Showing posts with label acrylics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acrylics. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Petals fall

A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind. 
- Clive Bell 

 
Acrylics on canvas panel – 9″ × 12″ - unframed

Flower petals fall one by one
After the long day is done 
This flower has lived a good life 
With very little strife 
Memories of busy bees 
And images of little hands fingering it lovingly 
A lover’s purpose was in mind 
When it was picked from the vine 
Given to the one he loved 
As a token of all the things they’ve done 
Drooping low in the vase 
Is where it takes its resting place 
As its petals fall one by one 
One by one
- Bryanne Colver

ITEM ID : PetalsFall
PRICE : R350.00 including postage

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Poinsettia and the Daisy

Watercolour and Acrylic on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8" - unframed

Did you know that the poinsettia has a special day all its own? By an Act of Congress, in the U.S., December 12 was set aside as National Poinsettia Day. The date marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who is credited with introducing the native Mexican plant to the United States. The purpose of the day is to enjoy the beauty of this popular holiday plant.
So, be sure to give someone you love a poinsettia on December 12, National Poinsettia Day!

The star-shaped poinsettia has become one of the best known floral symbols of the Christmas season and is considered the most popular potted plant during that time of year.

They were introduced to the United States over 125 years ago when they were brought here in 1828 by America's first ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Joel Poinsett. Native to Mexico, the “Flor de Noche Buena” - flower of the Holy Night, was thought by many eighteenth century Mexicans to be symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem.
http://www.santasearch.org/texts.asp?Do=4&TextID=531

A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.

"I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes," said Pedro consolingly.

Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.

As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro's kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.
From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season. Today, the common name for this plant is the "poinsettia!"

See more of my Flowers on RedBubble

ITEM ID : PoinsettiaDaisy
PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Gentle Giant (SOLD)

“Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.”
- Indian Proverb

Acrylic on Acrylic Gesso primed un-stretched acrylic canvas sheet 12" x 8" - SOLD

With a height of just over 3 - 4m (measured at the shoulder), a length of between 6 to 7.5m (that's the length of an average motor car garage!) and weighing in at 6 tonnes, these mostly gentle giants of the African bush are highly intelligent with a strong sense of family and herd, and a complex social structure.

Elephants are incredibly social animals: they form strong, long-lasting bonds within their herd. They adopt orphaned calves, help injured elephants and work together. They have surprisingly complicated behavioural patterns and interactions. An injured member may be helped to its feet and supported by other herd members: if it is badly wounded, it may be vigorously defended by the herd, with even the calves taking part. Although elephants are normally peaceful individuals, they can be aggressive and extremely dangerous, especially if they are sick or injured. Females in groups with young are particularly unpredictable, as are males in musth.

Here in Africa they are native to a wide variety of habitats including semi-desert scrub, open savannas and dense forest regions. Besides its greater size, it differs from the Asian elephant in having larger ears and tusks, a sloping forehead, and two “fingers” at the tip of its trunk, compared to only one in the Asian species.

For this sketch, I looked at many different photographs from a great many angles, and developed this stance from all the 'information' I had gathered in my mind.

ITEM ID : GentleGiantAcrylic
PRICE - ORIGINAL SOLD

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Monday, February 15, 2010

First Light (SOLD)

early dawn | two-note, two note | who are you?
A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

"First Light" - Acrylic on Canvas - Maree©
Size : 12" x 9"
unframed - SOLD

Sunrise or sunset in the Kalahari Desert in the Cape Province of South Africa is always a spectacular affair. Here I have tried to capture the mystery of the desert as the sun rises over a landscape of golden grass and small red dunes.

The name Kalahari is derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning "the great thirst", or Khalagari, Kgalagadi or Kalagare, meaning "a waterless place". The Kalahari desert is part of the huge sand basin that extends some 900 000 square kilometers from the Orange River up to Angola, in the west to Namibia and in the east to Zimbabwe. The sand masses were created by the erosion of soft stone formations. The wind shaped the sand ridges, which are so typical of the landscape in the Kalahari.

In the southern Kalahari desert, which is the driest part, the Kalahari desert takes the form of a stationary dune veld. To the East and to the North of this, the Kalahari desert becomes a flat park-like terrain or savannah.

The Kalahari is not a true desert as it receives too much rain, but is actually a fossil desert.


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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Blue Gums & Black Wattles - Acrylic SOLD

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease,
avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods.
But he cannot save them from fools.
- John Muir

"Blue Gum and Black Wattle trees" Acrylic on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©
SIZE : 11" x 7.5" - unframed - SOLD

In this painting I experimented with acrylics on a good, thick Bockingford watercolour paper and decided I just LOVE how the acrylics feel on the paper. It's amazing! I think I'm falling more and more in love with this versatile medium.

These trees are on our smallholding and although we are trying to get rid of all the Black Wattles, they spring up faster than you try to eradicate them. The problem is that they produce a huge amount of seeds, which can grow in the most arid and infertile of soils. Even worse, these seeds can live up to a 90 years. And after a first clean-up, even though you have removed hundreds of trees, millions of young seedling appear. It's basically fighting a losing battle. These evergreen trees were originally imported from Australia for our tanning industry.

Now the touchy subject: chemicals. One simply cannot get rid of Black Wattles unless you use a good herbicide. Cutting a black wattle and hoping it will die, is wishful thinking. We do not use any chemicals at all, with the result that we have an on-going battle, but which provides employment opportunities as we hire several casual workers every year to do another clean-up.

The spreading growing habit of the Black Wattle

The flowers of the Black Wattle also causes great outbreaks of hay fever among hay fever sufferers during spring.


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