Toothpaste Kisses- The Maccabees

As usual I was running late. 

Saturday 15 January, the original postmark date for The Sketchbook Project (the date changed, literally days before, to the 18th due to all the floods around the world. And with that topic, keep the people affected by these floods in your thoughts and prayers and other karmic wishes. Lives were destroyed, people changed, children forced to grow up in a couple of hours..., livelihoods washed away, crops underwater. The floods have caused a worldwide tragedy. (And some will never be able to recover it, physically, economically or emotionally.))

As it was to the other South Africans and Australians and Brazillians who couldn't make it to the post office soon enough (because of these disasters) that this extention was intended, and I felt that using that to my benefit was a bit too pretentious.

So the day before I had photocopied the entire iPod so that I have a copy for myself, and more importantly, that I could show the friends whose playlists I have made but never saw the iPod before I posted it. And Alice (Alice in Wonderland, from the song "Heroin" in "The Wonderful Playlist of Fantastic Mr. Fox") didn't come out nicely. She was done in watercolour and she came out black and white. Also, I wanted some copies of the originals for fun.

I left home late, toothpaste still around the corners of my mouth, ran helter-skelter into The Print Shop (at 11:40) out at 11:58, race to the post office....to find out it only closes at one. 

I queued politely, wrote on the envelope, wrote a note to the thief on the other end telling him/her that the earphones that he/she was feeling were attached to a sketchbook which was worth nothing to them, watched the post office lady stick pages among pages of stamps on the A4 envelope, hoping that I wrapped it in enough bubble wrap, making sure that the postmark was clearly visible, double checking she didn't lose the package on the way to the scale, and lastly giving it a Toothpaste Kiss(es) and letting go. 

Above is the post office calendar and the wrapped up package which is my iPod.

Here's to you, my sketchbook, a true Aeroplane Jane! (-Karen Zoid).

Cut and Paste

It was last week Friday when I'd finished my sketchbook. I altered each and every page until everything was glued down and serious about staying as it was, where it was and in the same condition.

I then went and photocopied the entire book, bought another moleskin sketchbook at the book shop, and cut cut cut, stuck stuck stuck, until they matched. 

Here's to you, Kyle Andrews!

And here's another one to you, Kyle Andrews. Please get a decent video for this nice song. This is the only one available on the web and quite frankly, it sucks!

So here they are. The trio.

(Note to everyone. The books's screens are smaller than my iPod's because I decided to use an older, iPod classic design for the books and my iPod nano's colour to make it mine. They also use a different font. (Read about it in my 2010 Archive's, one of my first postings if you're interested.)

Skip to the End

It was Thursday last week, and I was an over-worked, underslept, high-on-peppermints maniac. I had www.8tracks.com singing, strumming and drumming out to me. (Thank goodness for its members and their playlists!) I had finished my last entry into my sketchbook in the early hours of the morning, and was dead tired.

So that's my excuse for my delay in this post.

And the reason that this post is titled "Skip to the End"(-The Futureheads) is because, quite frankly that is what you would have to do to get to this last page. I did the drawing in the same dimensions as I did the album covers of the artists in, because I am the artist of this folder of playlists. (It is the album cover of the song on the screen of the purple iPod that says "This is Not an iPod"-Jessie Scheepers.)

It is a picture of me standing at the house of an artist with whom we are friends.

His house is sublime.

These are just pretty pictures (I thought) of the house.

Do you not think that it is just stunning?

Connect to Power

Through each playlist the battery life on the screen decreases. Now, the ipod is (finally) dead! 

(The battery could probably represent my sanity while doing this project.)

Miekie's Playlist

Kirsty, Mieke and I have grown up together. Over the years we've developed a signature picture...us three, me on the left, Miek in the middle and Kirst on the right. Now this playlist does have the song "You're my best friend"-Queen. I am not using it...well, because friendship is best shown through actions and attitudes, and with the fear of it appearing flat, I left it out.


Instead we are graced with "Die For You"-'Lil Wayne.

I took the "die" in "Die For You", and changed it to "dye".
Dye...for colour. Colour...for apartheid.
South Africa boasts 16 years of freedom, but discrimination is still around. These days, there's a point system for university. 36 points if you're black, 39 if you're coloured, 42 if you're white. That's just one example of one engineering faculty at one university. That means girls I went to school with, was in boarding school with, have an easier chance of getting into a course than me, being white. Due to colour.


I'm not complaining, I get it. something needs to be done. Whether getting there through tertiary education is the way, who knows?
So that's what the message is with the maids:

The message is change.
It's paint by numbers before democracy, and paint by numbers during democracy. Number one is the skin colour. On the left the maid is black, on the right, she is white. 

The next pages deal with money. The face of the old R5 note was that of Jan van Riebeeck, and the R5 coin is a modern coin, with Mandela's face on (limited edition). It shows change.
And change is good, right?

i love you magpie!!

​i love you magpie!! is the second last playlist to the collection. 

Hallelujah! 

I have just been busy removing pastels from the desk, the handle of the dustbin, the computer keys, my face, my mouth, the chopstick I used to draw with, the sink I decided to wash the remaining thinners down, the desk, my hands. And now everything (including my face) smells like thinners. -sneeze- So if this entry doesn't make sense understand that a.) It's 02:06am and b.) I may be high on fumes.

This is my friend Nerine's playlist, who I adore to bits and pieces! We studied together this past year and have so many great memories and songs together. One look at her playlist not only had me grinning but I at once knew which song I was going to do for Nerinie. It was about three months ago when I fell in love with the high pitched who-knows-what signalling the start of Eaten By Your Lover-The Kooks. (the...ooo-oo-oh part) Since then I have had 86 plays of the song on my laptop alone (and everyone knows I listen to music on my iPod more...I mean come ON. I'm even doing an 80 paged sketchbook on one!)

Nerine and I studied zoology, and we had to learn a gazillion different phylums, familys, classes, orders and species of random animals. (I think it was the particularly tricky names that they focussed on.) We also learnt far too much about insects. We learnt that praying mantis females (family mantodea) eat their mates after copulation. -sneeze-

I thought this was a perfect illustration for this song and Nerine.

I spent the best part of today perfecting this praying mantids, and then... I ripped it up.

I think it's because I'm overtired. Not too happy about that...

But then I came up with something much better! When I was little, we'd always make a rainbow of colours on a page with pastels and then colour over the whole thing in black pastel. Then we'd take our scissors or pencils and outline curly whirly patterns through which you'd see the colours beneath. It's quite beautiful.

So I took Nerine's child at heart, colour lover, happy go lucky self and my pastels. And quite honestly went wild.

The result? A mess of happy colours, suiting Nerine just fine. And then I added one of my doodling characters to eat his lover (I love his lover's angel's wings to bits!)

Love you!

So Singing to Shnix

Shnix? Shnix?? Funny story actually.

Nicole is a school friend of mine. And we are weird together. Like we put on different accents when we speak to each other, unintentionally. From the German worm in A Bug's Life ("beautiful butterfly" ) to the British accents of Sophie and Olivia from The Holiday ("you look like my Barbie") to these arb high pitched sing song voices from goodness knows where. 

There's no sense in it.

So obviously I called Nicole, Shnicole, and Nix changed to Shnix, almost automatically.

This is her playlist.

T​he Middle - Jimmy Eat World.

​-Quick background info...Nicole and I were studying veterinary this past year. Both being "arty" we found that we were not accommodating our creative juices. She left half way through the year, I plodded on for the sake of my parents (so that they could say that I passed? Perhaps..). But anyway, we like animals. Keep that in mind..-

T​he Middle.

H​umans.

U​s.

T​he great collective man.

We are so busy being great that we have only recently noticed our effects on the world. Man-the centre of the world? Sure, why not? But with this title comes a manner of things...it means that we, too, are the centre of pollution. The centre of oil spills, of poaching, or plastic bags and fishing gut, of global warming and over-exploiting, or deforestation and soil erosion. Of extinction and cruelty and fear. 

B​ut.

B​eing in The Middle also means Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund, Reuse Reduce Recycle, Earth Hour meets the UN. And these efforts are helping. As it goes, one little man offering to help clean up birds and turning off his lights and recycling to reduce his Carbon Footprint joins another man doing the same thing. Make enough people feel guilty and soon you have an army of guilty consciences making a difference. These armys form Facebook groups and Twitter pages and art works and meet Banksy and add some street art into the mixture, they protest, they throw things. 

They make a scene.

Here's to my 8 pages of scene-making...

Oil Spills.

T​hey suck. BP-you suck. The African Penguins along the coast of South Africa are often spewed with oil from such spills. Donations of wetsuits and towels and gloves and time and hands results in these penguins being given another chance. Man causes the problem...and (kinder) man does his best to solve some of it.

This is where background I-wanted-to-be-a-vet story comes in...My mum grew up in Kenya and my sister and I went on holiday there a couple of years back. It's the most beautiful place..

We went to the Nairobi National Park and in the park is what is known as The Orphanage. It is a sanctuary for elephant calves whose mothers (or them themselves) have been harmed from poaching. The carers look after the elephants, feed them, walk around with them in the park and when they have been raised, release them back into the wild. I fell in love with the idea and desperately wanted to make an effort to help combat poaching. This picture is a cut-out of poachers carrying tusks. As they were cut out of the elephants, so were the people cut out from the paper, with the sharp lines showing violence. That the paper is black with a white background is no coincidence. Poaching is black and white. There is no grey area.

It should not be done, and should be controlled, for the innocence of these most majestic animals is in jeopardy. 

On the other hand, most poachers are uneducated, unemployed and desperate for money for their families. What about them? What else can they do?

One of man's greatest issues is his lack of knowledge.

The final installation to this playlist concerns global warming, in regard to Africa.

Because of global warming, rainfall is said to decrease by 10%-20%. As Africa doesn't have many high mountains (sorry Kilimanjaro, no offense) we can't get much water from them, and as a result we rely on rain. Less rain equals less water in rivers, in dams, in watering holes. In dry mid-African continents. 

This is why I used the Singin' In The Rain cover, but replaced their umbrellas with acacias.

(Side note. Singin' in the Rain is probably the greatest musical ever... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFxWkUkUsQA ) 

Choice Notes

Paul loves music. He's one of those people who watches an ad on tv, and only sees music. Then finds that music. Then plays you that music. And it's then (and only then) that you think (click) that sounds familiar. (click). tv. (click) ad. (click). what cool music for an ad. (click) add to playlist of the day.

So he called his playlist "Choice Notes", a song by Alex Winston.

(Three guesses who his relation is with an earlier playlist. Why yes. This is Kate's brother).

Paul's one of those people who I immediately got on (click) with. And I see myself in him. So this playlist was hard to make because it was sort of a backwards reflection of myself and my preferences too. (You may be thinking, idiot, this is your sketchbook, your art. If there wasn't a reflection of you in there then something's the matter...and you have your own playlist Jessie...) 

This art seems to be more a reflection of me than my playlist was. More personal.

Okay, so I chose "Otherside"-Red Hot Chili Peppers.

A thing Paul and I share is a love for nature. From this love I decided to depict some sort of natural theme for this playlist. I also like things that make you think, and so for the "otherside" I wanted to show two concepts, both beautiful, both desirable and leave people thinking.

It's good to think.

The above tree was drawn with the Real Yellowwood in mind (South Africa's national tree). Next to it is a very beautiful hand crafted wooden chair.

The tree is stunning; the chair is stunning.

The next page shows an Atlantic Salmon (Atlantic Salmon which is from Europe which is where Paul went on a gap year from which I have heard many stories..) and the page accompanying it:

Salmon maki rolls with chopsticks.

Both divine.

A nguni cow, native to our country, and next to it, a leather boot (for the part of Paul that loves fashion).

Both necessary.

So now that brains have been racked and thoughts pondered....one last diptych showing his love for photography...a camera. And what else is on the other side of a camera than smiling idiots, with one thing in mind (three two one) cheese. 

Makes one think, doesn't it?

Out of habit,

xxx

Kirsty's forever changing ultimate top 6 songs!

Kirst holds the record as the person who's been friends with me longest. We had our first sleepover together, ran away together, explored the properties next door and played archeologist archeologist with the cow skeletons we found there together.


So Kirst's playlist was extra super challenging...I mean, how do you try and express someone through art who you've known for 19 years? You need to combine the population of personalities through which they have travelled on a select number of pages and end up with a summary of that person's life through your eyes?

Not quite the easy task. (I seem to have left all the complicated people until last....)


So Kirst, if I didn't quite show you as you, I'm sorry. But this is how I think I see you. :)

 - The writing that doesn't fit on the screen:
 Bohemian Rhapsody (GREATEST song of all time!!)
Glee cast version - Don't Stop Believing >> just makes me :)
Boats and Birds = matric valedictory song :,( - 

I chose Firework.

By splitting the word "firework" you can make an entirely different concept (with work being the noun). I then decided to portray objects that had been made with the use of fire. 

The reading glasses (glass is melted) represent our detective work, as well as the cigarette. I decided to make a beard of flames to try and shed some light on the whole fired objects situation.


The creme brulee is cleverer. The ramequin (china is glazed), spoon (silver is melted) and pudding (the sugar on the top is heated with fire). This page is a mockery really. When Kirst was little she ate nothing except fish fingers at other peoples's houses. None of us will ever let her forget it!

Muff's Playlist

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on her tuffet

Eating her curds and whey.

Down came a spider

And sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

This nursery rhyme most believe was written in 1805, about Mary Queen of Scots who was frightened by religious reformer John Knox​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. Well I think speculators with this particular view are 184 years off. Because I'm absolutely certain that this rhyme was written for my sister, Casey. She even adopts the nickname amongst family and close friends of "Muffs". (Riddle solved. Take that(!) literary scholars.​)

So that's why Casey's playlist is called what it is.

She's pretty much my best friend too. Someone who can make me furious and laughing just by looking at my cross little face. I love her to bits.

Anyway, so every holiday we make car CD's which get scratched and overplayed, and loved songs are ripped to shreds until we hear them in disgust and skip to the end where the under loved, under played songs await their death. A particular favourite song of both of ours came from two CD's that different friends had given us each. "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is this song.

I love(d) it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

(Must not show Casey this video. This she would classify as "too arty" (A term that I am too used to hearing from her from my clothes to my hair to my music.) )

Our home is on the Bitou river in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. We really are spoilt, it's stunning here. South Africa's stunning. Africa is. (Here's a blog on the area around Plett if you want to check it out: http://www.letterdash.com/bitoublog)

(If you want to see what our home really looks like, go to www.bitou.co.za -The pros to owning a guest lodge? Your house has a website of its own-)

So I drew our house in pen, and tried to give the ink the whole Leonardo-De-Vinci-sketches-of-the-human-heart vibes, and top right I planted a heart in our garden, because home is where the heart is. Bottom right is just a labelling key to the heart above, which I liked the look of.

​

​​​​​

I used mixed media for this drawing. Gel pen, ball point pen (for the purple look) and brown pencil colour.

This, I think, is my favourite installment so far.

(Only the best for my sister.)

Loud Pipes

In the New Year​​​​​​​​​​​​​ is a song by the Walkmen. 

 It's not a part of anyone's playlist. I mention it only because, well...it is the new year.

I hope it's been a good one so far.

New year. New playlist(s).

My friend Kat(e)harine's playlist is called "Loud Pipes", which is a song by Ratatat. 

I love that song. And I love this song, the song I chose to go all decor on: "I Like Birds" - The Eels 

I started off Kate's playlist with the brown-hooded Kingfisher, one of the many types of Kingfishers we see, sitting on the telephone wires along the Bitou river, on which we live (www.bitou.co.za). Striking birds, with an unusual sense of beauty, much like Kate herself.

I then got desperate for intense colour in birds. I chose one green bird because there is only one real green pigment out there for birds (the rest of the greens you see are the combination of different pigments and the trick of the light). 

This pigment is called turacoverdin, and is found in turacos (family Musophagiformes) only native to the Garden Route, South Africa. The particular species to which I am referring is the Knysna Turaco, formerly known as the Knysna Lourie.

We have some residing in our gardens, and they are really stunning to watch in flight. Anyway, they also have a dark blue pigment on their backs which inspired the colour of the second bird.

Then comes an amazing poem:

“to paint the portrait of a bird”

jacques prevert

First paint a cage

with an open door

then paint

something pretty

something simple

something beautiful

something useful

for the bird

then place the canvas against a tree

in a garden

in a wood

or in a forest

hide behind the tree

without speaking

without moving …

Sometimes the bird comes quickly

but he can just as well spend long years

before deciding

Don’t get discouraged

wait

wait years if necessary

the swiftness or slowness of the coming

of the bird having no rapport

with the success of the picture

When the bird comes

if he comes

observe the most profound silence

wait till the bird enters the cage

and when he has entered

gently close the door with a brush

then

paint out all the bars one by one

taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird

Then paint the portrait of the tree

choosing the most beautiful of its branches

for the bird

paint also the green foliage and the wind’s freshness

the dust of the sun

and the noise of insects in the summer heat

and then wait for the bird to decide to sing

If the bird doesn’t sing

it’s a bad sign

a sign that the painting is bad

but if he sings it’s a good sign

a sign that you can sign

so then so gently you pull out

one of the feathers of the bird

and you write your name in a corner of the picture

After my weird African-patterns-take-over-what-was-once-a-bird-drawing drawing, then comes my evilness.

I drew a KFC Sprinkles Fruit Chutney Sachet. I tore it open, copied the packaging, and arranged the sprinkles in the shape of a bird.

The next disturbing thought was obviously a little girl who has just finished her meal of bird, and is hungry for more.

And of course, to thank KFC for their contribution to the poll of chicken deaths, their slogan: "It's finger lickin' good!"

Love you, Kate.