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!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

A familiar South African sight

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – ©Maree Clarkson 

A few centuries ago, farmers and the people of Southern Africa extensively used thorn trees or branches to safely house their cattle and protect their properties, but since the advent of Barbed wire fencing in the early 20th century, first erected by the English during the first South African Boer War to restrict the Boers to a certain area, it has become a very familiar sight in South Africa.

It is simple and cost effective to construct and quick to erect, even by an unskilled person. Barbed wire fencing requires only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as staples or nails. It serves as an effective barrier as any person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will suffer discomfort and possibly injury.

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Friday, March 7, 2014

Rain, rain and more rain

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

It has been raining solidly, every day, for over two weeks now and the landscape is saturated with water, forming large pans of water everywhere. Some days my rain gauge overflows, meaning more than 120mm in just a few hours! My chooks are bedraggled and wet, choosing the safety and dryness of the coop. While all this water is excellent for our ground water tables, it has caused massive flooding and damage in large parts of South Africa. I think we're getting a spin-off from all the ice storms and flooding in the Northern Hemisphere, because this is most unusual weather for us.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Coco on the fencepost

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 
Black Crow/Cape Crow (Corvus capensis) - Endemic to Africa

Coco, my Black Crow’s favourite vantage point on top of an old abandoned fencepost.

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Saturday, March 1, 2014

Black-headed Oriole

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

The Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus) is a frequent visitor to my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) and I’m always thrilled to hear his liquid call, upon which I rush out to refill the oranges and apples, which seem to be his favourite fruit.

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Plants in Terracotta pots

'We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.'
— Lao Tzu

I just love terracotta pots; love planting in them, love sketching them and just love collecting them!


This Angelwing Begonia seedling standing on my bathroom window sill looked so brave, proudly displaying its three new leaves, I just had to capture it. I started this plant from a cutting, one leaf, from another Begonia plant.


A Geranium I had on my window sill before trans-planting him into the garden. (Why do I think of it as a “him”? Maybe because he’s such a robust fellow…) It was just starting to flower, the tiny buds soon to be the well-known red geranium flowers.


Bunny Ears cacti originated in the wild (North and Central Mexico) and are popular garden and house plants here in South Africa. I bought my Bunny Ears two summers ago and after a nice rest this past winter, it is now showing lots of new ‘ears’. I’m just wondering if I will have any flowers while it is in a pot…

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