I watched the tide go out

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

As the sun sank lower and lower, I watched the tide go out... further and further.

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A coastal scene?

 

With the cooler weather comes outdoor activities again. For me at least; summers at the coast are just beyond bearable. So I took my easel outside (overlooking cane fields!) and tried my hand at a coastal scene. But as I said before, my Muse stayed behind in Gauteng, hence the mountains. Give me strength! 

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If you are lucky enough...

… to be at the beach…
then you are lucky enough.

W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm sketchbook

This is the walk-way down to the beach in Chaka’s Rock, Ballito, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

What better way of whiling away winter hours than dreaming of being at the beach?

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Beach at Mvoti

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 190gsm 

One of my favourite haunts when I visit Ballito is Mvoti Beach at Blythedale (North Coast, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa). It is one of the few beaches on the North Coast that still has lots of vegetation and is also very popular with fishermen as this is where the Mvoti River flows into the Indian Ocean. The estuary is a haven for winged creatures and a must for bird lovers, worth a visit to spot the African spoonbill, chestnut-branded plover, lesser sand plover, white-eared barbet, scaly-throated honeyguide and blue-mantled crested flycatcher. 

 I can sit for hours watching common ghost crabs as they scurry around on the intertidal beach – the time between low and high tide – during which time they move from their high-shore burrows to feed.

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Come Walk with Me

"Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm feeling

Like I'm floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean

Sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads,

No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds

We have got to leave all that behind."

- The Avett brothers

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 - 8" x 12"

I turn 65 this year and one of the images I have in my head, is me, at the age of 90, running on the beach in a long, flowing, white dress, parasol in hand, skipping and jumping with joy! and of course, living in My Dream Cottage by the Sea!

The Law of Attraction teaches us that, what you think about, you bring about, and these two thoughts are constantly on my mind, so what do YOU think the odds are...?

Have a great day everybody!

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Together we make a difference....

Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?

~Maurice Freehill

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

Done from my imagination – W & N watercolours on Arches 300gsm 10" x 7"

One of the paintings I did, stuck indoors again, lots of rain, so no field sketching. In between painting I also read this little story and it actually inspired this scene with the lighthouse.

There was in a certain city a harbour where ships from all over the world would come and dock. However, the harbour was in between a treacherous and rocky shore. During stormy nights, ships would see the city lights off in the distance and head toward the lights hoping to find refuge from the pounding surf.

The ships would struggle against the storm as they made their way to the safety of the harbour. As they drew near, seeing the dangerous rocks, the captain of the ship would try to turn and avoid striking the rocks but it was to late. Many ships were destroyed and hundreds of sailors lost their lives because they did not know of the danger. You see, the people of the city did not feel that it was necessary to build a lighthouse. Besides, it would cost too much money to build a lighthouse they reasoned. So, year after year and storm after storm, ships would be ship wrecked and many lives lost.

There was a man in that city that saw the need. He felt grief and heartache because the people of the city were content to let the ships be destroyed and were not willing to rescue the drowning sailors. So he took it upon himself to do something about it. He tried to recruit volunteers to help him but no one wanted to. He persisted, looking for someone to help him, but they all just laughed at him and said that he was crazy to risk his life to try to save strangers and people who looked different.

Determined to make a difference, he sold everything that he had and bought a piece of land close to the shore and built his house there. It was a lighthouse.

So during stormy nights, the man would make sure that the light from the lighthouse was shining as bright as it could so the ships could be warned of the dangerous rocks. His lighthouse saved hundreds of lives and ships from being ship wrecked that year. But it wasn't enough because even with the lighthouse some of the storms were so powerful that the ships struggling to come into the harbour were tossed about by the wind and the waves that they would get smashed against the rocks.

Being a compassionate man, he would run to the roaring sea at the risk of his own life to rescue as many sailors as he could. Then he would bring them into the warmth and safety of the lighthouse. Once there, he would heal their wounds and feed them until they were able to sail again.

The man laboured by himself for years rescuing sailors and caring for their needs. Each person that he saved was so grateful to him that they couldn't thank him enough for rescuing them from certain death. But all the man could feel was sadness because many more sailors died in the sea than he could save. "If only I had help," he would say. "If only someone would see the need as I do and come and help. Lord please send someone to help, I can't do it all by myself," he prayed.

Then one day it happened, his prayers were answered. His generosity became well known in the land. People in the city began to volunteer to come and help the man keep vigil during stormy nights. Men began to take shifts keeping watch and helping rescue sailors. Then women started cooking and preparing bandages for the wounded sailors. The children did whatever they could to help lift the spirits of the sick.

Ships still wreck along the treacherous shoreline, but now, because there are so many people there to help the man, many more lives are saved than are lost.

Together Everyone Accomplished Much. Together they made a difference.

- by Danny Lizarraga

My dream of a Cottage by the sea

“We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It's just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there. Destiny plans a different route, or turns the dream around, as if it were a riddle, and fulfils the dream in ways we couldn't have expected.”
- Ben Okri

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

Aaaah, the dream.... (probably on the West Coast of South Africa.) Done from my imagination – W & N watercolours on Arches 300gsm - 10" x 7"

My dream of a cottage by the sea… There are songs written about it, there are books written about it and poems written about it – the sea. How many of us have the dream of owning a cottage by the sea?

I don't mean a unit in a complex by the sea, I've had one of those in a busy, busy seaside town... I mean a place of peace and tranquility, far from the madding crowd, quiet walks on the beach with not a soul in sight, collecting shells and drift-wood, sitting on a rock watching the ships go by… listening to the sound of thunder and lightning on a windy stormy night, intermingled with waves crashing on the beach, feeling save in the warm glow of the fire crackling in the hearth...

“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.”
- Robert Kiyosaki

Windy morning on the dunes

Blustery, wind-swept grass

leaves dancing, everlast

Trees bowing, branches creep

dusty vision that I keep

Waves lapping, rocks abound

seagulls dipping, all around

- Jon Coe

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

Windy Dunes - watercolour in Moleskine Folio 12" x 8" - Maree©

Many a times I’ve sat on the dunes at Zinkwazi and reveled in the sight of the wind whipping the dune grasses into a frenzy, as if to align the landscape with the stormy seas, with white horses dancing in the distance and waves crashing furiously onto the beach as they’re driven onto the coast by the wind. I’m not normally a wind person, but at the coast it seems to have a purpose and doesn’t leave dust in your hair or dry out your skin.

Moonlit beach

"When the storm is over and night falls and the moon is out in all its glory and all you're left with is the rhythm of the sea, of the waves, you know what God intended for the human race, you know what paradise is."
- Harold Pinter

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


Acrylic on primed Acrylic un-stretched Canvas - 12" x 9" - Maree©

Today, or should I say tonight, is full moon and like many artists, I am quite fascinated by the phases of the moon. The shape varies from a full moon (when the Earth is between the sun and the moon) to a new moon (when the moon is between the sun and the Earth). When two full moons occur in a single month, the second full moon is called a "Blue Moon." Another definition of the blue moon is the third full moon that occurs in a season of the year which has four full moons (usually each season has only three full moons). A full moon appears as an entire circle in the sky. The full moon is given different names, depending on when it appears. For example, the "Harvest moon" is the full moon that appears nearest to the Autumnal Equinox, occurring in late September or early October.

This is one of my few forays into Acrylics and I really enjoyed working on this one.

Cottage by the sea...

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


"Cottage by the Sea" - watercolour on Visual 200gsm - 12" x 9" - Maree©

"Happiness is a summer breeze, sand between your toes, and your best friend by your side."

My dream of a cottage by the sea… There are songs written about it, there are books written about it and poems written about it – the sea. How many of us have the dream of owning a cottage by the sea? I mean a cottage standing all alone, surrounded by nothing but the wild sea, the dunes, mist and the gulls, miles from the nearest civilization. A place of peace and tranquility, quiet walks on the beach with not a soul in sight, collecting shells and drift-wood, sitting on a rock watching the ships go by…

Don’t we all have a dream like that?

This is an imaginary scene on the West Coast of South Africa.

Have a great day everyone!

Acceptance - on Mother's Day

AFFIRMATION :

"I accept my human imperfections as an expression of beauty;

I accept my struggles and rough parts as my teachers."

The magic of affirmations and visualizations has come a long way with me and has formed a large part of who I am and where I am today.

The above affirmation is the latest to join the list on my mirror, as I've been finding myself bemoaning my "fate" quite a bit lately, albeit only in my own mind. One so easily falls into the trap of dissatisfaction, wanting 'perfection' in everything, not realising that everything is perfect and beautiful as it is.

Letting go of insecurities and worries is important for me to move forward, both as a whole and complete person as well as an artist.

Low tide

It's hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy...Beach Therapy”

--Amy Dykens

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


"The beach - Low tide" - watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book
8" x 5.5" - Maree©

In Wikipedia the tides are explained as follows:

• Sea level rises over several hours, covering the intertidal zone; flood tide.
• The water rises to its highest level, reaching high tide.
• Sea level falls over several hours, revealing the intertidal zone; ebb tide.
• The water stops falling, reaching low tide.

To me this is very similar to the feelings we experience throughout our lifetime - we all have our ups and downs. So when you're feeling down, just remember - after every low tide comes a high tide.

Mauritius beach - No. 18

Mauritius Beach - watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook - 8" x 5"

In December 2008 we were lucky enough to visit Mauritius for a week for my daughter's wedding. Of course the kids were having a ball - swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, paddle-boating, jet-skiing, fishing trips, sailing - the list is endless. And this palm tree was the centre of their attention, climbing up to the top, dangling precariously while having their photographs taken. I did this sketch from memory, as the trip is deeply etched in my memory forever.


Some friends sailing in the tropical waters of Mauritius

I don't regard myself as a big traveller (although I do go down to the North Coast, Ballito, about 10 times a year (because my daughter lives there and we also have a holiday apartment there) and to Cape Town a couple of times a year, where my sister-in-law lives) and I really envy people that hop on the plane or take off somewhere at the drop of a hat. I've only been overseas (UK) once and didn't find myself particularly impressed by anything and besides, those long hours on the plane (or bus or train!) are definitely not for me. I prefer to jump in my car on a whim and when I feel like it.


The Stunning Beach at 'Sunset Beach'

We were a party of 14 people and at 9.30 am our flight departed from O.R. Tambo airport in South Africa. After a four-hour flight, we arrived in Mauritius at 3.30pm! Weird, the time-zone thing... and then another hour's drive from Port Louis to Sugar Beach Hotel, where we were just in time for sun downers after getting all the luggage to our rooms.


Sugar Beach Hotel


Entrance to the Hotel, with me trying to escape the sun

Sun downers was an absolutely blissful experience - everything that anybody could ever dream of - stunning setting, stunning views and the most stunning service I've ever come across anywhere.


Sundowner Deck at night


Sundowner Deck during the day, where you can also enjoy lunch

The rooms are beautifully appointed, en-suite, spacious and, obviously, air-conditioned, (without which I would not have managed to survive!) with stunning views over the ocean. All the expected extras like tea and coffee server, writing material, internet connection and a fridge brim-full with delightful goodies!


Our Large Bedroom


Another view of the bedroom


En-suite bathroom

We had a state-of-the-art swimming pool right in front of our room, which was heated at night! (can't believe anybody would be cold there!) and it just seemed to blend in with the sky and ocean. At the restaurants there was another pool (HUGE, with islands and deck chairs in the water for sipping cocktails) and lot's of play-space for the children.


Pool in front of our room


Pool at The Tides Restaurant


Deck chairs in the pool for sipping cocktails

Sitting at The Tides Restaurant at dusk, chatting and sipping cocktails in the cooler evening air was the highlight of my every day - cool ocean breezes, the beautiful Indian Ocean - a get-together of everybody, sharing experiences and regaling the thrills of the day's happenings (everybody would have breakfast together in the beautiful dining room every morning, but thereafter, each was off on their own trip - swimming in the ocean, snorkelling, paddle-boating, jet-skiing, fishing trips, sailing or flitting off to Flick 'n Flack for some shopping.


The Tides cocktail deck

It was an unforgettable experience for me, partly because of my daughter's wedding and partly because I've (like everybody else) had this dream of visiting a tropical island, lazing on the sun-soaked beach and cooling off in an Azure blue ocean. Another dream realised! Just goes to show we're never too old to do something new!

After a week of bliss, it was time to return home on a four-hour flight that actually only took 2 hours! - once again the time zone thing - we boarded Mauritian time 4.30 pm and arrived Johannesburg 6.30 pm.

Definitely a travel experience to remember and for anybody that has not yet visited Mauritius, I would highly recommend Sugar Beach Hotel as your chosen destination.


View from our room


Lounge at Sugar Beach Hotel


The Bride and Groom - my daughter Samantha and Donovan Crewe


The Wedding Marquee on the Beach

The Seagull and the beach

"Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that gull’s life is so short and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed."
- From 'Jonathan Livingstone Seagull'

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


"The Seagull and the beach" - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book
8.5" x 5" - Maree©

This is done from my imagination – I'm longing for the beach and seagulls!

"Seagull, you fly across the horizon
Into the misty morning sun.
Nobody asks you where you are going,
Nobody knows where you're from.

Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.
Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why,
And you fly all around 'til somebody, Shoots you down.

Seagull go and fly,
Fly to your tomorrow, leave me to my sorrow, fly."

Exploring Tonal value

As artists, we must learn to be self nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them – to restock the trout pond, so to speak.
- Julia Cameron


Beach and trees - tonal value exercise

My watercolour workshops with Angela Eidelman are two weeks apart - every second Wednesday - and probably just as well - after three hours of watching, listening, planning, and actual sketching exercises, I find myself totally exhausted afterwards, and I'm telling myself it's NOT an age thing! My younger counter-parts like Cathy Gatland (read her workshop up-dates with Hazel Soan here) and Debbie Schiff (read Debbie's posts about her art class with Hazel Soan here) have both complained about the same thing. It's hard and exhausting work setting up your work station, trying to take in everything and anxiously trying not to make a complete botch-up of your exercises, right there where everybody is witness to the whole thing!

So for two weeks until my next class, I've got plenty of time to practice all the basics. At first I've been trying to do everything all in one painting - the planning, good composition, focal point, light source, tonal value, and where the most detail or the least detail is. I've given that up as a bad job and am spending a day or two on each point - the exercise above is mostly about tonal value, but it also gave me a chance to explore the source of where my light is coming from and making sure I don't have shadows running in all sorts of directions!

Lonely Shores

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
- Lord Byron

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


Lonely Shore - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8.5" - Maree©

I've been missing the coast for a while now, haven't been for several months. Miss the sand between my toes, watching the sun rise over a brilliantly turquoise sea, the waves washing up little treasures to sketch... I love just sitting on the rocks, the breeze in my hair, the crabs scurrying around before the tide comes in again.

The beaches in Ballito, on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, stretch flat and smooth for long distances, ideal for long walks, and some stretches have lots of rocks, offering a place to sit and ponder, but way up the North Coast, at St. Lucia, the beaches are wild and undulating, covered with vegetation. The Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles breed in these waters and lay their eggs on these shores.



If you're interested in seeing a bit more of St. Lucia, go HERE