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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The joy of snow

 

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

We rarely have snow in South Africa, but when we do, there is always great excitement. Schools close, everybody rushes around taking photographs and spreading the word on social media and a ball is had by all. And, of course, it softens and beautifies any garden. But it also causes havoc as our country is not geared up for snowy conditions. Livestock like sheep suffer greatly as they are mostly kept out in the field on huge tracts of land and bringing them indoors is not an option.

So here's to all my Northern Hemisphere friends, enjoy your winter and enjoy the snow!

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Sunrise over a winter landscape

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – 15″ × 11″ (38cm x 28cm)

Winter here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) means a late sunrise, often accompanied by clouds, which usually clear up as the day progresses.

“Nature is painting for us,
day after day,
pictures of infinite beauty
if only we have the eyes to see them.”
— John Ruskin

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Winter is golden

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Winter is always depicted in cold colours of blue and grey, but here in South Africa, cold as it is, the sun is shining on a bright brown, yellow and green landscape. The only time we have blues and greys is in summer when it is raining!

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Three cheers

Winter is still persisting but three cheers for rising temperatures this morning. A spring in my step and a smile on my face!

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Winter is coming

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

The first signs of winter are already showing amongst the bluegum trees on our smallholding (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa). Yellow grass, fallen leaves and longer shadows accompany me as I take my (now cold) early morning walks. The lizards and snakes have all but disappeared or only come out much later in the day as it warms up. Even the birds seem to be more quiet, preferring to sit in the top branches of some dead trees, basking in the early morning sun and warming up before taking on the day.

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Unusual winter in South Africa

W&N watercolours on Arches 300gsm 

A couple of years ago, in August 2006, South Africa was struck by an unusual phenomena, snow! It is something we rarely experience and it therefore always creates great excitement as well as hard-ship. Especially in the farming community, as livestock is always at risk because of the vast sizes of our farms and the large numbers of livestock we farm with – no barns really big enough to house all of them. No protection against the freezing temperatures and also a great problem with feed supplies. Luckily, people like us on smallholdings (8.5ha, which is 10 morgen or 21 acres), have fewer animals, making winter much more manageable, but still not worry-free.

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Winter in Summer

“When you are older, you realise that everything else is just nothing compared to painting and drawing.”
— David Hockney

W&N watercolour in my Moleskine 200gsm nature sketchbook

Just as we thought winter had finally ended, we had freezing weather come up from the Cape with temperatures dropping to 12℃. That was on Saturday. Today it's starting to return to normal with beautiful sunshine and no wind. Nature certainly can be unpredictable...

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A winter's morn

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

A winter's morning at a dam in Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa) 

It was still ash-grey on a Sunday morning, but winter was awake already. She was whispering everywhere. She was shaking shaking everything in her path. She seeped through the gaps around the doors and windows. She crawled down the walls and flooded the room with her ice-cold breath. She crept into my bed. Then woke me up and penetrated my duvet. Surrounded by her, I found myself shrinking like an earthworm. I then had to compromise my bed. She enjoyed taking possession. I was trying to sleep with my knees squashed to my head and my arms around my ankles. I was shaking when I felt her presence. I got up and closed the windows. She were trapped, inside. 

- Unknown

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Barren and bare

W&N watercolour in hand-crafted sketchbook with linen satin-finish paper

Here in South Africa most of the landscape is still barren and bare after winter's onslaught, but Spring is making a concerted effort to show herself - her reign is normally short-lived, quickly being ousted by Summer's determination to make the most of the months ahead until Autumn has her turn again.

*The garden like a lady fair was cut

That lay as if she slumbered in delight,

And to the open skies her eyes did shut;

The azure fields of heaven were 'sembled right

In a large round set with flow'rs of light:

The flowers de luce and the round sparks of dew

That hung upon their azure leaves, did show

Like twinkling stars that sparkle in the ev'ning blue.*

~ Giles Fletcher

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If I was a Wind...

… I would steal your secrets … 

A cold, windy, wintry morning in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa). 

Ink sketch and watercolour on DalerRowney 200gsm sketching paper 

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No cold can touch me

When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will; no cold can touch your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive. 

- Chief Seattle

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 300gsm 

The hills of Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa) are dressed in their winter finery, cold shadows falling across the landscape as the sun tries to warm the valleys below. We've had some REALLY freezing weather, but today it's warming up again. 

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A Winter walk in the Park

“In the summer I have this friend who I am closest to, and sometimes, in the winter, I long to call her up and say, come here and live with me, in this cold place. But we are summer friends. There is a rule it seems, that summer friends don't get together in the wintertime. Now, sitting here, waiting for her, I realize that I have never seen her in a winter coat, and for some reason that makes me sadder than anything else in the world.” 

- Jacqueline Woodson 

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 300gsm Cold Pressed watercolour paper. 

Just because the trees are bare and there’s a chill in the air doesn’t mean you have to forgo your daily walks. In winter, sunlight and just being outdoors can do wonders for lifting your mood and self-esteem and leave you with an improved sense of well-being. 

Researchers say that winter walking could provide an effective, easy-to-stick-with therapy for mild-to-moderate depression. They also say that not getting outside during winter months slows down production and decreases the body’s store of vitamin D, which is important for keeping bones strong. 

So all you hibernating lazy bones, come join me for a walk in the park! (We'll leave the jogging for the more energetic!) 

 (It’s good to be outside again and breathing fresh air. We need to do this more often!) 

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Winter Setting in

“People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.”
- Anton Chekhov

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 - 12" x 8"

Although the lawn in my garden is still thick and green from all the rain we've had, the veld and roadside is starting to show the effects of Winter - all the Cosmos is gone and the tall thatching grass is yellow and dry, just waiting for the first careless cigarette to be flicked out of a car window - this Black Wattle tree still hadn't recovered from the ravages of last year's fires and got a second dose when the property owner did his fire-break this week. Pity, but fire-breaks are a necessary evil if we are going to be protecting our properties from these, sometimes dangerous, fires.

From my portfolio of Landscapes on redBubble

Winter moving in

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.
For the wind howls loud and the furies fight;
Spice it with love and stir it with care,
And I'll toast our bright eyes,
my sweetheart fair.
~Minna Thomas Antrim


Acrylics on canvas panel 12" x 9"

I've been experimenting a bit more with Acrylics these days, trying to break away from that "watercolour" look I'm still getting with my acrylics, and as the old adage goes, "A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!"

South Africa is famous for its sunshine. It's a relatively dry country, with an average annual rainfall of about 464mm (compared to a world average of about 860mm). While the Western Cape gets most of its rainfall in winter, the rest of the country is generally a summer-rainfall region.

The Western Cape gets most of its rain in winter, with quite a few days of cloudy, rainy weather. However, these are always interspersed with wonderful days to rival the best of a British summer. The high mountains of the Cape and the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal usually get snow in winter.

Winter in South Africa (May to July) is characterised in the higher-lying areas of the interior plateau by dry, sunny, crisp days and cold nights. So it's a good idea to bring warm clothes.
The hot, humid KwaZulu-Natal coast, as well as the Lowveld (lower-lying areas) of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, offer fantastic winter weather with sunny, warmish days and virtually no wind or rain.

A subtropical location, moderated by ocean on three sides of the country and the altitude of the interior plateau, account for the warm temperate conditions so typical of South Africa - and so popular with its foreign visitors.

At the same time, temperatures in South Africa tend to be lower than in other countries at similar latitudes - such as Australia - due mainly to greater elevation above sea level.

On the interior plateau the altitude - Johannesburg lies at 1 694 meters - keeps the average summer temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius. In winter, for the same reason, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing point, in some places lower.

South Africa's coastal regions are therefore warmest in winter. There is, however, a striking contrast between temperatures on the country's east and west coasts, due respectively to the warm Agulhas and cold Benguela Currents that sweep the coastlines.

Being in the southern hemisphere, our seasons stand in opposition to those of Europe and North America, so, yes - we spend Christmas on the beach!
From South Africa Travel Info

From my portfolios of Landscapes with Water and Acrylic Paintings on RedBubble

Winter Bullrushes

“Never cut a tree down in the winter time. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
- Robert H. Schuller

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

Winter Bullrushes - W & N Watercolours on Arches 300gsm - 7" x 10"

I absolutely LOVE Bullrushes and used to have them growing at my pond (in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa), until I discovered how quickly they take over an area, killing everything in its path. I also used to cut the velvety flowering spikes to arrange in a vase, absolutely gorgeous!, also only until I discovered that, when they're ripe and ready to disperse their seeds, the velvety spike would burst open, covering the house with bundles of dense, cottony fluff! Only the female flower does this, the male withers and dies once it has dispersed its pollen.

Typha Typhaceae is found in a variety of wetland habitats. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush, or reed mace, in American English as cattail, punks, or corndog grass, in Australia as cumbungi & also bulrush, and in New Zealand as raupo.

Some interesting information : the dense cottony fluff was used for stuffing Futons in Japan before the advent of cotton.

Softly the evening came

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape; tinkling vapours arose; and sky and water and forest seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

W & N watercolours on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8"

This painting was inspired by the above poem by Longfellow – 'his golden wand o'er the landscape' – what beautiful words!

The 4 Seasons - Winter

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”
- Yoko Ono

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


Winter at Harties - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper - 8" x 6" - Maree©

Winter in Gauteng or the North-West Province is always one of stark contrasts - black against green and brown, mixed with bright yellow grass and purple shadows on the mountains. Bright blue or grey skies offers a different take on each day and our bright sunshine on a winter's day can lift the spirits no end!

This is one of a series "The 4 Seasons" - next will be Spring.