Blue gum fantasy

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm in small sketch-book
Blue gum trees on our smallholding (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) I must just mention that we no longer live in Tarlton, but her colour-palette is forever etched into my mind. 

Blue gum eucalyptus, Eucalyptus globulus to the botanists, have been a part of the South African landscape since the Gold Rush, long enough that legends have sprung up about how they first made it to the country. The usual story is that 19th Century gold miners encouraged planting of the trees as a quick-growing source of quality lumber, then were disappointed to find out that South African-grown eucs produce wood unsuitable for much besides rough fenceposts and firewood.

The stories have some factual basis: there was a speculative eucalyptus-planting rush in the first years of the 20th Century, with people planning uses from fine furniture to rot-resistant railroad ties. And the home-grown trees, which grew far more quickly than their Australian counterparts, did not turn out to make lousy timber! The logs were extensively used in our mining industry and to this day they are still popular as fence posts and roof timber.

.

The beauties of Nature

Acrylic on canvas

Tasmanian bluegum (Eucalyptus globulus)

This large, straight-trunked tree grows to about 70m tall in open forests in south-eastern Tasmania, on Bass Strait islands and in parts of southern Victoria. Its common name comes from the waxy blue-green colour of its juvenile leaves. These juvenile leaves are hightly sought after for flower arrangements.

The plant’s cream-coloured flowers are a good source of nectar for bees and the resultant honey is dense and strongly flavoured. Here in South Africa, this bluegum is widely planted as forage for our honey bee populations and this amber coloured honey is mild in taste and a safe bet for any new honey enthusiast. Bluegum Honey is also known as Eucalyptus Honey. Yummy!

Whats on my easel today?

 

I have not been painting as much as I should. Fullstop. I don't actually have an excuse except to say that life happens. And boy, did it happen over the past four years! We retired from Gauteng to the Dolphin Coast, KwaZulu Natal in December 2017 and it took a while for us to find our next forever home and to get settled in. So that's my one excuse for not painting, feeling unsettled and trying to get my groove back. 

Then, in December 2019, my husband was diagnosed with a Meningioma, a benign brain tumour that had to be surgically removed. After 6 weeks in hospital and 4 weeks in rehab, hubby was finally ready to come home. But all was not sunshine and roses -- the pressure of the tumour on the frontal lobe of the brain had taken its toll, causing loss of memory, several strokes and a certain amount of loss of movement. Adjusting to this new challenge in our lives took up all of my time and energy, and even during some quiet moments that I had to myself, I was unable to find my muse and my brushes and paints stayed in the cupboard, patiently awaiting my return. That's my second excuse.

My third excuse goes like this ~ the colours here at the coast are all wrong! Everything is either blue or either green. And there's no grass here. I kid you not. Only sugar cane fields. Lots and lots of sugar cane! and there are no Blue gum trees here, or very few, and they are the wrong species. Long empty branches with tufts of leaves at the end of each branch. Now I'm no stranger to painting with blues or greens, I have even done many beach scapes during my visits to the coast in earlier years.

And now my muse seems to be stuck in Transvaal and bushveld colours ~ browns and yellows, oranges and reds, browns and greens, even black, and my eye keeps looking for waving fields of grasses, green in summer, yellow in winter, but lots and lots of waving fields of grasses! And the Highveld trees ~ oh my! Acacias and Karees, Blue gums and Stinkwoods, Cussonias and Combretums. Even the Aloes here are different!

But I am slowly and surely learning about all the coastal trees and one thing the Coast has in common with the rest of the country, is that succulents thrive here. I can already feel that the Highveld is relinquishing her hold on my muse and soon we will be at it again full throttle!

For practice, an old painting given a fresh new look.

::

Gum leaves - Botanical illustration

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

Dedicated to all Eucalypt and Bee-lovers.

A recent study by the SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) in South Africa has found that gum trees provide nectar and pollen for swarms of commercial bees – and bees in turn pollinate about 50 food crops in the country. This “service” bees provide is worth about R10.3 billion a year.

Gum trees are not only important food for bees, but so are many roadside wildflowers, crops, suburban flowering plants and those that many regard as weeds. A major reason for the decline of honey bees around the world is a lack of good forage plants to provide nectar, which is the carbohydrate in the bees’ diet, and pollen the protein. Bees collect nectar from Blue Gum tree blossoms from spring to late summer.

A lack of good quality and variety of forage plants can lead to unhealthy honey bee colonies that are more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

This in turn can lead to insufficient pollination of our important agricultural crop flowers, leading to a decreased yield or quality of the food crop, Insect pollinators are needed for 35 percent of all food production globally – or one of every three bites you eat.

Although most Bluegums have been declared as an invasive species in South Africa, Beekeepers are highly dependent on eucalyptus and if they are all removed because they are aliens it would mean a serious shortage of food for bees – with a knock-on effect on crop pollination.

Because of this, the Department of Environmental Affairs’ legislation on alien and invasive species, updated in 2014, is “nuanced” for eucalyptus trees, not requiring all of them to come under the axe or chainsaw.

::

Bluegum fantasy

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm in small sketch-book

Blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus to the botanists), have been a part of the South African landscape since the Gold Rush, long enough that legends have sprung up about how they first made it to the country. The usual story is that 19th Century gold miners encouraged planting of the trees as a quick-growing source of quality lumber, then were disappointed to find out that South African-grown eucs produce wood unsuitable for much besides rough fenceposts and firewood.

The stories have some factual basis: there was a speculative eucalyptus-planting rush in the first years of the 20th Century, with people planning uses from fine furniture to rot-resistant railroad ties. And the home-grown trees, which grew far more quickly than their Australian counterparts, did not turn out to make lousy timber! The logs were extensively used in our mining industry and to this day they are still popular as fence posts and roof timber.

Early-morning Bluegums

 

Acrylic on canvas

The first light of day sweeps across some Bluegums (Eucalyptus trees) in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa. 

Bluegums play in important part in South Africa’s economy as they provide forage for our threatened honey bee population.

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!

.

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.

.

This Blue Gum

This blue gum tree greets me every morning as I open my studio curtains. She is always there. She has always been there, for the past ten years. She's the one I sit and stare at when I'm pondering or deep in thought. I've watched her swaying in heavy winds, watched as limbs have broken off and watched as veld fires have swept her base.

She stands across the road from our property, probably about 20m tall and offers a safe haven for all the birds in the area. I've watched as baby crows have fledged from her branches and yet, I've never looked at her properly.

Today I decided to look at her, with new eyes, and paint her.

I think she's wonderful. 

::