Stealing time

I took a friend to the dentist on Monday morning, and sketched in this very nice little coffee shop while I waited. Back home, while so happily engaged - burglars were busy rifling through our house. I'm glad I wasn't there, but this sketch joins the artwork in the file 'While we were being robbed'. Whingeing about Joburg and its crime is boring and futile, but honestly, sometimes one just despairs. There are far more friendly, generous, nice people here than there are thieves and vagabonds, but that small proportion certainly makes life uncertain and unpleasant for the rest.

When my son and I got home, the sliding gate was a little open and we couldn't move it any further - we walked in and Kenzo our cat was wailing to beat the band. I thought she was hurt or stuck, but she was just trying to tell us something... then we saw the dog inside the house, when I'd left him out... a bit sheepish looking, but relaxed... then we saw the mayhem.

Poor old Gucci has been an outstanding watchdog all his life, but is now a bit deaf and creaky, and sleeps like a log. He may have woken up and given them a fright, as they had been disturbed while removing the computer - I am relieved that he's OK, as dogs also fall victim to the thugs.

They were after money and firearms, which unfortunately we had in a safe, hidden, but found and removed lock stock and barrel. And our son's precious playstation, and we may still be discovering what else for a while to come.

It's hard to imagine what sort of person looks at your family photos - of children laughing on the walls, at their collections of treasures and books on their shelves, at all the evidence of ordinary daily living around a home, and then trashes it and steals not only the goods, but the trust and peace of mind, body and heart. He can only have had an awful life full of hatred and violence... well that's how I deal with it - I'm afraid some of my family are feeling rather bitter and vindictive...

<--While my car was being stolen from outside the figure drawing class.

In a journal after all the computers at my husband's business had been removed one night...

-->

Goodbye Lovely Tree

Such a blow struck our street (literally!) this week, when one of the gigantic branches of the colossal Pin Oak in our neighbours' garden, broke off and crashed to the ground - revealing a damaged and diseased core, and the owners no choice but to have the rest of it chopped down for safety's sake. No more constantly swaying, rustling and changing canopy of leaves dominating our skyline - the men with chainsaws arrived, and with a heavy heart I watched them dismantle the limbs from the body and efficiently swing them down, avoiding houses, walls and - except for one startling crash when my computer abruptly blacked out - power lines. (This must happen fairly regularly as City Power was already at hand and repaired the damage within a couple of hours.) My husband and my son, both keen woodworkers, gleefully gathered as much of the beautiful wood as they could fit into our garden - we are going to have quite a lumberyard for quite some time as it has to cure and mature before any craftwork can come forth! At least they've saved some of the old chap from being chopped up for firewood, and maybe, when I'm 105 or so, we'll have a new dining room table.

Food for the soul

Been very busy making those red windmills for the children at church to wave around on Pentecost Sunday in a couple of days, so just some quick sketches in my journal (also inspired by Martha at Trumpetvine Travels who paid me a visit yesterday, and who makes fantastic sketch journals).
I've been wanting to draw my breakfast for a long time - I just love it, though it takes a lot of chopping and mixing and chewing - keeps me going for hours. I discovered though, that it's not as healthy as I thought - the fruit has a lot of sugar and the granola a lot of fat, so I add more oats and make the portions smaller, except when there are delicious raspberries, and granadillas, and gooseberries and...and..

Undercover operation

I wouldn't usually infiltrate a bunch of 17 year old boys, but when my son brought two friends home last night for supper and a movie I thought I'd risk it for the sake of Art. They dress themselves in a way calculated to repel and intimidate (it seems), but really they're quite nice, happy to chat to the old fogeys and take their plates to the kitchen and say please and thank you.
I sunk into a corner chair with the crossword as a cover, and sketched them from the corner of my eye. They didn't notice they were being drawn, so busy were they texting messages while watching a rather inane movie (another reason we generally slink off out of eye and earshot).
I added the wash and colour this morning, so they haven't seen themselves yet, but I hope (at least one being a keen art student), they'll appreciate the role they've played towards honing my skills!

Back again

I've been away!... The reason for my last post being so rushed and unedited - and I couldn't SAY I was going, as it was a surprise for my sister Vivienne's (Big!) birthday. I really wanted to do a post saying "Coo-o-eee, I'm over here, in Austra-a-aliaaa!", but it was a very short week with lots of lovely family and other people to talk to and wonderful things to do, so I didn't do any painting or blogging, besides these few sketches. Perth is a lovely town - relaxed and friendly with a vibrant art life and loads of outdoor attractions for the energetic. My second visit, I still couldn't get over the brightly coloured parrots and cockatoos that I've only seen before in cages, darting around and decorating sky and trees. I would love to do some watercolours of them, but my eyes can't quite make them out in the tall Norfolk pines, though I might try from a photo or two that I took.
These sketch-journal pages were done on rare occasions where I could sit and look, and draw a little - dear dog Harry chewing an enormous bone and fending off a cheeky marauding crow; an attempt at a frangipani tree, which grow so lushly in that climate; a harbour pub and boat club, and the airport, which always obliges to provide plenty of opportunity for sketching while you wait!

Happy Valentine's Day

Here is a beaded wire rose (I think it's a rose) for you. They are sold by craftsmen here on the side of the road in some of our suburbs around this time of year - my beloved gave this one to me last Valentine's Day - I drew it in my sketch journal but I got bored and irritated rendering all those beads, I won't be doing that again in a hurry - real roses are much more fun to paint!

Some of the local art-and-craftworks have improved so much over recent years. There are highly original minds at work, though if one person comes up with a great seller, it soon proliferates all over town. There is a life-size beaded warthog that I rather fancy, but where would one keep it?

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...

The Pets

A not very good drawing of our dog and cat, who love each other very much and curl up in all sorts of combinations. Kenzo the Kat does have one flopped-over ear, that isn't just bad drawing!