Soaring fire

Just a quick hello and to let you know I'll  be back (soon!) Moving house from one end of the world to the other (OK, from one Province to another, but it seems like the other side of the world to me!) is very disruptive and a year later I'm only just starting to find my feet. Not all just because of the move, other factors have also played a part, but suffice it to say that my muse seems to be popping around more and more often these days and my paint brushes are getting more alluring by the day.

And here's a little piece of wisdom for today...

A quick little practice to get a feel for the paints again... Soaring Fire That Sweeps And Sings - a scene often seen on our smallholding in Gauteng

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Herbs in pots - Coriander

Ink and watercolour sketch in watercolour sketch pad.

Having herbs in terracotta pots on your kitchen windowsill is an excellent way of always having fresh herbs handy for your cooking.

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an extremely popular herb that is used extensively and liberally in Indian, Thai, South African and Middle Eastern cuisine.

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• Use in all types of curries, pickles, chutneys and sauces.
• Sprinkle over fresh salads.
• Use to flavour soups, carrot and coriander is quite popular.
• Use to flavour home-made bread, waffles and scones.
• Coriander is used as an ingredient for some cakes and biscuits including gingerbread.
• Use to add flavour to creamed cheese or mayonnaise.
• Use to garnish meat, fish or vegetable dishes.
• Use in meatballs, meat or vegetable burgers and other home-made dishes.
• Add to stocks and gravies.
• Use in marinades, particularly for meat and fish.
• Coriander goes very well with mushrooms.
• Use to spice up stir-fries and bland vegetables such as spinach.

Herbs in pots - Parsley

Ink and watercolour sketch in watercolour sketch pad.

Having herbs in terracotta pots on your kitchen windowsill is an excellent way of always having fresh herbs handy for your cooking.
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It’s easy to write parsley off. Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is just the requisite garnish that decorates plates at fancy restaurants. Right? Wrong! Parsley is a popular culinary and medicinal herb recognized as one of the functional food for its unique antioxidants, and disease preventing properties.

Sunshine in the rain

W&N watercolour on Arches 300gsm

On cold and rainy days I sometimes feel I just HAVE to brighten up the day with something smiling! Not that I don’t smile during rainy weather, I love it! and sunflowers are the perfect flower to brighten any dark day.

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men and animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock."
- Henry Ward Beecher

 

 

Magaliesberg cliffs

Acrylic painting on gessoed un-stretched canvas sheet
Dedicated to all mountain-lovers!

A view of the Magaliesberg cliffs (NorthWest Province, South Africa), one of the few places where the White-backed Vulture still roams freely.

The Magaliesberg are among the oldest mountains in the world, almost 100 times older than Everest. They stretch for 120km from Bronkhorstspruit Dam east of Pretoria to Rustenburg in the west and separate the highveld grasslands to the south from the bushveld savannah in the north.

Sheer quartzite cliffs face south, overlooking a wide valley and a smaller ridge similar in shape and structure to the Magaliesberg.

Tarlton Landscape

 

Acrylic on Giverny 240gsm canvas – a beautiful summer’s day – done on location in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa

Not far from us a friend has a dam on his smallholding. When we visited, it gave me a chance to try my hand at some Acrylics, no sketching beforehand.

Early-morning Bluegums

 

Acrylic on canvas

The first light of day sweeps across some Bluegums (Eucalyptus trees) in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa. 

Bluegums play in important part in South Africa’s economy as they provide forage for our threatened honey bee population.

Evening Primrose

Mixed media of W&N watercolour and candle wax on Bockingford 300gsm

I wanna be
the mild fragrance
of an evening primrose
gentle and sweet
beneath your sheet
cluster of petals
which bloom
white blossoms
to wither softly
into your sleep
— unknown

A corner in my garden

Ink sketch and colour wash.

When planning something new in the garden, I often do some quick sketches with notes in my Moleskine Gardening Journal, adding colour just to see what it will look like.

Notes
Put large terracotta pot lying on its side under Tree Fuchsia (Haleria lucida), Plant Echeverias in front, add stepping stones and pebbles.

Elaborate blossoms, in every hue

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

 

As I embrace Slumber
the eyes of Night watch over me,
and as I awaken
I stare at the sun,
which is the only eye of the day.
I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.
~ Khalil Gibran

The most beautiful fairytale is the one in your dreams.

Lady in pink -- Ink sketch and watercolour

Die mooiste sprokie

is die een in jou drome.

The most beautiful fairytale

is the one in your dreams.

Hedgie, my African Hedgehog

W&N watercolour in Moleskine Notebook

 

Dedicated to all who love Hedgehogs!

This is Hedgie, a male Southern African Hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) that I was lucky enough to have in my life for almost six years after I found him wandering on our previous smallholding. A couple of months after finding him, I also found Sethlong, a female, who joined Hedgie in the large enclosure I had made for them and together they raised a lovely brood of eight little babies.

You can read more about Hedgie here.

Kei-apple botanical - and a Chameleon

Ink sketch and watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – Kei Apple tree and a Flap-necked Chameleon (Chamaeleonidae – (Chameleo dilepis)

The Kei-apple, Dovyalis caffra, is well known all over the eastern parts South Africa, common in open bush and wooded grassland, and often near termite mounds. It is a thick, shiny, spiny shrub up to three metres in height. The branches are armed with straight, robust spines up to 7 cm long. Fresh, ripe fruits are rich in Vitamin C and pectin and, following the example of the Pedi people who squeeze the juice onto their pap (porridge), they make an excellent addition to a fruit salad and to muesli and yoghurt. Nature seems to know best when to give us the right foods to boost our immune systems in preparation for the onslaught of winter colds and ‘flu.

Last year my trees also bore an abundance of fruit for the first time ever and I ascribe this to the fact that we get heavy frost here in Tarlton (South Africa). It has taken almost seven years for my trees to reach just over three meters tall and I was absolutely thrilled to have the fruit. Of course I had to try them but they really are too acidic, with a slight hint of sweetness, to enjoy on a full-time basis. And I’m therefore also not surprised at all that Torti, my Leopard Tortoise, did not touch any that had fallen on the floor. But they look really beautiful displayed in a dish!

And the Chameleon didn't seem to have any problem with the huge thorns! I was really thrilled to see him in my garden as these lovely creatures seem to be getting scarcer and scarcer.

Plant for the Planet

W&N watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm (135lb) Smooth heavy-weight sketching paper, from my imagination, no preliminary sketching.

“One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.”
—U.S. Department of Agriculture

Plant for the planet, plant for the people. Planting trees is a simple way to protect and support the local environment, agriculture, water supplies, community development and health, as well as the world’s climate.

Rose of friendship

Black ink sketch and watercolour  on a sketch pad

Long associated with beauty and perfection, red roses are a time-honoured way to say express love and affection. Whether it’s for a birthday or just to express appreciation for someone, there’s no better way than a red rose to express your feelings.

My Aloe route

Ink sketch and W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

This is the road I take (I call it ‘my aloe route’) when I go to visit a friend in New Thorndale just on the other side of Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa). There are dozens of Aloes along a certain rocky outcrop and in winter it’s a wondrous display when they all flower.

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Echeveria imbricata in terracotta pot

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

 An Echeveria in a pot on my patio (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

This popular and vigorous succulent has 4 to 8 inches wide, tight rosettes of flat grey-green leaves that, when mature, form offsets freely to form large solid clumps 4 to 6 inches tall. It has a branched arching inflorescence bearing clusters of red and yellow flowers in the spring and early summer. Plant in full sun, even in hotter inland gardens, to part sun/light shade in a well-drained soil and water regularly. Although it is is cold-tolerant, it does not do well in heavy frosts, therefore most of mine are planted in terracotta pots for easy winterizing.

This plant is often listed as a species or as E. x imbricata but is a hybrid cultivar created in the early 1870’s by Jean-Baptiste A. Deleuil of Marseilles (Rue Paradis) that resulted from crossing Echeveria secunda with E. gibbiflora ‘Metallica’ and was listed for the first time in his 1874 catalogue.

It has been argued by some that the correct pronunciation for the genus is ek-e-ve’-ri-a, though ech-e-ver’-i-a seems in more prevalent use in the US.

Category: Succulent
Family: Crassulaceae (Stonecrops)
Origin: Mexico (North America)
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Red & Yellow
Bloomtime: Spring/Summer
Synonyms: [Echeveria x imbricata]
Parentage: (Echeveria glauca x E. gibbiflora ‘Metallica’)

Rattail Cactus sketch

 

Ink sketch and watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm

Sketch of my Rattail Cactus (Aporocactus flagelliformis), on my patio (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa). It is fairly easy to care for and maintain. It grows stems up to a four feet long, that hang and display brownish colored spines, which are terribly sharp and fine and somehow manage to get everywhere when you’re handling it!

The flowers are an absolutely beautiful (2in – 4in / 5cm – 10cm wide) pink tubular type (see photograph here) that usually bloom in spring for up to 5 days. These flowers will grow from any part of the stem, 4-5ft long, and you can expect plenty of them. Similar to many other cacti, they are very easy to grow indoors and outside (as long at the temperature is not too cold outside.

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Aloe flowers - Nature's silent healer

 

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Several Aloes have flowers with nectar that can be consumed. Among the sippable blossoms are A. ferox and A. marlothii. A. zebrina has edible flowers and buds after being boiled. In Angola they are pressed into cakes. A. greatheadii flower buds are a delicacy after being boiled in three changes of water. There is no report on the edibility of Aloe vera flowers. But since that plant is medicinal, I would not eat them.

The genus is native to Southern Africa.

Echeveria imbricata in wooden planter

W&N watercolour on small Bockingford 300gsm (5½" x 7½" – half of A4)

Echeveria imbricata in a wooden crate on my patio. Contrary to the belief that succulents are drought resistant, this Echeveria (E. imbricata) thrives on good soil and lots of rain.

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