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.