Country Diary - Buyers' Corner

“Art is not a thing; it is a way.”
- Elbert Hubbard

Ink and wash and collage in my Moleskine 200gsm "Country Diary"

I started a Country Diary a while ago, which consists of paintings, sketches and collages depicting nature, rural and farm life. This is my first entry and I'll be posting a couple of them here, and it was a nice break from my regular landscapes and sketching. I'd forgotten how wonderful it feels to play again! This is one of my roosters, Artemis, and he actually makes quite a willing sketch subject, not minding standing quietly close-by as I sit and sketch in the garden.

I sometimes think I'd rather crow

And be a rooster than to roost

And be a crow. But I don't know.

A rooster he can roost also,

Which doesn't seem fair when crows can't crow.

Which may help some. But I don't know.

Crows should be glad of one thing, though;

Nobody thinks of eating crow,

While roosters they are good enough

For anyone unless they're tough.

There are lots of tough old roosters, though.

And anyway a crow can't crow,

So maybe roosters stand more show.

It looks that way. But I don't know.

~Unknown

Someone's life somewhere...

"Use your Imagination, not to scare yourself to death,
but to Inspire yourself to Live."
- Adele Brockman

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

A bit more on the sketching side - a farm road leading into someone's life on a smallholding. Here I used my Parker Fountain pen with black Quink ink and a colour wash.

An artist's biggest problem is how to find inspiration. Once you have a subject, a character, or a circumstance that fascinates you, it’s all anyone can do to keep you from rushing to the blank page and sketching away like mad.

One of the reasons for the elusive nature of inspiration is that we expect finding inspiration to be effortless. More than effortless – we expect it to be nearly magical. One day we’ll open the drapes and look out on the street and there, walking in front of us, will be the character around which our next great sketch will revolve.

Sure, sometimes inspiration happens unexpectedly, at just the right time and in just the right place. However, most of the time, artists have to go looking for it. And we have to have the skills to recognize where to find it.

Sketching more

MOST of the earth is beyond the walls of buildings, and is untouched in appearance by the art of the sculptor or the painter.

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


Quick landscape sketch with my Parker Fountain Pen, black Quink ink and some colour added - done in my Moleskine Folio (A4) 200gsm Watercolour sketchbook

Sketching has always been one of my great passions, but of late I've been neglecting it in favour of doing mostly watercolours. I've decided to go back to basics and sketch a lot more. Sketching forces you to look in more detail, and ask yourself what you actually see. You’ll end up seeing a lot more than you would otherwise. There’s something about holding a pen or pencil in your hand that gets your creative juices flowing in a much different way than holding a brush. When you get used to sketching, the movements of your hand become much more fluid and it becomes really easy and natural. The more you practice, the better you will become at sketching.

A little old barn

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

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - inspired by the poem below.

you just gotta love
a little old barn
touched by time
with it’s own charm..
the weatherd wood
shines bright in the sun..
Proud and still standing..
(it’s time isn’t done)………
Think of the tales
that could be told
if barns could talk
of memories they hold..
each one is different
no two are the same..
to see them fading
away, is a shame.
- Connetta

The Essence of Africa

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”
- D.H. Lawrence

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

Here I used Coffee, candle wax and W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

In the past 100 plus years, changes in Africa have been numerous. However, it is the essence of Africa which remains unchanged.

To me the essence of Africa is not just the beautiful countryside, it is not just the amazing wildlife or the abundant bird life or the gorgeous beaches, Bushveld and cities, it is also about the people.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life. We say, "A person is a person through other persons."

(Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa and a direct translation basically means, "I am what I am because of who we all are." Ubuntu also
suggests that the person who behaves with humanity will eventually be an ancestor worthy of respect or veneration.)

South Africa is a melting pot of different peoples. Our challenge lies in building a ‘single’ community, united by being committed to the common good of all, in uniting our people from different origins, culture and spiritual beliefs in a form of acceptance and friendship.
With the right motives and the right spirit and by applying the right principles of Ubuntu, a natural patriotism is developing in South Africa.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.
- INFORMATION REGARDING 'UBUNTU' FROM WIKIPEDIA