JUST ME :: and a stack of blank pages

:: Living creatively ::

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

A Merry Christmas 2015!


Here's wishing you all a very merry Christmas for 2015! I send my thoughts afar, and let them paint your Christmas Day at home!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Fifty shades of brown

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm.

Using various shades of brown mixed from a variety of colours on my palette.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

A scene at my pond

W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketchbook

I have this bit of Celtis forest (Celtis africana - White Stinkwood) at my wildlife pond and it's my favourite pastime to sit under the thatch umbrella and sketch part of the scenery. A few weeks ago the bare trees were just beginning to sport green leaves. This is also the area where Torti, my Leopard Tortoise, used to live before I relocated her to her new home at the Krugersdorp Game Reserve.


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Saturday, October 3, 2015

Sketching again

Black ink sketch and colour wash on Amedeo 200gsm

I feel it's time for sketching again, have been neglecting it of late, been preferring just putting colour straight to paper.

Black ink sketch in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketchbook

Black ink sketch in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketchbook

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Saturday, September 12, 2015

Short-cut through Spring Farm

 W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Often, when I go to Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa), I take this short-cut through Spring Farm past the little dam. It’s a gravel road, forcing one to travel slower and take in the scenery and I often have tortoises, hedgehogs, guinea fowl and small buck crossing my path. I much prefer it to the quicker route along the main tar road.

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Sunday, September 6, 2015

Winter at the pond


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Winter is almost nothing but a memory and now spring is fully upon us, with the first spring rains having fallen over the past couple of days. But together with that came freezing temperatures as low as 12℃ yesterday. But soon all the cold will be in the past and I look forward to my wildlife pond once again bursting with summer colour.

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Friday, September 4, 2015

Cactus trichocereus

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

I'm absolutely in love with my two cacti! (C. trichocereus). The one at the back made a baby, which I transplanted into a pot and placed it next to its parent. I'm sure they whisper endearing comments to one another all day long!

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Friday, July 24, 2015

Autumn - wonderful time of the year!

A small W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Autumn (fall) in South Africa (mid-February to April) offers the best weather of the year. Very little rain falls over the whole country, and it is warm but not too hot, getting colder as the season progresses. In Gauteng, autumn is fantastic, with hot sunny days, blue skies and warm, balmy nights.

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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

En route to Magaliesburg

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Whenever I go to Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa) just 13km from us, I choose to take a short-cut through Spring Farm and although it is a gravel road, I do away with lots of traffic and getting stuck behind trucks on their way to Rustenburg or Botswana and, to top it all, I see lots of wildlife. It’s a route we used to take with the horses during my horse riding days.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

A labourer's cottage

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

A labourer’s cottage on a smallholding just down the road from us in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

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Saturday, April 25, 2015

A farmer's cottage

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

A farmer’s cottage on a smallholding not far from us in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Dusk in Magaliesburg

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

As dusk settles over Magaliesburg, the neighbouring mountains are cast in a hue of purples and blues.

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Monday, April 13, 2015

Cosmos in March

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

March and end-of-summer in South Africa heralds Cosmos time! Every year these beauties grace the fields and road-sides all over the country.

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Monday, April 6, 2015

African bushveld

W&N watercolour, no preliminary sketching, in small hand-made sketch-book with hand-crafted satin-finish Linen paper

This little sketch-book, which I bought in Gateway Shopping Mall in Umhlanga, is absolutely wonderful to paint in. The 'paper' is very much like material and as you paint, the colour sucks in and spreads, surprising you with the results every time. No sketching though, it doesn't take kindly to pen or pencil

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Friday, April 3, 2015

A farm gate

W&N watercolour and ink sketch on Bockingford 300gsm

Farm gates and farm fences fascinate me. I can sit for hours sketching variations on the theme and just cannot drive by a farm gate or particularly interesting fence without stopping and sketching it. This is a  farm gate on a friend’s smallholding in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa).

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Saturday, March 21, 2015

A farm cottage

W&N watercolour on thick sketching paper

Done from a photograph, with kind permission of a dear friend, Maria Lock, Millmerran, Queensland, Australia.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

View across the river

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

View of the Magaliesberg across the river in Broederstroom. Once again Blogger is not playing the game with the colours of my painting, it views much greyer than what it really is!

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Friday, February 27, 2015

Singing sweet songs, of melodies pure and true


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

‘Rise up this morning,
smile with the rising sun,
three little birds
sit by my doorstep,
singing sweet songs
of melodies pure and true,
singing,
this is my message to you.’

PS : I don't know what's wrong with Blogger's colours, but the image I uploaded is not as dark as this and the back-ground is totally white, no grey...?

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Sunday, February 1, 2015

A blank page

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

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a blank page . a new journal . what shall I do
dream / sing / write / wait / think / pause / garden / chat / paint
decided to paint

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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Little White Dove


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

This is Little White Dove, a White Ringneck Dove I found in my garden a year and a half ago, minus a tail and a big wound on her coccyx. After coaxing her down from the tree with some seeds, I managed to capture her and tend to the wound. She recovered quickly, sporting a brand new tail within a few days.
She has now become part of the family, flying around my studio, having regular baths in her favourite bowl, tolerating Tweeti, the Cockatiel’s advances and her and I have long chats, cooing to one another, she just loves participating in conversations!

Ringneck doves are sweet natured and naturally tame. If you should be lucky enough to acquire one, give them a day or two to settle into their new home, and begin to finger tame them. Talk to them and let them get used to your voice and movements. Coax them onto your finger inside the cage, and then gently take them from their cage. They will fly around the room, but will not fly for long and will settle down quickly. Patience and time will pay off, and soon you will have a wonderful new friend…

The White Dove is often thought of as a separate species but it is actually perhaps the most common color mutation of the Ringneck Dove (Streptopelia risoria). This bird is often confused with the domestic white homing pigeon which is used to release at special occasions (weddings, anniversaries, etc.). This bird does not have the homing instinct and should not be released.

These birds have been bred in cages since biblical times as pets and cannot survive in the wild. They often are not able to find food having had it provided to them all their life and because of their white colour they are easy prey for a variety of predators. Thus many of these released birds die or are killed in a relatively short time. Many white doves that have been released end up looking to humans for assistance.

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Friday, January 23, 2015

Looking forward to beautiful Geraniums

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

My Geraniums looked decidedly worse for the wear this past winter – I added some fresh potting soil and hope for some beautiful flowers this summer, maybe I’ll add something blue to the pot as well…?

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Saturday, January 3, 2015

All of life is a journey



W&N watercolours in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book - no preliminary sketching

“All of life is a journey - which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there.”
- Unknown

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