Another of my rather small (about 10cm x 15cm) ballpoint sketches after the Old Masters; this time an engraved portrait by Albrecht Dürer of his friend Willibald Pirckheimer.


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In some quiet moments at work, I made time to make sketches after some master artists in a small (about 10cm x 15cm) sketchbook. As usual, I couldn't really do justice to the masters, but I suppose one has to start somewhere. They are all in ballpoint pen, and as I usually do, I lived dangerously by not first making pencil sketches - just went at ( Read more... )

I went for a visit to Groenkloof nature reserve today. Barely twenty minutes or so from Pretoria's city centre, it is one of the lesser known but better attractions this city has to offer. Don't tell anyone about it. I want it to remain as pleasant as it is. Some photos I took there ( Read more... )

Two small oils, both 15cm x 21cm:


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Another sketch in ballpoint pen, this time after a painting by Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), who was noted for his paintings of Native Americans. As usual, no preparatory drawing in pencil, and thus, lots of errors I'll just have to forgive myself for...


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I am a great fan of the work of Rogier van der Weyden (c.1400 - 1464), but I am so completely in awe of it that I tend to be reluctant to even try to copy it, because I just know I'll achieve little more than to insult the man ( Read more... )

I visited the botanical gardens in Pretoria today, for a picnic with friends. I wonder why I don't go there more often. The place is quite delightful, and filled with enough sketchable plants to last one for years. As it turned out I was lazy, because there are very few soporifics quite as effective as a mellow winter afternoon in Pretoria. But I ( Read more... )

An inflorescence of an Agapanthus. When the flowers open, they look a bit like miniature lilies.

Ballpoint pen with coloured pencil.


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I tried something I haven't dared do in a while: make a drawing in ballpoint pen without first sketching the subject in with a pencil. A quick sketch of the seed pod of a thorn apple (Datura stramonium), coloured with a light wash of coloured pencil. Believe it or not, but this rather vicious-looking dragon is a close relation of such wholesome ( Read more... )

I paid a brief visit to the South African Air Force Museum, where all manner of old aircraft are on display. None of them would fly anymore unless you threw them off a cliff, and even then you wouldn't want to be a passenger in one of them. So you could say they need fixing ( Read more... )