South Africa – vibrant despite inequality

A fabulous artblog with some gorgeous drawings…..

pattimcjones's avatarPATRICRAFT

ImageA group of us in London attended a weekly musical vigil every Thursday for years throughout the 90’s outside the South African Embassy to show our opposition to apartheid; In April 1994 black South Africans queued for hours to vote for Nelson Mandela ANC everyone felt things were going to change… 34 black miners were shot for protesting at Marikana platinum mine last August in an action reminiscent of the Sharkville massacre (protesters at Marikana had travelled hundreds of miles away from their homes in the Eastern Cape to look for work, having to live in tin shacks without electricity, water or bin collection).

I eventually visited South Africa earlier this year (initiating workshops to kick-start links with an SMU in Wales) and was overwhelmed by the exuberance and kindness of the people.

Everywhere there was music so I sketched as much as I could…….

 

IDrum prep Cape Town

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The Cwmdonkin Cuppa

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Well, today was Bank Holiday Monday and true to British tradition, the weather was dreadful, cold, windy and pouring with rain. Luckily, Husb and I went for a nice long walk yesterday when it was lovely and sunny and we ended up in Cwmdonkin Park, made famous by Dylan Thomas, who lived close by and played in the park as a child. The lovely old pavilion, painted a traditional green and white, is now a little cafe serving tea and Joe’s ice cream, scones and cakes. We stopped for a nice cuppa and I scribbled the little teapot on the wooden slatted table. I especially liked the way the shadows folded down between the strips of wood.

Drawn into my A5 pink recycled sari sketchbook with Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens in sepia, sizes F and S.

The Rat!

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This morning was so gorgeous, warm and sunny so I took the washing out to the garden to peg on the line and there was this dead rat! Sparta had been hunting again. Normally I forget that I’m a feminist and scream for Husb, but I gritted my teeth and fetched my sketchbook. I’m an artist, I should be prepared to draw whatever life puts my way. I felt sorry for the poor thing. It was only a young rat and looked as if it was sunbathing in the grass, apart from the flies that were bothering it. Then little Ming scampered over and started playing with it. EEEEWWWW!!! Then I started yelling for Husb.

Berlin And The Geek

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Spent a very long but happy day at Swansea Print Workshop, working with a talented group of artists to produce a body of monotypes, which we hope will form the basis of a portfolio to go to the USA in the Autumn. I based mine on a drawing I did of husb when we visited Berlin a couple of winters ago. He was wrapped up warm in a well-padded bright yellow jacket and I drew him in a tiny sketchbook on the Berlin Metro on our way to visit the Stasi museum. We’re such a jolly couple.He’s a real gent and always stands for ladies, so I get a lot of opportunity on public transport to sketch him from below, looking straight up his nose.

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It’s not a flattering angle but I don’t like doing straightforward portraits; I like quirky. The monotype process created two unique pieces, one full-colour and one ‘ghost’. They are oil pigment (litho / relief ink) onto BFK Rives 250 gsm handmade paper, 15cms square. For a geeky explanation of the process, please visit my website. I am a geek. You have been warned 😀

Scruffy Kitteh

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It’s very cold this evening with a sharp easterly wind so Husb and I are cwtched at home in front of the telly with cats on laps. I’ve been colonised by little Ming the Merciless, who is easily one of the scruffiest cats ever born. She draws blood when we try to brush her so she stays scruffy. Here she is, on my lap, drawn with a Faber Castell Pitt, sepia size F pen into my pink silk A5 recycled sari sketchbook.

A New Model

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I like drawing a new model because I haven’t had a chance to lapse into visual shorthand so I take more risks. So this evening, in the life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop, I got out my dip pen and white ink, a piece of thick Bockingford prepared with a black ink wash and scribbled away. The pen did NOT like the white ink, which is much claggier than black ink and kept blotting. So I watered it down a bit and then it was too translucent, so I had to keep going over the lines. Never mind, I enjoyed drawing the pose a few times over half an hour, but switched to black ink onto a creamy Somerset for the one-hour pose. The dip pen liked it much more.

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The Golden Badger of Wrexham

The Golden Badger of Wrexham.

Bonkers bloggage from the crazy pen of Notsogreatdictator Smith……

Quick And Smelly

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Husb took me for lunch today – at our local chip shop cafe. Last of the big spenders! Anyway, we were just about the youngest people in there (and we’re middle aged) and I scribbled this eldely man while I waited for my battered fish and chips, with a diet coke- must watch the calories. I did the sketch in about a minute; that sort of timescale forces you to focus on what’s crucial.

It was a lovely evening so we went down the allotment for a spot of digging. I love digging. I get into the zone and meditate. I’ve been making comfrey tea liquid fertiliser and I doused my little leeks with it. It stinks and now I smell horrible. Luckily Husb has a cold.

Self Experiment

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After the manic amount of work I did during my residency in Boise, Idaho earlier in the month, I’ve hit a bit of a slump, probably not helped by jetlag, so I gritted my teeth and sat in front of a mirror this afternoon and scribbled what I saw. I don’t usually do self-portraits but I wanted to experiment with some portrait drawings using black and white media – conte crayons, compressed charcoal, carbon, oil pastels. I also wanted to get away from the usual detailed, fine pen work I use for portraits and develop a much more scribbly style.

I’m very influenced by Kathe Kollwitz, a brilliant scribbler and printmaker, and she did lots of self-portraits. makes sense, I don’t have to pay myself. But it’s not a comfortable thing to do. I noticed every single wrinkle, every bit of flab, every blemish eeewwwwww. I haven’t got the likeness right yet, but I’ll keep practising. This is on a piece of A3 Bockingford, 250gsm, prepared with an ink wash and drawn in black and white conte crayon, carbon and white oil pastel.

Summertime and the living is…hard work!

A lovely blog from my fellow Swansea artist and chum, Kara Seaman and her lovely collagraph of a Fox with a Pie 🙂