Winter in Tarlton

“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.”

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

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Winter in South Africa brings raging veld fires, lands that lie fallow on farms and, in certain areas like Tarlton, frost that wipes clean any memory of green, except for the evergreen Black Wattle trees, which put up a spectacular show of brown seed pods, brightening up an otherwise bleak landscape.

Luckily winter is now OVER and summer is in full swing! I did this painting of a friend's farm in Oaktree not far from us.

The learning curve - Watercolour Workshop 1

Doing work points the way to new and better work to be done.
- Julia Cameron


Original "Field in Oaktree" watercolour 12" x 8"
(Click on images to enlarge)

During my watercolour workshop, my teacher took my above painting to demonstrate to the class how a good painting can become exceptional - she showed me where to add some colour and soften some lines, and to add some softness in the distance to draw the eye to the focal point. Little changes, but with amazing results! We could play, "Spot the difference" here!


"Field in Oaktree" corrected

I know what I think, you be the judge! - this is such a learning curve for me and I'm so excited, and impatient! and ready, to go to the next level of my growth.