Lunar Ladies

My daughter is the designer for Lunar clothing store in a shopping centre not too far from where I live. Behind the scenes of the elegant, uncluttered showroom is a hive of activity where these seamstresses cut, measure, pin and whirr away on their machines to bring the designs into being.
I popped in a few weeks ago with the problem of an urgent hem for a 60th birthday party (mine!!) to be taken up and no working sewing machine to do it myself - quickly and efficiently taken care of by the ladies - but not before I had the chance to tuck myself in between rolls of fabric and hanging garments and sketch them hard at work.

Apologies once again for being so scarce... turning this large sounding age was one thing I've been getting my head around, along with some wonderful surprises that came along with it (my sister who was supposed to be at home in Texas popping up at my birthday party!) - and other projects, pleasures and possibilities have been claiming my limited attention, time and concentration. Drawing (apart from a big illustration job that arrived in the middle of this flurry of activity) and painting have taken a back seat, but things are quietening down and I think I'm feeling that urge to put pen and brush to paper again!

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!

Memory Bank

I didn't mean to spend Friday cleaning out the paper drawers in my studio, but our dear old weimeraner dog, newly deaf but still with a finely tuned nose, had inspected them and smelt a rat, literally.

He started digging and scrabbling, pulling out the bottom drawers with precious sheets of watercolour paper stashed in them and no amount of yelling (he didn't hear a thing) or pulling would deter him. I had no choice but to remove the drawers one by one until he could fit his elderly frame into the space and at last emerge with one scrap of a mouse's Fabriano bed delicately held between his front teeth. I should be grateful... and I am, but it was the start of a long nostalgic graft sorting through 'stuff' from the seventies, eighties and upwards that I'd promised myself I'd get to one day. I've put it all back - with a potion of spices to deter rodents in case the dog didn't terrify her quite enough - you'd think in a way that I could find everything easily again, but no, I have no idea. I found so many memories, sketched, scribbled and painstakingly illustrated, one or two of which I thought I might post here, but I can't find them. I found this ultra quick NeocolorII scribble of our daughter today though, sitting on the couch with her school 'fish' art project in front of her that brings back such a strong memory of a slow, sunny afternoon - one of the few she wasn't off doing... something. Perhaps not my finest sketching half-hour but don't you love it when a few minutes with a crayon/pencil/brush long ago brings back so much?

Happy Thanksgiving

...to my dear American family, and friends, many of whom I've made through this virtual window to the world, and viewers known and unknown - though we don't formally celebrate, I am thankful for you all. I have to confess to being relieved that I don't have to produce a large meal with pumpkin pie, when major festivities are coming up in a months time, but I am extraordinarily thankful for my husband (who would probably have to cook the Thanksgiving meal if truth be told), family and friends here at home, and those that soon will be home again.
The watercolour is one I did years ago from a photograph of my daughters at a funfair (the blond one at the back is returning home from seeing the world in less than a week - whee!) and wasn't very pleased with at the time - the painting that is, not the daughter - but now I've unearthed it again, it brings warm, happy feelings of nostalgia, and gratitude that these little girls have grown up into the wonderful independent young women they are. Their little brother wasn't born yet when this was taken, but I think I feel a blog post of his own coming on, as he moves from one life stage into another and my maternal role goes through churnings and adjustments.

Make your own scraperboard

I've been very busy!! Some nice visitors and company, and necessary cleaning up operations beforehand - and I was asked, last year in fact, to make some images for The Stations of the Cross for our church, but I had too much other work on. I thought I'd have plenty of time this year, but once again, it's a rush. I've pondered for weeks on what to do, and how to do it in an economical way, as well as fast and effective. One wee-hours-of-the-morning rumination brought forth the memory of this method of making homemade scraperboard that I learnt years ago in an art class, and which I used to make the above sketch of my daughter - still in a school uniform at the time, so it's a good ten years ago. This is too big for the scanner and in a frame, so not the best reproduction. It's not the sort of scraperboard you can make those perfect, highly detailed illustrations on, but it's great for loose marks and ready-made textures, which are quite a surprise as you pass over various brushstrokes and layers of polish. Here's how you do it, for anyone who's interested...

I did it on fairly heavy paper the first time, but this time I've used Masonite, as it needs to be sturdy and hung easily with string or wire.

1. Lightly sand the board so paint will stick - this step not necessary on paper support.
2. Freely paint with white PVA. Don't worry about getting the brushstrokes too smooth if you want texture. Let it dry well and give it another coat if needed. Dry well again.
3. Apply wax clear floor polish with a soft cloth, let dry, polish lightly and apply another coat. Allow to dry and harden.
4. Paint on Indian ink with a large soft brush. The wax will resist the ink at first, but keep at it...
5. After three or four passes and cross-brushing, the ink will stick and cover the white paint
6. I varied the edges of the boards, leaving some rough and some covered right to the edge.
7. Allow to dry thoroughly.
8. Start scratching!

I use a small craft knife to scrape with, which gives me various line widths from very fine to broad depending on how its held, but you can use whatever works best for you. Brush off loose ink that's been scraped off with a soft dry brush.

* A Warning! I got some raindrops splashed on one of my boards, and the ink just lifted straight off. I'm going to have to work out how to seal them to make them less fragile.

I'm not sure if I'll use this hand in the series - it is my hand and although I tried to make it look more masculine (I have pretty workman-like hands anyway), it still looks like mine. Though this was very quick to draw, I need to get scraping, as Easter rushes up - in between my workshop next week and preparations for that, and 100 other things going on right now. I am hoping it will sometimes be a peaceful, meditative Lenten process in spite of the time pressures.

Christmas Past

Gosh - it's over, and I didn't even wish you all a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, but I do hope they were and are, how ever you are spending them. We've had a lovely mini family gathering, with our daughter/sister home from London for a few days. Sunny days and hot summer nights with the occasional thunderstorm to freshen things up, its been pleasantly relaxed - except for the big cook-up on Christmas Eve (that every fly in the vicinity looks forward to with glee), which brings flushed cheeks and flustered stuffings and stirrings, and too, too much of everything. This is a sketch of Alex (I've made her look grumpy, which she isn't) done with the wonderful Pentel Brush Pen she brought me from London and some watercolour - soaking up some sun after the snow and cold she left behind. In the pool is Rob, our other daughter's boyfriend, floating blissfully after a Boxing Day lunch of - you guessed it, cold turkey and gammon and leftover trifle. And the post-Christmas table with the decorations slightly wilted, the Pimms all gone, and much clearing up to be done A night swim where the water is as warm as the air, one of the great pleasures of Christmas in South Africa - the sea is the best for this, if its safe - but a big old swimming pool comes close.

Fashion School

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for ages - I went to the Design academy where my daughter Dominique works as a lecturer, and was kindly allowed to lurk around the edges as they prepared for a big fashion show. I started with shaky line drawings in a sketchpad, then bravely decided to bring out my lovely new A4 Moleskine watercolour notebook and full W&N wooden-box set. What a great place to sketch... I felt like I was just getting into the flamboyance, excitement and tension of it all, when I suddenly felt quite exhausted and had to call it a day - I hope to go back again sometime and go straight in with colours and confidence!

Off to see the world

Another daughter has ventured forth and flown off to London to find her feet - if not her fortune. In January last year I did a post about her sister going off to Dubai, and dug out some old sketches I'd done of her. This child, being the one who never sat still, and then later who was always 'out', has far fewer of my efforts expended on her, I had to really scratch to find these. I suspect we may hear more of her news now that she's far away than I did when she was home, in between work, netball, yoga, party, party, party, scuba-diving, rock climbing and just hanging out with her friends. Well I hope so anyway!
Though none of these sketches look terribly like her, they all remind me of the various stages of her childhood. Endlessly interested six-year old, happy confident niner, slightly sulky sixteen-wishing-she were-somewhere-else, and sunny excited just finished school and off on her first unsupervised holiday with the ever-important friends.
She arrived at Heathrow at 5.30 this morning, and we've had a message from her to say she found her way to her destination on the tube all by herself!
God Bless, golden girl - I hope London and wherever else you roam to, will be as wonderful as your wildest dreams.

Doctor's rooms

Sitting with my daughter in the doctor's waiting room, I sketched surreptitiously - as I wrote on the page, the head with the hat isn't real, it's a painted bust on the counter. Not a very South African scene - this must be typical of anywhere in the world - but a necessary part of life, to those of us lucky enough to have good medical facilities and care.
My daughter had sudden extreme vertigo, for which we had to go off to a specialist, who tossed her head around to dislodge a crystal that had wandered into the wrong bit of ear bone loops. A couple of days later, she was fine!

Sushi Sisters

The other night our daughters were presented with all the ingredients by their super shopper-and-chef Dad, and requested to make second daughter's specialty, sushi, for our supper.
They did an amazing job and brought in all their sushi-eating experience, and culinary and artistic talents, and made what looked like a mountain of fish, rice and veggie creations... my sketches really don't do them justice! They were absolutely stunning to look at...

...and we managed to polish them all off, bar four little rolls (I'm sorry, I don't know all the names given to the individual morsels), which their sibling had for lunch the next day. So scrumptious!!

Sushi aside - good grief there are a lot of 'S's cropping up in this post! - I'm dashing through everything that I'm painting or sketching so fast lately, it's making me feel quite unsettled and jittery. I have so many ideas on what I would like to paint and do, a very pleasant change from a year or so ago, when I couldn't think of a thing!... but I need to slow down and take a more considered, leisurely and contemplative approach. I'm busy spring-cleaning my studio - a major undertaking - so I can get back in there and settle down to some serious work, I hope!

Morning at the airport

Our daughter who went to Dubai returned today (hooray!) and the plane was delayed. Since rediscovering sketchbooking, almost an occasion for jubilation - a chance to observe and sketch from life... I had to wait a while for a seat, and then of course had mostly back views, except for people staring up at the arrivals screen, who soon turned away again. I started with the man to the right of middle, very shakily, then became surer as I went along.

By the time I got to these figures on the right, I was beginning to enjoy myself trying to capture the essence of each individual, then someone came to watch over my shoulder and I got all flustered and started chatting to her instead (an art teacher from Vereeniging), then the plane and lovely daughter arrived, then we went home and had some tea.

Catch her while you can

Half our sitting room has been taken over by a wedding dress, designed and made for a friend by my eldest daughter (the one now in Dubai) and which is now being beaded by her sister, Alexandra. She hardly ever sits around long enough for me to draw her, so I took advantage of her relative stillness to do a quick sketch - ignoring the grumbles - I'm sure one day she'll be glad her mother insisted on immortalising her for posterity!
The dress - actually a coat to go over a simple silk slip - is looking beautiful. It will be travelling to Canada for the wedding. I am starting to get jittery that it will be all finished in time, but am - very slowly - learning to zip my lip, trust that my children are adults and know what they're doing and will in fact get the job done without my twittering on the sidelines!

Leaving home again

Our firstborn 'little' daughter left for Dubai yesterday, to start a new, amazingly grown-up sounding job as supervisor in a couture design studio. It's strange how when they're at home for any length of time, at the great age of 26/7, you start muttering about how they should really be independent and leading their own lives... and when they DO, all you can think of is this small, delicate, innocent child that (surely) badly needs your protection, and advice, and constant presence to show them the ropes. BUT, I really know it will be good, and she will be a better more rounded person for it, and she's way, way braver than I ever was... Bon Voyage, little Pie!!!