Adventures in... Winnipeg

I don't think anything quite compares to a prairie sky. I've admired many a sky, in many a lovely foreign place, but there's something awe-inspiring about the vastness and power of the sky in the Great Plains. It stretches from horizon to horizon, making everything else seem insignificant.

I haven't been taking that many pictures, except these ones that I took on a 'scenic drive'. It always seems redundant in my home town. I've seen everything so many times that it doesn't seem special. Except now that Mark is here with me, and I'm seeing it all with fresh eyes.

And time to fess up. I also haven't been doing that much sketching either (for the same reasons). I start to draw something and then think, "is this even interesting?" And besides, drawing a landscape means drawing a straight line across the page... where's the challenge in that?

However, we've started to do more sight seeing and I'm gradually filling the pages of my sketchbook. I'm not sure if I'll post them as I go along, or all at once at the end of the trip...

what do you think?

We've still got Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and Toronto to cover.

Or perhaps, after each city I should do a summary of our time with sketches?

Summer Sunday Sketches in Steinbach

Summer Sunday sketches in Steinbach.

Ok, try to say that five times fast.

Yesterday I spent a lazy afternoon wandering around my home town with my sketchbook and a new Faber-Castell brush pen. The clock tower in my drawing is at the corner of Reimer and Main, the epicentre of town, where everything happens.

At least, where everything happens on a weekday. On a Sunday it is perfectly quiet, and the only thing bustling down the street is a lazy, hot prairie wind.

I haven't used brush pens much, and I've discovered that I really love the long undulating line. I wonder: how long does a brush pen last before it can't achieve those delicate thin lines, and only drags thick, scratchy strokes across the page? I guess I'll find out as I learn.

Make yourself comfortable

Take a seat!

Make yourself comfortable.

I'll pour some coffee and we can chat; it's been so long.

Now that you've toured the kitchen, I thought perhaps we could curl up in the living room for a chat. I really love all my blog readers, and I wish I could get to know each of you a bit better. Wouldn't this little room be the perfect place for a tête-à-tête?

Again, the majority of what you see is hand-made by a young yours-truly. Since I've taken a bit of a hiatus from posting drawings, I thought I could share a different artwork: the dollhouse!

Welcome to my childhood home

Pull up a chair. I'll cut the cake.

And, please don't mind the mess.

I haven't been doing much these past few days. I'm relaxing and enjoying the absence of deadlines (what a luxury!).

I can't really show many pictures of my actual home, because it's being renovated as we speak. It seems that I move from building-site to building-site around the world, leaving unfinished houses in my wake.

But, I can show you on of my 'spiritual' homes: my dollhouse. It's not just any dollhouse, of course. I worked on it for over a decade, starting when I was about 9 or 10. I sewed the dolls, and made practically everything you see by hand (except the dishes, the lamp and the cake).

It was my dream home in miniature. I still sometimes wish I could shrink, and spend a few days with my dolls in their cozy house.

I thought I'd give you a tour, starting with the kitchen...

Adventures in... London

It's my last day in London for a few months. I'll really miss it!

Here are a few pictures of my favourite places. Above you see the fountains in Somerset House. A free 'beach' for all the city children.

Standing in the middle of Waterloo Bridge and looking east. They say if you can walk to the middle of Waterloo Bridge from one end while holding your breath your dreams will come true. I've never managed.

Tower Bridge [not London Bridge, don't be confused]

And Somerset House again, at dusk. The most beautiful place in the whole city, as far as I'm concerned.

London Belongs to Me

There's something about being in London that makes you feel like you own the city. It's all spread out there, on both sides of the Thames, just for your enjoyment. The city is so polite, and considerate, and accommodating: for any request, it says, "It would be my pleasure."

It's comforting that no matter how long I'm gone from London, it always welcomes me back with open arms and a cup of tea. Like a prodigal daughter.

And I don't mean to say this in a self-absorbed kind of way. I think most Londoners feel this sense of ownership and welcome.

I just love this book cover from 1953. It sums up everything I'm feeling right now. Aren't vintage book covers just the best things for inspiration?

Sketching Haas

It just occurred to me that I should have draw rabbits. After all, "Haas" means rabbit in Afrikaans. Instead I drew all the rats, mice, birds and turtles populating the coffee shop named Haas.

Be not afraid, however, the animals weren't real: most were sculptures and some were stuffed. Jesse and I escaped our respective studios for another sketch outing. We've devoted the next few weeks to exploring the coffee shops of Cape Town with pencil and paper in hand.

It makes a welcome retreat from reminders of endless deadlines and to-do lists in our studios. The best thing about being a freelance illustrator is the luxury to sit leisurely in a sidewalk cafe and say, "I'm working; this is research."

Happy sketching!

Adventures in... Johannesburg

Mark and I spent the weekend visiting his sister and her family in Johannesburg (affectionately known as Jo'burg). The weekend was filled with socializing, seeing a bit of the city, and making new friends. I didn't really have time to spend sketching, but my eyes and my mind were still full of artistic inspiration.

We went on a game drive in a reserve called The Cradle. It isn't far from the city, in fact you can see it sprawling in the valley below the reserve. Everything I saw inspired me: the colours, the fresh scent in the air, the animals... but there was no way I could draw everything. It happened too quickly, and it was too cold to hold a pencil. So... I sketched with my camera.

It is completely possible to 'sketch' with a camera. Not everything has to be done with a pencil or pen. A quick photograph can record an idea, a composition, a gesture, and lots and lots of colour. I often see something, and challenge myself to name the tubes of watercolour paint I'd use to capture the scene.

The world is bursting with colour, and I can't wait to explore it more with my camera.

Salt of the Earth: Watercolors and Salt

I can't really show you what I'm working on at the moment, but I can share an aspect of it with you...

Probably one of my favourite art supplies has to be salt: just plain old sea salt.

I use it to create texture in my watercolours. When you sprinkle salt onto a wet watercolour wash, and then let it dry, you get the most amazing mottled textures. The salt crystals absorb the surrounding water, and push away the pigment, creating differently shaped white patches on the paper. When done in layers, it can create the most amazing depth of texture. I usually apply the salt in at least 3 or 4 layers.

It is very important to let the paper dry after each layer. Above you see the wet wash drying, with the salt on the paper. I seems to me that salt also makes the water dry slower. It's a great excuse for surfing the net while working in my studio. [I'm watching paint dry... honest!]

Once the wash is dry, use a large, soft brush to brush the used salt away. Sometimes it actually gets stuck to the paper, and you have to pull a few crystals off with your fingernails.

I've just discovered that the salt you have to crush by hand in a mill creates the largest crystal patterns on the paper, as the salt crystals are so much larger.

It is really, really fun to experiment with different ways of making marks on paper. Below you see a comic I did for a newspaper utilizing the salt technique.

And, here's a quote for you to think about while you're working in your studios:

The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea.

Isak Dinesen

In my Cape Town Studio

At the moment I'm working on lots of stuff I can't share (*wink*). Hopefully I'll be able to share it in the near future. For the meantime, I thought I'd show you my studio table, and my little clothespin friend.

I need to find excuses to get out of the house, so I've started taking ballet classes. I took ballet as a child (as many little girls do), and then dropped it when I realized you had to perform on stage. I'm am not naturally comfortable in front of an audience. But, now that there's no pressure to perform, it's fun to reignite my love for dance and music.

To honour this newfound hobby, I made myself a clothespin dancer. She now keeps me company as I work on sketches and thumbnails for a new project.

And, do you want to know what's really funny? And it proves that I'm still basically a child at heart... I always snicker when the teacher says "now do that step three times derrière." Which basically means, do the step towards the back, instead of the front. But, as many of you may know, derrière is french for "backside," hence the childish snickers from the peanut gallery (i.e. me).

Adventures in... Cape Town #3

The thing about working in a studio is that sometimes you just need to get

OUT

or insanity will set in. After my month of hectic work for the curriculum publishers I urgently needed serenity and relaxation. (Can one urgently need serenity, or is that an oxymoron?).

So, we escaped the madness of the studio for a weekend in Hermanus where all you can do is walk by the seashore, spot whales, braai sausage and drink wine.

Bliss.

On Monday morning we returned from the quietude in a deluge of rain, and saw a rainbow (below) as we approached our house in Cape Town. A promise of future joy?

New Illustrations for Oxford University Press

Last week was a mad rush of deadlines, and I've only just recovered (a week later!). Two huge deadlines and one unfortunate misunderstanding (re: deadlines) made for one very stressed-out illustrator (that would be me).

Oxford University Press  [African Division] commissioned me to do black-and-white illustrations for their Grades 1 and 2 siSwati readers.

This actually seemed serendipitous... have I told you that I was born in Swaziland? And did you know that siSwati is the national language of Swaziland?

Well, now you know.

So, even though I'm still in Cape Town, I felt like I was vicariously returning to the place of my birth.

The thing about these workbook deadlines is that they are crazy impossible. Imagine churning out 55 illustrations in 3 days. Yes, that's right, 18 illustrations per day, and they have to be perfect the first time around... no time for changes or touch-ups. I felt slightly dizzy by the end of it.

And, after all that spinning and drawing and sweating, the best feeling was walking into the OUP offices in Cape Town and handing everything to the editors. Above the main reception desk there was a huge map with points for every OUP office around the world... it feels good to be a part (no matter how small) of the fostering of learning all over the world.

Adventures in... Cape Town #2

...the adventure continues. It's been rainy and foggy for the past week, and I've used that as a good excuse to hunker down in my studio to get work done for upcoming illustration deadlines.

However, yesterday turned into a peachy warm winter day, and we went for a walk in Bantry Bay. This peaceful enclave sits on the leeward side of the Lion's Head, and it is said to the be the least windy place in Cape Town. And... that's saying a lot, because Cape Town is perhaps the windiest place I've ever been (except maybe Wyoming). Bantry Bay used to be called Botany Bay, and Charles Darwin did some studies there on his trip around the world.

One of my favourite coffee shops is Haas in the Bo-kaap neighbourhood nestled on the other side of the Lion's Head. They roast their own coffee in house, and the waiters wear jaunty top-hats and wide smiles. I'm not sure what's best, the taste of the excellent coffee, or the smell of it roasting!

Mandela's Tea Party

I wonder if Mandela has tea parties? And if he did, whom would he invite? I imagine the children of South Africa would love to receive a gilt-edged invitation from the former president.

The editors at Oxford University Press requested an illustration showing Mandela at a party with several school children. It was such fun drawing Mandela in one of his characteristically wild shirts partying with a handful of kids.

I love these little flights of fancy I get to indulge in when I draw.

And... more on the Oxford commission shortly.

Adventures in... Cape Town

Since I'm discovering a whole new city, and a whole new way of life, I thought I'd share some of the adventure with you. I'm going to post photos regularly of interesting or wacky things I see whilst out and about in Cape Town.

I took this photo on the veranda of the Iziko Michaelis Collection on Greenmarket Square. I walked out into the sunshine and a flight of pigeons took to the air. Trafalgar Square has nothing on .

Greenmarket Square is in the centre of Cape Town, and is surrounded by amazing 18th century and art deco buildings. It used to be a vegetable market (hence the name green), but now it's filled with stalls featuring the arts and crafts of local creators. If you want a wooden sculpture or batik print, this is the place to go.

Or, you could go and 'feed the birds' on the steps of the Michaelis Collection.

New Illustrations for Cambridge University Press

I'm finally finished!

Cambridge University Press (African Division)

commissioned over 20 illustrations from me for their Grade 2 English textbook. It was a huge project, and learning process for me. How do you illustrate the lives of children in a completely foreign country? I spent a lot of time asking Mark seemingly irrelevant questions about South African childhood.

But, all the wondering and worrying was worth it. I packed them up and sent them off to my editor last week. And someday soon, a gaggle of young seven- to eight-year-old children will be learning from my illustrations.

Working on reference works is a huge responsibility. These images will inform the young children, and stay in their memories for years to come.

And the icing on the cake? Walking away from my editor's house on 'delivery day' and seeing a hummingbird buzzing in a purple bougainvillea above my head. The perfect end to a huge project.

Making Friends in Michaelis Iziko Museum

There's nothing better than spending an afternoon in a museum. At least not for me. I absolutely loved the afternoon I spent wandering through the Iziko Museumsof Cape Town. The big National Gallery is situated in the middle of the peaceful Companies Gardens, a corridor of green that runs through the city. It was lovely and informative....

...but... my favourite was the smaller Michaelis Collection in a restored Old Town House off Greenmarket Square. It holds Iziko's collection of Netherlandish art. There are paintings by Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Ruisdal. They were all lovely, but my favourite painting (above) was by someone rather unknown. So unknown in fact, that I forgot to write down his details. The minute I saw it I knew I had found a friend.

Did I know her in a previous age? Were my ancestors acquaintances of hers? We're both of Dutch extraction after all. She looked like she might have had a pithy sense of humour and a nose for fun.

Mark Rutherford's Amazing Photography

My husband and I decided that our sabbatical in Cape Town would be a time to let our creative minds wander. We both needed a break from our carefully planned and maintained London routines. Sometimes change (of pace, of location) can be exactly what the creative spirit needs.

I've spent the time working on finishing projects (hopefully I can share some of them soon), and thinking about new possibilities.

And Mark Rutherford, my lovely husband, has transformed himself from an computer-geek-banker into a computer-geek-photographer. He's always carried a camera around, and seems to see the world through a lens. When there is no camera available he often laments, "Oh! That would have been a perfect shot!"

I'm so proud to be able to share his new website with the world. The amazing picture of Canary Wharf above comes from his home page. I think it is my favourite image right now. Check it out on Pinterest and repin if you like it too!

We had an intimate launch party last night at Wakame (just the two of us), and toasted the new site with a sundown gin and tonic.

Check it out at: http://www.markrutherford.co.uk/

I hope you find it inspiring!

Wow! Tulips... Deadlines... Boing!

Absences make the heart grow fonder, at least so I hope. I've had a super busy offline month, winging across the world from Bologna to London, London to Amsterdam, and then all the way back to Cape Town. Some of it was work related, but a lot of it was play, and I enjoyed every minute.

The best part of the trip was an afternoon in the Keukenhof Garden in the Netherlands.  The tulips and other bulbs were in full glory, and the garden was a riot of fragrance and colour. It was so inspiring, and I hope I can infuse some of that wild colour into my illustrations.

We also spent a few days in Bruges, which was the most beautiful town I've ever seen. Seriously.

My travels have been a month of "wow." Wow sights punctuated by

WOW

deadlines. Nothing like taking too much on your plate at one time! You know that line from White Christmas? When Bing Crosby is asked by Danny Kaye “What’s Wow?” And Bing Crosby says, "Right between “Ouch” and “Boing-g.”

That’s about how I’m feeling right now.

Hopefully I'll soon be able to share some of the Wow (or is it Boing-g?) illustrations I've completed. Stay tuned!

And... In Bruges....

A few more Bologna sketches

A random lady and an exhausted illustrator from the Bologna Children's Book Fair.