Daisies in the rain

There is a flower, a little flower
With silver crest and golden eye,
That welcomes every changing hour,
And weathers every sky.
Author: James Montgomery


Rudbeckia "Echinacea purpurea" - watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book 17/04/2010 - 8" x 5.5" - Maree©

When it's freezing outside and threatening to rain any minute, and I can't make a field trip to do some sketching, I always turn to my garden for inspiration. Even under the most dismal conditions there is always something to be found - some flower left-overs, a few Autumn leaves clinging to a branch or the birds and insects who seem to cheerily carry on, no matter what the weather.

Acceptance - on Mother's Day

AFFIRMATION :

"I accept my human imperfections as an expression of beauty;

I accept my struggles and rough parts as my teachers."

The magic of affirmations and visualizations has come a long way with me and has formed a large part of who I am and where I am today.

The above affirmation is the latest to join the list on my mirror, as I've been finding myself bemoaning my "fate" quite a bit lately, albeit only in my own mind. One so easily falls into the trap of dissatisfaction, wanting 'perfection' in everything, not realising that everything is perfect and beautiful as it is.

Letting go of insecurities and worries is important for me to move forward, both as a whole and complete person as well as an artist.

African Storm Brewing

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather."
- John Ruskin

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


African Storm Brewing - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 11" x 7.5" - Maree©

It's already April, way past our rainy season, and on one of our recent trips to Harties (Schoemansville), I captured this Autumn storm brewing over a farm on the banks of the Crocodile River, which flows through Broederstroom on it's way to Hartebeespoort Dam in the North-West Province of South Africa.

When a storm is brewing (in your mind or in your life), embrace it as just another delicious experience, like a summer shower. See what you can learn from it, take a lesson from it, because soon the clouds will have a silver lining again as the sunshine bursts through. Nothing lasts forever - not the rain, not the sunshine, not the storm - so might as well accept it into our lives as just another "bad weather" phenomena.

Tulips from South Africa ♪♫

in the shady garden | one tulip

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

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


Tulips in a Vase - ink sketch and watercolour in my Daily Journal - Maree©

I have this vintage, white enamel jug, which I love to fill with flowers, even grasses which I gather from the road-side, and recently a friend who owns a flower farm here in Tarlton brought over some Tulips, which they export to Holland. We all equate Tulips with the Dutch, but according to my friend the tulips were brought from Turkey and introduced to the Dutch in 1593, and the Dutch have certainly coined the phrase "Tulips from Amsterdam"!

Greedy vs. Needy?

"Here you are, on the same planet that you've been on for more years than you have the ability to count. And just in the last 400 years, look at the difference in your economy. And it's the same exact planet. Nobody has been trucking in or piping in any resources. There are not more resources present today. You are just vibrationally lining up with the utilization of them.

And, oh, this planet's ability to yield to you: you have not even scratched the surface of it. It is a continually replenishing environment. And you would never be able to get your planet imbalanced by utilizing more of its resources than it could produce. It just cannot happen. "
-Abraham-Hicks


Scene on Spring Farm - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 8" x 6" - Maree©

While sketching this wonderful scene at Spring Farm the other day, it reminded me of an article I read on someone's blog, saying, "We have been guilty of taking more than our share and expecting more than the Earth could provide for all the people in her care."

This is not possible - Earth and her resources cannot run out or be finished, although that is what mass consciousness would have us believe - the supply in the Universe is unlimited, it is there for us to tap into.

If you want more to come (money or anything else), you've got to find some way of getting off the subject of "not enough", and the easiest way is appreciation of what we have. The "allowing mode" feels like fun, feels like joy - the "resistant mode" feels like tension, feels like hate.

There are enough resources for everyone to have everything they want.

Mohandas K. Gandhi got it completely wrong when he said : "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." It is mass consciousness thoughts like this which disallows all the abundance we deserve, and which the Universe supplies in endless abundance.