By Dianne Tipping-Woods

So it started with me looking for a flat on Gumtree. Or was it dancing lessons? I can’t recall but I ended up finding an ad for Art Classes with Cecilia Neethling instead. Now every Thursday evening, you’ll find me at her studio, attempting to engage with my inner artist-e. With an e . And drinking wine.

Considering my artistic talent is meagre at most – what compels me? Well every year starts with me packing my schedule to the max – so I do things like taking photography and dance classes, joining wine clubs etc…Not too many of my new hobbies last particularly long, but this time round I’ve found something that works for me. And before you jump to a character-based assumption, it’s not just the wine!

One factor is that Cecilia is very cool, very talented and very patient. The other is that I’ve met some really great people through art. Pretoria is a very diverse city and there are interesting people hidden among all the jacarandas! My session is made up of a small group individuals who may never otherwise have met - all Pretorians - at least at this point in their lives. 

H is something senior at an embassy, with loads of talent, a crisp, dry wit and a penchant for wet paint and world change.  J is a lecturer at Tukkies (the University of Pretoria), finishing a PHD on something involved and uplifting to humankind - and into the fine detail that only super-sharp pencil can render. D is something in the civil service -  but we don’t hold that against him. Then there is an architect, a Canadian, and E, who is studying something sensible at uni, but wants to be a fashion designer. We do gossip –about each other, the other classes and about our home city. A great way to get to know a city is through its people - so Pretoria must be very cool.

Company aside, one of the great thing about the classes is that Cecilia will work with us on whatever we’re interested in regardless of our skill or lack thereof. At my request, Cecilia is guiding me through all the basics – from line, proportion, perspective, colour, tone…After teaching art for so many years Cecilia has references for everything. You can only manage black and white shapes on a page? Refer to Japanese Notan art for inspiration. Into colour – look at the Fauves. Having a bad day and can only manage to drink and feel sorry for yourself? That’s ok too –  you can just throw paint around and its expressive. And as an artist – with an e – you’re not in a bad mood, you’re just temperamental.

In the city on a visit? The good news is that Monday night classes are open classes. That means that if you’re only in town for a short while, you can come along and spend an evening making art. Or Cecilia can arrage special sessions, corporate team building classes, holiday classes - whatever.

A few glasses of wine and some time working on a lop-sided pawpaw, or playing with pencil techniques, I see the world differently - Apparently it’s called inspiration. Whatever it is, it works. Some of us will obviously go further than others art-wise – you can tell by the wine stains on the page who’s serious about what

The spinoffs include hearing about great exhibits more often than we would because we have a real live artist to tell us about shows so we know what’s crap and what’s worth the effort. We learn something about art history and the local art market and local artists working in Pretoria - there are some fantastic ones - Cecilia included. It’s also a great  place to hear about new restaurants, who got fired from the local high school for what and what weekend plans we have in and around the city - a cricket match, a morning market, a sale at the local bookstore.   

I of course indulge in flights of fancy about moving somewhere where the light is clear and painting full time. The question is - could my liver handle it?