Autumn song

 

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the heart feels a languid grief

Laid on it for a covering,

And how sleep seems a goodly thing

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Keep wandering

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Keep wandering, it doesn’t matter when you get there…

::

The dark forest

W&N watercolour in a small sketch-book with Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - original not for sale but available on various products on RedBubble

A different depiction of the blue gum bush on our smallholding (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

Woods creaked, the sounds of the forest was heard
A hoot and whispers in the darkness
Eyes lurking, bushes moving
Hunting beasts wandering,
crouching,
waiting in the shadows…

::

The beauties of Nature

Tasmanian bluegum (Eucalyptus globulus) - Acrylic on Art board canvas 

This large, straight-trunked tree grows to about 70m tall in open forests in south-eastern Tasmania, on Bass Strait islands and in parts of southern Victoria. Its common name comes from the waxy blue-green colour of its juvenile leaves. The plant’s cream-coloured flowers are a good source of nectar for bees and the resultant honey is dense and strongly flavoured. Here in South Africa, this bluegum is widely planted as forage for our honey bee populations.

ITEM ID : BeautiesOfNatureAncrylic

Early-morning Bluegums

Acrylic on Bockingford 300gsm 

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. 

ITEM ID : EarlyMorningBluegumsAcrylic

PRICE : R650.00 postage included in South Africa

Kei-apple Botanical - and a Chameleon

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

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 belongs to a cosmopolitan family, the Flacourtiaceae, which are all good, fruit-bearing shrubs or trees, very often armed with vicious spines, and its name derives from the Kei River where it grows in abundance as 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!

The Chameleon is wishful thinking - I haven't seen one in my garden for over ten years!

Winter at the pond

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

I think we have an icy winter ahead of us. We've had a lot of rain and already some of my plants are showing signs of frost-bite.

A farm gate

W&N watercolour and ink sketch on Bockingford 300gsm 

I just cannot drive or walk past a farm gate or fence without stopping to photograph or sketch it! And I'm especially partial to barbed wire fences! This is a farm gate on a friend’s smallholding in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa)

Winter is looming

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

The season has changed and we are into lovely autumn days, but here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa), some trees are already in winter mode, having shed most of their leaves. I feel it’s a bit early, maybe a severe winter ahead?

Hard to believe

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Winter on our smallholding (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks’ time the grass on our smallholding will be green and these trees once again thick with foliage…