Richard Scott Blog - 9th February 2025

Early morning post on Instagram.

A beautiful construction piece up by the pool.

A tree construction piece.

I had to produce 6 of these works this week.

I was going to start the ceramics this week at Mervyn Gers, but I postponed till next week so I could look after Joanne.

Joanne got very sick on Monday night. It lasted till Thursday. She slept right through the whole day Tuesday and Tuesday night.  I haven’t seen that in a while. I kept checking in on her all day.

Wednesday she was a little better but still weak.

I did manage to use the time to catch up on the mini bronze sculptures designs on the computer.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the same. Looking after Joanne while steering the ship.

Frans teasing the epoxy.

Adding the 3D printed girls which act as the points.

Almost there.

Every once in a while, let’s say every 2 months, I get a random un-announced knock on the front door from someone who wants to visit the studio or come for a studio tour, or to meet me.

Well, that happened on Wednesday, and I met a wonderful man and his wife who walked away with five original Richard  Scott’s, on canvas, from my private collection.

It was a bitter sweet moment to see them go. But it was to a new collector from Clifton, Cape Town.

Meet Miles and Yoli.

Doing what I do best.

A resale came in the week. Gosh, I remember this piece from way back in early 2000. "Play My Blue Movie"

Here is the explanation from my book 2005: 

The title of this work only came days after completion. It was drawn freehand, so I was a little worried about getting the perspective of her torso and leg position right. The woman is  bending forward taking off her panties. I had just produced Sea Blue Tree and was so involved with the blue that I wanted to produce another deep-blue work.

Most of the women I painted, until now, had small perky breasts, but I wanted to get the feel of a woman bending over with large drooping breasts. This is one of those seminal pieces, when you look back upon it, that makes you wonder why you never expanded on the theme,  from the colour to the subject to the title."

The rest of the day was back into the studio and chipping away at current orders from galleries, clients and collectors.

Old Johannesburg Warehouse sold this on auction. Love it.

Joanne finally got up and ate some good food, not just marmite on toast.

She worked from the couch as and when she found some energy. I also caught the bug, but it didn’t get a hold of me like it did Joanne.

So, as I said at the beginning, this week was a bit of a blur.

Thursday morning, I had to go into town for some meetings and to run some errands. I made sure Joanne was up and fed and on the couch before I left on my Vespa.

It was Vespa time because it was 8am and there was no way I was going to make my 9am in town in the traffic.

Off I go.

I managed to do three meetings, pick up some wedding cake test samples from Tracy from "A Taste of Klass", and then buy a new Skil Saw. All transported back home on my Vespa.

Who would have thought.

Thursday I had to finish the backgammon board and guess what, yip, I’m 56 years old and still learning lessons. This time it was the “Haste makes Waste” lesson.

I added the second layer of epoxy to soon and not enough catalyst. So, one more layer needed. This is not preferred as it adds extra weight. I will do it but use the boards as demonstration models.

Friday felt like forever, which is awesome. It felt like the day never got started or would end.

It started with both of us having a coffee on our deck to slowly opening up our laptops and diaries for the day.

Joanne caught up with her admin as I did my daily banking and TO-DO list. I have spilled the To-Do list over into the staff WhatsApp group which helps workflow and manages expectations and goals.

Fran’s and Hendrik rocked up early and got stuck into a cup of coffee as well and then started ticking their boxes.

Hendrik is sanding down that huge ship mast we acquired back in 2019 from Bevon at the Biscuit Mill, in Woodstock. We did a pop-up there and Bevon, known as the furniture man at the Biscuit Mill, took a liking to one of my graffiti construction pieces. I said, “I’ll trade you that long bench for it”. He hummed and arred as he told me it was a 60 year old mast from a fishing boat. Nonetheless the deal was done, and it has been sitting near my studio since then doing nothing.

We decided to give it a new life and sand it down to the bare wood and turn it into a beautiful bench with a new lease of life and purpose.

Fran’s got stuck into finishing a set of 6 repurposed candy pieces at 30 x 30cm, while I took some photos of completed artworks for delivery.

Joanne made us a yummy avocado and bolognaise lentil sauce on a slice of seed and grain bread. Oh, it was so delicious. Joanne’s bolognaise is next level.

We both finished up with our To-Do list and we’re off to Paarden Island to the biscuit shop. We discovered a factory that sells there biscuits and rusks on a Friday morning for a fraction of the shelf price.

So, we gonna go once a month to get a stash for the pantry.

We came home to an empty house as the kids were all galivanting.

Richie popped in for a catch up and a cup of tea.

Friday was the day Richie passed his final commercial pilots licence flight, which included being an instructor as well.

As he left and waved goodbye he shouted from the car “oh by the way I start working tomorrow in the radio room at the flight school”

Yes yes yes, proud day for me as his dad.

Can I get and upgrade Captain.

Richie had the honor of testing with the "very experienced" Francois Naude.

Joanne and I made some supper and collapsed on the couch and found ourselves discussing the weird day, an even weirder week.

We had a nice long chat with my dear friend Andreas Bill in Germany. It was great to catch up with him. His daughter Eva is doing a six month exchange program at Stellenbosch University, and we offered to collect her from the airport and get her on her feet.

3 Photos needed for the marriage officer.

Joanne taking a few pics of me in my different suits for Jacques to work with.

The rest of Friday was simple “early night”

Saturday was like most of the days this week: a bit of a blur.

Joanne and I both agreed.

It started out with waking up at 4am and doing my usual catch-up etc (like this moment; 5am Sunday morning doing the blog).

Then we fell back to sleep till 8am. That’s a first in a while for both of us.

I booked it down to the season change and the sun only rising at 6am now, not 5am.

Nonetheless it was lazy Saturday coffees on the deck with a road run. We then decided to do some spring cleaning. Joanne tackled the bedroom cupboards while I tackled the storage space upstairs.

I think this is where the wheels fell off and time lost and boom, most of Saturday gone.

Whoaaaaa, 2m x 2m Red Tree been moved around.

Gabi sent me this pic of a painting hanging at one of Bertus Basson's restaurants. It is a co-lab we did back in 2006.

I did spend a bit of time in the studio as well on some photos for social media.

We rescued the day with an early supper of four Bean Salad and Joanne’s famous curry lentils and potatoes, from our garden.

4 Bean Salad. You cannot buy this in a shop.

Joanne and I cannot get enough chilies.

The kids convinced us to go to the Melkbos Night market which was great.

Always support the local community.

We came home and did some last minute wedding plans. I’m on jazz band and cocktails, while Joanne is on cake and honeymoon.

Then it was late night Netflix catch up, strangely to relax the day away in what we all strangely deem normal.

Sunday we got up nice an early and went for a run. We then headed out to fetch Eva at the airport. Not before we dropped off some Chicken Soup at Chad as he was sick with the flu.

It was great to see Eva and help her on her feet.

Joanne showing Eva how to grocery shop in South Africa.

Eva giving me my annual 18 razor blade gift from her dad, and my best friend, Andreas. He buys them for me as they are a fraction of the price in Germany.

We managed to get home in time for a nice Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for reading.

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