JUST ME :: and a stack of blank pages

:: Living creatively ::

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Playful Crow

“Even the blackest of them all, the crow, Renders good service as your man-at-arms, Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail, And crying havoc on the slug and snail.
 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Coco, my Black Crow - Pilot Fineliner Black Ink sketch and watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm Watercolour Sketchbook

Crow – Corvus capensis. Found: Africa

 

Ample press is given to charismatic animals such as dolphins, chimps and the like, but few, when talking of intelligent beings, think to mention the crow or raven. It is, however, easy to understand the natural aversions some people have towards these birds: They’re lacking in any type of floral-like beauty; they have a cacophonous and sometimes incessant caw, and are cunning thieves to boot. 

But if you look closer, and get to know these beautiful birds on a more intimate level, you will see not just see ‘plain black’ feathers, but beautiful iridescent colours of purple, blue, green and brown. And discover a great intelligence, and even a sense of humour, not normally associated with birds. 

They are smart, ingenious, protective, adventurous, and full of engaging play; I recall my 27yr-old crow, Coco, watching intently as I planted my pansy seedlings, only to up-root them the minute I turned my back, cawing in laughter as she fled my mock chase! 

::

Monday, September 17, 2012

Usual summer garb

How does one do it? How does one weave a hat of straw and create a finished product that serves as art upon our head? It seems magical. Or, perhaps it is the magic and the grace which carries the hat that is the thing which makes that hat seem so special. 
- Bohomamma 

W&aN watercolour on DalerRowney 190gsm 

Summer is here and I’m back in my straw hat and brown pants, my usual summer garb. I’m by no means a hat-lover, but straw hats, watering cans and garden gloves go hand-in-hand when you enter nature’s domain.

::

Friday, September 14, 2012

The sensations of Summer


W&N watercolour on Aqua 300gsm
The beach at Zinkwazi, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Zinkwazi – home of the Fish Eagle – is a small village of unspoilt sub-tropical beauty. It is 85kms north of Durban, 6 hours from Gauteng and 45 minutes from Durban International. A 7km lagoon is situated among the lush sub-tropical vegetation of the Zinkwazi conservancy. It is reported to have 180 species of birds and is an excellent stepping stone to the Zululand birding route. There are endless unspoilt beaches both north and south and a safe protected beach in front of the lagoon. I just love sitting in the shade of the beach vegetation, listening to the call of the Fish Eagle and watching the waves, which are quite wild on this stretch of coast.

Sprinkle, squish between my toes,
The smell of ocean to my nose.
I can feel each grain of sand,
It falls from air into my hand.
The shells I find along the shore,
Picked up by birds that fly and soar.
They sparkle like the ocean’s waves,
And carry sand from all the lakes.
I walk along the tip of the sea,
That’s where my feet leave prints to be.
I walk all the way to the end of the land,
The land that holds this beautiful sand.
- Morgan Swain

::
 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

A new beginning

W&N watercolour on Aqua 300gsm watercolour paper

Summer peeking through on our smallholding...

Every spring, a new beginning…

I open a door
Stepping boldly thru
I have no idea
Where it leads
All I desire
Is a new beginning
But then …
Every day
Is a new beginning
If you let it be!

- Unknown

::


 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Delicious Autumn

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 300gsm – Autumn in South Africa

George Eliot said, Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns! How I agree! Delicious mild days when there is no hurry,
 no thing to be done
 and no event that is 
out of order, when Nature seems to pause between summer heat and winter ice, weaving this world 
like needle and thread, 
every action
 a divine rhythm.

::

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Barren and bare

W&N watercolour in hand-crafted sketchbook with linen satin-finish paper

Here in South Africa most of the landscape is still barren and bare after winter's onslaught, but Spring is making a concerted effort to show herself - her reign is normally short-lived, quickly being ousted by Summer's determination to make the most of the months ahead until Autumn has her turn again.

*The garden like a lady fair was cut
That lay as if she slumbered in delight,
And to the open skies her eyes did shut;
The azure fields of heaven were 'sembled right
In a large round set with flow'rs of light:
The flowers de luce and the round sparks of dew
That hung upon their azure leaves, did show
Like twinkling stars that sparkle in the ev'ning blue.*
~ Giles Fletcher

::


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Listen to the Guinea Fowl

Be grateful for nature. Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the Guinea fowl. And don’t hate anybody. 

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm heavy-duty sketching paper. 

The Helmeted Guinea Fowl is an African family of insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds resembling partridges, but with featherless heads and spangled grey plumage. They are the ultimate low-cost, chemical-free pest control and if your garden is already established and can withstand the scratching, you’ll have a healthy and pest-free garden. 

And be rewarded with some wonderful antics from these lovely birds. It is interesting to note that they are monogamous, mating for life. The hens have a habit of hiding their nests, and sharing it with other hens until large numbers of eggs have accumulated. Females lay 25-30 tough-skinned, smallish, creamy eggs in a deep, tapering nest and undergo an incubation period of 26-28 days. The chicks are called “keets” and are highly susceptible to damp. In fact, they can die from following the mother through dewy grass. 

After their first two to six weeks of growth, they can be some of the hardiest domestic land fowl.

They are highly social birds, and hate to be alone. When you see a lone guinea fowl, it usually means trouble, like that the family has been scattered by a predator. Guineas spend most of their days foraging. They work as a team, marching chest to chest and devouring anything they startle as they move through the grass. 

When they discover a special treat — a rodent, for example, or a small snake — they close ranks, circle their prey, and move in for the feast. All the while, they keep up a steady stream of whistles, chirps, and clicks, a sort of running commentary on the day’s hunt. 

::


Monday, July 30, 2012

The clothesline said so much...

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm – 

A clothesline was a news forecast 
To neighbours passing by. 
There were no secrets you could keep 
When clothes were hung to dry. 
† 
It also was a friendly link 
For neighbours always knew 
If company had stopped on by 
To spend a night or two. 
† 
For then you’d see the fancy sheets 
And towels on the line; 
You’d see the company table clothes 
With intricate design. 
† 
The line announced a baby’s birth 
To folks who lived inside 
As brand new infant clothes were hung 
So carefully with pride. 
† 
The ages of the children 
could so readily be known 
By watching how the sizes changed 
You’d know how much they’d grown. 
† 
It also told when illness struck, 
As extra sheets were hung; 
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too, 
Haphazardly were strung. 
† 
It said, “Gone on vacation now” 
When lines hung limp and bare. 
It told, “We’re back!” when full lines sagged 
With not an inch to spare. 
† 
New folks in town were scorned upon 
If wash was dingy grey, 
As neighbours raised their brows, 
And looked disgustedly away. 
† 
But clotheslines now are of the past 
For dryers make work less. 
Now what goes on inside a home 
Is anybody’s guess. 
† 
I really miss that way of life. 
It was a friendly sign 
When neighbours knew each other best 
By what hung on the line! 
† 
- Author unknown

::

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Beach at Mvoti

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 190gsm 

One of my favourite haunts when I visit Ballito is Mvoti Beach at Blythedale (North Coast, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa). It is one of the few beaches on the North Coast that still has lots of vegetation and is also very popular with fishermen as this is where the Mvoti River flows into the Indian Ocean. The estuary is a haven for winged creatures and a must for bird lovers, worth a visit to spot the African spoonbill, chestnut-branded plover, lesser sand plover, white-eared barbet, scaly-throated honeyguide and blue-mantled crested flycatcher. 

 I can sit for hours watching common ghost crabs as they scurry around on the intertidal beach – the time between low and high tide – during which time they move from their high-shore burrows to feed.

::

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Enjoying the scenery

“Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” 
- Eddie Cantor 

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 200gsm - no preliminary sketching 

The dam at Spring Farm (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) is always full and I've often wondered where the water comes from. Today I was told there's a natural spring further up on the property that has been slowly running at the same, unchanged speed for years. This is also the place where I often sit and watch the cattle and do some quick sketches - there's always something new to discover.

::