Monday, September 26, 2016

Spring in Black & White


 We were down in Franschhoek again last week, mon mari (a little French to suit the location) very busy with meetings, so I had plenty of time to chill - and there is no better place to do that - reading books, drawing and just gazing at the amazing scenery. The house we stayed in has a number of beautiful old black and white drawings and prints of trees in it and I was inspired to try using just pen and ink (my Lamy pen with a fine nib, and Noodlers black ink) to sketch in spite of the seductive brilliant greens just beginning to sprout from every dry branch and vine.


A pair of Egyptian geese had produced a family on the pond outside the house - last time my husband was here there were seven goslings, now reduced to three with a sighting of a rooikat (caracul or lynx) with a little feathered body clamped in its jaws reported! I sketched the survivors grazing on the lawn - their ruthless parents were now dive-bombing them to chase them off the premises - oh to be a bird!


I did try one little watercolour sketch of some indigenous watsonias against the fields, trees and mountains but my sketchbook paper and clumsy waterbrush conspired against the beauty I was trying to portray (well that's my excuse anyway).

2 comments:

Sadami said...

Hi, Cathy, your sketches are lovely. We, both will "enjoy" watercolour of landscapes, not suffering! We are in spring. After the storyboard, spring swimming would be nice, I'm thinking, hehehe. Cheers, Sadami

Cathy Gatland said...

Oh yes, Sadami, you'll be pleased to get swimming again - I hope to get to the sea too sometime. I'll try not to suffer over my watercolour landscapes, I need practice!