V&A Waterfront · Cape Town
Sit on the quayside for twenty minutes and walk away with an original hand-drawn portrait. Not in Cape Town? Commission one from a photograph in graphite, charcoal or coloured pencil and have it shipped anywhere in the world.
Two ways to get a portrait
Live at the Waterfront
Walk up, no booking. A quick head-and-shoulders sketch takes about twenty minutes; a detailed charcoal portrait takes up to an hour. You leave with the original, fixed and packed for travel.
from R 350
Weather permitting. On wet or very windy days the easel stays home; check Instagram stories on the morning for a same-day update.
From a photograph
For a gift, a memorial, a pet, or a more finished piece than a live sitting allows. Send a sharp photo, approve a sketch, follow progress photos, and receive the portrait tracked and insured, anywhere in the world.
from R 1 800
Graphite, charcoal or coloured pencil. A4 to A2. Two to five weeks depending on size and medium.
Prices and how it worksSelected work
Live sittings from the quayside alongside commissions drawn from photographs.
The craft
A realistic portrait is not a photograph copied by hand. It is a few hundred quick decisions about which details to sharpen and which to let fall away, so that the likeness reads instantly from across a room and rewards a closer look.
Drawing on the quayside, in wind and changing light, with a queue watching, is the best training there is. Every sitting is on acid-free paper with lightfast graphite or charcoal, fixed with spray before it leaves the easel, so the drawing will look the same in twenty years as it does today.
Kind words
“We were killing an hour before our boat trip and walked away with the best souvenir of the whole trip. It flew home to Munich in my hand luggage without a crease.”
“I sent a blurry phone photo of Bruno and got back a drawing that looks more like him than any picture we have. It hangs above the fireplace.”
“Twenty minutes on a bench by the harbour and my daughter has a portrait she will keep forever. Watching it appear was half the fun.”
Come to the V&A Waterfront and sit for one, or send a few photographs and a short note about who the portrait is for. You will hear back within two working days.
