Lighthouse Storm

The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.
Dee Hock

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


"Lighthouse - Storm" mixed media of watercolour and acrylics on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Nguni Cattle 1

“It’s amazing how loose some people become in their sketchbook drawing simply because they have a carefree approach and don’t become locked down in trying to make finished works.”

- Robert Wade

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


"Nguni" watercolour in Ashrad 200gsm Sketch pad - Maree©

I am SUCH a lover of Nguni cattle - if there's a book to be found I buy it! A Black and white Nguni skin adorns my lounge floor and I avidly read any articles or history about them I can find.

Karoo Storm

stunning heat:
even the birds
are silent

A small poem from WATERMARKS

My daily sketch ...


"Karoo Storm" abstract watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Off for a week (not to Venice!)

Well, I'm off to Ballito on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal tomorrow for a week - I am taking my laptop with me, but might or might not be posting here. Am going to try and fit some painting in, but that remains to be seen, as I have a lot of catching up to do with the family.

“If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you've imagined. Venice is -- Venice is better.”
Fran Lebowitz

My daily sketch for today...


"Venice" watercolour on Bockingford - Maree©

This is actually an old painting I did in the 80's, but revamped it with some bolder colour and a couple of architectural changes.

Botanical - Butterflies, Double Feature

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”

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


Botanical Butterflies - "Double Feature"

Psychedelic Me

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
Oscar Wilde

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


"Psychedelic Me" watercolour on Daler-Rowney 190gsm - Maree©

For this one I printed out a photograph of myself on Daler-Rowney 190gsm paper in very light grey-scale (all colour removed and contrast and enhancement set to very low in the picture manager) and then added some watercolour. I think I've flattered myself - doesn't show the double chin or the wrinkles...!

Moleskine Journal entry

A daily journal entry and sketch ...




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Moleskine Journal entry and watercolour sketch - Maree©

(Click to enlarge)


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"Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

Today the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know nothing so wondrous fair,

No miracles so strongly rare.

I wonder what will next be there!"

- L.H. Bailey

Hillside

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)

My daily sketch for today...


"Hillside" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

Garden Journal entry

An entry and sketch in my Daily Garden Journal
(Click to enlarge and read the entry)

To me, the garden is a doorway to other worlds; one of them, of course, is the world of birds. The garden is their dinner table, bursting with bugs and worms and succulent berries.

Lighthouse Santa Cruz

Without planning, your painting will probably be indecisive and fragmented, and you'll try to say too much in one picture.
- Ron Ranson

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


"Lighthouse - Santa Cruz, California" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©