PAGES - New feature for Blogger

In case all my fellow 'Blogger' bloggers don't know it yet, Blogger now has a new feature called "PAGES", similar to the pages that you can add to WordPress. Mine appears just under my header, and I will be using it as a special place to add important announcements or pages about a specific topic. You are allowed 10 Pages (bit of a bummer, could've been more!) and you can find out more about it here at "The Computery"

'I Love the Way She Blogs' has also got an article "How to use Pages on Blogger"
and you can also go to Blogger's site "What are Pages?", which explains how to add the menus horizontally in stead of vertically.

A new tool to play with! How exciting!

Lonely Shores

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
- Lord Byron

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


Lonely Shore - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8.5" - Maree©

I've been missing the coast for a while now, haven't been for several months. Miss the sand between my toes, watching the sun rise over a brilliantly turquoise sea, the waves washing up little treasures to sketch... I love just sitting on the rocks, the breeze in my hair, the crabs scurrying around before the tide comes in again.

The beaches in Ballito, on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, stretch flat and smooth for long distances, ideal for long walks, and some stretches have lots of rocks, offering a place to sit and ponder, but way up the North Coast, at St. Lucia, the beaches are wild and undulating, covered with vegetation. The Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles breed in these waters and lay their eggs on these shores.



If you're interested in seeing a bit more of St. Lucia, go HERE

Early morning landscape

"With each sunrise, we start anew"

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


"Early Morning Landscape" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 9" - Maree©

The sun rising gently behind our Blue Gum forest and, with some imagination, the fields are turned into a wonder-wetland.

This painting is one in a series of paintings done by painting directly onto the paper, no sketching done before-hand. Lately I have found that, unless I am doing something very detailed, like the feathers of a bird, I am eager to get the image onto paper or canvass and don't feel like restricting myself with pencil lines.

This painting is for sale on my SALES BLOG.

Our Comfort Zone

"Often what we call procrastination, a lack of inspiration or boredom, is really just being trapped in the shell of our own comfort zone. Our comfort zone offers a safe haven, a trusted beaten path for us to follow. However the comfort zone can easily become, over time, our liability zone!"

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



It's amazing what you'll do when inspiration fails to materialise. I just couldn't think of anything to sketch - a landscape? No, boring! Some animals? No, boring! I was at my wit's end, trying to come up with something, so I decided to really challenge myself and do something I really hate - still life!

I looked around the kitchen and grabbed a couple of things lying around and just started sketching. Before long I was totally immersed in capturing the see-throughness of the plastic wrap and the vibrant colours on hubby's favourite mug - even my hake lying close-by got roped in!

Moving out of my comfort zone and doing something new made me realise that we so easily become entrenched in the 'known' - that excitement and passion can easily ebb away and leave us feeling drained.

Phoebe loses Stormy - RIP

A quick sketch I've done of Phoebe as I'm writing this - Phoebe back from feeding

Many of us have been following Phoebe, the Allen's Hummingbird, sitting on her nest in Orange County, California, via live cam (http://cam.dellwo.com/), whose babies, Sassy and Stormy, hatched on the 19th January 2010. The sad news is that Stormy died last night - apparently he hatched the same day as Sassy, but was only due to hatch 2 days later, so he was premature and weak and, therefore, did not make it. RIP poor Stormy...

But, of course, we must realise this is nature's way of ensuring that only the fit and strong survive. The second egg is normally laid as an insurance policy.


Sassy alone in the nest...

Art in the Garden

"Eagle's Fare" restaurant at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, Roodepoort, South Africa

Come along and browse art in the stunning outdoor setting of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort. 10% of all sales go to the Botanical Society's Garden Development Fund.

For further info or directions, e-mail botsoc@sisulugarden.co.za

Forthcoming dates:
Sunday 31 January 2010

Across a Moonlit Sea

"Across a Moonlit Sea" watercolour in Moleskine Folio 12" x 8" - Maree©

The Moonlit Sea

On a calm sea the moonlight shimmers
Holding all eyes entranced
Bright and silvery it glimmers
As the argent light danced
By the lapping shore when the hour is late
The rippling moonlight upon the sea hypnotizing
A place to ponder and contemplate
The undulately moonlight upon the sea mesmerizing
The silvery sea's slow, rhythmic measure in the night
The gentle breakers softly caressing the shore
The brilliant moonlight is eerie bright
Its refulgent shine of splendorous galore
The lulling of the gentle breakers seduces
Where hushed night shall ever be
The radiant patterns of the silvery water induces
A spellbound state by the becalmed moonlit sea

- by Thor's Fury

Allen's Hummingbird

"Allen's Hummingbird" watercolour in Moleskine Folio - Maree©

I've been following the progress via Live cam (http://cam.dellwo.com/) of the Allen's Hummingbird sitting on her eggs, laid on the 2nd and 4th of January 2010, respectively, and which are due to hatch within the next day or so. The link was supplied by well-known bird artist, Vickie Henderson, who also sketched the Humming bird. You can see Vickie's post and sketches on her blog, Vickie Henderson Art.

I did this sketch from screenshots taken of the live cam. Not knowing Hummingbirds very well, I Googled it and somehow think I've made the beak much too curved (although it certainly looked like that on the screenshot) - the description read, "Allen's Hummingbird: Small, compact hummingbird; male has straight black bill, glittering green crown and back, white breast, and rufous sides, belly, rump, and tail. The throat (gorget) is iridescent copper-red. Feeds on nectar, insects, spiders, and sap. Swift direct flight, hovers when feeding." It also states that it is the female that incubates the eggs for 15 to 17 days, so maybe the female's bill is a bit more curved. All wonderfully new stuff to me!

I'm keeping a close eye one the Live cam, as I really would like to see the hatching of the eggs. Pop in again for an up-date!

Wetland (temporarily) in Tarlton again!

"Thicket by thicket and wetland by wetland, we are losing the remaining wilderness and diversity of life. The greenbelt is stopping the loss of natural features and the species they host."

~ Jim Bradley

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

Wetland - Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size - 12" x 9" (SOLD)

A foray into bright colours, showing my excitement - the Tarlton stream is flowing again! It was almost as wide as the road as it snaked its way towards the dam, dropping several meters as it flowed through the broken dam wall. We haven't seen this sight for many years, but the plentiful rains we've had must've caused it to break through the man-made obstructions further up-stream. In this view the stream is flowing from the top down towards the old dam.

Longing back to the days of swimming in the dam with our horses before the wall was broken down...

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Farm shed in Magaliesburg

"The key question isn't "What fosters creativity?" But it is why in heaven's name isn't everyone more creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create, but why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything."


Farm Shed in Magaliesburg - watercolour 12" x 8.5" - Maree©

Magaliesburg, situated on the border of Gauteng and the North West Province, is renowned as a tourist destination, but also supports a vast farming community. I did this sketch of the shed on a farm not far from The Cradle of Humankind Visitors' Centre.