The Tearoom

Two other sketches from my week at the coast, the top one is of what used to be the Kidds Beach Tearoom, now a restaurant and pub. When we used to come here as children it was about the most thrilling aspect of the trip. Walking up those curved steps into the smell of suntan lotion, sweets, fresh bread, sand and sea is still a strong memory, though now replaced with fish and chips and beer. We were allowed to choose one or two sweets - usually it was a big pink stick of 'Kidds Beach Rock', with the name running right through from end to end, to last for the whole holiday.

The second is the ancient little changeroom/wind shelter next to the tidal pool, daubed with seaside graffiti -and with a passing beach cleaner superimposed. The sea around here really does teem with dolphins sometimes - a day or two before this I'd watched hundreds slowly rolling past as we sat having sundowners on the patio - what a privilege!

Rocks, Pools, Waves

I'm back from a wonderful, relaxed ten days down in the Eastern Cape - in the little hamlet of Kidds Beach where my family have been spending holidays for generations and which holds many happy memories.

It was quiet after all the holiday-makers had returned to work - we are rejoicing in no longer having to stick to school holidays to take our breaks!

As you can see, I had time to sketch, as well as walk, read, swim, sleep... I found a great watercolour book at our extended family's home, 'Mastering Color & Design in Watercolor' by Christopher Schink, which I studied and took copious notes from, and tried to use some of his exercises in these sketches (using mostly watercolour, with some Inktense crayons). The colours in that rock pool are exaggerated, but when you stare at them for ages, they seem so brilliant! There were beautiful long white beaches too, where we walked and swam, but my husband and son fished from the rocks so that is where I sat too. Trying to paint the sea and rocks is completely absorbing, time flies and I felt I'd just begun when it was time to leave. I can see why some artists spend a lifetime trying to capture it.

Barney & Bella

I tried to do some watercolour sketches of Bella and Barney, who we cat-sat while on holiday at Kidds Beach, as a little thank you to their beloved pet human for opening her home to us while she was travelling. Of course they didn't stay still for a single minute, even while sleeping, and my birds-eye view (I wouldn't like to be a bird near these two highly athletic and alert siblings!) of them moving around on the deck resulted in a page of rather contorted looking kitties.

Posting here is likely to be even more erratic than usual with a wedding on the cards, my eldest daughter and her fiancé happily having booked the day. My usual reaction to a mountain of things to do and having to think and plan is to freeze in a tizz until adrenalin takes over and I start to get things done. Sketching and painting seem like an unnecessary distraction from my state of catatonia, but I'll try now and then!

Rock pools

I've had a busy sort of a week, so nothing new to post, but as I'm also using this blog as a record, this is an old watercolour of my son at the rock pools at Kidds Beach, Eastern Cape - a place with very precious memories for all our family. It's painted from a photograph taken by my sister Gillian, who always takes beautiful photographs, and remembers to take them at special times in her and our lives - unlike me, who has big holes in her albums. I submitted this to a local watercolour society competition and it came back with the comment - 'Nice reflections, dog has three legs'... which put me in my place! I'm sorry I cropped it at the top - there was plenty of paper left up there, and room for the sea and sky to tower over the little figures. And I made my very blonde child into a brunette, overworking the hair.

Pastel Rocks

Some more pastels produced while taking the online course on by art professor and teacher Gregory Kerr, using different methods of creating the paintings. This one of my son - about 25 years ago - and our dog Gucci who has featured elsewhere on this blog... he wasn't actually present at the rock pool, or even born at the time, but due to the wonders of photography and drawing he makes an appearance. This one was built onto a charcoal base.

And this was onto a base of a tonal ink painting, which is how I got such dark areas - difficult otherwise with the medium. This is my husband's grandmother's bridesmaid transported from Cape Town in 1910 to a Kidds Beach thicket of bush. How are those flowers!

So what do I like about pastels?

• They are quick, you can lay down colour in seconds, layer after layer.
• They are easy to change, almost endlessly depending on your paper. You can work and rework and add and remove over and over again.
• There are loads of colours available, but you can get lots of effects just with a basic set.
• They're easy to take out and put away.
• You can get lovely veils of colour, as well as expressive marks.

What don't I like?

• They are dusty, chalky, stick to your fingers and clothes and work surfaces. Which actually you don't even notice when you're deep in the process, but do have to clean up eventually - the whole room!
• There seems to be a lot of waste - so much pigment just falls down the paper, and some colours get used up fast. I've been collecting it in an envelope, perhaps to use as a base for another one - waste not, want not, or just Scrooge?
• The results I've had so far are - pastelly, I want to get some bright brights, dark darks - which is possible as I've seen in others' work but not in mine so far.
• I tried quick sketching with them (below) and they were - ungainly, clutzy, although once I stopped trying so hard to control them (got really annoyed!) and let them do their thing, I was happier with the results - in the last drawing. 
• They seem very fragile - you can fix them very lightly with hairspray or fixative, but a heavy coat changes the surface alarmingly. Storing and framing must be a challenge!

I've always wanted to paint this chair with the about-to-bloom cymbidium, and the light behind them - more of this subject to come I hope, if I can stick with it!  (This was a London USkTalks project to use different colour papers, and different to your usual palette)