“Taf” from Sketchbooktrails contacted me about doing an oil painting of yours truly. I had never had an “oil” done of me and was more than flattered by the gesture – especially since she said she was also doing one of Goldfish (The Blonde and Baby Jesus)

“Sure thing,” I told her. “Do I have to pose or something? ‘Cos if I do it’s gonna be tricky, as I struggle to sit still. Unless maybe I could play with my iPad while we do it?”

“No, no,” she replied. “I’ve got just the picture!”

“Oh…. which one is that?” I enquired, nervously.”

Justifiably so, as it seems she had chosen this picture taken from my on-stage Celine Dion miming session I did with Ard Matthews for “The Vibe” party earlier this year!

God help us all!

But there was nothing to worry about because, as it turns out, this chick’s got talent!

  
Baby, think twice…
NO NO NO NOOOO!

We met for a drink at the Cape Royale hotel the other night and I must just say that she is the sweetest angel I have met in a long time. Having held on for as long as possible in Zimbabwe, Taf finally moved here and paid her way through Engineering at UCT by selling paintings. Oh, and she is self-taught. JA, I know – it’s ridiculous. But there is more to her story, which you will learn when you meet her. Her Zim chapter doesn’t even begin to tackle the challenges she has faced and overcome.

“Fattered” doesn’t even begin to describe how knocked-out I am about this. Thank you, Taf, you have a special gift and I think what you’re doing is amazing.

Just to fill you all in,

Sketchbooktrails is the web-based art initiative of the artist, Tafadzwa Mukwashi (Taf). She has recently started work on a collection of 100 portraits entitled “Facing a Century” with the first of the portraits being of the music duo, Dominic Peters and David Poole of the world renowned band, Goldfish, who have just recently completed a tour in Brazil. Whether it takes a year or a decade, she intends to have successfully completed 100 portraits of real people.

Sketchbooktrails not only proves that much can be accomplished from whatever background someone comes from through sheer perseverance and effort. It also is a great testament to the great resource that the African girl-child and African women are. It is the success story of a young black immigrant living in South Africa.

Previous exhibitions of Taf’s paintings include a sold-out solo exhibition, Nature’s Child in 2003 in Picasso’s Gallery, Zimbabwe held in support of Childline, the Ekurhuleni Fine Art Award 2006 Finalist Exhibition in Johannesburg in 2006, ‘Contemporary Visions of Southern Africa’ Exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2007 and the “Justice For All” Art Auction at the Goethe Institute in 2008 held in support of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC).

For more information on Taf, to become one of the 100 faces of “Facing a Century” or to apply to be a featured artist on the Global Dialogue on Art 2010 please go to www.sketchbooktrails.com.

* Seriously make sure you go to that website, you gotta see this angel’s gallery – mind blowing!