Various bits and pieces

 At least for the moment, I have decided to tone down all efforts at producing or selling marketable work. It's much more fun doing whatever I feel like, and so, I have been doing some of that, mostly in the form of pencil or ballpoint pen sketches of various things - whatever struck me as visually interesting. 

I have also rediscovered the joys of working from direct observation rather than reference photos. Not to mention, in the absence of any pressure to produce stuff I can sell, working with the cheapest of materials. These are all smallish sketches on common old printer paper.

Of South Africa's once impressive rail system, preciously little is left nowadays. Sad, perhaps, but it also resulted in lots of derelict buildings, a subject which I have always found very enticing for both photography and art. Someone posted a photo of one such slowly disintegrating station building on Twitter, and I made a sketch of it, in ballpoint pen:

In the west we have a strange love-hate relationship with technology. We want our laptops and microwaves and such, but we don't want to see any sign of the industries that produce or power them. And thus, we paint pretty pictures of flower gardens, but heaven forbid we use grimy industry as subject matter. 

Well, not so with me, particularly now that I no longer care whether my work sells or indeed whether anyone else likes it. Personally I find industry quite beautiful - it's the very engine of civilization. Hence, a sketch of electric pylons silhouetted against a sunset sky:

Vincent van Gogh painted this little Dutch Reformed Church in his home town early in his career. The building still exists, so I decided to emulate the great if crazy painter by making a version in pencil. Alas, my attempt cannot compete with his:

And some random stuff sketched from life:

I sketched these tomatoes in the garden, in a sketchbook. To prevent the graphite from smudging I sprayed it with a layer of fixative, but this had the effect of rendering the paper partially transparent, so a watercolor sketch on the other side shows through. So we learn: from now on, I'll use only one side if I'm going to spray fixative!

For this wooden toy truck, I experimented with combining ballpoint pen and graphite pencil. I rather like the result:

I still get up to no good all over the web...

A minimal sketch kit

 I strolled around in a local nature area, trying out what I think of as a sort of bare-essentials sketching kit:

It consists of the following:

1. Small sketchbook, about 10 x 15 cm. I like working small anyway, but such a small sketchbook has other advantages. It is relatively easy to sketch standing up, so I don't have to lug a folding chair around. 

Furthermore, I have long been uncomfortable with sketching in public, where a whole crowd soon starts to hang around, looking over one's shoulder and making remarks (I swear if I ever again have to hear the question "Why don't you just use a camera?" I'll probably commit murder). With such a small sketchbook one feels more secretive! People walked right by me, apparently not much interested in what I was scribbling.

Last but not least, making such small sketches absolves one from the pressure of feeling that one has to produce a big masterpiece. This makes it more likely that I'll actually get around to sketching something instead of walking around trying to find "suitable subject matter" - with a small sketch, the entire world is suddenly replete with an embarrassment of riches for the quick sketch aficionado.

2. Gel pen. A roller ball will also work, or anything else that easily delivers its ink. I enjoy sketching with a ballpoint, but one needs to put some pressure on it to make a mark, which is difficult when standing with a somewhat floppy sketchbook in hand. With more liquid ink, the ink will easily flow onto the paper. Also, it prevents my perpetual sin of fussiness: there is no way to make very light, tentative lines, so it forces me to be more bold, decisive and expressive.

3. Watercolor pencils: primary colors, for obvious reasons, to which I added a green and a mid brown. I have a more complete set, but I find it difficult to juggle all the colors. With this minimal set I can achieve a reasonably broad range of color and tone. 

4. Water brush for wetting the pencil marks. One can of course use a water brush with watercolor pans as well, but I find it a bit difficult to work that way. 

5. Craft knife for sharpening pencils. 

And that's it. Perhaps somewhat limiting, but also very easy to carry around in a satchel, and can be whipped out on short notice for a quick five minute sketch of whatever catches my eye. I find that in this way I actually get more done than when I carry around more complete and sophisticated equipment.

Some of today's mini sketches: