Same view, different times

Well, same-ish view, Kommetjie beach from a particular bench on the boardwalk for the last three, and actually on the beach in the first spread. I've always loved the almost-repetition of the almost-the-same. It's the underlying minimalism of my not very minimalist work...

Brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Brush markers and watercolour in Windsor and Newton spiral-bound sketchbook.

The walk that wasn't: Boxing Day in the heat (2).

Starting ther climb up Table Mountain. Starting was as far as I got!

Brush markers and watercolour in Windsor and Newton spiral bound sketchpad.

The walk that wasn't: Boxing Day in the heat.

 Lion's Head from Table Mountain

Pencil, brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Landscape: Kommetjie

At this rate it will take me a month to scan in the sketchbook drawings I made in South Africa, but never mind!

Brush markers and watercolour in Windsor and Newton spiral bound pad.

Driving: Karoo skies

Leaving

Kommetjie

Didn't

They took me kicking and screaming for a walk up Table Mountain. Everyone else was doing the same thing on Boxing Day. The views were spectacular but the heat unbearable. Needless to say I didn't make it to anywhere near the top. I felt like dunking my head in some snow. I've always thought heat was overrated. The photo shows the children in our group, who were plucky and uncomplainingly made it all the way.

Not snowy

Definitely no snow here. Arrived exhausted today at Kommetjie, near Cape Town. I took this photograph shortly after arriving and walking five minutes down the road from the house where we're staying.

In the bleak midwinter

... though from just before things totally froze up! Just testing the paper of a spiral bound sketchbook to take to away with me (if I ever get on a plane) to see if it takes watercolour without too much curling (the verdict is so-so, but too bad!)

Brush markers and watercolour wash in Windsor and Newton spiral bound A4 sketchbook.

Lacy tightrope in the sky

I have hardly had time to draw this past week, but going on the daily walk with the camera is also good: both drawing and photographing have the advantage of making one focus on the outside world rather than on one's own tangle of thoughts.

New sketchbook, early drawing

New sketchbook (square pages this time), and I've already spilt tea on it! Still very cold here, and I'm still getting pleasure out of quick mark making and the landscape close by.

Brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Snowy landscape

The country has come to a standstill with the snow and ice, but round here, it's quiet and beautiful. (The first drawing's got a blot from the previous page). Mistaken documentation: I did these yesterday as the sun was setting, but when I was dating them this morning, put in today's date...

Brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Not Japan

Hmmm. I went out with my two Pentel aquabrushes (a brilliant invention), one filled (messily) with a glug of Indian ink, the other with a wash of brown ink. I wanted to capture the big trees that frame the entrance to the enormous meadows where I walk Kato-dog every day, and where the light and sky and landscape change with the seasons. The drawing looks like I hopped over to Japan for the day, but the process might be too messy for me to turn into a habit.

Indian ink and wash in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Dog in snow, sheep in snow, snowy landscape

The weather has been pretty extreme for this time of year. I'm not very good at evoking the snow - the whiteness presents itself as negative shapes, gaps between lovely areas of spikey darkness that I've tried to capture by the quick jots of trees and little track marks on the ground, or clumps of earth showing through. I think working with the calligraphy brush on the Ninja Scroll drawings the other day has had some sort of liberating effect on the way I'm using watercolour. Kato was like a hot dog in his coat, but that didn't cramp his exploratory style. The sheep were rastas in their natural coats. I fell and hurt my wrist, so this is hard to type... but it doesn't hurt to draw.

Brush markers in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

One more

from my photographs taken in Israel, Jaffa again. 

Brush marker and watercolour in untitled sketchbook.

Autumnal florest floor again

Brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Autumnal forest floor

The forest floor is full of mossy smelling tangles of leaves through which vividly coloured Baroque-curly mushrooms amazingly erupt.

Ink pen, brush marker and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook. 

Five minutes, rainy day

Brush markers on gouache wash in big sketchbook.


Blissfully fresh, rainy day, the sky bruised and brooding and the air marvellously cool. Why do I know this isn't everyone's idea of a beautiful June day?

Near home

Black and sanguine Pitt pens and pencil crayon in big sketchbook.

I don't like the threat of summer in the air, but it would have been churlish not to recognise that yesterday was a seriously beautiful day.