Round and Round the Garden

I got so behind posting paintings done on the 30x30DirectWatercolor challenge, I'm just dumping a whole bunch here, otherwise I'll never catch up! 

One or two intersected with other online challenges - Virginia Hein's Usktalk about applying explosive colour before painting just enough of the image to make it recognisable (the chairs) and international sketch-a-chicken week (irresistible!) and Suhita Shirodkar's 'Start with What If...' (What if I looked through a glass of water)

These aren't all of them, just some on the home and garden theme, which is of course the most available subject while under lockdown - I didn't manage 30, but was happy to have kept up quite a steady pace. I felt like I was getting a grip on how to get started, and use more expressive, less fussy brushstrokes as I went along. (The first ones are at the bottom, more-or-less more recent ones towards the top.) July is International Watercolour Month, apparently, so I think I must carry on while I'm on a roll - trying to curb my natural tendency to switch to something different just as I feel I'm making progress!

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.

Late, but Happy 2015!

We returned last week from a frosty but lovely Christmas and New Year in England where we spent a relaxed holiday with family. I didn't even try sitting outside in that cold (though everyone said what a mild winter it was) to draw, but I did this sketch from a warm living room window. Those wintry tree skeletons could provide years of inspiration with the varying veils of mist and colour, this is a very rough and inadequate quickie rendition. I only managed a few other even rougher sketches when I found myself twiddling my thumbs in a warm spot...

...and now here we are back in warm if not quite sunny South Africa and our jungly green garden that needs some serious taming.
Wishing everyone who looks in, a wonderful, productive and creative new year!

End of a Eucalypt

These sketches tell their own story - the end of the long life of a beautiful eucalyptus tree at the entrance to our home. It was leaning dangerously towards our neighbour's car park so it had to be done, but I'll so miss its silvery leaves cheerily shimmering in the sun amongst the darker greens of other trees.
These treefeller guys were something else though - just amazing stamina, strength and agility climbing (without safety harnesses!) up and down while wielding a chainsaw in one hand or the other, only sometimes both when they could get a good grip with legs alone. Systematically removing huge limbs and slicing off log after log from top to bottom, avoiding power lines and precious plants, being flung around as branches sprang back from releasing a weight, they were truly awe-inspiring. I felt exhausted after standing in my nice warm kitchen all day, sketching them from the window, I can only imagine how weary they must feel at the end of a day like this - -just another working day.

Delta Park

On Saturday only John and I turned up to sketch at Delta Park on a cold, overcast and windy day. I could understand why, but I do think we're a bit wimpy when I see sketchers out in midwinter, in places like Sweden and Canada! We had more of a plein air session than urban sketching, as John had his oil paints and I made myself slow down a bit, after a lot of rather frantic fast sketching lately. I wished I'd taken proper watercolour paper - I had only sketchbooks with me, one being a watercolour Moleskine which I used for this long format painting. I had planned to have lots of the yellows and blues I used evident but it ended up looking, once again...green and brown. In spite of the weather it was good to be out - I finished off with a little sketch of John painting in the bleak winter landscape (ignoring his complaints that I should choose another subject!).

NeighbourGoods Market

 For the 36th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, four of our group went to the NeighbourGoods Market in Braamfontein, where Joburgers go in their hundreds every Saturday to buy from: (off their website) 'local farmers, fine-food purveyors, organic merchants, bakers and distributors, grocers, mongers, butchers, artisan producers, celebrated local chefs, and micro enterprises'.

 A freezing cold front blew in that morning, so I started sketching from the relative shelter of a canvas awning - the hat and accessories stall inside, then turned on my chair to draw the hardy souls outside on the rooftop balcony overlooking Braamfontein.

 Downstairs to join the others, Anni, Marlene and Alan for a delicious lunch and to carry on sketching - the two girls above, and the one in the bright jacket below, took photos of my sketches of them - thankfully quite happy with their portrayals!

 The queue for this paella began forming as the two cooks started a new batch, and waited patiently until it was ready. It was all gone within minutes -  must have been good!

 This tall, slim woman in her black and white skirt caught my eye as she stood in front of the tall, slim cake stands full of black and white wrapped cupcakes.

Which I couldn't resist buying two of (Red Velvet and Bar-One - yum!) to take home for my last sketch of the day, before sharing them with my son - my husband's will power standing firm as mine crumbled!

Melville Koppies

Just up the hill from my house, is a heritage site, Melville Koppies Central, where Stone and Iron Age artefacts have been discovered and preserved. It's not generally open to the public, but they have Open days for walkers and hikers, birding days, and for the first time last Saturday, a sketching, painting and photography day. John, Anni and I jumped at the chance to spend a morning in this wild spot of nature in the middle of Joburg, and we really felt as if we were out in the bush, apart from distant sounds of traffic and boys playing soccer down at Marks Park.

 I had planned to move around, sketching from the top of the koppie, down to the forested area lower down, but ended up sitting at the same spot, just turning my chair around to face South, then East, and finally North, before two of the hardworking custodians of the site, Wendy and John came to tell us they were locking up. I became fascinated with the thatching grass all around me - long and dry in the middle of winter, at first it seemed a uniform blond ochre, the more I looked, the more colours I saw. Pinks, golds, mauve and blue, shots of luminescent green - impossible to put them all in without drawing each stalk individually - and glimpses of the city looking soft and gentle through the waving strands  - I felt I could paint there for weeks on end.

We've been told we can go back and paint when the Birders are there - really look forward to another escape to the country - so close by!