The May edition of Light is Sweet 2024 is here and there is quite a bit to catch up.

Last month I sent two versions of the newsletter. I was just getting used to the new platform.

In this edition there is a somewhat convoluted route through a story about watercolour expedition which I urge you to avoid unless you are ready for a diversion including unconditional positive regard for the artist.

And we are halfway through this strange year.

Half-year is significant. In my consulting I draw on the work of J Richard Hackman for team theory. He was contrarian, idiosyncratic and a musician. He just seemed nice. But here I go digressing before I even begin. He said teams only agree on how they will work together halfway through any project.

Check out the link below if this sounds interesting::

Ok – enough of that!
This newsletter is about watercolour.

Please sit back.
Close your eyes and take a deep, breath.
And – breathe out.

Take another deep breath

Now

Open the mail.
Download the pictures.
And step into the world of watercolour.

The accompanying piece by Mike is called Funk Soul Sister Dog and I think it is great backing to the read. Drop me a comment to let me know what you think.

This is a view of the entrance to the offices at Lanzerac. I was taken by the beautiful light as well as the interesting artefacts around the gate. As I work on the watercolours I am posting the paintings on a blog posting. Therefore some of the work may be incomplete.

I have opened a new category in my gallery to present figure sketches. Here are some initial entries on the gallery.

“Light is Sweet” is the official SJQ Watercolour newsletter.

I would love to hear your feedback.. Drop me a comment on the blog posting and share this post and email with abandon.

If this is the first time you are reading this newsletter I would love to share my journey with you as I plod along. I try to get one out each month. Here is a link to the page on which you can sign up:

Last year I received an award for best watercolour in the annual South African Society of Artists exhibition. As a result I had an opportunity to demonstrate my watercolour technique at a meeting of the society early this year.

Later I also demonstrated my watercolour process at our local Western Cape Art Soc. In both of these opportunities I chose to paint my favourite topic – Puddle Rock. I like the contrast between the jagged shales and the rounded quartzites. Here are the two watercolours. The first demo is not complete (clearly).

In this section I review and refresh an old blog post.

Long ago I took a watercolour trip to the region around Garies, on the road up North towards Namibia. This turned into something of a misadventure.

I posted parts of the story over a few days. In this edition I was going to mash them all into one post but decided I did not want to lose the comments my friends made back then. Therefore I decided to link them as best I could.

Enjoy the brief outing. Here is one of the watercolours I created on the trip:

I am running a Kitting Up class starting this coming Wednesday.

And that my friend is “Light is Sweet” for May 2024.

Wrap warmly if you are in the Southern Hemi and look after yourself.
If you are in the North look out for those bears.

18 days till the Solstice.