Spotlight on local sketchers

That's local sketchers 'with a pencil', not the shoe brand. ; P And yes, I still use emojis. I'm from the SMS era.

That's local sketchers 'with a pencil', not the shoe brand. ; P
And yes, I still use emojis.  I'm from the SMS era.  When your phone made: tiddedit, tiddedit, tiddedit before receiving a message.  Truth be told, I call them emoticons.  But I digress.

In my 'launch letter', I linked to a famous urban sketcher that did a whole blog post just on dagger brushes.  For this one, I wanted to shine the spotlight on local talent.  We try to shop local, even for inspiration. 

This gem above is from the lovely Cathy Gatland.  The Jacarandas caught my eye (I'm a Pretoria girl) and Cathy's handwriting has serious postcard vibes. Havingsaid that, I just read the phrase 'public loo' in the text, so perhaps not this specific postcard. ; ) 

You can click the photo, which links to her blog: A Sketch in time. The portrait will link to her equally inspiring Instagram account. 

Janet Kingwill is another super talented lady.  I'm sharing some of her urban sketches here, but she did the most adorable take on the Inktober prompts last year.  The photos link to Janet's very inspiring Instagram account.  

Urban night sketching.  How cool is that?  Janet, we all want to be you! 

Bev Barends is a ninja with Fude nib fountain pen and a paintbrush. (I may have to rather say 'samurai' since ninjas are apparently the bad guys) Fude Pen samurai has 'nogals' a dramatic ring to it.

Jo-Marie's work is so much more than these two beautiful botanical plein-air sketches.  You will have to check our her Instagram and website to see all the arty goodness.  She's doing a diary co-lab at the moment, as well as prints, mugs and workshops!
The photos link to her Instagram account and website.    
I left this meaty post from Leonora Venter for last. You can see why.  It makes me want to play art supply bingo.  Got it, got it, want it, want it.  I discovered Leonora's secret urban sketching habit after snooping on my 'brush winner'.  What a worthy receiver!!  You can click on the image to see the post and zoom in.  You know you want to!  Did I mention that she's also a talented printmaker?

On your right is some of my own sketchbook adventures.  I'm what you could call a 'sub'urban sketcher.  I fell hard for watercolour, but I have serious FOMOAS (fear of missing out on art supplies).  I'm currently obsessed with converting fountain pens to 'eyedropper' pens. Also fude nibs, travelers notebooks, bullet journaling,  inks...  Need I say more?  

I almost want to apologize for leading you into temptation...Almost.  You can shop for some travel bruses, or legendary pencils .  There are some delicious Kolinsky travel brushes iiiiin the shop, as well as the vegan Red dot series.  You probably deserve one or two. ; ) 

Coming to the shop this week: 
5ml vials of unicorn poop aka waterproof fountain pen ink in black and dark brown. 

I will share some of my own find and favourites and finds in the next newsletter.  I would also very much want to share any upcoming workshops and courses with you all, so let me know if you have something you want to share with the class. 

Hope to see you soon!

Natasha