Sketchcrawling Norwood

I'm very behind in posting the last couple of weeks efforts! These are from the 51st Worldwide SketchCrawl on the 23rd April, when a good gathering of ten of us turned up in Norwood (we crawled there three years ago too). Like many of the older suburbs, its fortunes go up and down, but the main street, Grant Ave, is dotted with lovely shops and restaurants who were all very welcoming and supportive of us. We were given free rein at Vovo Telo café & bakery inside The Factory where beautiful jazz accompanied us as we started sketching, and allowed into Crafters the roof bar which hadn't opened yet - very windy up there so sketching was, well, sketchy.

Then down the road to The Lamp Post antique and vintage shop, which has moved since our 2013 visit, where Jenny the owner and her lovely staff had tea and cake and comfy sofas to greet us. And ended up at the Tattoo Parlour with some very macho bikes parked outside, and caught the tattooist on his phone having a smoke break.

 I really wanted to get through a variety of subjects so except for the rooftop didn't add colour to these scenes until later - not strict urban sketching practice I know, but I just can't figure out how to get so much done in just a few hours! Gave me a chance too to think about how much colour and where, but I still overdid it on the café and the antique shop.

The Lamp Post

Thank you for all the well wishes! I'm happy to report that the pain in the neck is getting much better - numbness in my fingers will take a little longer. Sketching is fortunately one thing that isn't too hard to do, unlike hanging up washing (yay) and gardening! So I joined our group for the 39th SketchCrawl on Saturday, in the quaint suburb of Norwood. We had a great turnout, and the Lamp Post, a lovely shop full of interesting stuff and curiosities, was very welcoming, letting us 'crawl' all over it, inside and out, and providing lovely soup and sandwiches at lunchtime on a chilly autumn day.

I drew the outside of the shop, before increasing traffic blocked my view, and some raindrops drove me under cover. Two ladies at their food stall were not at all keen on being sketched, and emphatically turned their backs. While the newspaper man was very happy to be my subject as he wove amongst passing cars and trucks - turning to the old doll's pram in between glimpses of him.
You can see the other Joburger's sketches and a few photos here on Facebook and here on the Sketchcrawl site.