Daisies in the rain

There is a flower, a little flower
With silver crest and golden eye,
That welcomes every changing hour,
And weathers every sky.
Author: James Montgomery


Rudbeckia "Echinacea purpurea" - watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book 17/04/2010 - 8" x 5.5" - Maree©

When it's freezing outside and threatening to rain any minute, and I can't make a field trip to do some sketching, I always turn to my garden for inspiration. Even under the most dismal conditions there is always something to be found - some flower left-overs, a few Autumn leaves clinging to a branch or the birds and insects who seem to cheerily carry on, no matter what the weather.

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.

African Storm Brewing

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather."
- John Ruskin

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


African Storm Brewing - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 11" x 7.5" - Maree©

It's already April, way past our rainy season, and on one of our recent trips to Harties (Schoemansville), I captured this Autumn storm brewing over a farm on the banks of the Crocodile River, which flows through Broederstroom on it's way to Hartebeespoort Dam in the North-West Province of South Africa.

When a storm is brewing (in your mind or in your life), embrace it as just another delicious experience, like a summer shower. See what you can learn from it, take a lesson from it, because soon the clouds will have a silver lining again as the sunshine bursts through. Nothing lasts forever - not the rain, not the sunshine, not the storm - so might as well accept it into our lives as just another "bad weather" phenomena.

Tulips from South Africa ♪♫

in the shady garden | one tulip

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

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


Tulips in a Vase - ink sketch and watercolour in my Daily Journal - Maree©

I have this vintage, white enamel jug, which I love to fill with flowers, even grasses which I gather from the road-side, and recently a friend who owns a flower farm here in Tarlton brought over some Tulips, which they export to Holland. We all equate Tulips with the Dutch, but according to my friend the tulips were brought from Turkey and introduced to the Dutch in 1593, and the Dutch have certainly coined the phrase "Tulips from Amsterdam"!

Greedy vs. Needy?

"Here you are, on the same planet that you've been on for more years than you have the ability to count. And just in the last 400 years, look at the difference in your economy. And it's the same exact planet. Nobody has been trucking in or piping in any resources. There are not more resources present today. You are just vibrationally lining up with the utilization of them.

And, oh, this planet's ability to yield to you: you have not even scratched the surface of it. It is a continually replenishing environment. And you would never be able to get your planet imbalanced by utilizing more of its resources than it could produce. It just cannot happen. "
-Abraham-Hicks


Scene on Spring Farm - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 8" x 6" - Maree©

While sketching this wonderful scene at Spring Farm the other day, it reminded me of an article I read on someone's blog, saying, "We have been guilty of taking more than our share and expecting more than the Earth could provide for all the people in her care."

This is not possible - Earth and her resources cannot run out or be finished, although that is what mass consciousness would have us believe - the supply in the Universe is unlimited, it is there for us to tap into.

If you want more to come (money or anything else), you've got to find some way of getting off the subject of "not enough", and the easiest way is appreciation of what we have. The "allowing mode" feels like fun, feels like joy - the "resistant mode" feels like tension, feels like hate.

There are enough resources for everyone to have everything they want.

Mohandas K. Gandhi got it completely wrong when he said : "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." It is mass consciousness thoughts like this which disallows all the abundance we deserve, and which the Universe supplies in endless abundance.

Jack of all trades

“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”
- Henri Matisse

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


Roses - Watercolour on Ashrad hot-pressed 6" x 8" - Maree©

When I woke up this morning, I thought, "What is my agenda for today?" so I decided that, today, I will just sketch - anything, everything, landscapes, flowers.

I've been wondering about my "style" lately - have I got a "style"? Are people able to look at my art and say "that is a Maree Clarkson"? Isn't that perhaps what art is all about, finding your niche and sticking to a recognisable format and "style"?

It's been a long time now that I've been berating myself for being such a "Jack of all trades" - sketching and painting, making jewelry, can do wood carving, copper work, pewter work, bead work, and the list is longer that what you want to know - thinking that I should be specialising in something special, something unique, or only one thing, even only sticking to one subject in painting, and then I came upon this quote this morning:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, Conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects."
-- Lazarus Long

What a relief! Matter cleared up! How easily aren't we persuaded by the opinions of others...?!

Hiking trail

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
- Rachel Carlson

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

Hiking Trail - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 8" x 6" - Maree©

During my horse riding days, we used to go visit some friends on horse-back up in Hillside, about 10koms from us, taking a short-cut through the brick yard up this little trail, passing the Pelindaba rocks I sketched in a previous post. It is beautiful here, with prickly ferns, indigenous wild flowers and a large variety of wild grasses to sketch and photograph.

It's not really a hiking trail, just a short-cut used by the locals moving between Hillside and Vlakplaas, where we live, which cuts out about 5kms, a lot when you're on foot!

Perfect Imperfection

"... because it is in the tumbling that the stone gets polished!"

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


Practice 6

I've come to the conclusion that not everything has to be perfect. The joy of every brush stroke is perfection in itself, the joy of a unique creation. We are so worried about criticism that the joy of the journey is so often lost, chasing after perfection, completion, the destination.

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
- Leonard Cohen

(These thoughts came to me after I had scanned this sketch and decided I didn't like it and that it wasn't fit for publication - no name even!)

Up-date on Seagulls in Randfontein

What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid.
- From Jonathan Livingstone Seagull


Seagull - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - 8" x 5" - Maree©

Every couple of weeks I have seagulls passing over my garden, and I've been wondering what they're doing so far in-land, 600km from the nearest coast. I decided to do a bit of investigating and contacted the Publicity Association in Randfontein with my query (you can read the previous post HERE).

The Association responded extremely quickly and said they would look into the matter. Here is an extract from the e-mail I received from Joy at the Publicity Association :

"HI Maree,

I have spoken to a few people and they have said that seagulls are scavengers and will basically land and stay in a place where there is food. I was told by BirdLife SA that seagulls are not necessarily associated with the sea - it's just their name that is.

The gulls that decided to stay in Randfontein were probably on their way somewhere when they discovered Uncle Harry's Roadhouse. The owner, Jimmy Pappas, says there used to be hundreds of the birds at the roadhouse and they would always feed them left over hamburgers and chips. At one point the birds would only eat the chips with barbeque sauce!

Jimmy also says they got very fat and never wanted to leave. He noticed fewer birds last year and was worried they may have been poisoned by contaminated water the mines pump out, but he's not sure. He says they normally come around towards and during winter, so we will have to wait and see.

Regards,

Joy"

Thank you for that fantastic information Joy and we just hope that the seagulls will be visiting Uncle Harry's again this winter.

The 4 Seasons - Spring

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn

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


Spring in Tarlton - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper- 8" x 6" - Maree©

This outcrop of age-old Pelindaba rock is about 3 kilometers from us in a shallow little ravine that we used to often pass by on our outrides with our horses. Last weekend we took the little track as a short-cut to visit some friends in Hillside and I was reminded of the weird formations of these rocks that are like the tip of the iceberg - 99% of it is under-ground.

The presence of these spongy rocks indicates a high level of under-ground water in the area and is extensively found in Tarlton. These rocks also attract lightning and Tarlton is well renowned for the heavy electric storms it suffers.

This is one of a series "The 4 Seasons" - Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.