Shade trees and a summer breeze

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it!
~Russel Baker

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W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm sketching paper - from my imagination, no preliminary sketching

As the Northern Hemisphere are shivering in their boots (lol!) we here in South Africa are experiencing extremely hot temperatures.

When it comes to summer heat, there is such a thing as having too much of a good thing. Temperatures can rise beyond comfortable levels for days, and sometimes weeks. The once glorious summer season soon becomes unbearable, making every outdoor activity a chore. Shade trees and a summer breeze become welcome treasures.

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What lies ahead?

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

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

As we enter this new year, there's always the thought, "What lies ahead?" Many of us may be stepping out in a new direction, starting a new job, moving house or just trying something new with our art. But that's a good thing, it's time to go, to leave this place and embrace the unknown, and step into the new year with confidence and faith.

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It's time to go, to leave this place
The unknown awaits, as it does
For a foolish few who dare.

I leave behind what I comprehend
And even with all communication
I know for now without doubt
I drift, en route a new location

But who's to say what shall pass
And what still lies ahead

Am I running from that I can not?
Unknown

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Impala in the Game Reserve

There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.
~Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Ink sketch with Pilot Black Fineliner and W&N colour wash in my Moleskine 200gsm (A4) 'Nature Journal'

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Another sketch of one of the Impala grazing close to the road in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. A drive through this Game Reserve reveals all sorts of treasures. We also spotted a huge Mountain tortoise in the distance behind the Impala herd and it seemed to be heading straight for the water-hole, where there was also a flock of South African Shelduck (Tadorna cana), making quite a noise over something in the water, probably a Hippo, although we didn't see it.

Summer heat

“Ah, summer - what power you have to make us suffer and like it!”
- Russell Baker

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

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsmmulti-media paper

So far we've been experiencing a very hot summer here in Tarlton (south Africa), with temperatures deep into the 30's Celsius. If I want to do any gardening, it starts at about 6am and the rest of the day I spend in my studio, in front of the aircon, painting.

Farewell to 2011 - Hello 2012!

And so I say farewell to another year
a year filled with
beauty . inspiration . happy moments . a few sad moments . gratitude . joy
wonder about this life that we're living . breathlessness . hope . dreams

I am surrendering to just being right here . and saying hello to a new year

May your year start in soft shades . appear prickly . yet be smooth . often open and unusual
and may you GROW through 2012 . become ever resourceful . remain ever reflective
continue ever reaching . stay ever amazed!

A watercolour sunflower on a textured back-ground by Kim Klassen

A Forest Path

Mixed Media - Coffee and W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

The sound
Of silence

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Multiple
Shades
Of green
And other hue

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An
Approaching mist
Above a forest path
- Liam ó Comáin

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!