I completed this piece: "Copper Milk Churn" last year. It's a special piece, being created on metallic scratchboard, so that the copper foil backing is revealed through the ink coating as the image is created. Most of my works are also available as prints in a variety of sizes on both high quality papers and on stretched canvas. However, this piece has proved impossible to reproduce satisfactorily and so it remains as an original only. A true one-of-a-kind!

"Copper Milk Church" is one of a number of my original works which is currently on exhibition in the Richard Crowie Hall at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. This exciting exhibition, curated by Jill Fearon, features work by a number of Cape Artists, and runs until 21st March, 2019.

A balcony is not like a stoep, open and easily accessible to every passer by. It is more private, more a family affair, and in times gone by, almost a way of life. People would sit on their balconies of an evening to gossip, smoke and watch the passing parade, and District Six had many balconies, especial in Hanover Street. People would keep their pets there, string their washing out to dry, and as a playground, it was safe and near at hand.

Most of the balconies have long since been condemned and demolished, and with it a tradition, known as the 'skel', practiced by women neighbours when they quarrelled. In a wordy battle the woman up on the balcony had a distinct advantage for she could empty the contents of her dirt-bin (or worse) onto her adversary. This was rare though as these exchanges more usually consisted of bawdy comments and quick witted quips. A crowd would gather who listened with the ears of connoisseurs, while children would cheer and clap hands when one or other woman uttered such a riposte to leave her adversary speechless for a while. The saving features of these street-to-balcony skirmishes were that the two opponents were unable to engage in physical violence; rather they provided free entertainment to their neighbours, and they lived to fight another day!

The Cape Malay fishermen, who mainly lived in District Six, recognised two seasons. There was the season of the small fish, such as harders, which lasted eight months, then came the season of the big fish, particularly snoek. The fishermen never risked their money in banks, rather they wrapped their coins in lappies (little bits of rag) and through them on the roof of the four-poster bed which most of them inherited.
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They would often discuss the snoek run during the season. An early season, with fat specimens at the outset, portends a wet winter, but if the fish only began to run in late April or early May, the Cape winter would be dry and brief. A snoek with soft and pinkish flesh is suspect and few will eat it, and if appears slightly luminous when hung in the dark, it must not be eaten even if freshly caught. You have been warned.

 The Old Synagogue is the oldest in the country and has one of the most beautiful facades on Government Avenue, where it stands among many iconic buildings. It is more delicate and refined than the later and grander Great Synagogue, which an early critic is said to have compared to the casino at Monte Carlo.

Jewish settlers first came to Cape Town at the beginning of the 19th century, mostly from England and Germany. By 1820, the population had reached just 20, but by 1880 they numbered around 4000. The character of the original community was Anglo-German, but this was later transformed by the growing influx of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Lithuania, many of whom settled in District Six.

Visit the gallery for images of animals, birds, botanicals, iconic buildings and landscapes in and around the Mother City, Cape Town, and beyond.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on stretched canvas. Click here for prices.

Place your order
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
or inbox me on facebook: Solly Gutman Scratchboard Art

Other prints and a range of lifestyle products are available from Fine Art America - worldwide shipping available.

​Imagine this in your home!
My ever-popular image of Rose Street, Bo-Kaap in colour is now available to order online from Fine Art America. 
Particularly accessible for the North American and European market.

There is also a range of 'life-style' products carrying my images. Visit my shop on Fine Art America.

​I was honoured to participate in the ‘Winners and Fellows’ demo at the first meeting of the year of the South African Society of Artists (SASA) at the end of January.

I, together with Annual Exhibition prize winning artists Helena Jordaan (oils), Jeremy Day (realism), Pam Quinlan (watercolours), Penny Steynor (sculpture) and Christopher Reid (pastels), was delighted to find the venue packed with some 120 SASA members and guests who came to watch our demos.​

​With a little advance planning I was able to give artists the opportunity to try out a range of tools and techniques and create a scratchboard work of their own. I had also prepared the various stages of a version of my popular ‘Two Proteas’ to illustrate a step-by-step guide to outlining and building up a finished work.

​There was a lot of interest in the medium, which has not so far been widely adopted here, and I have to say I enjoyed the evening immensely.

I'd like to invite you to sign up to my new Quarterly Newsletter in which will contain exciting news of upcoming exhibitions and events in which I am taking part, together with previews of new images, special offers and other innovations in the pipeline.
So if you'd like to be informed ahead of the crowd, please click on this link and complete the very short online form.
See you over there!

'Four Peppers' (above) is currently on exhibition at the South African Society of Artists' 2019 Merit Exhibition in Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town, which had a wonderfully well-attended opening on Friday evening. No news about sales just yet. Also on display are the images shown below: 

The exhibition runs daily 10h00 to 17h30 until 16h00 on Monday 4th January. There really is some splendid work on display, so it's well worth a visit.

​I'm looking forward to the coming year when I will be participating in a number of exhibitions and events which is always exciting. I will be sharing the images of the works on display during the course of each exhibition.

Friday 25th January sees the opening of the South African Society of Artists (SASA) 2019 Merit Exhibition at 18h00. The Merit Exhibition is a prestigious exhibition for members who achieved excellent results at the previous year’s Annual Exhibition Selection.
The opening speech will be given by John Pace, portrait artists and winner of the Sanlam Portrait Award in 2015, at the Richard Crowie Hall, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. The exhibition runs daily until Monday 4 February.
For more information or an invitation to the opening please call 021 671 8941 or email secretary@sasa-artists.co.za.

​I also delighted to have been invited to do a demonstration of my scratchboard work at the South African Society of Artists (SASA)’s monthly meeting on 31st January, as one of three Fellows of the Society. I will be defining scratchboard techniques using examples of the work which can be produced and the tools required to achieve a range of different effects.

​The Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Tondo competition takes place during this year’s prestigious Hermanus Fynarts Festival. Each year artists are invited to create an artwork to a theme which will fit on the end of a wine barrel.  The works 50 - 60 finalists will form the Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Barrel Head Exhibition. These will be on sale for the duration of Hermanus FynArts from 7th – 17th June 2019. This year’s theme is ‘Harmony’ and there should be some very interesting works amongst the finalists. I hope to be one again, just as I was with my Milk Churn entry last year!

​Also in my sights is the Sanlam National Portrait Competition (23rd August – 23rd October) at the Rust en Vrede Gallery in Durbanville. This is the premier portrait art competition, held every two years. I was successful in reaching the first forty of selected from some 2000 entries in 2013, and am hoping for success again in 2019, the fourth year of the competition.
 
Of course, these are not the only things I’ll be working on this year. I have a number of private commissions lined up, as well as the on-going supply of prints to a whole range of commercial entities. Just wander up Wale Street in Cape Town to see what I mean!

Images from life in a bygone era. Many of these beautiful buildings still exist, but the way of life is long gone.

​Visit the gallery for images of animals, birds, botanicals, iconic buildings and landscapes in and around the Mother City, Cape Town and beyond.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on stretched canvas. Click here for prices.

Place your order
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
or inbox me on facebook: Solly Gutman Scratchboard Art

Other prints and a range of lifestyle products are available from Fine Art America - worldwide shipping available.