Henriette Harmse

As a child and student I have done some graphite and soft pastel sketches. Then for the next at least 20 years I have done nothing art related.

Then lockdown happened to us and I became miserable because I could not travel and see places as I would like to. Thus, instead of travelling I decided to draw the kind of places I will like to visit, if then only in my mind. My first attempt in years was a sketch of a winters morning on a farm in graphite. My next attempt was an autumn scene, again in graphite. Naturally it is difficult to capture the vibrant colours of autumn leaves in graphite, which brought me to coloured pencils. My first colour pencil sketch was of the Northern Lights, which I hope to one day experience in person.

My goals for my colour pencil art are modest: (1) I want to visit places in my mind even if I am not be able to visit them in person. (2) Hopefully I will end up with a result on occasion that I will not be embarrassed to hang in my living room. (3) If anyone else likes my art, it will be a bonus.

My reason for joining this society is that I hope to learn from others so that I can become the best colour pencil artist I can be. In the little bit that I have played around with colour pencils I realised I have a lot to learn!