Look Ma! I drawed some rocks!

Mountain Sanctuary
2009-03-06 - 2009-03-10

So then - 4 days to be with myself and get some quiet in the mountains.

I had been to Mountain Sanctuary before, and had a good idea of the
environment - good clean air , lots of elbow space and the clearest coolest river pools of soft mountain water.

What I completely forgot about was the surreal rock formations dappling the landscape.



The Twins (My last, and best sketch of the trip before I had to pack it in and head back to Joburg city)


It became my daily meditation then, going out on foot into the veld, settling on one or two formations for the day (at times it became hard to choose) and spending the rest of the day in the cool therapeutic company of the river.

Just the sound of that water tumbling over rock is enough to send you out...





This is the first time I've consiously gone out to do some field scetches, and to be honest, at first it felt really pretentious, sitting in the field with your precious sketch pad, while some German tourist and his family hikes by.




But I learnt a lot about landscape drawing, textures, and general drawing discipline.I could see myself improving as the days went by. Plus - I enjoyed it - a lot! So much so that I think us boys need to gather a posse at regular intervals, and head out to a designated spot for a few days of quiet and field drawing.




Honestly one of the most rejuvenating and inspiring few days I've spent in a long time, in of the most beautiful settings this diverse country of ours has to offer.


Soundtrack :
Ghost of Tom joad - Bruce Springsteen
Best of - JJ Cale
For Emma , forever ago - Bon Iver

Plasticine landscapes

Here's something I did loooooong ago ( 2 or more years ago) , when I still had time take some of my kids old plasticine clay, squash them into little 2cm cubes, and flatten them onto a scanner for high res capture... repeatedly... for a whole day... ahh the joys of working for one's self... good times...

Died young, Stayed pretty : Screen printing videos

Found this trailer on Rigard Kapp's screen printing blog , Jiant Hand Prints. Really can't wait to get hold of it !



Also on his blog , this hilarious video showing the whole screen printing process from start to finish... love the running commentary....

HelgaPhone

I've been having some fun with this photographic iPhone app, CameraBag which enables you to apply a range of filters to any image, including a classic Helga lens feel. Who says the iPhone's camera is worthless?!

Roots

A long long time ago in a city much like Johannesburg, I noticed a strange outline of something in a sidestreet on my way to work. After ignoring the call to come closer, to bear witness for a week, I finally took the turn and found the old, exposed heart of an uprooted tree, lying by the side of the road. That initial encounter led to the documentation of several more of these specimens, lying like old cadavers at the scene of a crime, begging for an autopsy. I can now say that after a year of toiling , shooting, re-shooting, deep-etching, and re-reshooting, and fretting about details up to what has ventured into obsession, I'm finally happy with the end result. Thanks to everybody who lent me their cameras,time and invaluable advice and support throughout this endeavour. Of course, the final step is yet to be taken - filing my report; printing, binding the documents for the record...

Refuse man

Shot this guy while out and about town this weekend. I really enjoyed the early morning sessions ( never thought of myself as a morning person). The city has a great feel about it that time of day - people jogging, cycling, everything has a magical quality to it. This guy just happened to be at this particular rubbish heap in Parkhurst, and i couldn't resist such a great opportunity . Also really loving playing around with the camera...

Vorm 1 ( How I got to do my first silkscreen! )

I hooked up with Lingo Rodriques purely by chance at a David Krut exhibit. Incidentally , Steak ( from Pangram )mentioned him barely a few days before, when we were talking about silkscreening. I have my own screens and basic materials, and have tried to do one or two exposures, but to no avail, and was desperately wanting to hook up with someone a little more experienced.

Fast forward a month or so - and the re-aqcuaintance of Mr Rodriques, this time at the Bohemian, and the mention of an exhibit he was planning to put together , called Halftone One, featuring various permutations of silkscreened and other prints. All very exciting ! Nonetheless, and as always - the deadline proved backbreaking , as we worked into the wee hours at his Halftone studio, situated in Centurion.

Lingo doing his thing. At this stage all was going well, but the very first screen was soon giving us hell, and just didn't want to expose properly ! In the end we did 4 exposures before settling on one.

The crazy notion of doing two posters, each using 4 screens was proving very strenuous, and in the end I settled for one poster, using 5 screens. Crazy! In retrospect I should have done more planning , and settled for a max of 2 screens, but school fees were paid , and I'm sure next time we'll do it a bit differently.

Car guard at the 24 hr McDonalds, furiously filing some.. uhm.. car guard things

My first silkscreen print then, out of the way, and one I'm glad to say , ended up not to badly, all considering. Thanks again Lingo for the patience and help in making it possible, and Hein for helping out with cleaning the screens!

VORM 1

Oh - and the exhibit wasn't too bad either! Next...

Happy birthday Mila & Luc !

The 11th of March 2009 marked the 5th birthday of the two twins Mila and Luc.
Thanks for filling my world with so much magic. You are what I strive to return to every day, the two custodians of "eatmorecrayons".
I love you.

All square

I love my new all square notebook. I've always wanted one! It was meant for meeting notes, but I find myself doodling in it more than anything else; to the point where I'm resevring whole pages for my drawings. I think I need a new office notebook...

Eatmorecrayons on Issuu!

Finally got together a collection of work and put it up on Issuu. Some new , some old, some very old.... I love the format! Plus there's so many amazing publications to look at, including some fantastic tutorials!

Get your own - Open publication

Gary Taxali

Just can't get away from (some) retro - all things retro considered - Gary Taxali's particular style is my weakness. But there's a language and culture that's very refined in doing these - more refined than initially meets the eye.

Oliver Jeffers

Children's book author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers

I wish I could conjure up these amazing stories and depict them the way he does. What an amazing thing to still think as and create as a child.

Jon Klassen

Ok I know I'm supposed to be busy with my own stuff - but while that pot is boiling, here's another great illustrator, ok?

His name is Jon Klassen, and his style reminds me of these European childrens books, we got to read as Afrikaans kiddies growing up. I can still smell the pages. Could be great to animate his work - probably has already.

James Jean is a phenominal talent . To quote from the computerlove feature : "Artists run the gamut in terms of style, approach, and output. There are those who suffer to produce work while others create with relative ease. And then there are those who gush with creativity, ideas spilling from their minds like blood rushes to the heart. James Jean is this type of artist."

To me, the piece above just encapsulates the meaning of "eatmorecrayons".

HAD to post it! :)

Steve Harrington Illustration

Steve Harrington does some great illustration - even if your'e not a hippie

Champion of the world