Armed with a single pencil, a metre of vinyl flooring and his backpack, this homeless man is using his talents for drawing to keep himself motivated while roaming the streets looking for his next meal.
Ricardo Hess, 40, is originally from Mitchells Plain and says he lost everything when he started using drugs.
Ricardo spends his days on the streets in the CBD and sleeps at the City of Cape Town’s Culemborg’s Safe Space shelter, where he gets to rest from 6pm until 8am.
The Daily Voice watched as Ricardo worked on his latest work, an elephant drawn from his imagination, with amazing attention to detail.
The talented man says he first fell in love with drawing when he was six years old.
“I used to be this talented since I was in primary school. I used to draw anything on request by family or classmates,” he says.
ILLUSTRATION: One of his works. Picture: Sup plied
“I wasn’t always homeless but when I fell deep into drug addiction in my teens, I started becoming a problem to my family and I was put out on the streets.”
Ricardo says he doesn’t remember how long he’s been on the streets, but never forgot his first love.
“I love drawing animals and people, I love drawing things that can move, anything from nature.”
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Ricardo says he depends on leftover paint he finds in the bins of craft stores.
“I wait for shops to throw away old paint and then I get it out of the bins and re-use it to add colour to my drawings.”
The dad of a 12-year-old girl says he longs for stability and becoming a proper artist.
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“If I had more pencils, canvas, frames, paint, I’d be the happiest person out in these streets,” he says wistfully.