another windy painting at the pipe

Tonight when I got home I took the boys down to the pipe for a surf.  There were some good swells coming through but later it got quite busy so I decided I would rather go and paint a watercolour rather than compete with aggressive aliens – heh heh – locals rule… No just kidding.

I wanted to paint the poles with dune vegetation in the foreground and found a comfortable dip behind the dune where I normally sit.  I sketched the scene.  As I started to paint Ethan came out of the water and took the car keys to change.  I painted from the top down for a change.  The painting was about half way down the beach when Ethan came and told me he had locked the keys in the car – something of a distraction but not a major crisis.  When he went off to get a wire coat-hanger from the surf-school I finished the wash.

Eventually the door opened and I returned to paint.  By then an on-shore wind had sprung up and I completed the painting with sand blowing straight off the dune into my eyes, brush and palette.  Also the light had completely changed over the mountains.  Too bad.  Anyway here it is:

By the time I had finished I just wanted to get out of the wind and sand.  But this is a scene I will consider doing again.

my first ever watercolours

Long long ago – in a kingdom far far away…  Actually in 1982, as I studied for a Masters in Materials Science (well OK I was off-track but it was interesting – and I got to eat my lunch on Jammie Steps – heh heh  (Jameson Hall – main hall on UCT campus) – anyway – no red herrings today.  At the time I shared a flat with my sister Margie who was studying architecture at the time.  She had a watercolour project to do and way back then I I felt the wisps of the spell.  I asked her for some paper and some paints and headed off to Olifantsbos (Elephant bush) in the Cape Point nature reserve.  This was a place where I often used to dive for crayfish with a mate of mine and I particularly loved the coastal fynbos and fresh salty air.  mmm – again the pull.

Anyway I sat in front of the car park and did this little painting looking across the bay towards the wreck of the Tommy Tucker:

See how I drew a border around the page as Margie instructed.  Then I walked around the bay and did this painting looking back:

See the rocks in the foreground and the kelp beds in the water.  That kelp is full of crayfish, though we used to walk an hour down the coast where the diving used to be much better.

So – I remember even now sitting painting – what a thrill that was.  I still had not formulated my rule that” it is more important to be sitting painting than how well the painting looked”  not very good English I know – but a useful mantra none the less.  And the seeds were planted, though they took years to germinate before I was enthralled.

Here is Margie’s project from back then – kind of rattled off in an afternoon and left to gather dust till I rescued it for myself:

a new project

Well I am trying to finish off a version of Animus – someone is keen to buy it but I found a blemish in the sky so am doing another version.  Here is how it looks now:

The painting is 1000×700 mm on Fabriano which as an interesting horizontal grain which picks up dry brush strokes.  This would have been a good sheet to stretch I suppose but anyway -

Oh yes and I have a great idea for a series of paintings for which I need surfers to model for me.  The first will use something like this – modelled by my son Ethan in our verry grrreeen pool and taken by me standing on the roof of our house:

watch this space – heh heh – all I need is to make some time and practice a bit with my airbrush – oh oh oh now I shouldn’t have said that…

Here is how the Animus painting looks now – time to take the dogs for a walk up the hill:

progress at the pipe

The pipe was working so nicely this morning, in spite of an off-shore fresh North Westerly wind.  I had one really nice ride.  But then the wind picked up and the waves flattened out.  So I sat on the beach and did this:

I sat nearer the water to get out of the flying sand and intended to paint the people as they walked past.  However there were not so many strollers today so I concentrated on the mountains.  I feel like I am getting the hang of the colours up there.  Eventually the wind picked up so much that I was getting sand blasted.  The sand was creating paint-effects on my page (o:  -.    So when Calvin came up from his lesson I was ready to vamoos.

sports day

Today we went to support at the inter-schools athletics meeting.  After the initial ceremony there was time to go into Stellenbosch for breakfast with friends.  Sitting under the trees I painted this watercolour of Anita.

During the conversation she said she was celebrating her 60th birthday so I took this photo, signed the painting and gave it to her.

Later in the day while watching Calvin throwing Javelin I did this:

All the guys stretching and chatting before the competition.   I would like to take some time to paint just figures.  These are OK but with some care and practice I am sure I can capture more detail.

At the end of the day I sat behind the stands and painted this watercolour:

Coetzenberg Stadium where the meeting was held is in such a beautiful setting.  Those are the Pieke or Peaks of Jonkershoek mountains in the distance.

another pleasant evening at the pipe

There was a light on-shore blowing at the pipe this afternoon when I took the boys down.  There was quite a big swell running and the tide was out.  The waves had a lot of vooma and were crashing on the sandbank.  The short-boarders were having a great time.  I went out and had a wave or two with lots of waiting for the right one.  Which is actually quite fun.  The water is warm again.  I had a short time when I came out to paint a watercolour, before having to rush Calvin up to an event at school.  So I did this.

I tried to get all the shades of grey, red, brown and green right but they are still not quite there.  I started at the darker peak on the right and worked to the left.  When I got the other side of the page I found that I had settled down and had the right saturation for the colours I was using.    I finished off with the blueish peaks on the right.  That is Rooiels on the right with Cape Hangklip just to the left.  Hangklip marks the Eastern entrance to False Bay.

I have just seen that I did not paint the sky – so I added it in here in the studio.  Here is how it looks now:

Oh yes and I focussed on saturating the sea colours.

And – I was rushing to put in the poles but the wash for the beach had not dried so the green pole disappeared into the page – which I think is quite sweet.  (o:

Three chicks

Well I have a major distraction these days.  My daughter brought them home from a friends farm about two weeks ago.

When I leave the room they kick up a real fuss.

But when I sit down again they settle down making little nestling chirps and falling asleep within about 10 seconds.

Anyway I thought I would try to sketch and paint them seeing as they were taking over my desk and I got this far before they got interested in what I was doing:

As soon as they felt some movement they were up and about:

Later they settled again and I put my work down and sketched them again but as soon as I got the paints out:

That is Pikachoo stretching her wings.  At least we think it’s a ‘her’.

Then they decided that eating my paints wasn’t exciting enough so they settled down again.

So I was able to complete the painting

If I allow my arms to stop moving for a few seconds this is what happens:

Well tomorrow let me see if I can get some work done…

sitting in the wind again

Whoosh – there was a strong on-shore blowing down there this evening – I had a good surf this morning so I sat and painted the mountains above Gordon’s Bay again.  My eyes are still full of sand.

Those are some of the buildings in Strand in the middle distance, which you can just see from this angle.  I wanted to finish the foreground a little more but eventually Ethan came out of the water and I decided I too had had enough.

An overcast evening at the pipe

I have just been down to pick Calvin and Jonty up from the pipe.  I thought of having a surf but decided, with the time available to paint.

It started quite well so I took this photo of the first wash:

I liked the clean colours in the second wash:

Sorry it is a bit out of focus – I was trying to move fast to finish before rushing off.

Here is how it finished up:

A windy afternoon at the pipe

After sitting in the traffic for half an hour to do 4 kms I had a chance to sit at The Pipe and do this painting.  The South Easter was blowing and I am still getting rid of crunchies in my mouth and eyes.

There is a pole fence just sticking out of the dune and what is left of a boardwalk.  Also someone pulled out one of the poles I usually paint and there it lies.

I had just started this when I realised I was not painting on Arches – it is probably Saunders W or something.