I am fixing up some conduit in our apartment and bought this cheap and simple caulk gun to glue them at the top of the wall (what I call the “no more nails” approach). My DIY (do-it-yourself) efforts usually involve me cursing a lot and blaming my tools…this bit of home improvement was no exception.
Fri-14-Jun-2024
I realised the other day, that I haven’t sketched these sandals…even though I tend to sketch all the new shoes we get these days. Somehow I didn’t get the proportions of these right…the one on the right looks like a high heel sandal! Oh well, never mind.
Tue-28-May-2024
“If you are going to live to 100, you might as well be happy” – this is a quote from Rhee Kun Hoo from an article I read in the Guardian. I thought of his philosophy of life and how to be happy, while I was sketching this. These are those mini tubes of toothpaste that airlines sometimes give you. I didn’t realise we had accumulated so many…so I’ve started using them – though some don’t taste so nice!
Thu-9-May-2024
My wife made me a delicious coffee-walnut cake for my birthday. Of course I had to sketch what was left…I also had to do this quickly before the ants attacked it. We seem to be plagued by them at the moment.
Fri-29-Mar-2024
Here is a quick sketch done the other day when we went to Starbucks. Sitting behind us were some young women discussing politics, while there were some kids running round and round screaming… not exactly a peaceful atmosphere.
Thu-28-Mar-2024
Here is a sketch of the flowers I got for my birthday last week (from my daughters partner). Even the cats got excited with a new cardboard box (that the flowers came in) to play in. Not only did I get flowers but also cake (one with the flowers and one delicious homemade coffee-walnut cake – see next post – from my wife) and a bottle champagne! Thank you to everyone who greeted me and of course for the the flowers, booze and cake.
Wed-27-Mar-2024
This is the first sketch in a new sketchbook. I saw a post by one of my favourite sketchers (@koosekoene) about making use of sketchbooks that are gathering dust due to their challenging format, and stepping out of your comfort zone. So I decided to finally make use of a small sketchbook that was given to me by my daughters partner. It’s B6 size (4.9 × 6.9 inches), so a bit smaller than I usually use and the paper is fairly thin and not so smooth. It’s making me sketch faster (and maybe more often). I’m also getting back to adding text to my sketches (following the workshop by @maria_regina_tuazon that I joined). I sketched this while waiting to see an ENT doctor because of a blocked up ear after swimming that has been irritating me (and making me even more irritable…if that is possible!).
Thu-26-Mar-2024
In preparation for a short hike on Saturday 23 March, I had to hunt around the house to find this head-torch (because the hike included a possible visit to a cave). I (surprisingly) found it where I expected it to be…and decided I would sketch it too, solving the problem of finding it and my daily question of “what shall I sketch”, at the same time. I think this head-torch was a Christmas present…so this sketch is also a thank you present!
Fri-22-Mar-2024
So after all my busy urban sketching it’s back to some still life-type sketches at home again. I’ve probably sketched these two objects before, but I thought they would go well together. The wooden elephant came from when we lived in Cambodia I think and the elephant mug was a present from our daughter when she made a school trip to South Africa.
Wed-20-Mar-2024