Lobelias for Winter

It's winter here in South Africa and time for Lobelia! As an annual, Lobelia will grow nearly anywhere and they are great in hanging baskets – which is the route I go as my chickens destroy anything delicate planted directly in the ground!

Native to Southern Africa, trailing Lobelia (Lobelia erinus) needs plenty of sun to bloom its best. Technically they are to be planted late winter and will flower from spring well into midsummer or even longer, but here in Tarlton our heat can get pretty intense, so I prefer to plant them in Autumn and every winter I have a blue mass of beauty. I hang them under the eaves of the patio so that they don't get any direct frost and where they get morning sun and mid-afternoon shade.

When planting Lobelia in hanging baskets and hanging planters ensure your basket or planter has plenty of holes for drainage. Then select a good, lightweight, airy potting soil. In summer, they will need watering daily as the temperatures start to warm up, but in winter I water only once a week.

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Lavender in a pot

 W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is such a romantic flower that every gardener sooner or later succumbs to the urge to grow it. The fact that it is a native of the Mediterranean and a lover of dry, sunny, rocky habitats makes it a perfect specimen for our hot Highveld climate. It even manages our frosty winters quite well, probably because it is our dry season with not much rain. 

I have taken a couple of cuttings from a plant growing in my garden to try it in a pot, which I can put in a full sun position. I did this sketch from my imagination to try and "see" what it will look like and I've convinced myself! 

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You are...

… beautiful! Your true beauty lies in becoming yourself. 

Watercolour daisies on a textured back-ground by Kim Klassen

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Keep Peace in your Soul

"In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul." 

I just love playing with free textures I find on the web and use them as back-grounds to a lot of my paintings. Here I have used one of Kim Klassen's textures, which worked out well with this arum Lily.

I often print out the texture first and then paint on top of it, but in this case I added my Arum Lily image to the texture in PhotoShop. Printed out on some watercolour paper it makes a lovely every-day card.

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ARUM LILY (Zantedeschia aethiopica)

 W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

My Arum lilies started flowering a couple of weeks ago and the rain we have had over the past few weeks will certainly give them a push-start for the rest of the summer. Mine don't seem to mind full sun as long as they get enough water. I just love sketching them - their simple, fluid lines allow one to play with the shadows and in just a few brush-strokes they are complete.

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Marigold (Tagetes patula)

My Marigolds (I have the French Marigold (Tagetes patula) have grown in utter profusion this season. Some I planted in one corner, the rest sprung up from last year's seeds.

Annual Marigolds can be used anywhere to deter beetles and many harmful insects. They are also known to repel harmful root knot nematodes (soil dwelling microscopic white worms) that attack tomatoes, potatoes, roses, and strawberries. The root of the Marigold produces a chemical that kills nematodes as they enter the soil. If a whole area is infested, at the end of the season, turn the Marigolds under so the roots will decay in the soil. You can safely plant there again the following spring. The flowers are hermaphrodite (having both male and female organs) and are pollinated by insects. They are noted for attracting wildlife and the wild hares visiting my garden often eat them. And for some reason, the rats like biting off the flower heads and spreading the petals and seeds all over the ground! The leaves of the marigold are coated with oily glands that produce a pungent scent.

Did You Know? Marigolds, which are from the Aster family and the Calendula genus, were first discovered by the Portuguese in Central America in the 16th century.

Some interesting info :
"In addition to colouring foods, yellow dye from the flowers is also used to colour textiles. The whole plant is harvested when in flower and distilled for its essential oil. The oil is used in perfumery; it is blended with sandalwood oil to produce 'attar genda' perfume. About 35 kilograms of oil can be extracted from 1 hectare of the plant (yielding 2,500 kg of flowers and 25,000 kg of herbage). The oil is also being investigated for anti-fungal activity, including treatment of candidiasis and treating fungal infections in plants."
This info from Wikipedia

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Not the last post afterall! - Wisteria

"In pale moonlight / the wisteria's scent / comes from far away."
— Buson

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Wisteria - W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Well, it seems my "last post" (previous post) is not the last post after all! I've had several requests to please keep on posting my art here as some people are not interested in looking for art in between photographs and all sorts of other posts! Hee hee! I completely understand that, so here I'm back, keeping this blog alive and my artwork separate from my other passions!

This painting is of a friend's Wisteria which is in full bloom and the scent is absolutely intoxicating! Just about the complete one side of her house is covered (there's a pergola next to the wall) and it's absolutely beautiful. The only problem is, the pergola is leaning dangerously close to a window from the weight of the plant and she says unfortunately she's going to have to take it down. That would be a real pity, but hopefully she can just trim it back a lot and retain some of the original plant. It his taken years to get to that size and planting a new one would take forever to produce this wonderful show.

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The last post

Don't you think daisies are just the friendliest flowers? I caught these two smiling at a butterfly in my garden!

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This will be the last post on this blog - but I'm not leaving! I have decided to move my art over to one of my other blogs, 'BLISSFUL THINGS', as it is getting very difficult and time-consuming keeping up with all my blogs. As I set myself the intention to slow down in 2012, to sit for a few moments longer enjoying my early morning coffee, stopping at each plant in the garden just a bit longer in stead of just rushing through, making notes of what has to be done and to listen more intently to the sound of the birds, the sound of life happening outside my studio, it seems fitting for me to combine the two blogs because, after all, my art is one of the most blissful things in my life!

I also have a Nature Journal at 'HEDGIE'S NATURE JOURNAL' and sometimes post some of my art there as well and am also a contributor at 'SKETCHING IN NATURE'. I also have a profile page at 'RedBubble' where I offer my art for sale in the form of cards, framed prints, posters, T-shirts etc. and that takes up a lot of my on-line time.

I would VERY much love it if you would visit me at BLISSFUL THINGS and I really look forward to seeing you there!

You are more than welcome to still leave comments here, I will still be receiving e-mail notifications as I am not closing the blog down, so I do look forward to hearing from you.

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"If you don't have time to do it right,
when will you have time to do it over?
If anything is worth doing at all,
It is worth doing well."
- Unknown

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Gone to seed

Pleasure is the carrot dangled to lead the ass to market; or the precipice.
- Robinson Jeffers

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 - 5" x 8"

A farmer friend's carrots have all gone to seed and have formed these gorgeous flowers, not unlike Queen Anne's Lace. Did you know that Carrots are from the Parsley family?

The Parsley Family includes some wonderful edible plants like the carrot and parsnip, plus more aromatic spices found in your spice cabinet, such as anise, celery, chervil, coriander, caraway, cumin, dill, fennel and of course, parsley. But unlike the Mustard or Mint families, the Parsleys are not all safe for picking and eating. In fact, the Parsley family is among the most important families of plants to learn, since it includes the deadliest plants in North America: poison hemlock and water hemlock. Note that the hemlock tree is totally unrelated. The wild carrot is the same species, but a different variety than the carrots we grow and eat.

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.

Kingfisher Daisies

The happy bells shall ring Marguerite;
The summer birds shall sing Marguerite;
You smile but you shall wear
Orange blossoms in your hair, Marguerite.
- Thomas Bailey Aldrich

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

Watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book

Felicia amelloides, Blue Marguerites, or Kingfisher Daisies, call them what you like, these beautiful little indigenous South African daisies provide colour and light up the winter landscape like no other! Hopefully our winter is starting to recede a bit now, we've had a couple of wonderful sunny and warm days, and then it'll be time for the Nasturtiums again

Daisies on Mother's Day

'Tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes!
~William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," Lyrical Ballads, 1798

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

Asters - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - 8" x 5.5" Maree©

I did this sketch of some Asters in my garden last month - these Shasta daisies are real die-hards and sometimes carry on right through winter, but require quite a lot of work dead-heading or else they can really look messy.

I received a wonderful Mother's Day card from my daughter in Ballito (on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, S.A.), but no flowers this year! so I picked a bunch of these Shastas for the kitchen table and they looked quite perky in my white enamel jug.

Standing out in the crowd

Sometimes I think we may feel that we have to do the big things in life to stand out from the crowd, but I think all you have to do is be yourself.... like this little daisy....

Watercolour on Visual 200gsm watercolour paper done on a textured back-ground by "GHOSTBONES"

I've been experimenting with some textures lately and for this one I printed the texture on watercolour paper first and then painted over it. I had just read an article a few days ago on 'standing out in the crowd', and as the painting looked a bit bland and mono-tone, the little daisy came to mind.

Daisy in Acrylic

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


Acrylic on Visual 200gsm watercolour paper - 8" x 12"

The Daisy follows soft the Sun
And when his golden walk is done
Sits shyly at his feet
He, waking – finds the flower there
Wherefore, Marauder, art thou here?
Because, Sir, love is sweet!
We are the Flower, Thou the Sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline
We nearer steal to Thee!
Enamoured of the parting West
The peace – the flight – the Amethyst
Night’s possibility!
- Emily Dickinson

One of my rare acrylics - as happens often, this one was done over another acrylic which I decided I don't like! But I've also found a blessing in that, because all the paint on top of one another provides a wonderful texture!

From my portfolios of "Flowers":http://www.redbubble.com/people/mareeclarkson/collections/4602-flowers-1 and "Acrylic Paintings":http://www.redbubble.com/people/mareeclarkson/collections/4333-acrylic-paintings

The Poinsettia and the Daisies

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

Watercolour and acrylic on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper 

- 12" x 8"

Did you know that the poinsettia has a special day all its own? By an Act of Congress, in the U.S., December 12 was set aside as National Poinsettia Day. The date marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who is credited with introducing the native Mexican plant to the United States. The purpose of the day is to enjoy the beauty of this popular holiday plant.
So, be sure to give someone you love a poinsettia on December 12, National Poinsettia Day!

The star-shaped poinsettia has become one of the best known floral symbols of the Christmas season and is considered the most popular potted plant during that time of year.

They were introduced to the United States over 125 years ago when they were brought here in 1828 by America's first ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Joel Poinsett. Native to Mexico, the “Flor de Noche Buena” - flower of the Holy Night, was thought by many eighteenth century Mexicans to be symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem

A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.

"I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes," said Pedro consolingly.

Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.

As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro's kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.
From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season. Today, the common name for this plant is the poinsettia!

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From my portfolio of Flowers on RedBubble

The purest joy that Earth can give

Like the musician, the painter, the poet, and the rest, the true
lover of flowers is born, not made. And he is born to happiness
in this vale of tears, to a certain amount of the purest joy that
earth can give her children, joy that is tranquil, innocent,
uplifting, unfailing.
- Celia Thaxter, An Island Garden, 1894

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8"

Painting flowers has become quite a passion of mine, after spending years avoiding them. My thinking behind that: there are so many wonderful flower artists out there, excellent at capturing their beauty, how much more could I add? After trying a couple, I fell in love with it and realised that there are thousands of ways to portray the beauty of flowers, and that artists will NEVER be able to exhaust the many ways of showing off one of nature's wonders!

Rampage of Appreciation

Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm sketchbook

Appreciate your friends
and family
and hold them near.
NOW

Compliment yourself
on the day’s achievements
no matter how big or few they are.

Appreciate the stamina of your body.
And who you are.

Turn toward
your perfect life.
It is the best feeling.

Go on a rampage of appreciation.

Relax and breathe into appreciation
of what you shared.
No relationship is ever done.
It’s all eternal.
- Maree Clarkson

Daisies Postcard 2

I'm a pretty little thing,
Always coming with the spring;
In the meadows green I'm found,
Peeping just above the ground,
And my stalk is cover'd flat
With a white and yellow hat.


Little Mary, when you pass
Lightly o'er the tender grass,
Skip about, but do not tread
On my bright but lowly head,
For I always seem to say,
"Surely winter's gone away."
- Ann Taylor, "The Field Daisy"

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

"Daisies Postcard" - Watercolour on handwritten background text on Visual 200gsm - 12" x 10"

Every Spring, the daisies in my garden spring up with such exuberance and last spring I just had to paint some of them!

I'm exploring doing some watercolours on back-grounds with handwriting on them (this one from Boccacino), and find it gives some lovely soft effects. First I print out the texture on watercolour paper and then add the sketches and watercolours.

Vintage Coffee Roses

Oh, my love’s like a red, red rose,
That ’s newly sprung in June;
Oh, my love’s like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
- Robert Burns

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


Coffee and watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Some more painting with coffee, this time with a bit of Cadmium Red added - the rose on the left is from my garden and the one on the right is done from an inverted image of one of Elizabeth Kendall's roses on FaceBook.

Happy New Year 2011!

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
- Hamilton Wright Mabie



Here's wishing all my beautiful friends, fellow artists and bloggers a WONDERFUL, joyful and inspirational new year! In fact, I wish this for you for the rest of your life! This has been such an awesome year for me, and I don't know how to express all the feelings I've experienced here; the sharing, the support and the recognition from everybody that has crossed my path. May you all experience similar beautiful feelings in the new year!

As far as New year's resolutions are concerned, I have made only one, and will try to always keep to this:

To rise above the little things.