loyal subjects

What to draw when you don't feel like getting off the couch. Usually they don't feel like getting off the couch either, so it works out well.

Favourite views

I mentioned the other day that I have some favourite drawing spots. I also have some favourite views, strong landmarks that seem to crop up no matter where I seem to be sitting, like Table Mountain - NOT. Well yes, it is an example of this, it's not what I'm talking about here (in fact, don't get me started on that topic). In my part of the world, a big one is the flour siloes. Surprisingly, I don't find them ugly at all even though they're so huge and dominant. The factory buildings attached to them are old and quite beautiful - and all still in use.

Here they are on the horizon. They are fun to draw because of the strong vertical lines.




Close up, they can be rather looming.


I've got my eye on these siloes, so no doubt you'll see more of them.

Suburbia by the sea

Sunday lunch with the in-laws at their lovely place in Fish Hoek with 360-degree views to die for. Apart from False Bay and various mountain ranges, you also get a bird's eye view of the crazy-quilt patchwork of houses and roofs the suburb below.

Favourite spots

The problem with sketching gritty urban scenes is that you've got to actually sit in the gritty urban scene. The most visually inspiring places are often hard to get at. So, I am always on the look out for good views - places where I can sit, with my street-wise radar turned off, and draw. One of my current favourite spots is the studio where I go to Saturday painting classes. Out of every window there's something that catches my eye.


The studio is right next to Salt River Station. I will never get tired of drawing it.


The station has a maze of concrete ramps and bridges forming strong shapes and patterns. I've been trying to capture these. And I feel like I managed with these two.



I'm also quite pleased with them because they got me started in a new direction with my painting. (I'm still trying to decide if I'll put some of my paintings up on this blog. )

urban scribbler in the country

Just spent 5 relaxing days doing nothing at all in the Cedarberg. Thank goodness there were lots of higgledy piggledy farm buildings around, otherwise I'd have been forced to draw rocks. The mountains in this area are breathtakingly beautiful, but I have no inclination to capture them on paper - it would only ever look mediocre compared to the real thing.

On repeat

This is what I see when I look out over our postage stamp of a back garden. Yesterday while staring out over an afternoon cup of tea my thoughts were something like, " Wow! I like the bare branches against the clear winter sky. Let me do a quick sketch."


Going through my sketch books I see that I had the same thought last year:

And a few years earlier - when the poplar trees will still knee-high:


I guess when I'm old and senile they can just sit me in front of the same window every day and I'll be happy to draw it over and over.

Bridges

I'm quite into drawing bridges at the moment. I like the strong shadows they form. I particularly like the common garden variety that just go about doing their boring jobs on every freeway in the country.


Everyday on the way home from work I end up sitting in my car waiting at that nasty intersection on Liesbeek Parkway under the N2 bridge. The shapes and patterns it forms fascinates me. I have been desperate to sketch it for a while, but could never quite see myself sitting under it next to the homeless guy and the tow-trucks. So, (do I confess it?) I took a photo and then sketched it.


Here are two bridges I found in an old sketchpad that I carried around Spain and France. This fancy old bridge in Paris excites me less than the big ugly concrete ones above. Perhaps because it doesn't need to be sketched or turned into anything - it speaks for itself.


And this one in a sad old town on the border between Spain and France includes one of my other all time favourites - railway lines. I remember I was immediately drawn to the strong dark shadows of the arches.

Sunny Sunday at Barney's Corner

It's a wonderful wintery sunny Sunday - clear blue sky, no rain, no wind. I just had to step outside to soak up some sun and draw what caught my eye.


The place on the corner of my street is Barney's Corner. When I first moved here it was a wholesale nut place. Then it was a second-hand store (got some great vintage fabric there which I've never gotten round to sewing up!). Now it's been converted into a house. The curtains are always closed - very irritating for a snoop like me.

So what exactly am I up to here?

I don't exactly know, which I guess is the point. I've got a pile of filled sketchbooks taking up space in our study-studio-guestroom, so I thought I would try and make of what I've been scribbling over the last few years.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I've even put labels on the spines with dates. This must be the latent librarian in me coming out. I've dicovered though that indexing only helps if you actually arrange them on a shelf properly in the right order - ha!