Ethiopia - Unique Watercolours

Artist and explorer Sir William Cornwallis Harris led a mission to the Court of Shewa in the Highlands of Ethiopia between 1841 and 1843. Whilst there he recorded in watercolour a unique collection of images for a three volume book about the country (The highlands of Aethiopia - 3 vols., 1844). Some of his illustrations were also used in the Illustrated London News, and were some of the first images the western world saw of that part of Africa, its people and culture. The illustration shown here dates from a earlier hunting expedition into the interior of southern Africa in 1836-7.

A unique insight into the perception of Africa in the 1840’s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cornwallis_Harris

Cubism - a Response to Photography

I have been going to drawing workshops at Kettles Yard in cambridge on Saturday mornings (every fortnight during term). One of the tutors/leaders (Barry Phipps) got me going with Cubism . I had not appreciated what this was all about before. Picasso and others saw the emergence of photography and were looking for how art could transcend anything that photography could offer. In cubism you depict your subject from more that one point of view. This drawing is crayon on paper about A3 size. Another lesson: be bold and fill the paper!