Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 27, 2010 under Art, en plein air, Kogelbaai, landscape, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 
This afternoon I went down to Kogelbaai to paint with my brother-in-law Tim and my nephew Ben. It was a beautiful afternoon. After wandering around a bit we settled at the bottom of the path off the Caves Beach. I found a nice big square rock and sat in a bunch of grass near the tap. And this is what I did.
Painted on Arches Hot Pressed (man I love that Hot Pressed) 380 x 280 mm.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, en plein air, landscape, river, watercolor, watercolour |
After painting the nursery watercolour at Green With Envy I drove up to Pietermaritzburg to visit my sister Margie. The sleepy-hollow has grown. But it is still a pleasant town to be in. On Thursday we drove out to Hella Hella on the Umkomaas river, to a guest farm called Highover. Truly this place is a small slice of heaven.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 25, 2010 under Art, Drawing, en plein air, figure, painting, watercolor, watercolour |
I have just completed some work with a client in Durban. We worked as a team in a lovely light, airy room in a nursery on a hillside on the outskirts of the city. I love the tropical climate in Durban. It is hot and humid, though, in mid summer, visitors like me can find it stifling. Fortunately the weather is overcast so it was cool. The Nursery, “Green with Envy” was just around the corner from where I stayed, so I returned yesterday to sit and reflect on the session. There is such a pleasant coffee shop. Wednesday is ladies day apparently so the coffee shop was chock-a-block with chattering groups of women. I joyful sound. I found a quieter place on a terrace where I could sit in my private fog of exhaustion and enjoy the huge trees, the bird calls and the tree frogs that called now and again.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 18, 2010 under Art, Drawing, en plein air, figure, pencil sketch |
Whenever I can make it, I meet on Thursday mornings with a group of guys from my church at CJ’s, to study the bible. We are currently going through the Genesis which you may imagine makes for interesting discussion. We usually sit in a little lounge area inside. There is an eclectic group of regulars who sit on the tables outside. They are mostly smokers as there is now a law prohibiting smoking in restaurants here in SA. But there are some really interesting looking characters.
Yesterday I facilitated a hectic workshop with a group. It is such a beautiful thing to see a group move from widely diverging ideas and feelings to alignment and trust, through conversation. I love this work. There was one rather arrogant person who tried to disrupt the workshop process, which was a bit of an energy sink but it was a long, hard and fulfilling day.
When I got to CJ’s it seemed that I was the only one in our group. I felt drained so I went to sit outside with a Latte.
It really is time that I took my sketching out on the street so I sat and sketched the people at the other tables. The two guys at the top were praying together. Well I thought at least they would be nice and still. But as I looked up from that point, they were already walking out. It was so quick!
Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 14, 2010 under Art, Drawing, en plein air, figure, pencil sketch |
Here is a sketch I did of Gavin preaching from Hebrews 6. I was listening – really. But I was also trying to catch his hands as he gesticulated.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, en plein air, watercolor, watercolour |
Yesterday was breakfast day. After the men’s breakfast I went with Aura up to here friend Tootsie for breakfast again with some of their friends. It was very relaxed, sitting on the patio looking at the sea in the distance and chatting. I had a chance to do this painting while we chatted. hmmmm – haa – yeah well it’s OK I guess – I kind of ran out of time but got the main part down. That was Keely sitting on the left – but she left and then so did we…
Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, en plein air, figure, pencil sketch |
Yesterday the men in our church got together for a breakfast at CJs hosted by the lovely Cecily and her delightful staff. Sean the psychologist spoke about stress and how to manage it. And I did some sketches of the guys sitting in front of me. And here is the note from my sketchbook. That is Peter Makapela in the foreground Pat the entymologist, Big Mike and Gavin the minister. I would love to do more sketches and paintings at CJs – there are such interesting people who come for coffee and meals (note to self ).
Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 11, 2010 under Art, figure, watercolor, watercolour |
My Italian friend, Yasmin, from Facebook graciously allowed me to use one of her profile photos to do a figure study. I was attracted by her graceful arms and hands and asked if it would be OK. ”Per favore mi dai il permesso di dipingere alcuni studi ad acquerello figura dalle tue fotografie” (Please will you give me permission to paint some watercolour figure studies from your photographs). To which she replied “Ciao Stephen, io ti do il permesso di dipingere utilizzando le mie foto, a patto che tu poi mi faccia vedere gli studi. Sai, anch’io dipingo e apprezzo vedere i lavori degli altri artisti… (I give permission to paint using my photos, as long as you then show me the studies. You know, I paint and I like to see the work of other artists).
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This afternoon I went down to Kogelbaai to paint with my brother-in-law Tim and my nephew Ben. It was a beautiful afternoon. After wandering around a bit we settled at the bottom of the path off the Caves Beach. I found a nice big square rock and sat in a bunch of grass near the tap. And this is what I did.
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