London hardly had any warm, dry summer days last year, so it was lovely to spend a month soaking in the sunshine in Cape Town. On my first visit there I kept on exclaiming how much it reminds me of Australia. This time around, maybe because I was less homesick for Melbourne or maybe because after few visits I am more familiar with Cape Town, I appreciated it for itself. I noticed myself falling in love with all the things that my South African husband raved about for years: the mountains, the high skies, the intricate cloud formations, the smart chilled-out genuine people, the native animals and plants.
I sketched with my trusted Staedtler pigment liner (0.3) and bought a Pentel water brush to do some pen and wash sketches. I did some watercolour drawing at my father-in-law’s house, but sourly regretted not being confident enough with the watercolour techniques and equipment to sketch outdoors. There were so many times that I looked at the clouds rolling off the mountains and wished that I was prepared better to paint them.
It’s been three weeks since I came back. I’m finally starting to feel in tune with my home routine. I’m making colour wheels and practicing mixing colours to figure out the palette I may like to use to paint outdoors. I borrowed David Dewey’s “The Watercolor Book” from the library to teach myself various watercolour techniques. I’m sketching, drawing and painting. Next time I’ll be ready to paint the everyday beauty that touches my soul.
I’ve never been to South Africa but it sounds beautiful. I love your sketches too. You are wonderful with line. I need to work on my watercolour skills too…
Jodi, thank you. From the tiny bit I saw – South Africa is beautiful country. Hopefully once the kids are a bit older I’ll get to explore more of it.
Your kitty sketches are wonderful!
Thank you for your kind words
Hope your trip was wonderful…..I love you sketches, especially of the cats.
Thanks. I wish I had a cat or some other pets at home to sketch. Though recently I went to the local park to sketch birds – not so easy as they keep on moving.