Winter in Tarlton

“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.”

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

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Winter in South Africa brings raging veld fires, lands that lie fallow on farms and, in certain areas like Tarlton, frost that wipes clean any memory of green, except for the evergreen Black Wattle trees, which put up a spectacular show of brown seed pods, brightening up an otherwise bleak landscape.

Luckily winter is now OVER and summer is in full swing! I did this painting of a friend's farm in Oaktree not far from us.

Art is Magic!

"Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other."
~ Mary Caroline Richards

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 smooth inside back cover of Amedeo watercolour pad - no preliminary sketching

The inside back covers of the various watercolour pads are nice and smooth, almost like painting on Yuppo, and it fascinates me how one can wait for the paint to dry and then add layers or, just with a wet brush, lift the paint completely, leaving the clean, white surface again! Makes fixing 'mistakes' a cinch!

The true meaning of life...

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
~Nelson Henderson

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



The above quote came to mind as I was doing this sketch in my Moleskine 200gsm Folio (A4) watercolour sketch-book at Hartebeespoort Dam last year - two beautiful trees at the edge of the dam and I wondered if anybody has ever sat in their shade....

Umbrella Thorn

Should a tree write its autobiography, it would not be unlike the history of a race.
- Khalil Gibran

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

Thorn tree - watercolour on Ashrad 300gsm
Umbrella Thorn {Acacia tortilis}

There are few more striking symbols of Africa than a thorn tree - its gnarled branches, graceful form, jagged thorns and abundant blooms, in many ways reflecting the paradoxes of the continent.

This Umbrella Thorn (Acacia tortilis) stands in one corner of my garden and offers a safe haven for many birds who seek a safe place to nest.

The Song sings itself

In summer, the song sings itself.
- William Carlos Williams

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

W&N watercolours on Amedeo 200gsm

My Swallows (Greater-striped Swallow) have returned and it always amazes me that they've come thousands of miles back to their nest on MY little piece of soil here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa! How great is that!

They've already got their first brood and this sketch started off as one of the youngsters perching in my peach tree, and although they do have a glint of blue on their heads and wings, I got carried away with the blue and now it looks more like a Blue Bird (which we DON'T have here in S.A.! lol!) But I have managed to capture the likeness in his cute little face, so it will have to do for now!