A little old barn

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

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - inspired by the poem below.

you just gotta love
a little old barn
touched by time
with it’s own charm..
the weatherd wood
shines bright in the sun..
Proud and still standing..
(it’s time isn’t done)………
Think of the tales
that could be told
if barns could talk
of memories they hold..
each one is different
no two are the same..
to see them fading
away, is a shame.
- Connetta

The Essence of Africa

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”
- D.H. Lawrence

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

Here I used Coffee, candle wax and W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

In the past 100 plus years, changes in Africa have been numerous. However, it is the essence of Africa which remains unchanged.

To me the essence of Africa is not just the beautiful countryside, it is not just the amazing wildlife or the abundant bird life or the gorgeous beaches, Bushveld and cities, it is also about the people.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life. We say, "A person is a person through other persons."

(Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa and a direct translation basically means, "I am what I am because of who we all are." Ubuntu also
suggests that the person who behaves with humanity will eventually be an ancestor worthy of respect or veneration.)

South Africa is a melting pot of different peoples. Our challenge lies in building a ‘single’ community, united by being committed to the common good of all, in uniting our people from different origins, culture and spiritual beliefs in a form of acceptance and friendship.
With the right motives and the right spirit and by applying the right principles of Ubuntu, a natural patriotism is developing in South Africa.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.
- INFORMATION REGARDING 'UBUNTU' FROM WIKIPEDIA

She is Mother Nature

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

Black ink sketch and colour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

LOVE HER AND CHERISH HER

Nature has so much beauty, so much to teach us. Mother Nature has inspired the greatest poets of all time to write unbelievable prose.

Nature, Nature,
Please don't go away...
We over polluted and any day, now, any day
It might die forever
And just go away
We are transmitting from the future
2115, I think
We lost count at 2079
When the world was on the brink
Look Larry
Look Sue
Look Harry
It’s 2011 according to the machine…
Those trees are green!
The sky is blue!
The fields are beautiful
And even the people are, too!
Look everyone!
Look at the screen!
Look at when nature, nature
Was such a fragile creature
With such delicate green features
By John Murray

Spring returning

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

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

Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm Watercolour Sketch-book - 8" x 5"

Some blue gum trees (Eucalyptus) at the bottom of our smallholding (Gauteng, South Africa) - everything is already turning green, but some trees are still showing signs of the veld fires that raged through here just a couple of days ago. These trees provide me with endless hours of sketching pleasure - together, in pairs, singly - and each tree looks different when seen from its other side.

Daisies Postcard 1

Myriads of daisies have shown forth in flower
Near the lark's nest, and in their natural hour
Have passed away; less happy than the one
That, by the unrolling ploughshare, died to prove
The tender charm of poetry and love.
- William Wordsworth

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

Watercolour on Ashrad 200gsm - 12" x 8"

I'm exploring doing some watercolours on textured back-grounds (this one from Boccacino), and find it gives some lovely soft effects. I first of all print out the back-ground on Watercolour paper and, once it's dry, paint over that.

I wanted to take it home!

"A dead cow or sheep lying in a pasture is recognized as carrion. The same sort of a carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher's stall passes as food."
- John Harvey Kellogg

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

Dorpers - Watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Sketch-book

I'm sure I'd posted this before, but upon going through my posts, I can't find it at all! Anyway, here it is again!

My neighbour's sheep - a while ago some ewes had lambs and it was the first time for MANY, MANY years that I actually held a little lamb in my arms again - oh my word! I'd forgotten how precious that can be! I wanted to take it home...!

The Dorper is a South African breed of domestic sheep developed by crossing Dorset Horn and the Blackhead Persian sheep. The breed was created through the efforts of the South African Department of Agriculture to breed a meat sheep suitable to the more arid regions of the country. It is now farmed in other areas as well, and is the second most common sheep breed in South Africa.

Kingfisher Daisies

The happy bells shall ring Marguerite;
The summer birds shall sing Marguerite;
You smile but you shall wear
Orange blossoms in your hair, Marguerite.
- Thomas Bailey Aldrich

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

Watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book

Felicia amelloides, Blue Marguerites, or Kingfisher Daisies, call them what you like, these beautiful little indigenous South African daisies provide colour and light up the winter landscape like no other! Hopefully our winter is starting to recede a bit now, we've had a couple of wonderful sunny and warm days, and then it'll be time for the Nasturtiums again

Time to Retreat

"You know... they say an elephant never forgets.
What they don't tell you is, you never forget an elephant."
- Actor Bill Murray

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

W & N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Still on my quest for painting elephants! This one was done from a RedBubble friend's photograph (Alma) and this I really enjoyed! Another RedBubble friend, Sue Nicholl, also did a sketch of the same photograph, and you can see that HERE.

The name "Time to Retreat" stems from Alma's experience with a charging elephant cow on their visit to the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

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Gentle Giant

“Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.”
- Indian Proverb

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

I've been on a bit of an 'elephant spree' for a while, and this one is acrylics on a 12" x 8" un-stretched acrylic sheet. I really enjoyed just wildly doing the colour for the back-ground and then did a light sketch of the elephant on top of that, letting it slowly take shape as I added the grey.

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Africa's Wonder

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



“Let a Person Walk Alone With Few Wishes, Committing No Wrong, Like an Elephant in the Forest.”

Africa’s wild animals are a constant source of inspiration and for me elephants symbolise Strength, Solitude, sense of loyalty to the family and Intelligence. Looking into the eye of an elephant, one sees Wisdom beyond our understanding.

I sketched this young elephant on a visit to the Elephant Sanctuary Hartebeespoort Dam where they provide a “halfway house” for young African elephants in need of a temporary home.

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 16” x 12”