Going to the zoo, how about you?

Our first Spring sketchday was to the zoo again, where I've sketched here, here and here... You'd think I'd get tired of it, but once there I get thoroughly engrossed in trying to capture the animals, even while my heart is aching for their imprisonment. It is really the only place you can get close enough for long enough to study and draw them. I've tried in the wild and believe me, they move and disappear in seconds, even the biggest ones.

The elephants were wandering around their large enclosure and I captured them as I could - and couldn't resist including a briefly paused onlooker with remarkably similar trousers on!

Next door to the ellies was a bored and lonely looking rhino, though he seemed popular with the birds - a peacock, a rooster, plus a dozen little chirpers hung around him as he lolled around in the shade.

I wasn't sure what the pale, elegant looking antelope were in the distance - later identified by my husband as gemsbok - I haven't seen such light coloured ones before.

Lastly, after meeting the rest of our group for lunch and sketchbook chat, Leonora and I found some pelicans - one optimistically fishing in a rather filthy khaki pool - and became entranced by trying to reproduce their sculptural feathers, their nursery pastel-coloured faces and their elastic movements, and once again I thought the time at the zoo was too short, I'll have to come back another day, just for the birds.

“A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?” 

Dixon Lanier Merritt

What a Mess!

We are lucky to live in a leafy suburb with a wonderful green space in the middle of it - the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, fondly known as Emmarentia Dam - but boy, do we have a lot of events arranged around us - many with loudspeakers booming across the valley from 6 am onwards.
Last Sunday morning, thankfully not as early, was the Color Run, "the happiest 5K on the planet", starting and ending at a nearby school; so I took my Koh-i-Noor Magic rainbow pencil (unfortunately not the sharpener) over there and started sketching the shenanigans.
It was a hot, hot morning... why anyone would want to run through arches where kilos of coloured powders are chucked over you, sticking to your sweaty brows and limbs and no doubt getting in your eyes, nose and ears, I don't know. I was much happier perched on a small grandstand observing and drawing than down there getting colourfully doused - even so I caught a few splashes on my hat and jeans.

Is too much colour a bad thing? I preferred my simple line sketches before I filled some of the shapes in later - the colours all blended together to make nondescript dusty shades, which in fact is what most of the runners ended up looking like too - red and yellow and orange and purple and blue and green make - mud.

But the real messy sketching came when my pencil was down to the wood and I turned to my new Sailor pen, which is perfect on its own with its variable line possibilities... I got way too creative trying to get coloured powders from the event to stick to my sketch, using candle wax first and later fixative, neither of which worked, the powder fell off with the gentlest blow or shake.

But did I stop there? Oh no, I persevered with watercolour splashes, ink brushes, more spray and white crayon until it was a total shambles and those pages fit only to be glued closed together. Ah well, a lesson to keep it simple and remember my sharpener next time!

A Medieval Fayre

Gosh! Experimenting with scrolling through a long image and astonished to find it seems to be working (please let me know if it's not, for you - doesn't work on my phone). ...The scrolling image has also disappeared from my view, so reverting to separate images of my long long concertina format.
This was from an event Joburg Sketchers were invited to, the Neigh-Bours Medieval Country Fayre, at Inanda Country Base way up north in horse country. I used a long sheet of paper folded into a concertina format and started at one end and sketched through to the other. It gives an idea of the wide expanse of very dry Highveld end-of-winter landscape, although the day itself was baking hot and we sought out every bit of shade we could find.I found one solid spot and stayed put, which was fine as the parade passed by without me having to move too much.

Well, I hope I can do that again if I have to, it involves html codes and posting your long image on Flickr (or some other cloud) first. I might try and make it bigger...

Still no Blog List reappeared.

Spring in Black & White

 We were down in Franschhoek again last week, mon mari (a little French to suit the location) very busy with meetings, so I had plenty of time to chill - and there is no better place to do that - reading books, drawing and just gazing at the amazing scenery. The house we stayed in has a number of beautiful old black and white drawings and prints of trees in it and I was inspired to try using just pen and ink (my Lamy pen with a fine nib, and Noodlers black ink) to sketch in spite of the seductive brilliant greens just beginning to sprout from every dry branch and vine.

A pair of Egyptian geese had produced a family on the pond outside the house - last time my husband was here there were seven goslings, now reduced to three with a sighting of a rooikat (caracul or lynx) with a little feathered body clamped in its jaws reported! I sketched the survivors grazing on the lawn - their ruthless parents were now dive-bombing them to chase them off the premises - oh to be a bird!

I did try one little watercolour sketch of some indigenous watsonias against the fields, trees and mountains but my sketchbook paper and clumsy waterbrush conspired against the beauty I was trying to portray (well that's my excuse anyway).

Spring in Killarney Park

Joburg Sketchers were invited (yay!) to come and sketch at Killarney's pop-up activation event to renew community interest in their local park. I didn't even know there was a Killarney Park though I've driven around there quite often, so was curious to see. An avenue of jacaranda trees has been gated off from the surrounding suburb which consists mostly of loads of large, old blocks of flats - I should think mostly of the 1950's to 60's era - on the day they were unveiling a heritage plaque at an Art Deco building, though I didn't find that. 

In a month or so those bare branches and pathway are going to be draped and drenched in purple as jacaranda season begins.

 I didn't know where to begin, but eventually decided on the jauntily blowing bunting flags that receded into the background. The people I added are of rather strange proportions, but it gives an impression of the vibe of the day.

This little group of old ladies with various walking aids at their sides seemed very happy to sit there all day in the sun, watching the world (or at least the locals) go by. It's probably a long time since they've been able to do this without worrying about safety - always a concern if there aren't many people around.

The face painter was extraordinary, whizzing through the queues of children with sponges and brushes, turning them within seconds into kitties or butterflies, spidermen or tigers. As usual, so much to sketch - a few more from the other sketchers here on our Facebook page if you're interested.

St John's College

Not many kilometres away, but a million miles in other respects from the graffiti, vendors, noise and smells of Newtown, are the hallowed grounds of St John's College, a prestigious private school where three of us went sketching on Saturday. With historic stone Herbert Baker buildings arranged around immaculate gardens and sports fields, every direction we looked held another perfect scene waiting for our attention. In fact - apart from having a quick look at the north side, where the wind was blowing and school buildings far too imposing and intimidating to draw - I didn't stir from my first chosen spot in the shade (on a steaming hot Spring day) in the David Quad, just turning to face front, left and up!

I took ink, dip pens and an array of sharpened sticks, determined to try and sketch in the medium of Kiah Kiean, whose work about brings tears to my eyes it's so beautiful. Of course mine is nothing like it, as it should (or shouldn't) be, but I enjoyed the different lines and unexpected results, in spite of my attempts to control them. An organist practising in the chapel nearby, over and over and OVER again was the only slightly jarring note after an hour or two, but I took it as a lesson - practice practice practice!

Swan Lake

I was invited to go sketching last month with friends at Gallagher Estate, a business conference centre which, I was told, has gardens which are Midrand's best kept secret. I almost refused, as the next day I had to go into hospital, but instead of staying home getting more and more nervous, I decided to go along.

Behind the imposing gates, and past the huge exhibition centres and parking garages, we met up in a green, woodsy tearoom area, with the peaceful sound of trickling water taking us far away from the 'suits' discussing important stuff inside. After coffee, we wandered down through stone pathways and over pretty bridges, arriving eventually at a tree-lined pond, scattered about with bright orange clivia blooms, and two magnificent swans floating serenely over the surface, gently rippling the reflections....Not!! As soon as we sat down and started taking out our sketchpads, the huge birds began rushing at us, glaring out of beady eyes hidden in their black masks, swishing up waves in front of their chests, and very obviously telling us to back off, get lost, and get the hell out of there! We gingerly retreated to slightly higher ground, behind some rocks and trees and sat at the chairs and tables, which seemed to appease them slightly, though they carried on swimming away, then whooshing up to remind us to keep our distance. They must have had eggs or chicks - cygnets (thanks Bridget ;-) somewhere to be so aggressive. We at last settled down to lose our fright in trying to capture the dark reflections and the deceptively pure white grace of the scary swans.

But one brave - or daffy - sketcher persisted in getting closer and was eventually attacked - she fended them off with her bag and sketchbook but was bashed hard on the leg with a muscular wing. The swans were then so irritated that when two unsuspecting business execs came out of their meeting for some fresh air and sat on a bench nearby, one drew itself up into full battle mode - I grabbed a brushload of dark paint off my palette and sploshed down the alarming form - with neck doubled up on itself, chest thrust forward, wings akimbo and back arched and fluffed even larger. It slapped its great feet down like claps of thunder beating towards them. I think I thought it would back off so I didn't warn them, but they noticed it just in time to leap behind their bench to safety. Whew - we all behaved after that and finished our sketches at a respectful distance, all thoughts of scalpels and anaesthetics successfully banished from my mind!

Nia Dancing

While I'm not quite ready for any of the extreme activity I tried to portray in these sketches, I'm at least able to look at them again without wincing. Thank you for all the well wishes here and elsewhere, I appreciate them all so much and am recuperating steadily!

This was a Nia dancing 'jam' held at moyo restaurant at Zoo Lake on the first day of Spring last month. Barbara, Anni and I went along for some more action sketching. All and sundry were invited to join this stretching, energising class after the torpor of winter and we on the sidelines were tempted to discard our sketchbooks and join in, it looked so much fun. It was fun to sketch too, once we'd (well, I) got over stage fright - we were welcomed to come in, watch and sketch and the dancers seemed to appreciate us appreciating their agile creativity.

I've been asked again for tips on drawing moving figures so I've tried to analyse what I did here. It does differ with the amount and pace of movement - this was very fast in comparison to the Tango lesson of two posts ago, where the same actions were repeated over fairly slowly so I had more time to study the shapes of arms, legs, backs etc.

• Remember, none of these are definitive captures of a single pose or body position, as in a snapshot. They are the results of watching the movements of a group, scribbling down fleeting impressions of, for instance, outstretched arms, then watching some more and adding a torso, fitting it to what's been put down, looking again to catch a leg position - perhaps from your original subject, perhaps from somebody else who has moved into your field of vision - attaching as logically as possible to what's happening in the rest of the figure.

• Clothing, hair, head gear or scarves can help to create the impression of movement, flowing wavy lines or creases across a torso describing a sideways stretch or a swooping lunge.

• Try and relax into the movement of  your pen or brush - this may only happen deep into your sketching session - allow it to dance lightly around your page. I sometimes find myself 'conducting' the music in the air with my brush before lowering it to the page and constraining it into body shapes while keeping some of the swirling, twirling motion of my baton.

• Feel within your body the music, the rhythm, the big shapes of the dancer's bodies as well as the smaller ones of hands and feet - see this sketch with arms stretching upwards - by no means accurately drawn hands, but imitating the many fingers flickering together in the air. If you look at some of the individual limbs, hands and feet I've sketched, there are some weird shapes and renditions, but as a whole, give the impression of movement, stretches, lunges, etc.

• To analyse and store in your 'memory bank' some of the postures bodies can get into during sport or exercise, try pausing your TV during a programme like 'So You Think You Can Dance' (a favourite of mine!) and sketch what you see, you'll be surprised at the odd shapes limbs can get into in the middle of a pas de deux!

Does all of that make sense?... probably not, but I hope it helps somebody, somewhere, somewhat! Do let me know if so.

...Aaa..a..nd rest!!

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!!

Vineyard Afternoon

Another long absence from this space, but I've been having a wonderful break in the most beautiful Cape in all the world - a fairly impulsive trip to help celebrate a birthday, as it's a long way to drive - but well worthwhile on all fronts. A happy family gathering, a party, spring seeping into all the mountains and valleys, sea and veld, wonderful stays in towns and villages that we have whizzed through before and longed to spend a little longer Sometime... well the Sometime arrived and all we wanted to do was spend a lot longer, so next Sometime...

This pen and watercolour sketch was done from a kitchen window on a farm in Elgin, a valley rippling with apple and pear orchards, vineyards and olive groves - on an afternoon where a gale was whipping the trees and vines and threatening to sabotage the birthday party - but at 4 o'clock it dropped as if exhausted and all was calm for the celebrations, to everyone's relief.

If any of our friends and family see these holiday posts and wonder why they didn't see us... I'm sorry! It was a whistle-stop week long tour, and we were being mostly tourists this time. Hope to be back soon for a more sociable visit! Other sketches I did were so rushed and scribbly, I need to work on them a bit to make them presentable, but hope to be sharing a bit more of our lovely week away with you soon.

Steamroller printing

One of the good things about Urban Sketchers, is that it makes you get out there and partake in Life! It's so easy (or it is for me) to ensconce yourself in home and studio and just let the world go by.
I had an email about an art project happening at 44 Stanley, where a steamroller would be used for linocut printing. Which I thought sounded interesting, but it was at about the same time as SA playing the All Blacks in the Tri-Nations Cup... and parking is so hard to find at 44... and I should be spring-cleaning my house... but I hadn't done any urban sketching for quite a long while, so... all that went out the window. Except for the rugby, of course. If I wanted company and moral support on my sketching expedition, I had to wait for that to finish.
Directly after the match (Go Bokke!!!) BFG and me hurried off, found a parking space right next to the steamroller and spent a delightful hour watching, chatting (BFG) and sketching (me). Students of local art schools and print artist Fiona Pole laid out and inked their linocuts and used as their press, a cute little yellow steamroller! I did wish I too could be 20 again and just starting out on this whole art adventure, but also happy to be standing on the sidelines and recording the event. Two or three of the students were curious as to what I was up to, and I think - I hope - I may have found a couple more potential Joburg urban sketchers for the future. We'll see...
After that lunch amongst the wisteria and sunshine in a buzzy, trendy courtyard - table no. 13 lucky for us as the previous couple up and left just as we arrived.
Below one of the lino-prints and some of the students with their work...

Ink pencils for Spring

So off we went this morning, my ink pencils and I, to the dam (surprise, surprise!) and after a ten minute walk I found a spot where the rising sun didn't blind me and the tender new green outfits of the willows were on display. I scribbled and washed, scribbled and washed, getting some rather startling results as the water mixed with the crayon - dark areas went lighter and murkier, subtle blends became shockingly bright and garish - which really, those new leaves are, but are so tiny and delicate in nature that they don't look it - unlike when I try to paint them. So I'm not at all sure about the crayons... I liked the black one for this sketch of a hadeda who came with a friend for a bath right next to me... but the colours are very tricky to manage.
The birds flapped off squawking raucously, as they do, when a helicopter flew overhead. There is a joke that goes 'Why do hadedas make such a noise when they take off?'.... 'Because they're afraid of heights!' That struck me as enormously funny when I first heard it, but maybe you have to know them.

Jasmine bouquet

I've been bound again to desk and computer, and absolutely longing to get out into the fabulous spring weather and its sights and smells. I finished the next stage of my work this morning and didn't have to go far to find a ready-made bouquet to sketch, right outside the dining room window. I thought I'd practice a bit with my Inktense pencils before taking them out for a walk... started out quite tentatively, then when I realised I was not going to capture every bud and blossom, got looser and scribblier. Although the colours are fairly restricted, I think they'll be good for laying down quick impressions of a scene. Now, for a week I think, I'm freeeeeeee!!!

Spring Day in the South

Spring has arrived right on cue - our long (to me, *Cathy ;-) cold winter has morphed into warm, balmy, fragrant, birds-and-bees, blossoms and lime-green trees miracle once more. I haven't been here for a whole week again, as life got busy and some more work arrived, but I had to give a nod to the season that is bursting out all around and sketch in watercolours these freesias that have obligingly popped up in my garden, though I'm sure they were planted a few years ago.
I hope whether you're entering Spring or Autumn, that you can get out and enjoy the changes.

Cathy's comment in a previous post: *However, I must tell you I disagree on the "long" winter we've had... for us europeans expats your south african winters are so amazingly short compared to ours in Europe!!! But it's only a matter of point of view!! I entirely agree on the "cold" bit though - even as a European!!!

Rock pigeon tree

We are having stirrings of Spring at last, after a long, relentlessly cold winter. One of the first signs is when the ash trees that have been planted all along our street pop out their little pom-poms of yellowy green fluff, and the indigenous rock pigeons descend from their rocks (I presume) and come to feast on what is apparently their favourite food. In the early mornings and evenings these branches that lean over into our garden from the pavement are crawling with the grey, black and white spotted birds, until some rude noisy dog or person frightens them away. I'm not sure why they disappear during the day, but it may have to do with the bees that take over as the sun rises - the whole tree starts humming!
I drew these ones from my kitchen window where they couldn't see me watching them at fairly close quarters - I had to put their bright yellow beaks, eyes and feet in, but it makes them look a bit like cartoon birds. I used water-soluble graphite, watercolour, gouache and 2B pencil to try and get all the features of bird and tree, and didn't really succeed at all - more practice required!

This morning I went to an art book launch in town and sketched a little bit - you can see it over on Urban Sketchers if you will...

Jacaranda Series

This concludes - for this year anyway - the jacaranda series of 4 little (25 x 25cm) oil paintings, that will be going onto the Arts & Crafts Fair at the end of this month, and with the weather we're having, had better be the last of new oil paintings for then - they will just never get dry in time! The flowers are falling like rain, too, and new green leaves sprouting. Soon the pods will fall, and then the tiny stalks, then the leaves and then the long stalks... it never ends with jacarandas - as we know too well, because some clever built our house's swimming pool right underneath one - a constant slog to keep it clean!

This is the opposite side of the koppie from which I painted the view of little Melville houses - this looks over the suburb of Emmarentia. Someone had considerately blasted a hole in the rock to begin work on their driveway, so that I could get a glimpse of the North-facing side - these houses have a wonderful view, which on a clear day must go all the way to the Magaliesburg.
Coming in on a wing and a prayer,

Look below there's our field over there.

Though there's one motor gone

We will still carry on,

Coming in on a wing and a prayer.