Sketching more

MOST of the earth is beyond the walls of buildings, and is untouched in appearance by the art of the sculptor or the painter.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Quick landscape sketch with my Parker Fountain Pen, black Quink ink and some colour added - done in my Moleskine Folio (A4) 200gsm Watercolour sketchbook

Sketching has always been one of my great passions, but of late I've been neglecting it in favour of doing mostly watercolours. I've decided to go back to basics and sketch a lot more. Sketching forces you to look in more detail, and ask yourself what you actually see. You’ll end up seeing a lot more than you would otherwise. There’s something about holding a pen or pencil in your hand that gets your creative juices flowing in a much different way than holding a brush. When you get used to sketching, the movements of your hand become much more fluid and it becomes really easy and natural. The more you practice, the better you will become at sketching.

A little old barn

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - inspired by the poem below.

you just gotta love
a little old barn
touched by time
with it’s own charm..
the weatherd wood
shines bright in the sun..
Proud and still standing..
(it’s time isn’t done)………
Think of the tales
that could be told
if barns could talk
of memories they hold..
each one is different
no two are the same..
to see them fading
away, is a shame.
- Connetta

The Essence of Africa

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”
- D.H. Lawrence

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

Here I used Coffee, candle wax and W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

In the past 100 plus years, changes in Africa have been numerous. However, it is the essence of Africa which remains unchanged.

To me the essence of Africa is not just the beautiful countryside, it is not just the amazing wildlife or the abundant bird life or the gorgeous beaches, Bushveld and cities, it is also about the people.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life. We say, "A person is a person through other persons."

(Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa and a direct translation basically means, "I am what I am because of who we all are." Ubuntu also
suggests that the person who behaves with humanity will eventually be an ancestor worthy of respect or veneration.)

South Africa is a melting pot of different peoples. Our challenge lies in building a ‘single’ community, united by being committed to the common good of all, in uniting our people from different origins, culture and spiritual beliefs in a form of acceptance and friendship.
With the right motives and the right spirit and by applying the right principles of Ubuntu, a natural patriotism is developing in South Africa.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.
- INFORMATION REGARDING 'UBUNTU' FROM WIKIPEDIA

She is Mother Nature

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

Black ink sketch and colour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

LOVE HER AND CHERISH HER

Nature has so much beauty, so much to teach us. Mother Nature has inspired the greatest poets of all time to write unbelievable prose.

Nature, Nature,
Please don't go away...
We over polluted and any day, now, any day
It might die forever
And just go away
We are transmitting from the future
2115, I think
We lost count at 2079
When the world was on the brink
Look Larry
Look Sue
Look Harry
It’s 2011 according to the machine…
Those trees are green!
The sky is blue!
The fields are beautiful
And even the people are, too!
Look everyone!
Look at the screen!
Look at when nature, nature
Was such a fragile creature
With such delicate green features
By John Murray

Spring returning

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm Watercolour Sketch-book - 8" x 5"

Some blue gum trees (Eucalyptus) at the bottom of our smallholding (Gauteng, South Africa) - everything is already turning green, but some trees are still showing signs of the veld fires that raged through here just a couple of days ago. These trees provide me with endless hours of sketching pleasure - together, in pairs, singly - and each tree looks different when seen from its other side.