tortoise

my heart

A quick watercolour sketch drawn in celebration - today is my Valentine's day!

Duifie

 My sister requested a drawing of a dove the other day & it proved to be the ideal platform to try out a mixed media drawing.  I first painted a blue wash, followed by spontaneous areas of colour that became defined once I switched over to coloured pencil to add some depth.
I enjoyed it so much.  It turned out to be an interpretation of a dove more than a species drawing - hope she will like it.

êrens het ek my woord verloor

êrens het ek my woord verloor

tussen dit wat was en wat bly oor

met dit wat is en wat het verloor

tussen traliehek en pad se spoor

hoop jy jou voete bly net voor

a gift to Michael

It was my boyfriend's birthday recently.  I made this art book as a gift to him. I am sharing some of the pages here.  The project took longer than anticipated, but it was very gratifying to work 'unplanned' and in a multitude of media without trying to create a coherent whole.  Each double spread is treated as a composition of its own.
He was a wonderful recipient of this gift.  He's simply wonderful.

What is

It has been a while since I posted. As the year gains momentum time for personal creative projects are scarce.  Luckily I can look forward to a time of rest and thus more time to create.  Times of rest are necessary.  I am not sure what I will work on next, but whilst I'm letting my thoughts roam I decided it might be good to doodle and read: nothing that has a purpose beyond itself apart from giving joy in the moment.  Above is a page from my art journal.  I love the fact that it's inbetween scrapbooking, art, self expression and above all hasn't got the label of 'art' or 'design' around it.  It just is.

Onbewus

Laatmiddag skets ek onbewustelik.  Ek bly droom van hierdie baba.  Die baba wat al kan kruip en bly lag. Alhoewel hy rondgeskop word deur 'n ongeïnteresseerde skare.  En in my wakende staat weerklink Ingrid Jonker se gedig "die kind is nie dood nie".  En ek loop rond hiermee sonder om te weet hoe hul by mekaar inskakel, indien wel.
Hulle sê babas in drome kan nuwe dinge simboliseer; of iets weerloos en klein.  Klein en rein.  Iets wat vertroos moet word; wat koester benodig.
Ons leer as volwassenes spoedig hoe om onsself te beskerm dat mens maklik in die proses verleer hoe om jouself soms steeds weerloos te kan stel.

Gogo's Story

The drawings for Gogo's Story Colouring Book are finally complete & sent through.  Once again, it has been an incredible privilege to work on this project - to just fall into the wonderland of drawing.  As you can see, the story contains some disgruntled kids.  It deals with the unique role grandmothers play in many households in South Africa:  being a caregiver to her grandchildren, because the parents are deceased.  It is a sad reality of our country.

Oh, and of course, gogo means grandmother in siSwati & Zulu - for those friends reading this from overseas.

Jy is presies waar jy moet wees

Die idee is Morley s'n.  Hy's 'n straatkunstenaar van Amerika.  Ek het so baie gehou daarvan ek het gedink dis woorde wat ek naby my moet hê.  Toe maak ek my eie weergawe daarvan.  Dis 'n positiewe herinnering op die dae wat jy sukkel om te voel dat jy behoort.

Stylisation: Cubism

I wanted to find a way to teach practical stylisation techniques using an existing design style or art movement.  The natural object is drawn from life (& direct observation).  The drawing is then used as the basis for the final sketch.  It is cut up & 'fragmented' to mimic the multiple visage points of cubism works.  Colour is added to bind the various 'fragments' together again into a coherent design.  The sketch came out a lot more yellow than anticipated, but I think the stylisation is quite successful.  The medium is a combination of watercolour washes with coloured pencil.