That Tabby again!

"Every dog has his day - but nights are reserved for the cats."

"Ginger Tabby" watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book

This is the same Tabby that taunts Jacko every night by daring to enter the house and stealing food from his bowl. This time I managed to get a photograph of him sitting on the wall, giving Jacko the disdainful eye and ignoring me completely.

A lazy art Sunday

My art table yesterday

A lazy Sunday - spent the whole day sketching and journaling yesterday - what bliss! - also scanning previous sketches that I hadn't had time to do yet and filing them on my MAC.


My Feint 6-Quire Daily Journal. I mostly use it as my daily thoughts journal, but also do some accompanying sketches. This is yesterday's post.

The above journal entry reads :

"Sunday - 8th November
The Red Bishop is back, dear Journal, and covered in all his breeding finery! On Friday I thought I caught a glimpse of him, but wasn't sure.

"Red Bishop" - 'Euplectus orix nigrifrons Linnaeus'

He was sitting on the Tiger Grass under the Acacia Karroo eyeing the bird bath. Hoped to catch him bathing, but he decided the feeding table was a better option."


Southern Red Bishop - I edited out the writing lines of the Journal

Sketch in Agenda Art Journal

"Exploring space and colour"

I have this old, leather bound, 1997 Agenda Planner that is now filled with watercolour paper cut to size and some of the old note paper, which I use as an art journal. I did the above sketch on one of the note papers to try out a new green I was mixing using Thalo Blue and Burnt Sienna and was quite pleased with how the green turned out. I also experimented with Indigo and Cadmium Yellow on this, which I used on parts of the tree.

I'll use anything I can lay my hands on for sketching and using old diaries and planners is a great, inexpensive way of building up a collection.


Agenda Planner filled with watercolour paper - I used a 6-hole punch to do the holes for the paper.

If you would like to make your own sketch-book in an easy, quick and fun way, go to 'An Artist's Sketchbook to Make'.

What you have

Many of us spend our time wanting and wishing for things we do not have - a new car, a new house, a bigger studio, a holiday home somewhere exotic, new clothes, furniture, etc. And often we do get these things.

Here's the thing - how often have you stopped to be thankful for the things that have come your way? How often have you noticed that you actually received that which you wanted? If it had been on a list, we could have marked it off and seen just how much we do receive and how much we do have to be thankful for.

Whooping Cranes

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
- William Blake

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Whooping Crane" in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - Maree©

From the first minute I saw the program on National Geographic about teaching fledgling Whooping Cranes to migrate, I'd lost my heart to the plight of these stunning birds. My heart went out to the youngsters, having to take the lead from their human benefactors, taking on the massive job of imprinting the migration route into their memories, and every
set-back or loss in the program had my stomach lurching.

The Whooping Crane was once at the brink of extinction. It is making a steady recovery thanks to intensive management efforts in Canada and the United States, and as of December 2004, 468 Whooping Cranes existed in the wild and in captivity. All birds for the reintroduction come from captive flocks.

Whoopers are the tallest of all birds in North America. An adult male stands 1.5 m tall, weighs as much as 7.5 kg, and has a wingspan up to 2.5 m wide. Despite their size, cranes average a flight speed of about 45 kmh.

A Mushroom on my lawn

“I am... a mushroom;

On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then."

- John Ford

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Field mushroom (Agaricus campestris) 3cm diameter and 4cm tall - in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - Maree©

This mushroom popped through my lawn yesterday and is white with the most gorgeous pink underside and small indented warts on the cap. At the moment it is 1½" in diameter and about 1½" tall - still a baby I think.

After Googling mushrooms, I found that it is an edible field mushroom, (Agaricus campestris) which is related to the edible button mushrooms often used in cooking and salads. But I wouldn't even think of trying to eat it, just in case! There are many similar mushrooms which are deadly.

The cap is white, may have fine scales, and is 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in) in diameter; it is first hemispherical in shape before flattening out with maturity. The gills are initially pink, then red-brown and finally a dark brown, as is the spore print. The 3 to 10cm (1.2 to 3.9 in) tall stipe is predominately white and bears a single thin ring. The taste is mild. The white flesh bruises slightly reddish, as opposed to yellow in the inedible (and somewhat toxic) Agaricus xanthodermus and similar, toxic species. The spores are 7–8 by 4–5 µm (micrometre), and ovate. Cheilocystidia are absent.


Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris)
This common mushroom is edible.
It is related to the edible button mushrooms often used in cooking and salads.
Do not eat any mushrooms you're not sure of!
This info from Hilton College

At Gardening Eden, a nursery in South Africa, one can even buy mushrooms to plant in your garden!

Mushrooms belong neither to the animal nor plant kingdom, but form a phylum all on their own. This is due to the fact that unlike plants, fungi are unable to produce their own food through photosynthesis, as they lack chlorophyll, but resemble animals in their ability to draw their sustenance from animal and plant matter which is dissolved by enzymes and ingested.

Current estimates put the number of species in the fungal kingdom at approximately 1.5 million, in comparison with, for example, flowering plants at 250,000 species.

The role of fungi in the ecosystem is vital. Fungi are one of the largest contributors of the decomposition of organic matter, returning nutrients to the soil, which in turn is utilised to sustain other species of flora and fauna. The majority of the fungi kingdom cannot be seen with the naked eye, and needs to be viewed with a lens or microscope.

The reproduction unit of all fungi is known as the "spore". When this spore lands on a suitable substrate or base, and growth conditions are ideal, it will germinate by sending out a germ tube which becomes attached to the base or substrate.

This tube develops in to the "hyphae", which in turn will expand and develop into a network of hyphal threads, known as "mycelium". This mycelium, hardly ever seen, is the vegetative body of the fungus responsible for its nutrition and formation.

The mycelium will continue to grow and branch throughout the substrate for as long as it can obtain nutrients from it, and conditions of temperature and moisture remain favourable. This mycelium may continue to grow for a long time without forming any sex organs, but once two sexually differentiated mycelia meet, and plasmas of conjugating cells unite, if external conditions are ideal, a "fruit-body" will appear. A mushroom or toadstool etc. pops out of the ground!

(This info from Eco Travel Africa)


(Photo by Pamela Kaminski)

Bapedi Tribal Dress

"It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character."
- Camille Pissarro

My sketch for the day...


"Bapedi Tribal Dress" watercolour in Ashrad 200gsm sketch-book - Maree©

Some time in the late 15th to early 16th centuries, a nation settled in the area between the Vaal and Limpopo Rivers, in the modern Provinces of Limpopo, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga. They were an off-shoot of the Sotho-Tswana speaking Kgatla. Little is known about the group during those early years, but as early as 1600, they formed a kingdom known as Bapedi or Pedi. By about 1650 they had settled in an area to the south of the Steelpoort River. Over several generations of interaction, a degree of linguistic and cultural homogeneity developed.

Ever encroaching missionary influence dictated thetho's were worn under cotton smocks. Thetho aprons were made of goat skin, while rear aprons called mosese, were of ox hide. Though related examples were worn by their Ntwane neighbours, only the Pedi decorated their leather with "tooled" abrasions. Over time, Pedi smocks came to be used as "traditional" wedding attire.

Moleskine - Snail

“The year's at the spring / And day's at the morn; / Morning's at seven; / The hillside's dew-pearled; / The lark's on the wing; / The snail's on the thorn; / God's in his heaven - / All's right with the world!”
- Robert Browning

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Snail" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - Maree©

Oh my! I found some snails in my garden! They're all over the Agapanthus. One consolation is that there is now plenty to eat for the Thrushes and any passing hedgehogs.

The snails are related to the oyster, the clam, the mussel, the squid and the octopus. All of these animals are called molluscs. More than 30,000 kinds of snails have been described, of which about two-thirds still exist -- about half of them in salt water and the other half in fresh water or on land. The remainder are known only as fossils and, in the limestone quarries around Chicago, we find several kinds-- some as big as your fist-- which have lain buried there since this region was on the floor of the ocean, 150 million years ago.

There are even Graffiti snails roaming London!

Shell shock: One snail has shell graffiti

Most people have to shell out to give their homes a makeover – not so for these multi-coloured molluscs.

The flashy snails have had their drab shells given a paint job for nothing – and they didn't even have to move a muscle.

A London artist, known only as Slinkachu, has used the molluscs' shells for a series of designs dubbed 'Inner City Snail – a slow-moving street art project'.

FROM METRO UK

Bapedi Woman

“For tribal man space was the uncontrollable mystery. For technological man it is time that occupies the same role.”
- Marshall McLuhan

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Bapedi Woman" watercolour on Ashrad 200gsm - Maree©

Chrissie, my gardener, above, is from mixed Pedi and Coloured stock.

Pedi, (also known as Bapedi, Bamaroteng, Marota, Basotho, Northern Sotho - in its broadest sense, has been a cultural/linguistic term. It was previously used to describe the entire set of people speaking various dialects of the Sotho language who live in the northern Transvaal of South Africa. More recently, the term "Northern Sotho" has replaced "Pedi" to characterize this loose collectivity of groups.

Estimated at 7 million, these Sotho speakers are the second largest African language group in South Africa. Three million Sotho and other closely related groups live outside of South Africa, the majority of who are in Lesotho.

Although the Pedi originated from the Bakgatla and were of Sotho origin, their inter-marriage with other tribes by defeating them, ended up in the application of many other words in the Pedi language and customs which are not of Sotho origin, but which are akin to the Venda and Lovedu and the Karanga from Zimbabwe.

The Sotho can be subdivided into three groups. The first group is the Northern Sotho also called Pedi and Bapedi.



The Pedi society arose out of a confederation of small chiefdoms that had been established sometime before the 17th century in what later became the Northern Transvaal (Northern Province). Defeated early in the 19th century by the armies of Mzilikazi, they revived under the leadership of Sekwati. Thereafter, they repeatedly clashed with the Voortrekkers during the later half of the 19th century.



It appears that the Sotho people migrated southward from the Great Lakes in Central Africa about 5 centuries ago in successive waves and the last group, namely, the Hurutse, settled in the Western Transvaal towards the beginning of the 16th century.

It is from this group that the Pedi eventually originated through the Bakgatla offshoot that takes its name from the chief Mokgatla. Very little is known of the history of the Bakgatla people for the first few generations after their founder Mokgatla had withdrawn from the originating group, but it is known that, arising from a further split at a later date, a chief by the name of Tabane left with his followers and settled at what is now known as Schilpadfontein in the vicinity of Pretoria.

Now here's the interesting part - It is not known how long they lived there, but Tabane appears to have been succeeded by his son Motsha, whose son and heir Diale (or Liale) had a number of wives, the youngest of whom was his favourite, Mathobele. The other wives were jealous of her favoured position and when she was expecting her first child they would tease and mock her; saying that her child cried whilst still in her womb.

Mathobele gave birth to a healthy boy, and named him 'Lellelateng' meaning 'it cries inside', but the unusual event was attributed to witchcraft and the Kgatla council, wanted to kill the mother and child. Diale interceded for them and they were both saved.

However, as the baby grew older it became apparent that he would not be accepted by the tribe, and it seems that he and his family, together with a large following, broke away or were driven away and trekked to the east with their flocks and herds to start the Pedi nation.

Daily Matters... South African Grasses 1

Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth. This we know.
- Chief Seattle

My daily sketch...


South African Grasses
"Restio - Thamnochortus sp" - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

One of the Restios or Cape Reeds, Thamnochortus lucens, is very common in the Western Cape mountains. It grows well in dry, gravelly slopes and is often in small populations or locally dominant. The plants grow tufted on a short rhizome, often with tangled sterile clusters of culms at the base. Grows to 50 cm. There is quite a difference between the male and female plants - the sketch above is a male.

The beautiful Thamnochortus genus have 13 species and most of its members grow well in coastal areas at the beach. Some species are very large and are commonly used to thatch houses. T. insignis is commonly used for this purpose because of its very long culms. One species, T. nutans is the exception and is only found 600m above sea level. It is endemic to Table Mountain and the Constantia berg.


Female Thamnochortus lucens.


Restio stems

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Painting Wildlife in a Game Park

Gathering your own reference materials, sketches and using your own imagination is going to help you grow as an artist far more than stealing someone else's work.
- Bonnie Hamline


"Impala" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

It was last during 2004, when I visited the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, that I had painted any wild animals plein air, but in January 2009 I re-visited the Game Lodge, taking my paints with me, and managed to find the Impala herd quite close to the road, which allowed me to capture a group that were standing close together. The rest of the herd on the right-hand side of the picture are not included, as my scanner could not take the large sketch.

Also see Painting Wildlife

Gemsbok Antelope (Oryx)

"A sculptor is a person who is interested in the shape of things, a poet in words, a musician by sounds, an artist by sight."

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Gemsbok" watercolour in Ashrad Sketch pad 200gsm - Maree©

The Gemsbok or gemsbuck (Oryx gazella) is a large African antelope, of the Oryx genus. The name is derived from the Dutch name of the male chamois, Gemsbok. Although there are some superficial similarities in appearance (especially in the colour of the face area), the chamois and the Oryx are not closely related.

Gemsbok are light brownish-grey to tan in colour, with lighter patches to the bottom rear of the rump. Their tails are long and black in colour. A dark brown stripe extends from the chin down the bottom edge of the neck through the join of the shoulder and leg along the lower flank of each side to the brown section of the rear leg. They have muscular necks and shoulders and their legs have white 'socks' with a black patch on the front of both the front legs and both genders have long straight horns.



Gemsbok generally live in herds of up to 40 individuals, often in association with other species of antelope or with zebras. The males are often solitary animals, however. Active from dawn through nightfall, it feeds on grass and leaves, and can survive long periods without drinking any water. The horns are effective weapons. When fighting, the head is lowered between the forelegs in order to impale the enemy.

See more, like the Gemsbok's introduction to North America at ORYX on Hedgie's Nature Journal.

They are also to be found in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, which is located between the borders of Namibia and Botswana. The park covers an area of a little less than 10,000 square kilometers. The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and the adjacent Gemsbok National Park of Botswana together occupy as much as 36,000 square kilometers. Since there is no barrier separating the two parks, the animals move freely from park to park.

Velvet Spider

If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive.

~American Quaker Saying

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Black Velvet Spider - pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Sketch-book

This black Velvet Spider has lived in the bark of an old log in my garden for approximately 2 years now and she lets me coax her out for photographic sessions every now and then. These spiders are robust and deliberate in the way that they walk and she even allows me to gently stroke her abdomen and thorax, which is covered in thick, smooth, velvety hairs.

The velvet spiders (family Eresidae) are a small group (about 100 species in 10 genera) of almost totally Old World spiders (exception: a few species are known from Brazil).

Velvet spiders are found under rocks or bark resting in a sheet of dense white silk and are often confused with baboon spiders. They can live up to 5 years. Free living but rarely leave the safety of their webs.



Description: 12mm to 15mm in length. These robust spiders colouration may be from black, grey or a rich red. Body covered with hairs which give them a velvety appearance, hence their name. The abdomen is often lighter in colour than the rest of the spider. Abdomen may have 4 dimples on the top. The eyes are close together and the mouthparts are very robust looking for a spider that size. Legs are short and strong and they are widespread throughout Southern Africa.

Web: These spiders build their webs under rocks, under loose bark. Their retreats consist of flat candy floss like dry sheets of silk. The silk is tough and has interwoven prey remains. Their nest-like webs are attached to the ground using silken anchor lines. Silken lines radiate from the entrance to their shelters. These lines are used to detect prey.

Venom: Even though these spiders can be large in size they very rarely bite. Not much is known about the affects of their venom. It is highly unlikely that this spider’s venom is of importance to humans.

Notes: Females seldom leave their webs in order to hunt. Instead, they prefer to wait for prey to wander into their webs and radiating silken lines. They prey upon tough skinned insects and other large prey items.

Journal entry - Duckling

Death--- the last sleep? No the final awakening.
- Walter Scott

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Carolina Duckling" pencil sketch in Daily Nature Journal - Maree©

This little Carolina duckling (Wood Duck) was very weak when it hatched and it also had a cripple leg. Despite all my efforts, it didn't survive and died 3 days later. This is from a sketch I did in an old Nature Journal.

Moleskine - Magalies River

"Magalies River at Wicker" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

One of our favourite Sunday outings is to go to Wicker Tea Garden on the banks of the Magalies River in Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa). We normally choose a table right on the riverbank from where we watch the Malachite Kingfisher diving for fish. Afterward he preens and suns himself on one of the branches overhanging the Stream.

On the other side of the river is an open-air wedding chapel which one can also access by crossing the rapids via some stepping stones when the river is not in flood.

Daily Matters... Riverbank Abstract

“I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.”
- Stephen Wright, American Actor and Writer

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"On the banks of the River" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Free Xmas Card!

Xmas Card - "7 Little Birds" - Maree

I've started on my Christmas Card collection for 2009 and this year's theme will be Nature. All images are original sketches by myself and will be printed on a 200gsm Bockingford Watercolour paper. They will be available in Packs of 6 for R30.00 and half the proceeds I will be donating to the S.P.C.A. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). So be a darling and support a good cause! If you would like to order and see images of what's available, you can contact me by e-mail on HEDGIE.

Here's one of my first designs FOR 2009. Feel free to print it out and send to family and friends!

Insructions :
Save this image to your hard-drive and then print out on A4 size watercolour paper. Most printers will easily take up to 200gsm thickness and the card will then be able to stand. Fold in half and then fold in half again, making sure your front and back show when the card is folded. Enjoy!

(TIP: You can also print on normal A4 printing paper, but the finish is better on an art paper.)

P.S :
The SPCA is the only Animal Welfare Organisation in South Africa which is governed by an Act of Parliament, namely the SPCA Act, 169 of 1993.

• Every Society has to be registered with the Department of Social Development and Welfare (NPO). We receive NO government support and rely on the Public to continue in our quest for a cruelty free South Africa.

• The SPCA plays a major role in promoting and setting up of Codes of Conduct, doing research and compiling of information – using the three ‘R’s – Reduce, Refine and Replace animals in research and wildlife capacities;

• Enforcing these codes as well as serving on numerous Committees and Welfare Groups;

• The only animal welfare organisation to be registered with the Department of Labour for qualifying inspectors;

• The only Animal Welfare Organisation with a National Controlling body – being directed democratically by the separate Societies;

• An Animal Welfare Organisation with an executive director who is a full member of WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals);

• The SPCA is the biggest / strongest local Animal Welfare Organisation in South Africa to deal with National Issues like import & export of wildlife – Tuli Elephant Case, etc.;

• An Animal Welfare Organisation which is not influenced by financial gain, but rather ensuring that principles and policies are upheld – to PREVENT CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

Hartebeespoort Dam

Being in nature and allowing ourselves to absorb both its gentle beauty and fierce power is a healing act. We do not have to travel far to open ourselves to this gift.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Hartebeespoort Dam" watercolour in Daler-Rowney 200gsm sketch pad

Nature can be found close-by to even the biggest cities and spending some time away from the concrete jungle replenishes our reserves and sets a mood for a peaceful week ahead of us.

I did this sketch from a photograph yesterday morning and then hubby and I decided to take a drive out to Hartebeespoort Dam (North-West Province, South Africa) for my favourite steak at Squires. The dam's water was exceptionally clean and with the beautiful weather, there were plenty of boats making use of the good sailing conditions.

I am going to be living here some time in the future!

Daily Matters... Bonsai

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying."

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


My 1982 Natal Fig Bonsai (Ficus Natalensis) watercolour in Daler-Rowney 190gsm Sketchbook - Maree©

I acquired by Natal fig bonsai in 1985 when he was 3 years old and about 6" tall - through the years he's been transplanted into various bigger containers, but this year I'll just be freshening him up and adding some new soil and do some feeding.

Now summer is here! and it's time for spring-cleaning - the garden, the house (curtains - I've only got 3!), and everything else in sight, including my Bonsai.

The Japanese word "bonsai" is translated to "tree in a bowl" and is an art form symbolising many things. To some it is considered the link between heaven and earth, to others it symbolises the balance between man and nature. Attending to Bonsai creates peace and tranquility and is a great stress reducer.

Moleskine - Road to Harties

"Creativity begins in wonder."

- Maree

Daily Moleskine sketching...


"Road to Hartebeespoort Dam" in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook
(Click on images to enlarge)


Notes for 'Road to Hartebeespoort Dam' in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

We often take a drive out to Hartebeespoort Dam in the North-West Province (South Africa), which borders Gauteng, just under an hour's drive from us. We prefer to take the scenic route, staying away from the main roads and all the traffic, using a gravel road crossing over a mountain, reveling in all the wild life we spot on the way.

The once sleepy village of Schoemansville, which has always been one of the major tourist attractions in the area, is now buzzing with activity and new developments, but has still managed to maintain most of it's original charm. Harties is Lynda Smith's choice place of residence.

I had to scan the notebook in two sections as it is too long for the scanner when opened up.

Daily Matters... Lighthouse Storm

The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.
Dee Hock

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Lighthouse - Storm" mixed media of watercolour and acrylics on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Nguni Cattle 1

“It’s amazing how loose some people become in their sketchbook drawing simply because they have a carefree approach and don’t become locked down in trying to make finished works.”

- Robert Wade

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Nguni" watercolour in Ashrad 200gsm Sketch pad - Maree©

I am SUCH a lover of Nguni cattle - if there's a book to be found I buy it! A Black and white Nguni skin adorns my lounge floor and I avidly read any articles or history about them I can find.

Equine Series IX

Horses give us the wings we lack.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Foal sketch - "Going Somewhere" - graphite sketch on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Karoo Storm

stunning heat:
even the birds
are silent

A small poem from WATERMARKS

My daily sketch ...


"Karoo Storm" abstract watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Equine Series VIII

Care, and not fine stables, makes a good horse.
- Danish Proverb

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Appaloosa" - watercolour on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

How We Spend our Days

"Life is a joy filled with delightful surprises .

My life is a joy filled with love, fun and friendship.

I choose love, joy and freedom, open my heart and allow

wonderful things to flow into my life."

A Daily Affirmation

"Seagulls" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

How DO we spend our days? Most of us are so busy working, watching TV, doing the laundry, playing taxi, shopping, visiting and whatever else it is that takes up our day, that we don't realise that, each day that has passed, each month and each year that has passed, designates the way we spend our whole life. And then we wonder where's the happiness? Where's the thrill? Where's the satisfaction?

It's up to us to create the happiness, the thrill, the satisfaction - if we spend our days creating these things, that is how we will spend the rest of our lives.

Daily Matters... Three Seasons

“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.”
- Pablo Picasso

My daily sketch for today...


"Three Seasons" Abstract Watercolour - Maree©

Winter, Spring, Summer - Autumn deserves a space of its own...

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Equine Series VII

Give me food and drink; and care for me. And when the day's work is done, shelter me. Give me a clean bed and leave me not too small a place in the stable. Talk to me, for your voice often takes the place of reins. Be good to me and I shall serve you more gladly and love you.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Where did it go?" - graphite sketch on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

Another foal sketch - their gangliness is utterly captivating and when my mare foaled in 1987, we used to spend hours watching the foal frolicking about on uncertain legs, picking itself up after each ungainly fall and gaining strength and confidence with each leap and bound. They actually are very playful and will spend hours chasing butterflies or fleeing imaginary enemies, often heading straight for mother, seeking shelter at her strong and comforting shoulder.

Daily Matters... Yesterday and Tomorrow

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
~L.H. Bailey

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Yesterday and Tomorrow" watercolour on Ashrad sketch pad 200gsm - Maree©

An old barn on the road to Hartebeespoort Dam, North West Province, South Africa.

Spring in South Africa has now fully blossomed into summer. We've had our first rains and everything is green, green, green! Yesterday the twig was bare, tomorrow there will be leaves to spare.

Equine Series VI

I have often been asked why do I like horses so much. Look into one's eyes. There you will see generations of horses who have served the humans for thousands of years faithfully for nothing in return. Beaten horses, starved hoses, horses who no longer possess a spirit. They deserve to be loved and respected as much as humanly possible. Let them run free again. Let them no longer be a faithful beasts, but embrace them as you would a dear friend, for that is what they are.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Horse - "Eye Study" watercolour on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Snow for you

thin snow falling | weaving a veil | yet another veil | between me | and the world

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

My daily sketch for today...


"Winter Farmhouse" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

For all my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, here's a taste of what's looming for you! I did this sketch a couple of years ago and is actually much bigger - couldn't all fit into the scanner.

Equine Series V

I have seen things so beautiful, that they have brought tears to my eyes. Yet, none of them can match the gracefulness and beauty of a horse running free.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

"Show Horse" graphite sketch on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

Another graphite sketch in the Equine Series before I attempt colour - I would like to make this one black, but I first have to study and practice a lot of blacks before I take the plunge. This was done from a photograph of a horse called 'Baskghazi' and he's actually a Bay. What a wonderful specimen!

Off for a week (not to Venice!)

Well, I'm off to Ballito on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal tomorrow for a week - I am taking my laptop with me, but might or might not be posting here. Am going to try and fit some painting in, but that remains to be seen, as I have a lot of catching up to do with the family.

“If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you've imagined. Venice is -- Venice is better.”
Fran Lebowitz

My daily sketch for today...


"Venice" watercolour on Bockingford - Maree©

This is actually an old painting I did in the 80's, but revamped it with some bolder colour and a couple of architectural changes.

Equine Series IV

A horse is like a best friend. They`re always there to nuzzle you and make your life a better place.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"You want me to put WHAT in my mouth?!" - watercolour on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

There is nothing more satisfying than a warm nuzzle and a grunt from a contented horse. Spending quiet time with your horse, perhaps a brush-down with a soft brush and tending to his tail and mane, was what I found most relaxing during my horsy years.

Botanical - Butterflies, Double Feature

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Botanical Butterflies - "Double Feature"

Equine Series III

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Foal - On the Move" - watercolour on Daler-Rowney 150gsm - Maree©

My next sketch in the equine series, with a bit of colour. Foals will always hold a special fascination for people - beautiful, gangly, oh so cocky! and frolicking on uncertain legs - they represent the next generation of horses who have served us humans for thousands of years faithfully for nothing in return. They deserve to be loved and respected as much as humanly possible.

Equine Series II

Give me food and drink; and care for me. And when the day's work is done, shelter me. Give me a clean bed and leave me not too small a place in the stable. Talk to me, for your voice often takes the place of reins. Be good to me and I shall serve you more gladly and love you.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Horse" graphite sketch on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

After my first attempt at sketching and painting horses, I've decided to do some more graphite sketching as practice first before attempting any more paintings with colour. I'm working off photographs, some my own, some from friends as well as the internet. I'm also studying the horse's anatomy and skeletal system again and getting au fait with all the terms again, like croup, ara, cannon, etc., that I've forgotten.


Horse parts (click on image to enlarge)


Skeletal system of the horse Equus E. ferus caballus

Once one has an understanding of the bone structure of a horse, sketching becomes easier as you learn where and how the bones all fit together.

Equine Series I

Give a horse what he needs and he will give you his heart in return.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Trotting" watercolour on Bockingford 1150gsm - Maree©

I haven't sketched or painted horses since I was a teenager, when I was besotted with them, and would spend hours drawing them. The head, the hooves, the nostrils, the tail, the legs, the eyes, and in different stances - running, standing, rearing, jumping.

When we moved to a smallholding in 1975, my life-long dream of owning a horse was realised, and when I acquired my first horse, a Chestnut mare, Starlight, it started a love affair with these wonderful creatures which lasted many years.

Right now I'm totally out of practice and decided to try and get back into sketching the equine scene. This sketch was done from a photograph and as I was sketching, I could feel Yattendon's silky mane, the softness around his nostrils and the bristle on his chin when I used to cup his face in my hands. He was my second horse, a fiery C-grade Chestnut jumper, with white socks and a white blaze on his forehead, who taught me about trust, friendship and companionship.

Daily Matters... Psychedelic Me

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
Oscar Wilde

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Psychedelic Me" watercolour on Daler-Rowney 190gsm - Maree©

For this one I printed out a photograph of myself on Daler-Rowney 190gsm paper in very light grey-scale (all colour removed and contrast and enhancement set to very low in the picture manager) and then added some watercolour. I think I've flattered myself - doesn't show the double chin or the wrinkles...!

Moleskine Journal entry

A daily journal entry and sketch ...




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Moleskine Journal entry and watercolour sketch - Maree©

(Click to enlarge)


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"Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

Today the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know nothing so wondrous fair,

No miracles so strongly rare.

I wonder what will next be there!"

- L.H. Bailey

Daily Matters... Hillside

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)

My daily sketch for today...


"Hillside" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Garden Journal entry

An entry and sketch in my Daily Garden Journal
(Click to enlarge and read the entry)

To me, the garden is a doorway to other worlds; one of them, of course, is the world of birds. The garden is their dinner table, bursting with bugs and worms and succulent berries.

Daily Matters... Lighthouse Santa Cruz

Without planning, your painting will probably be indecisive and fragmented, and you'll try to say too much in one picture.
- Ron Ranson

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Lighthouse - Santa Cruz, California" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Lighthouse Sunset

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart”
- Confucius

My daily sketch for today...


"Lighthouse - Stormy Sunset" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Frog Shell

too tired | to write | a poem

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Granulate Frog Shell" (family Bursidae) pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

The granulate frog shell (Bursa granularis), is a common predator on reefs and their shells are often washed up on the beach. But the fact that one finds fewer and fewer of these specimens on the beach is surely a sign that their numbers are diminishing.

Daily Matters... Forest on 84

Use the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best.
- Henry Van Dyke

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Forest on 84" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

This is part of the blue gum forest on our smallholding, 84 Vlakplaas.

Daily Matters... Rapids

body like a river

all slow curves

and pools

A small poem from WATERMARKS

My daily sketch ...


"Rapids" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

I found this picture in an old 1970's "How to paint water in oils" but didn't feel brave enough to tackle it with my oil colours, so I did it in watercolour instead. But my courage to try oils is growing by the day... (lol)

Daily Matters... Misty Beach

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change -- until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds."
- Unknown

My daily sketch...


"Misty Beach" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Done from a photograph by Cameron Nelson. Cameron and his wife Deelia, live in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii. Cameron is a photographic artist and you can go to Cameron Nelson Photography to see some of his stunning works, or go to his BLOG for more of his works, especially weddings on the island.

Daily Matters... Lady in White

“Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.”
Samuel Johnson

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Lady in White" watercolour on Typek A4 printing paper - Maree©

Haven't we come a long way since the above quote! I'm not a feminist by any means, but definitely have a problem when you want to open a bank account and they tell you your husband must sign the form (this happened to me in 1992, won't tell you the whole story, but I stood the whole bank on their heads).

Daily Matters... Joy Untroubled

“Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My daily sketch for today...


"Star of the Kalahari" graphite and watercolour on Daler-Rowney 190gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

Botanical - Bee in Nature

To 'bee' in nature is to experience one of our planet's most awesome gifts. Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.


My sketch for today...


"Bee In Daisy" a (not so quick) quick pencil sketch and watercolour done from a photograph by Crista from 'Nature As Is' on Daler-Rowney 190gsm - Maree©

This lovely photograph by Christa inspired me to sketch this and at first I thought the bee was going to be the difficult part, but the daisy just would not conform to the way I wanted it to go! Just goes to show...

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Daily Matters... Spring Reflections

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"
~Mark Twain

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Spring Reflections" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

This sketch was inspired by Pam Johnson Brickell's 'Sunrise Surprise' - her management of watercolours is astonishing and always an inspiration.

Daily Matters... In Memoriam

I look at life as a gift of God. Now that he wants it back I have no right to complain.
---Joyce Cary

My sketch for today - in memoriam of Pappa Goose - 1991 - 2009.


"Pappa Goose" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - 05/09/09 Maree©

Pappa Goose, an Egyptian Goose, was brought to me to take care of him in 1991 - don't know how old he was - he had one gammy foot as a result of fishing gut being entangled around his leg and severing the tendons and nerves, causing his foot to pull backwards. I was lucky to have the pleasure of his presence in my life for 18 years when, finally yesterday, I had to have him euthanized because his legs were riddled with arthritis and he could hardly stand up anymore. If there is a Goose Heaven, I'm sure that's where he is now.

Daily Matters... Impermanence

The practice of mindfulness in life and in insight meditation enables the individual to see into the nature of ones consciousness. As such ones recognises things like impermanence and our attachments.

Journal sketch for today...


"Pappa Goose" euthanized today - sketch in my Daily Journal
(Click on image to read the post)

Daily Matters... Journal sketch

“I like flowers, I also like children, but I do not chop their heads and keep them in bowls of water around the house.”
- George Bernard Shaw

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Journal entry sketch - 'Some Hydrangeas arranged in my vintage Hollands Pewter water jug'


Detail of sketch

Daily Matters... Reflections

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter F. Drucker

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

My daily sketch for today...


"Reflections" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

This is actually an old painting that I've revamped and brightened up a bit. It was either that or it was headed for the dustbin. Does anybody else also have this mania about not being able to throw anything away? Marie Theron mentioned her heartache every time she sold a painting at her exhibition currently being held in Darling. What is this tie we have to our art?

Daily Matters... Onion Shell

An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.
Paul Valery

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Onion Shell" (family Melapiidae) - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

I sketched this shell in 2002, but decided to put some colour to it yesterday.

These shells are smooth on the outside, without ridging, and have a quite flattened spire. In South Africa we have Melapium lineatum and Melapium elatum - 2 really beautiful shells. The lineatum's common name is 'Onion shell' - the shape and patterns resemble an onion.

Daily Matters... Celebrating Spring

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~Robin Williams

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Namaqualand Daisies" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Namaqualand! 100% Big sky country. Extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west of South Africa to the small town of Pofadder in the east, north from the great Orange River and south beyond Garies, Namaqualand is indeed a vast and varied region.

During the arid summer months it is difficult for the tourist to imagine the phenomenon of the yearly wild flower appearance.

After the winter rainfall, Namaqualand dons her coat of many colours and for a brief moment, the wildflowers invade the countryside. Countless poems, novels, paintings and prose have been dedicated to this annual shower of God's colour.




Before the flowers appear


At the end of winter

Daily Matters... Cottage Rose

Being in nature and allowing ourselves to absorb both its gentle beauty and fierce power is a healing act. We do not have to travel far to open ourselves to this gift.
- Unknown

My sketch for today...


"Cottage Rose" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

I did this sketch on a piece of Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - it's so thin, it just sucks up the paint and won't flow at all and once you've made a mistake, that's it, can't be fixed. Like the muddy leaf top right-hand corner - I promised myself I won't be using it again, but there you go...

And it reminds me of Ronell van Wyk's post on using greens - I've decided they are very tricky after all!

Daily Matters... Journal sketching

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.”

A page from my Nature Journal...


"Bird Sketch" in Feint 6 Quire Journal - Maree©

Blue Gums & Black Wattles

"I am good enough, perfect in my own special way."
A daily Affirmation

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Blue Gums and Black Wattle Trees" Acrylic on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

In this painting I experimented with acrylics on a good, thick Bockingford watercolour paper and decided I just LOVE how the acrylics feel on the paper. It's amazing! I think I'm falling more and more in love with this versatile medium.

These trees are on our smallholding and although we are trying to get rid of all the Black Wattles, they spring up faster than you try to eradicate them. The problem is that they produce a huge amount of seeds, which can grow in the most arid and infertile of soils. Even worse, these seeds can live up to a 90 years. And after a first clean-up, even though we have removed hundreds of trees, millions of young seedlings appear. It's basically fighting a losing battle. These evergreen trees were originally imported from Australia for our tanning industry.

Now the touchy subject: chemicals. One simply cannot get rid of Black Wattles unless you use a good herbicide. Cutting a black wattle and hoping it will die, is wishful thinking. We do not use any chemicals at all, with the result that we have an on-going battle, but which provides employment opportunities as we hire several casual workers every year to do another clean-up.


The seed pods on one branch of a Black Wattle tree


Growing habit of the Black Wattle


The flowers of the Black Wattle also causes great outbreaks of hay fever among hay fever sufferers during spring.

Daily Matters... First Light

early dawn | two-note, two note | who are you?

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

My daily painting for today...


"First Light" 9" x 12" Acrylic on Canvas - Maree©

This is my third attempt at using acrylics, as well as going a bit abstract, both new ventures for me, and it's exciting experimenting with how much water to use, the effects of a dry brush, large strokes and fine work.

I scanned this as it fitted into the scanner, but maybe somebody could advise whether it's better to photograph acrylics and oils in stead of scanning? And should an acrylic be varnished?

Daily Matters... Unexplored

"I'm not as good as some, but better than most."
- Maree

My daily sketch for today...


"Unexplored Landscape" watercolour on Bockingford - Maree©

Life can sometimes be like a landscape. There are vast, unexplored vistas within us that will remain unseen unless we make the effort to explore our inner self and find something that we've never noticed before. Sometimes we might not like what we see, but there could also be something great and exciting, something to be cherished and, like a great landscape, inspire us.

Daily Matters... Chinese Painting

swallows | sweeping the sky

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Swallows Sweeping the Sky" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Have you ever tried your hand at Chinese painting? It's not as easy as it looks, and apparently the technique lies in the brush strokes, not just filling in colour. Easier said than done, like calligraphy, takes a lot of practice.

The Chinese brush is itself an important part of the act of painting, both in its strength and in its flexibility. When brand-new it seems stiff and hard but after a brief soaking in water it becomes soft and flexible, coming to a fine point when drawn out of the water or ink.

All Chinese painting colours are water color. There are commonly used colours for washes and tinting purposes after ink has first been applied in the painting. The commonly used colours are:

Gamboge Yellow
Prussian Blue
Vermilion Red
Crimson Red
Burnt Sienna
Titanium White

Did you know you must hold the brush perpendicular to the paper? Amazing! In doing a large painting the wrist and the elbow are raised above the paper, while doing a small painting one may rest the wrist lightly on the table as shown in the diagram.


For small painting, rest the wrist lightly on the table.

And thereafter it's all about stroke technique, putting down, closing up, lifting, pressing and breaking, directing, dragging and pushing. A whole new world to explore!

And then the matter of writing in Chinese - the writing on the right side of the painting says 'Maree 09'. I apologise if the writing is not 100% correct, but feel free to correct me or give suggestions.

Namib - Dead Vlei

"Namib - Dead Vlei" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Dead Vlei is a region in the Namib Desert in South Africa. It is a clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia.

Dead Vlei is surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, some reaching up to 300 meters, which rest on a sandstone terrace. The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools where the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, and sand dunes encroached on the pan, which blocked the river from the area.



The trees died, as there no longer was enough water to survive. There are some species of plants remaining, such as salsola and clumps of !nara, adapted to surviving off of the morning mist and very rare rainfall. The remaining skeletons of the trees, which are believed to be about 900 years old, are now black because the intense sun has scorched them. The wood does not decompose because it is so dry.


!inara (Acanthosicyos horridus)

Acanthosicyos horridus is an unusual melon that occurs only in Namibia locally called as nara plant. The edible seeds are known locally as butterpips. The fruit serves as an essential food source for Topnaar people from February to April and August to September.


!inara - Watercolour and gouache by Ethel Dixie c.1925.

Ethel May Dixie (9 May 1876 Seapoint, Cape Town - 11 October 1973 Rondebosch, Cape Town) was a South African botanical artist.

Ethel Dixie was largely self-taught, unlike her older sister, who enjoyed the benefits of tuition by Thomas Bowler. Nonetheless, she was the principal artist for Rudolf Marloth's The Flora of South Africa. Many of the original plates for this work, were destroyed by a fire at the publisher. She was also a lecturer at the Cape Town School of Art. Her work can be found at the Brenthurst Library in Johannesburg, the Carnegie Library archives at the University of Stellenbosch, MuseumAfrica in Johannesburg, National Botanical Institutes in Cape Town and Pretoria, the South African embassies in London, Rome and New York and in numerous private collections.


Another illustration by Ethel Dixie -

Amaryllis belladonna c1910

Daily Matters... Distant Shores

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."
Nietzsche

My sketch for today...


"Distant Shores" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

I spent last Saturday afternoon painting and Facebooking at the same time. Finished this sketch off in between chats.

It's amazing how Facebook has changed recently. Gone is the bad name associated with pedophiles and undesirables, (I'm sure they're still there, but Facebook has made a tremendous effort to improve the facility) and it has become a wonderful platform for friends and family to keep in touch, as well as exposing your business. Who needs a website anymore?

Daily Matters... Aloe

"Aloe" pencil sketch and watercolour - a page from my Journal - Maree©

I did this sketch of an Aloe in my garden last Friday after I had noticed that the Blackbirds were all visiting this one, and the reason was soon apparent - it was fairly dripping with nectar! The flowers always seem to produce the most nectar just as they're getting to the end of their life-span. It's their special gift to nature.


Detail of Aloe

Daily Matters... Mitre Shell

Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one's chosen form.
Stephen Nachmanovitch

My daily sketch for today...


"Mitre Shell" (Mitre limbifera) - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

This journal's paper doesn't take very well to getting wet. Really only good for sketching.

Daily Matters... The Crossing

There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.
Pablo Picasso

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"The Crossing" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Continuing on my quest to try something abstract, it seems my abstracts are going to remain orderly and structured - as soon as I put paint to paper, law and order seems to take over and my feeling of abandonment settles into a quiet and relaxed contemplation of lines.

Daily Matters... Banded Bubble Shell

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.
Pablo Picasso

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Banded Bubble Shell" (Hydatina amplustre) - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

Hydatina shells are bubble shaped, vividly colored, and have a sunken spire. The aperture is as long as the shell and usually comma shaped, while the columella has a callus without folds. There is no operculum. The shells are also extraordinarily thin, which warrants their common name, "paper" bubbles.

The mollusc that lives in these shells could almost be mistaken for a sea slug. Its foot and mantle are flagrantly overgrown relative to the shell. It also represents a significant step in the evolution from a typical snail toward a full-fledged sea slug. Like the sea slug, which has completely lost its shell, the Hydatinidae molluscs depend on swimming and camouflage to defend against predators, instead of withdrawing into a heavy shell. Hydatina species are carnivorous, feeding on cirratulid polychaee worms.

Daily Matters... Old Stone Kraal

Who is the most wonderfully powerful, strong, healthy, talented and creative person you can think of in all of history? This week, imagine you are that person.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Old Stone Kraal" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

A fallen-down stone wall commonly built by farmers in South Africa where cattle spend the night safe from predators like lions and leopards.

Quick sketches

Often I have no theme in mind, don't feel like stretching and preparing for a big to-do, but just feel like painting. Here are a couple of quick sketches with some colour.


Birdhouse


A little bird to go with the birdhouse


A friend flying in for a visit.


Some Blue gum trees on our smallholding


Simple tree trunks

Daily Matters... Namib Landscape

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
~ Albert Schweitzer

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Namib Naukluft Park" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

The Namib Naukluft Park is one of the largest national parks in Africa, covering much of the central Namib Desert and the Naukluft Mountains. It is home to some of the rarest and weirdest plant and animal species in the world, including the Welwitschia Mirabilis, large lichen fields and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra.


Welwitschia Mirabilis

Individual Welwitschia plants are estimated to be upwards of 2,500 years old, have crowns of more than 3 feet (1 m) in diameter, and leaves that stretch up to 6 feet (2 m) long. With leaves that curl into fantastic shapes along the ground, this plant is considered to be the longest-living member of the plant kingdom.

‘Namib’ means open space and the Namib Desert gave its name to form Namibia – “land of open spaces”.

Most parts of this enormous area is not accessible to man. One can only visit a small stretch north of the Kuiseb river: the Naukluft Mountains and the Sossusvlei in the central dune fields.


Ancient dunes near Sossusvlei, in the relatively frequently visited center of the national park, accessible by road from Sesriem.


A typical dune in the park

The winds that bring in the fog are also responsible for creating the park’s towering sand dunes, whose burnt orange color is a sign of their age. The orange color develops over time as iron in the sand is oxidized, like rusty metal; the older the dune, the brighter the color.

These dunes are the tallest in the world, in places rising more than 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) above the desert floor. The dunes taper off near the coast, and lagoons, wetlands, and mudflats located along the shore attract hundreds of thousands of birds.


Accommodation at Ababis Ranch, Namib-Naukluft Park, Namibia

Daily Matters... Cone Shell

"Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed."
- Kahlil Gibran

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Cone Shell" (Conus lividus) - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

Botanical - Primula

Botanical - Primula 'Gold Lace' watercolour on Bockingford watercolour paper - Maree©

This polyanthus primula has unusual golden-eyed flowers with black petals with gold margins. Plants enjoy a position in moist, slightly acid soil in partial shade. However they can tolerate full sun if the soil remains moist at all times, but prefer slightly acidic soil in partial shade.

This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Requires consistently moist soil; do not allow to dry out between waterings.

Daily Matters... Leawood Pumphouse

An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.
Henry Miller

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Leawood Pump house" watercolour on Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

I did this painting from a photograph, but had no idea what the Leawood pump house was, so I Googled it and found this :

The Cromford Canal Company was formed by an act of Parliament on 24th of August 1789, it had from monies raised (£46,000) to cut the Canal and fill it with water.

The Canal operated successfully for a further fifty one years, 1844 was a dry year, the Canal suffered a severe lack of water, the normal supply from the Cromford and Bonsall soughs had been supplying less water due to the Merebrook sough removing water from the lead mines at a level below the Canal. By the autumn of that year the situation was so serious that a pump was hired and installed by the end of November to take water from the river Derwent.

In late 1849 the Leawood Pump house became operational and pumped water from the River Derwent to the Cromford Canal for the first time since its conception in 1844.

The objective of the pumping engine was to maintain a level of water suitable to keep Canal traffic flowing, the Cromford Canal has a flight of fourteen locks connecting it to the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill Basin, each time a boat enters or leaves the Cromford Canal it takes a lock full of water into the Erewash Canal which needs to be replaced. Also all Canals leak, but even this does not explain the sheer scale of the engine, if water could be taken out of the River Derwent regularly then why was such a large engine needed and why was it built 13 miles away from the nearest lock ? The answer to these questions lies with the significance of the industry on the River Derwent, water which powered the cotton mills was protected by an act of Parliament, so anyone wishing to extract upstream of the mills had to comply to strict conditions with a heavy financial penalty if they failed to do so.

The conditions were that water could only be removed from the Derwent between the hours of 8 p.m. on Saturdays to 8 p.m. on Sundays and no more than one twentieth of the flow of the river in any period of that time, and none at all if the flow was less than 570 tons per minute. The flow was measured at the weir behind Masson Mill, Matlock Bath.

With such restrictions it can be seen that if you wish to maintain a level of water in the Canal but can only voluntarily fill for one 24 hour period in a week then a substantial amount of water will need to be pumped, this explains the size of the engine as it is capable of pumping almost four tons of water per stroke and seven strokes a minute, a total of over 39,000 tons of water per 24 hours.

Daily Matters... Crows at Dusk

full moon | wide awake | 'til dawn

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Crows at Dusk" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

I can assure you this is not my dark side emerging! I had a Black Crow as a pet for 20 years (she was 27 when she died) and I absolutely love these endearing and highly intelligent birds.


"Coco" my Black Crow - She used to take this stance and make a ka-ka-ka sound, like the horn of a car. It must be a natural sound of theirs, because I've heard crows in the wild doing the same thing.

Daily Matters... Bulla Ampulla Shell

oh! | the sound ! | of summer !

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Bulla ampulla" shell - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

Daily Matters... The Journey

"Sometime in your life you will go on a journey. It will be the longest journey you have ever taken. It is the journey to find yourself."
~ Katherine Sharp

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"The Journey" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

The Terror of Poachers

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details, for any artist to be good.
Barbra Streisand

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Silver-backed Jackal" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

I was lucky enough to rescue one of these little animals caught in a trap set on the bottom strand of a barbed wire fence a couple of years ago. I was driving along a country road in our area and saw a peculiar movement in the grass and stopped. To my dismay, I saw a little Fox trying to free itself from a string and piece of wire around it's neck, strangling himself as he kept struggling.

As I approached carefully, he stopped struggling and took on a threatening stance, baring his teeth and growling at me trying to look very fierce through his fear, but I could see he was still only a puppy. I tried to cover him with my jacket, but he fled the length of the string to the other side of the fence.

Slowly I pulled him back through the fence and quickly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hastily covered him with my jacket. I managed to break the string by scuffing it on the barbed wire and undid the wire around his neck, which left a deep cut where it had been biting into his skin.

I drove home with him clamped between my legs, wrapped in the jacket and he actually lay surprisingly still. I was worried that he had died of shock or something, but once I got home and released him in one of our kennels, I saw that he was very much alive indeed. Before removing the jacket covering him, I cleaned and treated his wound, put down fresh water and closed the gate, leaving him alone for a while to recover. A while later I took him some porridge and milk, which he devoured ravenously once I had left, watching him from a distance.

Later that afternoon I fetched him from the kennel, took him inside and sat with him on the couch. His curiosity soon overcame his fear and before long he was sniffing me and everything else he saw.

This little fellow spent a couple of weeks with us, worming his way deep into our hearts and entertaining us with his antics of attacking my sheepskin slippers, pouncing on them and trying to tear them apart. Then one morning, as I went out to feed him, he was gone. He'd climbed over the 6' diamond mesh fence and although I searched our smallholding for a while, it was obvious that he was gone.

I knew I'd miss him, but wished him well and just hoped he would manage to evade the traps set by poachers and live a long, healthy life. These little animals are hunted for their beautiful pelts, as well as various body parts, which the locals use as 'muti' (medicine).


Silver-backed Jackal pup

Daily Matters... Checkered Cone Shell

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo Picasso

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Checkered Cone" (Conus ebraeus) - pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

Daily Matters... Umfolozi

Setting up your easel in a landscape is an act of faith, a sacred event. The artist takes from nature without really taking.

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Umfolozi" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Patterson

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Patterson - Patagonian Conure" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree

A couple of years ago I had a Patagonian Conure named Patterson and after finding out that he is actually a she, she became Patty. They are extremely loving birds, and also speak a bit, not as well as an African Grey, but she had quite a repertoire of words.

They form a life-long bond with their chosen human counterpart and Patty regarded me as her own, life-long partner, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to find a new home for her. My heart was broken.

The Andean Patagonian Conure is one of three subspecies of Patagonian Conure. The Patagonian Conures are by far largest of all the Conures.



Andean Patagonian Conures are very active. They love to play, climb and chew on toys, making for an entertaining parrot. Their ability to talk is quite good, though they can be very noisy. The Andean Patagonian Conure is known for its sweet personality. These are intelligent parrots and many learn to talk and bond well with people, especially if hand-raised. In the wild, these birds like to make their nests in the sides of cliffs, earning them the nickname "Cliff Dwelling Parrots". The Andean Patagonian Conure has been known to live as long as 25 years, but their average lifespan is 12 years.

Daily Matters... Karoo Farm

"As for piracy, I love to be pirated. It is the greatest compliment an author can have. The wholesale piracy of Democracy was the single real triumph of my life. Anyone may steal what he likes from me."
- Henry Brooks Adams

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Karoo Farm" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Abstract

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Overwhelmed by Dailiness" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Lately I've been dabbling with doing abstracts, definitely not a favourite of mine.

I'm a very linear person, and with that I mean everything has to be right, everything has to be in place and everything must be in order. Everything must make sense. Chaos makes me feel chaotic. And anything abstract doesn't make sense to me. Like abstract art.

My plan was to just grab the paint brush and splash on some paint, loosely and frivolously, without a plan, without thought or form. Strange, yet liberating, free and without any expectations.

Then I stand back to view it, and try to make sense of it. It's not right. It's chaotic. Let's put in some lines, get it a bit structured.

Now it's much too structured. Still struggling with letting go. Need some help.

My version of one of Gregory Lang's Urban Abstracts

Living Your Dream

"Ashness Bridge" watercolour on Bockingford 190gsm - 1989 Maree©

Living your dream is a relative term. Many of us are 'living our dream' without even realising it, going about our daily business 'unconsciously' and unaware of what we've achieved, always thinking about and striving for 'something' to achieve, that something we think is going to make our lives 'perfect'.

Your life is perfect just as it is. Where you are right now is where you're supposed to be. That doesn't mean that you stop wanting and desiring more and better, that is something we'll always be doing. It just means that you must enjoy your journey while heading for the destination. All we have is NOW, and if you can't enjoy now, what makes you think you're going to enjoy THEN? The journey is as much part of living your dream as reaching the destination is.

Reaching your 'destination' could happen next week, or it might take you your whole lifetime to achieve it, and imagine living 'in limbo' while you wait for this wondrous 'destination' to appear, the successful business, the slim body, the huge bank account, being acknowledged as an artist or the perfect meditation.

When you ENJOY building that successful business, enjoy doing whatever it takes to get that slim body, enjoy saving and building up the big bank account, enjoy sketching and painting and the process of your art, enjoy meditation and the peace it brings, while you are ENJOYING these things and living in the moment, you are also LIVING YOUR DREAM.

Daily Matters... Variation on a theme

bright | babbling brook | winter closing its cold hand

Following on Donald Maier's post "Plein Air vs Photos", I decided to also try a 'variation on a theme', using two paintings that I did plein air as inspiration for something new. I've never thought of doing the same painting twice, so thanks for the inspiration Donald!

The one below was my first painting of a neighbour's trees, sitting behind the fence on our side of our smallholding.


"A Neighbour's Trees"

The second time I did the painting (below), I asked the owner's permission to paint the trees from inside his property, sitting with my back against the fence. Not a great distance between me and my subject and, as the trees are situated on a little hillock, I was looking up the slope towards the trees. Very similar to my first painting above.


"Rocky Outcrop"

It was a nice warm day, no wind, slight nip in the air, but I got totally engrossed and only packed up when I decided I had fiddled enough. Every time I looked up, there was another little rock I had missed!

In the painting below, done in my studio, I decided to add a stream, as I feel I need some more practice in that field. Water (and clouds!) is always a great challenge for me.


"Cold Winter Stream" pencil sketch and watercolour - Maree© 25th July 2009
9" x 12"

I've been contemplating using oils again, so I will be using some of my watercolours for inspiration before trying my hand at oils plein air.

Daily Matters... Alikreukel

"Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown."
~ Claude Bernard

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Alikreukel" Shell (Diloma sinensis)- pencil sketch and watercolour in 'Journal' sketchbook - Maree©

Daily Matters... Spring Sunrise

Opening the window to smell spring | here it comes!

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Spring Sunrise" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

We've had our first Spring (?) rains on the 1st August and this inspired me to do a cold/warm painting depicting the end of Winter and the warmer days that lie ahead.

100 Days of Sketching!

thank you | application | no longer available | this function | temporarily disabled | regret to inform | you do not | exist

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

"Country Creek" watercolour on Bockingford 150gsm - Maree©

I posted this painting on the 27th April when I pledged to do a-painting-or-sketch-a-day, and have just realised that today is my 100th day of sketching daily! I must be honest, didn't think that I'd manage it, but it has been utterly enjoyable and something that I have looked forward to every day. (I have skipped a couple of times, but who's counting?)

Just imagine how many I will have done by the time I'm 99 (36 years from now!) Do you think Blogger will be able to handle it and still be around? I'm sure I will...

Daily Matters... Cheetah

If we could but paint with the hand what we see with the eye.
Honore de Balzac

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Cheetah" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

Daily Matters... Sketching Shells

i keep looking for those | magic words, words | that will open | me, open | you

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

A sketch from my shell collection - I've posted some before, but without colour - sketching them is easy, trying to capture the beautiful, subtle colours is another matter!


"Stepped Plough Shell" (Bullia annulata) - Pencil sketch with watercolour - Maree©

The sea and coast holds a great fascination for most of us, and walking the beach can unearth the most wonderful treasures, from smooth glass to round pebbles, pieces of driftwood and, of course, the most collectible, shells. Unfortunately for these wondrous living creatures, this spells doom, as people will go to great lengths and pay hefty prices, for these little creatures, which results in the harvesting of a living infrastructure which will not last forever.

And living proof of this is the fact that, walking the beach does not often turn up many shells, and in some areas, none at all. I have sketched some of my beach finds (from many years ago!), but nothing can portray the beauty of some of these as well as the living specimen.

Re-visiting an old haunt

Yesterday I actually made the effort of packing my portfolio bag and art supplies and setting off to the dam just 2km down the road from us. Another perspective of the Tarlton Dam, which I first painted back in the 80's.


"Tarlton Dam '09" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

Winter is in full swing and the only greenery is the Blue gum trees and Wattles, which are deciduous and only drop a lot of bark and seeds. Everything else is bone dry and the veld fires (wildfires) have taken their toll everywhere, leaving the landscape lifeless, except for the Egrets scavenging on dead insects and little mammals that couldn't manage to escape the roaring fires.

Daily Matters... Amazed

wonder | staring | in amazement
My own Twitter Poem

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Amazed" pencil sketch and watercolour on visual 140gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Balcony

All art is but imitation of nature.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Balcony" watercolour on Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - Maree

Blogger Award!!

Wow! I received the Kreativ Blogger award!! from Nature As Is and all I can say is, thank you, Crista!


Crista is a fantastic photographer and has some fabulous photographs on her blog covering a wide section of nature. I've been so inspired by her photographs that I have even painted a couple of them. Crista also has an interesting tactic in that she changes the photograph on her header at regular intervals. Makes for a unique surprise every time one visits her blog!

After receiving this award, I'm to nominate 7 other blogs and state 7 things about myself. So here we go :

1. I am blond, 5'4" tall, have blue eyes and live on a smallholding in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa, together with all the birds, ducks, geese, hedgehogs,2 cockatiels, 1 cockatoo, my husband and Jacko, my Fox terrier-cross.

2. I am mad about nature, especially birds, and I am constantly inundated with sick or injured birds or people who bring me sick or injured birds. I always complain that I haven't got time for this, but somehow make time and nurture them back to health for release in a safe area.

3. I have been drawing, sketching and painting my whole life, getting most of my inspiration from nature, and it has been the one constant in my life, because I easily get bored with something and then move on to another. I'm a jack-of-all-trades (and master of...?) - I make jewelry, have done stained glass, woodwork, copper work, pewter, scrapbooking and every other craft you can think of and can do anything I set my mind to. My tag-line is "There is a fine line between dreams and reality; it's up to you to draw it."

4. I love walking on the beach and it is my dream to live at the coast, if I can get past the heat and humidity thing.

5. I am an early-to-bed and early-riser, in summer watching the sun rise with a cup of coffee in hand, listening to and watching the birds start their daily routine and writing in my Gratitude Journal. In winter I plonk in front of my MAC at 4.30am, reading my mail and catching up on all my blogger friends via Google Reader, writing in my Gratitude Journal and clearing my To-Do-List, all before having a bath at 7am.

6. I don't like cooking (even though I can) and would rather spend my time in my art studio. I'm actually considering changing the kitchen into a workshop - lots of cupboards for tools!

7. I am a grand-mother of 3 beautiful girls, of whom I don't see nearly enough, as they live at the coast, but I do manage to visit 4 or 5 times a year, the also exercising my passion of walking next to the ocean, climbing rocks and collecting beach finds.

The 7 Blogs I would like to nominate are as follows :

Artist Marie Theron from Chronicles of the West Coast
Cathy Gatland at A Sketch in Time
Liz at Art with Liz
Jennifer Lawson's On-line Painting & Drawing Journal
Vivien from Paintings, Prints & Stuff
Jeanette Jobson at Illustrated Life
Vickie Henderson of Vickie Henderson Art
Vickie does such wonderful work with the endangered Whooping Cranes.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to do 8 - last but not least -
Ronelle of African Tapestry with her wonderful sketches of life in France.

Rock Challenge - The Matopos

"The Matopos" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

I think this will also be my last entry in Jeanette's Rock Challenge. Really looking forward to seeing all the entries, which ends on the 4th August 2009. Visit Jeanette's blog to enter at Illustrated Life.

The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The Hills were formed over 2000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, this has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'.

The Hills cover an area of about 3100 km², of which 424 km² is National Park, the remainder being largely communal land and a small proportion of commercial farmland. The park covers some beautiful scenery including some spectacular balancing rocks and impressive views along the Thuli, Mtshelele, Maleme and Mpopoma river valleys. Part of the national park is set aside as a 100 km² game park, which has been stocked with game including black and white rhinoceros. The highest point in the hills is the promontory named Gulati (1549 m) just outside the north-eastern corner of the park.

The hill on which Cecil Rhodes is buried is called Malindidzimu, the legendary place of benevolent spirits, and here he used to rest and dream of his beloved Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and its development, and of further expansion to the north of Africa. Actually he came across the site by chance when riding through the hills with lord Grey (the administrator who succeeded Dr Jameson), and it appealed to him greatly, as it has done to countless thousands of visitors since then.

In 2003 the Matopo Hills were made a World Heritage site.


Entrance to Whovi area


Some of the strange rock formations in the Matopos

Daily Matters... Squirrel

squirrels mating | in the chinese elm | springtime

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Squirrel" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Internal Goals

"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."



A couple of months ago I decided to set myself a goal of a-sketch-a-day (that's 108 days ago!), something I used to do many years ago, but somehow fell out of the habit of doing - life happens! Why did I set myself this goal?

When I was younger, I put all my energies and time into sketching and painting, even sacrificing work and study opportunities for my obsession. Why did I do that? It wasn't making me famous, it wasn't bringing in any money. But when I think back to it now, it made complete sense – it was to fulfill an intense inner need. I had to become stronger, more confident. I needed a safe outlet for my anger and frustration. I didn't have a perfect childhood and I never was the type to take to drugs or drinking and smoking.

The Internal Goal
The true goal behind what we pursue is often internal – and most of the time, this internal goal is simply to be happy. If you don’t believe me, try something simple: Look at a current external goal you have, and then begin to trace it down.

For example: You want a new job. Ask yourself why. Perhaps a higher salary, or to get away from a nasty employer? What then? An easier work environment or more free time. What then? What will you have? And simply repeat this process until you can’t get any more answers. Almost always, you will find that what you are left with is an internal goal.

One of my favorite stories – you might have heard it before. There was a big city businessman who once went on holiday to a faraway beach. One day he walked past a local fisherman who was lazing around, with his fishing rod in the water, enjoying the sun and a beer.

The city man’s mind went to work immediately. The fishing spot was a gold mine, and a serious fishing business would thrive in the area. “Why are you so stupid?” he asked the fisherman. “Get some boats, hire some extra hands, and in a few years you will turn your little shop into a million-dollar business!”

The local man asked him. “And what would you do once you have a million dollars?”
The city man stared back blankly. “Why, I would have so much free time I could sit around in the sun all day and drink beer!”


"A Fisherman Mending His Net" by Marie Theron

Turning Our Goals Around
And then what? Once we see our internal goals, try one thing. Turn the goals around – achieve the internal goals first. And if, after that, you still want the external goal, you’ll find it that much easier.

Do any of these sound familiar? Once I have money, I’ll be independent. Once I find a lover, I will have higher self-esteem. Once my spouse quits drinking so much, I will be happy.

Does the opposite not seem more logical? Develop your self-esteem first, and potential lovers will find you more attractive. Grow your independence and you will find it easier to make money. And perhaps if you are happier, your mate will not see the need to drink as much.

This road becomes easier to tread when we realize that internal goals are always achievable if we put in the time and effort. External goals can be subject to limitations that cannot be overcome, no matter how hard we try. It would be almost impossible for a sickly fifty year old to become a professional boxer, for instance. But if the man’s true, internal, goal was to build confidence, it does not matter how frail or old he is – it is always possible.

For those who don’t have an external purpose in mind, try seeking out an internal goal. Look to become happier, for instance, and as you begin to take steps, you might find that an external goal begins to reveal itself.

The Impermanency of Purpose
This becomes more important when we realize outer purposes are ultimately impermanent. Our external purpose changes to reflect our inner. Purposes are not permanent. Nothing is. Stop looking for something to do for the rest of your life – it might be possible to find something that lasts forever; but most likely it will simply change in accordance with your internal state and needs.

Deeply realizing that goals are impermanent will also contribute to our inner peace. Here is one to stimulate thought – if you are seeking fulfillment through your external purpose, what happens when it comes to an end? It is certainly admirable to aim to be the best parent you can be, for example, but what will happen when one day your children become old enough to leave the house? When that happens, one can cling to the purpose, resist, and suffer. Or one can simply let it go, and continue in peace.

The Need for Action
Naturally, there is a time for planning and thinking, but there is also a time for action. Many people who are seeking or rethinking their life purpose stay stuck in the introspection. Maybe they do this to avoid taking risks, for fear of leaving their comfort zone, to avoid disapproval, or any other fear. And in doing so, they remain stuck in a rut.

Sometimes, the best way to find a purpose in life is to go out there and take action, even if we don’t know what we are doing!

Daily Matters... Veld Fire, South Africa

this wind is full of ashes | ashes |and smoke | and rose petals

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Veld Fire - South Africa" watercolour on Daler Rowney 190gsm Watercolour pad - Maree©
280mm x 210mm

South Africa is well-known for it's veld fires (wild fires) during Winter and, although destructive in many ways, especially for our wildlife, it is a necessary part of nature to ensure a healthy balance in our eco-system.

This year was no exception, especially in Tarlton, Gauteng, where we live. The fires started as early as April this year, but luckily our fire breaks had been done early. Our neighbour was not so lucky.

Early this week I stood and watched as the fire swept through his property. I did this scene from memory and taking inspiration from Susan Shaw's "At the days end"

Rock Challenge - Rocky Outcrop

"Rocky Outcrop" - watercolour on Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

My neighbour has this little rocky outcrop with a couple of lonely trees on his property, and I actually did paint it a couple of days ago (posted it on my other site, ARTISTS' COFFEE CLUB, which is more about en plein air painting), sitting behind the wooden fence, but yesterday I summoned up the courage and asked him if I could come in to do the painting again. It was a nice warm day, no wind, slight nip in the air, but I got totally engrossed and only packed up when I decided I had fiddled enough. Every time I looked up, there was another little rock I had missed!

This is part of Jeanette's rock challenge which ends on the 4th August 2009. If you are interested, you can visit Jeanette's blog at Illustrated Life to participate, there are still a couple of days left.

Daily Matters... Fledgling

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Fledgling" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

My favourite subject to paint - birds. Their expressions say more than a thousand words, and body posture warns of the next move - relaxing, taking flight, being vigilant or not feeling so well. Whenever I see a bird sitting puffed up (a sure sign of illness), I'm immediately relieved if it's feathers return to normal upon my approach.

Daily Matters... Zebras

A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.
Hedy Lamarr

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


Zebras "Quenching the Thirst" - pencil sketch and watercolour on Bockingford 300 gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

Tree Challenge: My Neighbour's Trees

Artists' Coffee Club: My Neighbour's Trees

Daily Matters... Breakfast is Served!

robins | worm-hunting | in the snow

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

"Breakfast" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Daily Matters... Mountain Landscape

snow in the high mountains | around the corner | winter

A Twitter Poem from WATERMARK




A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!






"Mountain Landscape" watercolour on visual 140gsm watercolour paper ">Maree©

Tree Challenge - Trees in Tarlton

"Trees in Tarlton" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Since I started participating in Vivien's Paint-or-sketch-a-tree-challenge, I've been looking at the world from a new perspective - I see shadows and detail everywhere that previously weren't obvious to me - A shadow on the bark, the shadow under somebody's chin, the highlights on a cheekbone - I even dream of applying sweeping strokes of watercolour!

These two trees are also on our smallholding in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa, where we are currently in the firm grip of Winter. This is probably my last entry in the challenge, as it will be closing soon, the end of July 2009. If you still want to participate, get to Vivien's blog now and go for it!

Sketching Farm Animals

Sketching farm animals has always been a passion of mine. Each animal has it's own interesting character, like the Silky below - they are very calm and placid chickens, unable to fly, with pure, white silky-to-the-touch feathers. As I was sketching this hen, she would calmly survey me, moving one, gentle step at a time, seemingly keeping her pose as if she knew I was trying to capture her beauty.


"Silky Hen" pencil sketch in Moleskine large sketch-book

Kentucky was a Bantam rooster, cocky and sure of himself. I raised him straight from the egg as he was the runt of the chicks and actually didn't look like he was going to make it. With tender loving care and great spoiling going on (he was allowed full access to the house), he turned into the King of the farm yard, ruling his roost with an iron claw.


"Kentucky, the Rooster" - bold colours watercolour - Maree©

He had this peculiar habit of falling into a trance when you circled your finger in front of his face and that was how I managed to do this sketch. You could even turn him over on his side or back and he would just lay there, fascinated by the moving finger.

Sadly, Kentucky fell prey to a Genet because he refused to go into the chicken coop and insisted in sleeping in the Pin Oak just outside our bedroom window.


Genets are Old World carnivores of the family Viverridae, related to civets and mongooses and are fierce little hunters. They are superficially cat-like creatures, despite being only distantly related to cats. Most of them have spotted coats and long, banded tails, small heads, and large ears. Like civets, genets have strong musk glands, which are used to mark territory, and they are known to perform handstands when doing this. Genets are highly agile creatures, and are the only Viverrids that stand bipedally.


Common Genet Genetta genetta

Daily Matters... Irises

You are not quite in control of nature; you are part of nature. It doesn't mean that you are helpless, either. It means that the whole question in art is to be wide awake, to be as attentive as possible, for the artist and for the person who looks at it or listens to it.
- Fairfield Porter

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Irises" pencil sketch and watercolour - Maree©

Moleskine - The World of Jacko

this little dog | when he looks at me | what does he see?

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

"Jacko" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book
(Click on image to enlarge)

I am Jacko, a Foxie/Jack Russell cross, living at Ga-Sethlong, a beautiful home on a small-holding on the edge of the Cradle of Human Kind in Gauteng, South Africa. I was born on the 1st September 2005, to a healthy litter of 7, with 3 brothers and 3 sisters. This is my story.


When I was about 4 weeks old, I remember catching a glimpse of the world for the first time - a confusing array of brothers and sisters and blankets (up until then, it was my Mother’s smell that guided me to her warmth and that wonderful, warm and satisfying taste of milk). There were strange goings-on, with faces popping in and plenty of oohing and aahing. For a couple of days this carried on, but this was home and was comforting in a strange way.


Then, when I was 5 weeks old, in the dark of one night, a hand grabbed me from my Mother’s side, whipped me into a bag and swiftly I was spirited off to a strange and unknown world. I was beside myself! Where was everybody? Where was my Mother?! I cried all night long, getting a couple of smacks in the process, to my utter horror.

I spent an utterly miserable night, shivering in the strange bag, rough and cold on my skin. I slept fitfully, waking often and calling for my Mother, but to no avail.
The next morning I was unceremoniously hauled out of the bag and carried by the scruff of my neck (I struggled profusely, but just got a smack for my efforts from this unkind stranger) to the street corner, where the stranger was offering me for sale to all the passers-by.



The streets were bustling with activity and strange smells and noises and several people stopped and petted me. Someone prodded me with a sharp object and pulled my ears, to see “if he would make a good watch dog”. They laughed scornfully when I yelped and struggled to free myself from the grip on my neck.

We spent most of the morning standing there and I endured a couple of hours of being passed from one person to another, hoping for a kind hand or word, but was just handed back roughly to my tormentor.

I was starving and a cold wind was howling around the buildings. I tried to snuggle closer to the stranger but was roughly tucked under his arm while he lit a cigarette.

By this time, the stranger was desperate to get rid of me and when a man stopped and enquired if he could hold me, the stranger impatiently handed me over. The man fondled my ears and stroked my back with his warm hands. My heart leapt at this act of kindness and I licked his fingers, eliciting a smile from him. The man haggled with the stranger for a while and they obviously settled upon a price, because the next minute he wrapped me in his coat and carried me to his car.


When we got to the man’s car, he took off his jacket, wrapped me in it so that only my head stuck out (it was SO warm!) and he phoned his wife before we drove off. We drove for quite a while but even though I was starving, I felt warm and somehow at ease.

When we arrived at our destination, the man lifted me out and carried me into his house. There we were met by his wife and he told her about the unkind stranger and how miserable I had looked when he saw me. She cradled me in her arms and immediately gave me some warm milk to drink. I lapped it up! It wasn’t like my Mother’s milk, but I decided it would do for now. The man’s wife (I discovered her name was Maree), made a warm bed of blankets for me on the couch and I immediately fell asleep with Maree sitting next to me - warm and content, but dreaming of my Mother and making soft little yelps in my sleep. I hadn’t slept since the previous night I had spent in the bag, cold and unhappy.

When I awoke, a new life started for me. I received unconditional love from Maree and Dave and soon the memories of my Mother started to fade. I have a special blanket of my own, which is soft and furry like my mom and sometimes when I’m curled up in it, I still have visions of my mom and get the urge to suck and paw the blanket.


I was also introduced to Maree and Dave’s other dog, Tyson, a HUGE Rottweiler, and at first I was very cautious. But Tyson soon made it clear that he was quite happy to see me and we now have a wonderful time in the garden playing tag
or just being silly. I think he was a bit lonely before I came along.

Now I spend my days in the lovely garden, revelling in playing games with Maree, who buys me lots of toys, my favorite being my red ball.



I also make sure that the Ducks and Geese and Pheasants don’t stray too far away - there are some very unkind people out there! And I’ve discovered that I’m an EXCELLENT watch-dog! I hear every strange sound and warn Maree & Dave immediately of any impending danger.



As I said, there are some real nasties out there!

My favorite is when we all go out together. Maree lets me fetch my harness and leash, which she then puts on me, and we’re ready to go. I normally look out of the window and love the strange smells wafting past - I then also growl at any suspicious looking characters that look like they’re getting a bit too close for comfort. At our destination, I’m then allowed to explore every nook and cranny (still on my leash - Maree is very fussy that I might get lost or something). After some of these outings I’m really exhausted and then have a good sleep.

At night, after supper, we all watch TV with intervals of short games, naps and snacks. When it’s bed-time, Maree fetches my blanket, which goes on top of their bed in between the two of them and we settle in for the night, me with an ever-vigilant ear. Maree says I still have dreams about my Mother because I sometimes cry in my sleep, but I can’t remember anymore - just a faint glimmer of a childhood that was rudely cut short. But Maree says just as well the horrible stranger stole me, otherwise we wouldn’t be together today ...

Daily Matters... Chrysanthemums

“A tiny wren was among the Chrysanthemums this morning, noiselessly flitting in and out, like a little shade; evidently in a state of the highest enjoyment. No doubt I and the bird both took our pleasure with them in different ways!”
– Eleanor Vere Boyle

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Chrysanthemums" - pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©

Mating Season

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.
Edgar Degas

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Mating Season" watercolour on Bockingford 150gsm watercolour paper - Maree©

Here in South Africa, we are blessed with these lovely little buck called Springbok (Springbuck) and they differ from Impala in that their horns are shorter and they have a slightly different colouration. Spring and summer spawns many fights over females and I caught these two on camera, sparring over the prettiest lady in the herd.

The Springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis, is the Southern African representative of the gazelle group of animals. It is only found in Southern Africa on the central plains, where it flourishes on the grassveld, despite the aridity. Male and female springboks have horns, are handsomely marked and are particularly distinguished by a dorsal fan.

Springbok are known to leap up to 4 m (13 ft) in the air in an activity known as pronking. While in the air, their body is curved, and their legs are stiff, close together and point downwards. Upon landing they immediately leap upwards again and during this period the crest on their back is raised. It is unknown why they pronk, but it is possible they do it to indicate to predators that they have been spotted. It could also be that they are just celebrating life!

Springboks 'pronking' :

Daily Matters... Coreopsis

"The self-explorer, whether he wants to or not, becomes the explorer of everything else. He learns to see himself, but suddenly, provided he was honest, all the rest appears, and it is as rich as he was, and, as a final crowning, richer."
~ Elias Canetti

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Coreopsis" pencil sketch and watercolour - Maree©

Daily Matters... Secretary Birds

From the Non-physical, you created you, and now from the physical, you continue to create, and we are nothing if we are not Flow-ers of Energy. We must have objects of attention, that are ringing our bells, in order to feel the fullness of who we are, flowing through us, for the continuation of All-That-Is. That is what puts the eternalness in eternity.
- Abraham-Hicks

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Secretary Birds" - pencil sketch on grey board - Maree©

Although I did this sketch many years ago, I thought I'd post it today since I did a Secretary Bird in colour yesterday. It's a pity I did this sketch on this grey board, otherwise I could have added some colour, but the grey board doesn't take to colours nicely.

Daily Matters... Secretary Bird

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change -- until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds."

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Secretary Bird" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Taking a break from the flowers, back to my favourite subject, birds! I photographed this chap (he clearly was a 'chap', because he kept a beady eye on anybody wanting to get too close to his lovey) at the Umgeni River Bird Park in Durban, South Africa.

Also had a wonderful experience there with a Ground Hornbill. It was feeding time, and they were given some dead day-old chicks. He, or she, picked up his chick and brought it over and offered it to me through the fence. I took it from him, holding onto it for a while, and all the while he was watching me with those wonderful eyes with the most gorgeous eye-lashes every woman can only dream about. I then offered it back to him, he gently took it, walked over to another Hornbill and offered it to 'her'. She duly took it from him and swallowed it. One can only wonder about this action and embrace the tender moment of inter-action.


Ground Hornbill
(Click on image to enlarge to see those eye-lashes!)

Daily Matters... Camellias

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"Camellias" pencil sketch and watercolour - Maree©