Little Green Patch in Tarlton

This little green patch on a hillock caught my eye as we drove past the other evening on the way to Magaliesburg, the sunset casting a golden glow on the distant fields. I did this sketch from memory once we got home.

Veld fire on the road to Magaliesburg

We were on our way to Magaliesburg the other day and to my amazement! a veld fire sweeping across the hills! Some areas that had not previously burnt were still brown and dry, but it always puzzles me how the fires start in good weather with no lightning. A passerby's cigarette...?

The Hills of Magaliesburg

From where we live in Tarlton, South Africa, the small village of Magaliesburg is just a short 13km drive through some wonderful scenery, especially during summer, when the area turns the most amazing green after a brown and dusty winter. Although our first rains have fallen, much of the landscape was still dry and in danger of veld fires in October.

Sketching in soft-cover books

Blue gum tree in soft-cover book

I'm feeling a bit distracted these days - I get like that when I've got a lot on my plate - besides sketching daily, doing larger paintings once or twice a week and my Private Daily Journal - I've also started an on-line art class with Cathy (Kate) Johnson on "Keeping an Artists' Journal" and I'm also participating in a sketch-book exchange between South Africa and Australia, which you can read about on Artists' Circle.

To centre my thoughts and ground my energy a bit, I took and old soft-cover book with me to record little sketches of grasses, weeds and indigenous flowers on our property. Before I started on the grasses, I couldn't resist doing a quick sketch of this Blue gum tree - I'll use the sketches that I do in these soft-covers as reference for larger paintings at a later stage.

Painting with Watercolour pencils

'Magalies River' in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book

I bought some Watercolour pencils yesterday morning, for the first time ever, NEVER worked in them before, but thought I'd get them seeing as they're on Kate's list of supplies for the 'Keeping an Artist's Journal' class, which starts today. I got the Derwent AQUAtone set of 12 as well as the Derwent Aquarelle set of 24 because it had some different colours.

We went to Wicker Tea Garden in Magaliesburg for lunch, so I took the small AQUAtone set with me. I did this sketch of the river bank, asked the waiter for a glass of water and voila! instant colour on the spot.

Can't say I'm mad about using watercolour pencils, feels like I'm back at school colouring in! But as far as portability and instant colour with little fuss is concerned - they just fitted into my purse - I'll certainly be using them again. But the colours seem to be fairly muddy - don't know if it's me or if it's the colours. And the colour range is also very limited - tried mixing the colours on the paper, which just made it muddier.


The Derwent sets of watercolour pencils are available in nice tins, easy for carrying around