Portraits in Red Wine

Merlot to be exact - and it wasn't a waste, in case you're worried, just a few dregs left in a bottle after an excellent dinner. There's a food, wine and design fair coming up in November and a call went out for artists to submit portraits done in red wine (as artists do after dinner) for a possible commission. On Saturday, happily for me, my daughter decided to have a birthday braai in our garden with a few friends. The perfect chance to try this with some willing - if not too cooperative in sitting still and keeping quiet - models (spot two who didn't keep their mouths still for 30 seconds!)
It's a compelling medium - more fluid, less controllable than watercolour and pools fairly randomly to make darker tones. Some of the paper was old and had lost its sizing so soaked up the wine leaving blotchy textures, with lots of drips, drizzles and runs... lots of fun, especially when sipping your medium by mistake (or not) made everything a lot looser and carefree!

A Heritage House - and portraits galore!

On a hot Saturday four of us went sketching at two early Johannesburg heritage homes in Parktown - built in 1903 and 1904 (Joburg is not very old is it?) One houses the National Children's Theatre and this one that I drew, theatre workshops for children; so every now and then bands of kids poured in and out of the building, whom I sketched as fast as I could. Those who know more about architecture than I do, thought the design and proportions were a bit weird - so I'll blame the wonkiness on that - wouldn't be my sketch would it!?

The Night of a 1000 Drawings was crazy - my friends Anni and John came with me to sketch portraits. After a slow start while we dithered about where and how to start, at last a little girl, Alexia, came up and asked for a portrait - and was unfazed when all three of us focused on her! Then another quiet patch until I approached a young woman and got her to sit for us - then suddenly there were queues forming and people clamouring, we got two more chairs and each of us had to sketch to beat the band  - literally as the night wore on, the party hotted up and the music got louder! I grabbed a few blurry photos (I'm good at those!) but didn't have time to get a record of all of them. We must have done at least 9 or 10 sketch portraits each before, with burning eyes and cramping fingers, we called it
a night - to remember! 

About 3000 drawings were hung up around the huge Sci-Bono Centre on washing lines. People had to buy envelopes with stickers for R100 each, wait for the bell to go and then place their stickers on the drawings they wanted. I found these photos on the 1000 Drawings Facebook page of my umbrella ladies with a couple of buyers with stickers at the ready...steady...sold! 

I recognise the girls in the middle photo on the left as two that I sketched - next time I'll take an 'official' photographer with us or a portable scanner - do you get such a thing?