Inktober 2020!

Where has this year gone?...into a blur of world-changing, life-changing upheavals and restrictions, time to paint, draw, crochet, bake, read and think, and think too much. But it's October, INKtober again. It's become a marker of time, slightly annoying (so much work!) but a serious threat of FOMO if I don't once again haul out the inks, pens and brushes and just do this thing. 

I really needed to find a way to make it enjoyable, engrossing, surprising - otherwise it's just a slog and takes up too much time. Last year I found that some tiny freestyle ink-and-coffee doodles I did, and developed into images (kind of like seeing pictures in clouds) led to unexpected happy results, far preferable to my more laboured responses to the prompts. So this year I'm doing it slightly more intentionally, thinking vaguely of what I want the blobs and splashes to form but trying not to control them too much... until sometimes I do😒

Above are the first six days, following the prompts. Left to right are Fish, Wisp, Bulk, Radio, Blade and Rodent. Some of the coffee and ink splashy beginnings below, the top two with Throw and Fancy in mind, the bottom two just random, hoping they'll become something...

 

I really love the interactions of coffee and water and ink, thinking I should just leave some of these as they are, but that seems like a cop out! 

Studio Window

Oh no, they're changing Blogger - have to learn more new stuff!... it looks like I can't change the size of the images any more, unless there's something I've missed..? (I reverted to the old style to make these bigger this time.)

Anyway, with days blending into each other, I'd forgotten to do the weekly post I'd promised myself I would. This little series below started with a doodly sort of continuous line drawing of my studio windowsill . I then added monochromatic tones, which scattered the image into little pieces - so I printed out a copy of the original line drawing (luckily photographed it first - a good way to try out different approaches) and tried to mass the tones into bigger areas. Still a bit busy, but it's a very busy window! And then added white highlights with a Pentel paint pen. The light was changing constantly as I painted, so these do sort of reflect the passage of time in a day, but I'd love to get simpler, stronger designs in my work.

Finished and Klaar!

A watercolour doodle I did some time ago (have I posted it before?) which kind of describes how I'm feeling - ie the woozy man, not the jaunty girl - after a marathon two months or more of drawingdrawingdrawing and for the last two weeks, colouringcolouringcolouring on the computer. Below is a collage of just a few of the line drawings for the health manual I've been working on, which were preceded by copious pencil sketches which were submitted for comments and many changes. They had to be very clear and explicit, with each tiny face bearing a tiny expression and every little figure representing an ethnic group, with a hairstyle, a set of clothes and usually an ailment or health issue. So many decisions to make, so many reference pics to look up... but, I'm done! Holding thumbs and crossing toes as it goes into meetings and gets discussed ad infinitum, that it won't come back with more changes. Ah well, there are worse ways to make a living.
One great thing I've discovered during this long stretch are Podcasts. They made hours and hours of sitting, eyestrain and shoulder-burn (I did get up to stretch and fetch too many snacks) positively uplifting. Some of my favourite listening sites: On Being , Savvy Painter,  Melvyn Bragg on BBC... there are so many more, I could sit here for ever and never get through them, but very happy to have found them when I did.

Not sure what to do with myself now - I will I hope, get back soon to painting and sketching, of the loose & spontaneous variety, but for the the moment I'm just pottering.

Glorious Kaffe

Do you know who Kaffe Fassett is?
Only one of the world's most innovative and flamboyant colourists and author of many lovely books on knitting, needlepoint, quilts, interiors - anything you can imagine where Glorious Colour and design can be flaunted and overindulged. I've been a fan since the 80's when I first discovered his beautiful knits and books, so was astounded to hear from my fashion designer daughter that he was coming to a local fabric store and giving a talk in the church hall, to which she had bought tickets.

I packed a tiny watercolour palette and my new Hero bent nib calligraphy pen - a dear friend's son had bought it for me at the factory shop in Shanghai. It had travelled halfway round the world and was finally delivered from Cape Town via another kind friend on Sunday.
We found a front row seat where I had plenty of time to sketch the grand piano draped in quilts. Eventually Kaffe's studio manager Brandon Mably took the stage to introduce the man himself, and we were treated to a fascinating peek into his world of travel and colour, illustrated with a slide show of images from his next book. He did a book signing afterwards, and I thought of asking him to sign my sketch, but decided he might not enjoy my less than flattering rendition. At 77 he is still a very beautiful man!

I'm slowly getting the hang of my new pen. It can make a range of line widths by changing the angle at which you hold it. It works better and more predictably on smoother paper (as in the doodles on the right), but is great for expressive strokes even in my rougher sketchbook. Think it'll inspire me to get back into action and out of a rather arid sketching phase.

Sketching Woes

Oh my, after a couple of weeks of slow, contemplative painting I went out this weekend for some fast on-the-spot sketching and was all at a loss as to where to begin, middle or end. Its scary how quickly the confident line escapes when not in daily practice! But for the sake of keeping the blog updated, I'll post some of my not-great sketches anyway, and hope to do some better ones soon.

I went to the Rose Gardens in the nearby park on Saturday - the early roses not quite out yet but lots of springily dressed young women, with many photos being taken on mobile phones of poses amongst the fountains and trees.

Yesterday I drove into the city, to Main Street Life, an 70's industrial building that is under refurbishment and together with Arts on Main down the road, is an island of art, good accomodation and cultural activity in an otherwise rather grubby, ugly part of Joburg. The rooftop of the building was the venue for a charity event, 1000 Drawings, where people are invited to draw or doodle on A5 paper to be sold on one night in November for R100 each regardless of artist or artwork. Excited to see the city so close, I had to try a cityscape sketch, and then turned to the other drawers - no one that I noticed was sketching the surroundings or people, most were bent over their own creations of  doodles and illustrations. I continued to struggle to get down a flowing, happy line, but by the last sketch, thought it was slowly returning to my faltering pen. Must not leave it in my bag for so long again!!

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...

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.

Galloping off

Some watercolour doodles* just to say... we're off again in a couple of days (still blinking from our lightning trip to Aus) to our regular holiday haven, Arniston, for the Easter weekend. I am taking my sketching things, and hope to be able to jot down some sights and impressions, but don't hold your breath, as it is an invitation to a roofwetting, and a wedding anniversary and I think there will be much socialising and little time to slink off on my own to paint. The weather looks as if it may misbehave, too, as it is here - making a good impression of a London winter, in Johannesburg at the moment.
*I love making these calligraphic marks with very wet watercolour and my cheap, but faithful Chinese goat-hair mop brush. Somehow when I'm trying to paint a 'proper' watercolour, I lose the free loose quality of the brush strokes - I suppose going for accuracy, which is obviously not a priority in these rather strangely-proportioned horses!