Blog Posts - Scratchboard / Scraperboard Art by Solly Gutman 'The Colour of Black and White'

Upcoming Exhibition in Cape Town

3/6/2022

Noon on Friday 11th March sees the opening of the South African Society of Artists (SASA)'s Members' 1 Exhibition held in the Richard Crowie Hall in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town. This is such a lovely venue which also allows the visitor to explore the surrounding gardens against the backdrop of Table Mountain.

I will be exhibiting 5 of my original scratchboard works including this hand-coloured image of Wale Street in the iconic Malay Quarter of Cape Town, also known as Bo-Kaap.

The exhibition runs daily until 23rd March at 3pm.

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Visit my online gallery for more images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town, botanical works and images of African animals and birds in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.

Contact me:
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Balcony Life in District Six

2/27/2022

In times gone by, 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!

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Visit my online gallery for more images of historical buildings and places in and around Cape Town, African animals and birds, botanical works, all in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.

Contact me:
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

African Meerkat

2/20/2022

Standing at only 30 cm tall, meerkats, also known as suricates, have captured the attention of television and film audiences around the world because of their endearing appearance and interesting social behaviour.

They depend on group cooperation to survive. They live in groups of 20 to 50 extended family members in large underground tunnels. These family groups are led by an alpha pair, with the female being dominant.

Read more about these fascinating animals.

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Visit my online gallery for more images of African animals and birds, botanical works, iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town, all in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.

Contact me:
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

An Ostrich from Oudtshoorn

2/13/2022

The quiet town of Oudtshoorn lies between the majestic mountains of the Klein Karoo. In winter, snow covers the nearby mountain peaks and in summer temperatures sizzle. Its dry, extreme climate has much to do with the town’s success, where once ostrich farmers bathed in brandy and papered their walls in pound notes, when Oudtshoorn became known as the ostrich capital of the world.

It began when ostrich feathers became a major European and British fashion accessory in the mid-1800s. Oudtshoorn farmers were quick to realise that the Karoo environment was ideal to raise ostriches and began ripping up their agricultural fields and domesticating wild birds. Breeding pairs of birds thrived and farmers pocketed up to R200 per kilogram for their feathers, an astonishing amount in 1884.

Although the demand for ostrich feathers has drastically decreased, their skins are now used to produce high-end fashion accessories. Ostrich meat has become a popular alternative to beef or lamb. As a result, Oudtshoorn continues as an active ostrich farming town, boasting the largest number of ostriches in the world.

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Visit my online gallery for more images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town, botanical works and images of African animals and birds in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.

Contact me:
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Original and Unique

2/6/2022

I completed this piece: "Copper Milk Churn" in 2018. It's a special piece, being created on copper-coloured metallic scratchboard, which seemed perfect for this one-off artwork. Most of my creations are also available as prints in a variety of sizes on both high quality papers and on stretched canvas, but however hard I've tried, this piece has proved impossible to reproduce satisfactorily and so it remains as an original only. A true one-of-a-kind!

Visit my online gallery to view all my available work.

Place your order
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me in the comments box below 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.

On Exhibition!

1/30/2022

The South African Society of Artists (SASA) is currently running their prestigious Merit Exhibition at the Richard Crowie Hall in the wonderful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. The Merit Exhibition only includes works by the crème de la crème of SASA members who achieve the maximum scores in their Annual Exhibition the previous year.

'Table Mountain from Blouberg Beach' is one of the works I have on exhibition - one of my Table Mountain Series. The exhibition runs daily until Monday 7th February.

Visit my online gallery to view all my available work.

Place your order
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me in the comments box below 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.

A little quiet contemplation

1/23/2022

Cape Town is in the grip of a huge heatwave this weekend. Let's just quietly the contemplate the sun gently setting over the ocean, breathe deeply and feel the cooling breeze, as it offers some welcome relief.

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Visit the online gallery here to view all my available work.

Place your order
by phone/whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me in the comments box below 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.

What's the collective noun for a group of ostriches?

1/16/2022

It seems there are three terms for a group of ostriches:
- a flock of ostriches, which could be almost any bird, flightless or not
- a pride of ostriches, which sounds more like a group of lions,
- a wobble of ostriches - I wonder where that came from?

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Visit the online gallery here to view all my work, available on block-mounted stretched canvas in sizes A4 to A0

Place your order
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me below 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.

Summer's here in Cape Town

1/9/2022

It's mid-summer here in Cape Town, a time when folk literally flock to the beaches.
The city definitely has no shortage of amazing beaches, but Boulders Beach in False Bay offers something extra special – a colony of African Penguins, all so smartly dressed, waddling away right under your nose. It’s one of the rare places in the world where you can actually get close to African Penguins.

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Visit the online gallery here to view all my work, available on block-mounted stretched canvas in sizes A4 to A0

Place your order
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me below 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.

Bo-Kaap Museum, 71 Wale Street, Cape Town

1/2/2022

This beautiful building is one of a few remaining examples of the small “huurhuisjes” (rental houses) erected in 1768 by Jan de Waal in the upper portion of Wale Street. Restored in 1975 by the City Engineer’s Department, one of the unique features of this early house is the curvilinear baroque gable.

The original Cape Dutch teak windows, doors and double fanlight with radiating glazing bars and lantern were restored, as were the yellowwood floor and ceiling boards. A reinforced concrete roof slab was placed over the earlier fabric and covered in a lime cement to simulate the original covering of shell lime and seashells. Fittings that required replacement were patterned on old Cape Dutch examples.

Read more about the Bo-Kaap Museum where you will also find a selection of my popular prints in their shop.

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All my works are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on stretched canvas.
Visit the online gallery here to view my available work.

Place your order
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
contact me below 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.