Moon - Waning Gibbous

Moon - Waning Gibbous 5th Dec 2009 - South Africa, Southern Hemisphere - Maree©

The moon was 84% of full tonight, and waning, peeking through the rain clouds after a lovely downpour. I decided to try and sketch it, but substituted half of the black tree-lined foreground with water. This was my first attempt at sketching at night and quite a new experience for me!

Veld fire in Tarlton

"There may be a great fire in our soul, net no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke."
- Vincent van Gogh

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


Veldfire in Tarlton in October 2009 - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book Maree©

This was another veld fire in our area, very late for the season - we stopped on the side of the road and this time I had my watercolour pencils with me! Did some quick preliminary colour and finished it off at home. The sunset was actually stunning behind all the smoke - should have stayed longer and gotten more detail on the clouds ... ah well, next time!

Harrismith landscape

"Harrismith landscape" - Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - size 12" x 8.5"
For Sale

I drive down to Ballito on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, about 6 or 7 times a year, and have done this route along the N3 South for so many years, the scenery is etched into my mind. During June/July, our winter months, the Drakensberg mountains in the distance are covered with snow and makes for a beautiful sight.

Passing through the Free State, you come upon the town of Harrismith, close to the border of KwaZulu Natal, which is one of the major stops for fuel on this 670km trip(about 420 miles). Here the landscape changes dramatically from miles and miles of totally flat farming landscape to mountain vistas and an area called "The Valley of a 1000 Hills", and there are thousands of hills as you descend down Van Reenen's Pass for the next 20 kilometers or so into KwaZulu Natal towards the coastal region.

I did this watercolour from memory.

Crested Barbet

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come.
Chinese Proverb


Crested Barbet - pen and watercolour in Agenda Planner Journal - Maree©

I heard the Crested Barbet's warbling song early this morning, so I rushed out with my sketch-book, knowing that they sit still in once place for a long time, stretching their warble for so long one thinks he's going to run out of breath!

Had plenty of time to do a quick outline sketch, filling it in with detail as he warbled on. A few quick stokes of colour and I was done!

The Crested Barbets are regular visitors to my garden and seem to know when the feed tables contain fruit - the love apple and banana and will sometimes swallow grapes whole!

I used only 4 colours on this quick exercise - Payne's Grey, Orange, Alizarin Crimson and Burn Sienna, all from Daler-Rowney. Oh, I almost forgot - and Sap Green for the leaves.

Farm gate in Magaliesburg

"Live out of your imagination instead of out of your memory."

~ Les Brown

Farm gate in Magaliesburg - watercolour in Moleskine - Maree©

The town of Magaliesburg in Western Gauteng, has these lovely little meandering roads leading off the main road, going to the various properties and farms, some on the banks of the Magalies River. This entrance to someone's farm is not far from a little Bistro we frequent and, as we drove past, this gate caught my eye and we stopped so I could do a quick sketch. Wonder what's on the other side of the gate?

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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