Military History and a Hillbrow Park

from Cathy Gatland in Johannesburg

I’ve not been getting out much lately, but on Sunday I met a friend and ex-Joburg Sketcher at the Museum of Military History for a catch up. We found the shadiest courtyard we could on a scorching hot day and sketched the large gun and offices in front of us. We quite logically thought the red and blue zigzags on the flag were W’s and M’s for War Museum but learnt later from my husband that it is the Gunner’s or Artillery flag!

On Tuesday, World Aids Day, we were supposed to meet with Lefika art counsellors and children from Hillbrow to draw and paint in the beautifully treed Pieter Roos Park near the city. Only two of us made it and we could see or hear no sign of the group, so Leonora and I sat at the top and started sketching the Hillbrow Tower overlooking the park, feeling out of place among rather a lot of unemployed men sitting about. The men with guitar is actually from a different sketch day but there was such a big empty page around them I drew the park as background – and I didn’t fit the top of the tower in so drew it on the side and photoshopped it on later – two cheat moves!

As we were leaving in time to miss heavy traffic we spotted the group of children down at the bottom of the hill and went to say hi. They were just packing up for lunch – a pity we found them too late in the day, I hope we can get together another time.