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

Hanover Street Fish Market & Aspeling Street Mosque

10/4/2022

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.

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!

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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 [email protected]

Chiappini Street Mosque

3/4/2022

Jamia Mosque, Chiappini Street

This Shafee mosque was the first mosque to have land specially granted for a mosque site. It is situated on the corner of Chiappini Street and Castle Street, adjacent to the disused stone quarry where the first Jumu-ah (Friday Congregational prayer) was read in South Africa in 1790.Established in 1850, it is the biggest mosque in Bo-Kaap and the fifth eldest in South Africa. The minaret was constructed in 1932 and later enlarged in 1914.

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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 [email protected]

Adderley Street, Cape Town

27/3/2022

Adderley Street is the main street of the central business district of Cape Town. The street was originally named Heerengracht, after the canal ("gracht") which ran down its centre, and which had its origins in the rivers from Table Mountain. At the time the street was more of a wide walkway beside the canal, which was crossed by various stone bridges.

The network of canals were covered over in the 1860s. The Heerengracht river and canal therefore became an underground pipe-line. For many years the street was residential, lined with large oak trees, but by 1850 it had become strongly commercial in character.

Mayor Hercules Jarvis named it Adderley Street in 1850, to honour British Parliamentarian Charles Bowyer Adderley (elevated to the peerage as Baron Norton in 1878) who fought successfully against the plan for the British government to make Cape Town into another penal colony.

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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 [email protected]

On Exhibition - final few days!

20/3/2022

Rose Street, Bo-Kaap, a particularly detailed work, full of contrasting textures. One of five of my original artworks at the prestigious South African Society of Artists Members' 1 Exhibition in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.

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

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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 [email protected]

Two Proteas - an original artwork on exhibition in Cape Town

13/3/2022

Two Proteas - one of five of my original artworks at the prestigious South African Society of Artists Members' 1 Exhibition in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. Take a look at the just-hung exhibition where you might spot another of my artworks, Meerkat.

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

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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 [email protected]

Upcoming Exhibition in Cape Town

6/3/2022

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 [email protected]

Balcony Life in District Six

27/2/2022

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 [email protected]

African Meerkat

20/2/2022

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 [email protected]

An Ostrich from Oudtshoorn

13/2/2022

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 [email protected]

Original and Unique

6/2/2022

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
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by email to [email protected]
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