Pippin, the Bushbaby

“Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit."
- Albert Schweitzer

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

W&N watercolour in my Moleskine 200gsm Folio (A4) Nature Journal

This is Pippin, whom I was lucky enough to have in my life for a few weeks after I rescued him from children who were stoning him, as a result of which he lost the use of his left eye. After nursing him back to health, he spent a couple of weeks living in my indoor garden in my lounge, often bounding onto my shoulder for a snack. When I was satisfied that he had fully recovered, I released him in the thickets on the banks of the Magalies River, which was in the vicinity where I had found him. I just hoped and prayed that he had learnt a lesson about people and would stay out of reach of the children ...

I did this sketch from a photograph I took of him, as he NEVER sits still long enough to be able to sketch him!

Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies (meaning "little night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa and are almost exclusively seen only at night.

Christmas 2011 in Tarlton

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
~Burton Hillis

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

Lovely hot weather, a few clouds to keep the temperature just right, and a drive through the countryside on our way to have Christmas breakfast at the Magaliesburg Hotel (Gauteng, South Africa). What more could one ask for?!

Wishing you...

May your home be filled with the joy of family and friends this holiday season!

... the Best Festive Season ever!

Here's wishing all my Blogger friends and family the BEST festive season you've ever had and a stunning New 2012! A real cliché, but I can honestly say this year has flown the fastest I've known any year to do! One of the greatest gifts provided to us by the Universe is the gift of creation. And I've been honoured and inspired by meeting so many creative people this past year and it is something I'm truly grateful for....

Wishing you all a day filled with
wonderful things to be grateful for.

Rhino Study - The Unpardonable Crime

To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime.
~Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize 1915

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

Black Artline Fine-point pen sketch with colour wash on Amedeo 200gsm

Of late I've been inspired to do more and more wildlife sketches and paintings - there's so much in our area to draw inspiration from - the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, The Rhino and Lion Park and many small private game Reserves - to name but a few. These Rhinos reside at the Rhino and Lion Park in Kromdraai and sometimes graze right next to the fence, not perturbed at all by tourists taking pictures or sketchers like me!

Gemsbuck Study - Wear your own skin

We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.
~Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization

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

PilotFineliner Blank ink sketch with W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm (135lb) Smooth heavy-weight sketching paper - small sketch 6" x 8"

The Gemsbuck (Oryx gazella) is one of the most handsome antelope in Africa, with its long rapier-like horns and striking markings. They can form herds of up to 20 - 30 animals. Gemsbuck are grazers but will survive on browse in times of drought. When wounded they can be very dangerous animals to approach on foot. The horns of the calves grow extremely fast and when they emerge from concealment after birth their horns are very evident. This has lead to the myth that a Gemsbok is born with horns.