Rwanda Wonder









































I was in Rwanda in August with a precious friend. I sometimes (often) think she must be the very best girl in the world.

Rwandans make it irresistibly easy to drop your guard and so we did and our trip was glorious, safe in the hands of strangers and their densely inhabited land of the Congo-Nile divide.


Above is a detail from an illustration I did about our trip.

Richard Parker & co

Update: Dear Rae is running a competition on their facebook page until the 11th of October where you can win one of these beauties
Richard Parker Dear Rae ring

What are the nicest things to draw? Animals, without a doubt. This collaboration with Dear Rae Jewellery made me super happy. Karin designed these charming animal rings inspired by The Life of Pi and asked me to dream up a matching series of limited prints of Richard Parker, a bird and a fish.  What animal are you? I thought I might be a tiger, turns out I’m a fish. Follow this link to shop.



I hand-tinted each print with gold ink: the nose on RP, flying-fins on the fish and wings on the goose. 


































(the first twenty purchases of these rings in either gold or silver come with one of my limited prints)

quick/slow
























It's been about a millenium since I last attempted a self portrait. I was recently commissioned to do a selfie and found many more wrinkles and freckles since the last time. I tried one quick, one slow... The quick painting is a better likeness.

I have a little shop

And it is open! http://katrincoetzer.bigcartel.com
If you're interested in buying a print, I hope you find something you like. I've added a handful of things so if you'd like a custom print you're welcome to contact me. Most of all I'm excited about the paper my work is printed on. Nice and heavy 310gsm Hahnemühle, 100% cotton.

Lion Around































Ah the title is cheesy I know but I couldn't have it any other way. This painting was my very girly take on this story.  

(take a look at the drama of RubensBrueghelTanner)


In related news, we've moved to our new sunny home which is officially 'pet-friendly'. Time to get a feline :)

Just checking in






































This is a quick hello.

I have found a fine art printer to love. Anybody interested in buying prints of my work is very welcome to drop me a note at katrincoetzer [at] gmail [dot] com. This way you will be the first to know when my bigcartel shop opens next month. After plenty of deliberation it came down to Etsy vs Big Cartel and although Etsy is a happy safe space, I've decided to try something new.
I'll open next month because I'm going on a little holiday break to the bush soon. Not feeling too cheerful about the Cape Winter... these faithfuls are on high rotation 1, 2 and 3.

( Matthew took this snap of me + hydrangeas on our honeymoon near his home town in KZN. Hooray for space on Flickr! )

Folk Greens Redux






































I had a very nice time at my opening on Wednesday night! Candice and Monique at Salon 91 strewed rose petals on the drinks table all tongue-in-cheek-honeymoon-like and it felt really good to be amongst friends with every piece hanging as it should.

Above is one of the last pictures I made for the show.  Limited prints are available locally and internationally on request.

Here's a little feature on 10and5.

The show will be up until the 18th of May.

an exhibition of painting, drawing and collage

My show, in which I just about exhaust my love of palms and foliage, opens on the 24th of April at Salon 91 in Cape Town. Inspired by a friend's suggestion, I called it Honeymoon to mark this particular  time in my life. Mostly the work is about places - current, historical, remembered, imagined and hoped for. I often experience a strong impulse to share my visual experience of things and places with my significant other and this collection of images is to some degree an expression of that. Matthew scanned my process work briefly and stated that it looks like a group show by one person. An apt summary I guess because there'll be a variety of styles and mediums on show. I hope you will pay it a visit. It will show until the middle of May.



a good friday

























It's about time this space got a little attention. I've been absent due to wonderful things. Things like getting married and going away for some rest and adventure. Speaking of which, I'm currently deeply busy preparing for my solo show next month. 
It's called H O N E Y M O O N and I promise to share all the necessary details very soon.

In the meantime, here are two pictures Deon and Irene of Modern Hearts took on our wedding day. More, here. I'm a bit smitten with these two, they're the loveliest people and they take very beautiful pictures.




tiny totems







































ecology = relationships




Like this Mook

Where It's At

I don't think this magazine/book thing received much publicity when it came out earlier this year and it's a shame because it's so well considered and intelligently put together. Richard Hart edited & compiled it and his team at Disturbance designed it and it shows. Read the interview with RH here.

I contributed some editorial bits and a poster that can be torn out designed after my favourite south africanism just now...


This is how the cover poster unfolds
Clever.


I'd rather be swimming

can you say maillot?
Salon 91's December group show opens this Saturday morning the 1st, featuring work by gazillions of amazing local artists and I think the prices are going to be very very good. 10% of sales from I'd Rather be Swimming will go to the I am Water conservation trust.

april & essie's almanac



























Essie Letterpress invited me to illustrate a calendar month for their 2013 Artists Almanac and I was only too happy to claim April, one of my favourite months in the Cape.
The almanac is beautifully put together and available for purchase here. Individual art prints are for sale, here's mine.
February's my favourite. Hello Summertime.

Lunedi





Monday, significantly better thanks to a gem in the post from miss Lucy and these beauties from my mother's garden.

Blue Egyptian Hippo



















Almost exactly as I found him in National Geographic of March '77. More like him, here.

Paper walls


















These walls are paper-thin. Our poor silent neighbours must share all our triumphs and disasters.

Who knew yarrow could be so good-looking (and useful)! 
I didn’t. Thanks wiki…
I like the common names, nosebleed plant, old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf, thousand-seal.

queen vic

(from an English dish)

beginning of sunshine season



sestig seile






































Detail from a collage for my godmother's birthday.
October is the prettiest month.

Quink


























Quink is a drawing medium to love! It makes a rich black, 
washes grey-blue when watered down and bleeds a very faint orange at the edges. Above is a drawing I did of a Rasmussen shirt. Sadly not of my own invention, but a fun exercise for quink anyhow.


















And here is a kitty.

From my temporary bush studio



















Last Wednesday I saw galloping giraffes, a very happy thing to witness. This week I'm back in the city and still dreaming of those long legs and necks.
Friday's sun, rising over eastern Botswana.