Autumn - wonderful time of the year!

A small W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Autumn (fall) in South Africa (mid-February to April) offers the best weather of the year. Very little rain falls over the whole country, and it is warm but not too hot, getting colder as the season progresses. In Gauteng, autumn is fantastic, with hot sunny days, blue skies and warm, balmy nights.

The Perfect Red

Dahlia - graphite sketch and watercolour in Moleskine sketch-book - Maree© (Not for sale)

The ancient Chinese told the story of a potter who spent his life searching for the perfect shade of red. He filled all his days learning new technologies and experimenting with new techniques to perfect the crimson glaze his heart desired.

Nothing worked.

 He travelled throughout the country and consulted with other potters. None of them could help him.

Finally he came home, sat by his kiln, and was so frustrated he threw himself in.

His assistant couldn't find him, although he called and called to him.

Eventually when the kiln cooled down, the assistant pulled out the pots that had been fired. They were the perfect shade of red.

The potter, himself, was the very thing he had been searching for.

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Burning Desire

Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm sketch-book – 12″ × 8″ - not for sale due to being done in a sketch-book

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” 

W. Clement Stone – American best selling Author – 1902-2002 

Sometimes my work is inspired by a sight or sound, sometimes by a few words. In this instance, it is the many veld fires we have here in South Africa in winter and once I had finished the work, it evoked a feeling of a “burning desire” and the words followed. Or should I have named it “This little bird” …?

Autumn setting in (SOLD)

“Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.”

- William Cullen Bryant

Autumn Setting in - this is a small watercolour on 200gsm -

8" x 5.5" - SOLD - Maree©

Autumn is in full swing and the trees in my garden were slowly starting to change colour last month - this is actually a friend's garden on their plot here in Tarlton, South Africa, and I just had to capture her Japanese Maple in all its glorious orange splendour amongst her mostly indigenous trees. She commented that she never knew her garden was so beautiful and that she will be looking at it differently now!

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Daisies for Mother's Day - 9th May 2010

'Tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes!

~William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," Lyrical Ballads, 1798

I did this sketch of some Asters in my garden last month - these Shasta daisies are real die-hards and sometimes carry on right through winter, but require quite a lot of work dead-heading or else they can really look messy.

I received a wonderful Mother's Day card from my daughter in Ballito (on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, S.A.), but no flowers this year! so I picked a bunch of these Shastas for the kitchen table for myself and they looked quite perky in my white enamel jug!

This is watercolour done on Moleskine 200gsm - 8" x 5.5" - NOT FOR SALE

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