warned if you try, I'm told they won't last - the paper may rot and the ink fade!

Jozi Food Market

The Jozi Food Market is held every Saturday at Pirates sports club near my home. It was very quiet this last week when our sketching group visited, as was Johannesburg with everyone still returning from their holidays away - not many customers for the lovely fresh produce. But when I woke up early this morning I heard the familiar background drone of traffic which has been missing for the last three or four weeks - everyone getting back to work and in a day or two, school.

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year to everybody! With the hot colours of the zinnias now flowering in my garden, at last we're getting some proper summer after a cool, drizzly Christmas. I've been pondering where to, what and why for this blog. Posts have been becoming decidedly fewer and farther between - although I've been doing stuff, I just don't seem to have the time I used to to scan, edit images, write (which always takes me forever) and post. So as useless as I am at keeping new year resolutions, I think I'll make a list of Mores and Lesses to guide me through the year, and I hope it will mean more updates, with less time spent on this chair...so!...

More:

• drawing and sketching - of course
• painting (am doing another year long Greg Kerr course to keep me under the pump)
• moving - I think my hips are seizing up from long hours sitting, got to get back to regular walking, swimming, maybe dancing, which I love - as long as nobody's watching.
• gardening - I've planted a wisteria in front of my studio and it brings such a welcoming, fresh feeling I just want to spend more time there - lots more empty outdoor space to fill.
• playing, thinking, daydreaming

Less:

• words - you may get just pictures here sometimes
• computering, facebooking - much as I love seeing what everyone's up to and following hundreds of fascinating links and stories, it eats up hours, days and weeks!
• sitting
• housework - sorry family and friends who might pop in but I'm running out of time (not that I've ever done vast amounts of it but honestly as Joan Rivers says, "You make the beds, you wash the dishes, and six months later you have to start all over again.")

I'll probably think of other things but that'll do for now, as I've been sitting here too long already. Wishing YOU a very productive and creatively fulfilling 2014!

Hambe Kahle Madiba

No matter how much we had prepared and were expecting it, the news that Nelson Mandela had died jolted us with terrible loss and sadness. On Friday I wanted to be with others who were feeling the same way and drove to the street of the Mandela family home in Houghton. People had been gathering there all night and morning, laying flowers, lighting candles, singing, praying and dancing. Almost a celebratory atmosphere at times, it was reminiscent of the joyous and unifying days of Madiba's release from prison, our first democratic election and the Rugby World Cup. Once again people of every colour, religion, age and nationality are coming together all over the country with a common purpose, to pay homage to this amazing man of courage, wisdom and reconciliation - may his legacy be revived and continue.

Bird Gardens

I wasn't going to post these, but I'm having computer problems, scanner problems, network problems... so here are some bird sketches that I did on a Joburg Sketchers trip to the Montecasino Bird Gardens back in October because they're here, on this computer. A hot steamy day, it was lovely to mosey around the park splashing paint around. I was hoping for much greater results, but these dots and dashes were the results of much squinting and concentration!

The macaws were hilarious - the blue and yellow ones were huddling on their table minding their own business and the red and green ones kept going over and causing a rumpus, in between showing off twirling around on the rope and terrorising passers-by.

While I was waiting for sketchers to arrive I sketched some little ducks, and then the schoolmasterly maribou storks. They are so morose and unattractive, you just have to love them!

Brown pelicans, a lonely looking kookaburra and two shades of flamingo - sorry about the grey images, so hard to pick up the watercolour washes if I whiten the paper. Wish I had my old scanner back!