BEING THERE (AMANZI)

I stayed in Zimbabwe for 23 years, as a resident and then a citizen, but never a tourist, although I did take holidays with my children. Camping or sometimes staying in National Parks lodges. Actually that's not quite true. I did get a couple of chances to play the tourist in the grand style towards the end of my time in this beautiful but troubled country.

I have the privilege of staying like a tourist this week at the beautiful Amanzi Lodge. Initially I was all for camping out at my house as I go through the last of my junk prior to sale. But I was persuaded otherwise, and I have honestly needed the tranquility of this green haven as I sort through the mountain of paperwork that I accumulated in my time as an educator and then an architect.

 

Zimbabwe has so much potential. I doubt that I will live to see its Renaissance now. It's a tragedy of the human condition that those who start out as liberators all too often end as tyrants. Sadly Africa is not renowned for leadership renewal, with some exceptions.

Still the people I meet are wonderful now as they were 40 years ago, when I decided to settle in this country that I had come to as a volunteer building teacher. So glad to reconnect.

 

Three items from the detritus of my past life in Zimbabwe.

Hand held scanner. An input device that I used with early versions of desktop publishing software. Those were the days when "WYSIWYG" was an exciting new concept. It was slow and the size limit was annoying, but I really felt empowered by this little beauty.

Digitizer tablet. Another input device, but for commands. I spent many hours writing menu files, and creating paper overlays. Was that effort translate into a net productivity gain?

General specification. Definitely pre-digital, but I did try to run it through a early version of OCR. In 1990s Zimbabwe, the materials and processes available were simple enough that you could do quite basic drawings and set standards by referring to this document.

I was attracted by the simplicity of life in Zimbabwe but at the same time I embraced digital tools eagerly when they arrived. It's a paradox. I struggle with it still.

 

The original MS Surface came with a pen that mimicked a fingertip. Squishy rubber blobs don't make for precision. But at least you are drawing directly into a digital file format. Colour fidelity that scanning struggles to deliver. Think of all the hours spent trying to get a pure white background without losing some linework.

I think this landscape may be my best work with this particular toolset. It does come close to the feel of a watercolour sketch.

I don't remember which app this was. Quite amazing how ephemeral the hardware and software tools have been. How could I possibly achieve anything like a mature style, or mastery of the craft, when my pencil box changes radically every time I open it?

All the same, it's been a hell of a ride, and the Samsung Note has brought some stability to my process in recent years. Rarely as relaxed and spontaneous as this though.

There are no solutions, only trade-offs.

 

 

This is an abstract landscape. A digital sketch from a dozen years ago. It amounts to little more than playing with the tools. But with the passage of time I can look back with some fondness. I don't even remember the techniques I used. There must have been some basic layering... or maybe not.

It seems to me that, in this kind of work the ideas come bubbling up from my subconscious of there own accord, and the conscious brain is like a friend, looking over my shoulder. "oh, that's nice, what about??... "hmm, doesn't it need something more going on in the central focus. Just where is the central focus anyway?"

It was similar when I used to play in a small blues group. I knew the chord structure and with luck would remember the words. (not my strong point) I listened to the bass and rhythm parts with my peripheral hearing. Then my fingers would do their thing, muscle memory or whatever. And there it is again, the conscious self, sitting on my shoulder. "take it down low, oh, here we go there's a question and answer thing happening here, where can we take that?"

I'm not claiming to be a great artist (whatever that means) Just saying that creative work in real time, improvising visually or musically, these are peak experiences for me.