Gemsbuck in the shadows

W&N watercolour in hand-made sketchbook with satin-finish linen paper. 

Gemsbuck (Oryx gazella) under a lone tree in the Kalahari (South Africa). Done from my imagination.

I’ve got this little hand-made sketchbook with a satin-finish linen paper and I can sit for hours churning out these little 7″ × 4″ (17cm x 10cm) watercolour sketches. I find it totally calming and it also satisfies my need to fiddle! This paper is very unforgiving, can’t take pencil marks, so you can’t do any preliminary drawing and also no erasing. The paper (or linen) virtually disintegrates under an eraser. Once you put colour to paper, that’s it! But it does allow for a lovely flow of the paint, which I enjoy immensely as I never know exactly what I’m going to end up with.

Barn Owl / Nonnetjie-Uil

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


Barn Owl (Tyto alba)


Afrikaans : Nonnetjie-uil

Ghostly pale and (not) strictly nocturnal, Barn Owls (Tyto alba) are silent predators of the night world. Lanky, with a whitish face, chest, and belly, and buffy upperparts, this owl roosts in hidden, quiet places during the day. By night, they hunt on buoyant wingbeats in open fields and meadows. You can find them by listening for their eerie, raspy calls, quite unlike the hoots of other owls. Despite a worldwide distribution, Barn Owls are declining in parts of their range due to habitat loss. I for one, do not see them as often as I used to.

Once welcomed by farmers as one form of pest control, the population is now under threat from modern farming techniques, e.g. the destruction of hedgerows & meadowland, which affect their prey, the removal of old barns & buildings, which were their nesting places and the use of chemicals to control rodents.

The Owl Rescue Centre http://www.owlrescue911.webs.com/ is the only raptor centre in South Africa that primarily focus on owl species. They give all their time and attention to owl species because of the high mortality rate of owls in South Africa, making owls vulnerable to a decreasing population. They rehabilitate and release 200 – 250 Spotted Eagle Owls, 100 – 150 Barn Owls and 80 -100 other owl species each year. SHOULD YOU FIND AN OWL THAT YOU SUSPECT MIGHT BE INJURED, PLEASE CALL THEM ON
082 719 5463 (24/7 emergency line – South Africa)

T. alba is found almost anywhere in the world except polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Alpide belt, most of Indonesia, and the Pacific islands. However, they have been introduced to control rodents in the Hawaiian island of Kuai. ..........

White-backed Vulture

 W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - unframed 

Africa’s most common large vulture, the White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) is an accomplished scavenger that feeds on the carcasses of Africa’s large animals and is one of a group of 8 species occurring in Africa. Its plumage is dark brown with black skin on the neck and head, making the white lower-back, for which it is named, even more prominent.

The white-backed vulture has black eyes and a strong, hooked black bill, contrasting with its pale crown and hindneck. As they age, the plumage of white-backed vultures becomes paler and plainer, especially the female’s; conversely, juveniles are darker, with lighter brown streaks on their feathers. Info from Arkive

Vultures have historically been grouped with other raptors on the basis of their overall appearance. Often seen soaring high in the sky, they are often mistaken for hawks or eagles.

However, it has recently been determined that the seven species of New World vultures are more closely related to storks than to the hawks and eagles with which they were originally grouped. Unlike all other raptors, vultures are not birds of prey. They feed solely on carrion, preferring animals that have been dead for two to four days. African White-Backed Vultures have no natural predators, except humans.

Item ID : WhitebackedVulture

Price : R350.00 including postage

Where have all the Guineas gone?

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - unframed 

Helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) 

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we’ll soon be in trouble. 
- Roger Tory Peterson

I used to have dozens of guinea fowl pass through our smallholding here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa), but these days it’s like Christmas seeing just a few of them. When we moved to Tarlton in the middle 70’s, we were one of a few owners living on the smallholdings and there were large tracts of open land with hundreds of mammals, birds and reptiles that crossed our paths daily. Snakes were rife and regularly had to be removed to a safer place, now we only see a snake a couple of times in the year. I used to have wild hares entering my garden and eating my Marigolds; I haven’t seen an hare for about 7 years. The same with hedgehogs, monitors, tortoises and jackal.

The area is now totally built up and our smallholding is now flanked by people on all sides, property fenced and surrounded by high walls – there are few, if any, empty tracts of land anymore
 and I’m just wondering where all the wildlife has managed to find a safe refuge…

ITEM ID : WhereHaveGuineasGone

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

African Joy and Sorrow (SOLD)

W&N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – Guinea standing on the wall, forlornly calling for his missing wife - unframed (SOLD)

“The triumph of life is the joy experienced thereafter.”
- Maree

A couple of years ago, one of my guinea fowl sitting on eggs was killed by a dog, leaving 10 eggs, on the point of hatching, without a mother. I gathered all the eggs and put them in a basket with a hot water bottle, trying to keep them warm to see if any of them would hatch. Two days later still nothing, but on the third day I heard a weak peep-peep from one of the eggs. None of the others showed any sign of life, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and open the one that was peeping. I gently peeled away the shell and lifted out a perfectly formed little guinea fowl, and placed him on the warm towel, drying his little body with a soft cloth until he lifted his little head and stared me straight in the eye.

That was the beginning of a beautiful, long relationship with “Guinea”, who spent five years following me everywhere and providing us with endless hours of pleasure with his surprising antics. He even lured a wild guinea fowl female from the wild (they used to pass through our property here in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa, in large flocks, travelling from one field to another) and together they reared 5 clutches of beautiful little guinea fowl, all of whom stayed on our property for many years.

When Guinea’s wife disappeared one day, he was inconsolable, standing on the wall and calling for hours in that haunting ‘phe-twee, phe-twee, phe-twee’ that is so typical of the South African bush. After that, he would often disappear for a day or two until, one day, he didn’t come home at all. I hoped and presumed that he had found another family and was happily roaming the fields surrounding our property.

“This life as you live it now and have lived it, you will have to live again and again, times without number, and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and all the unspeakably small and great in your life must return to you and everything in the same series and sequence — and in the same way this spider and this moonlight among the trees, and this same way this moment and I myself. The eternal hour glass of existence will be turned again and again — and you with it, you dust of dust!” - Friedrich Nietzsche

ITEM ID : AfricanJoyAndSorrow

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

Barn Owl hunting 2

Black Pilot FineLiner pen sketch on a coffee-painted back-ground – Nescafé instant, strong! – Bockingford 300gsm - unframed

A lovely companion painting to Barn Owl hunting 1

The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn owl family Tytonidae.

These pale, nearly worldwide, birds are closely associated with man through their traditional use of barn lofts and church steeples as nesting sites.

Barn Owls are short-lived birds. Most die in their first year of life, with the average life expectancy being 1 to 2 years in the wild.

Although they are easy to identify in the day as they often hunt in daylight, by night you can find them by listening for their eerie, raspy screech, quite unlike the hoots of other owls.

ITEM ID : BarnOwlHunting2

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

Barn Owl hunting 1

Brown Stabilo Fine point 0.4 pen sketch on a coffee-painted back-ground – DalerRowney 300gsm - 8" x 12" unframed

A lovely companion painting to Barn Owl hunting 2

The Barn Owl (Tyta alba) is a frequent visitor to my property (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) and is not shy to hunt in broad daylight. I often see one pouncing on something in the long grass during the day, flying off with its prize, probably to feed some babies.

Barn Owls love to use man-made structures to build their nests and are very partial to nest boxes one supplies. I’ve always had a box or two in my garden but, sadly to say, the weather has taken it’s toll on them and seeing as I’m past the stage of climbing trees to put one up, it’ll have to wait until I find someone young and agile to do the job for me!

ITEM ID : BarnOwlHunting1

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Listen to the Guinea Fowl

 WN watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm heavy-duty sketching paper 
12" x 8" - unframed

Be grateful for nature. Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the Guinea fowl. And don’t hate anybody.

The Helmeted Guinea Fowl is an African family of insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds resembling partridges, but with featherless heads and spangled grey plumage. They are the ultimate low-cost, chemical-free pest control and if your garden is already established and can withstand the scratching, you’ll have a healthy and pest-free garden. And be rewarded with some wonderful antics from these lovely birds.

It is interesting to note that they are monogamous, mating for life. Read more

ITEM ID : ListenToTheGuineafowl
PRICE - R350.00 including postagein South Africa

The Way of the Crow

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - unframed

Black Crow (Corvus capensis) 

“If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.”
-Rev. Henry Ward Beecher mid 1800’s

There is little wonder that crows are very often the subjects of legends, folk-tales, and storytelling traditions around the world, all of which is very deep-seated and arising from myth and folklore thousands of years old. Anyone that has ever spent time with a crow will know how absurd these myths are and that Crows are no more ‘evil’ or ‘dark’ as depicted in these legends than a canary in a cage.

Read more HERE.

ITEM ID : WayOftheCrow

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

A Crow's Dream

Corvus capensis (Cape crow, Black crow) - W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 
- 12" x 8" Unframed 

To build a nest 

with twigs unrest 

lying here, lying there 

to lay some eggs 

and breed some chicks 

to teach them how to click 

to swing in the branches 

and spy through the arches 

to bathe in the poodles 

all cool bathed rooms 

in search of green woods 

fully loaded with ripened fruits 

all life did I stood 

for life and livelihood 

my nest my homes 

one for one crow-hus 

same straws yet new nest 

next time I breast 

sweet life, luxurious breeze 

small problems everything within reach 

friends of mine 

plenty and more 

we dine together 

that is where we gather 

we dirt eat to purify the earth 

our souls divine burn the heaps holy 

Yet I dream of cages untold 

where parrots feed on milk and grains 

mellow fruits are ripe and ready 

anytime to taste without buddies. 

- lalitha iyer  

ITEM ID : ACrow'sDream 

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Whitefronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) SOLD

That little bird has chosen his shelter.
Above it are the stars and the deep heaven of worlds.
Yet he is rocking himself to sleep without caring for tomorrow's lodging,
calmly clinging to his little twig,
and leaving God to think for him.
- Martin Luther

W&N watercolours on Visual 200gsm - 12" x 8" - unframed (SOLD)

The White-fronted Bee-eater, Merops bullockoides (endemic to Africa), is a species of bee-eater widely distributed in sub-equatorial Africa. They have a distinctive white forehead, a square tail and a bright red patch on their throat. They nest in small colonies, digging holes in cliffs or earthen banks but can usually be seen in low trees waiting for passing insects from which they hunt either by making quick hawking flights or gliding down before hovering briefly to catch insects.
From "Wikipedia"

Rooikeelbyvreter [Afrikaans]; Sitembandayi (generic term for non-Carmine bee-eaters) [Kwangali]; Muhladzanhu, Muhlagambu (generic terms for bee-eater) [Tsonga]; Morôkapula (generic term for bee-eater) [Tswana]; Witkapbijeneter [Dutch]; Guêpier à front blanc [French]; Weißstirnspint, Weißstirn-Bienenfresser [German]; Abelharuco-de-testa-branca [Portuguese]

These birds are monogamous, strongly gregarious colonial nesters. It has one of the most complicated societies of all birds, with each colony comprising a number of groups, known as clans, each clan containing 3-6 "families", each containing one breeding pair and 1-5 helpers. The nest is built by both sexes and sometimes a helper, consisting of a tunnel 1 - 2m long, ending in an oval chamber. The burrow is usually dug into riverbanks or gullies by moving sand with its bill or, if it finds a more serious obstacle, using a bicycling action with its feet. (Oh, how CUTE!)
Info from "Bidodiversity Explorer"

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.”

Thank you to the buyer!

Struthio camelus

“An ostrich with its head in the sand is just as blind to opportunity as to disaster.”

W&N Watercolours on Bockingford 300gsm 8" x 12" - unframed

The Ostrich (struthio camelus) is a member of a group of birds known as ratites, that is they are flightless birds without a keel to their breastbone, and are native to Africa. Of the 8,600 bird species which exist today, the ostrich is the largest. Standing tall on long, bare legs, the Ostrich has a long, curving, predominantly white neck. The humped body of the male is covered in black patches and the wings and tail are tipped with white. The female is brown and white. These huge birds, which sometimes reach a height of 2.6 m and a weight of 135 kg, cannot fly, but are very fast runners.

Ostriches were almost wiped out in the 18th century due to hunting for feathers. By the middle of the 19th century, due to the extensive practice of ostrich farming, the ostrich population increased. The movement changed to domesticating and plucking ostriches, instead of hunting. Ostriches have been succesfully domesticated and are now farmed throughout the world, particularly in South Africa, for meat, feathers and leather. The leather goes through a tanning process and is then manufactured into fashion accessories such as boots and bags.


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

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

::

African elephant

"You know ... they say an elephant never forgets.

What they don't tell you is, you never forget an elephant."

- Actor Bill Murray

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12" x 8.5" unframed

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.

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.

From Alma's beautiful photograph "Time to Retreat" with her kind permission.

Framed prints, canvas prints, posters and greeting cards for sale on RedBubble

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

Breakfast is served! - SOLD

robins | worm-hunting | in the snow

A Twitter poem from WATERMARK

"Breakfast" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©
Size : 11.5" x 8" - unframed - SOLD

This little chap was giving me the beady eye while I was sketching him, waiting for me to disappear so he could feed his young - aren't people just a nuisance?

::

The Fledgling

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Pablo Picasso

"The Fledgling" pencil sketch and watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©
Size : 11.5" x 8" - unframed

My favourite subject to paint - birds. Their expressions say more than a thousand words, and body posture warns of the next move - relaxing, taking flight, being vigilant or not feeling so well. Whenever I see a bird sitting puffed up (a sure sign of illness), I'm immediately relieved if it's feathers return to normal upon my approach.

This baby seems to be waiting patiently for breakfast to be served!

ITEM ID : BirdFledgling

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Africa's Wonder

"Let a Person Walk Alone With Few Wishes, Committing No Wrong, Like an Elephant in the Forest"

"Africa's Wonder - Elephant" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 9"

I sketched this young elephant at the Elephant Sanctuary Hartebeespoort Dam, where they provide a “halfway house” for young African elephants in need of a temporary home.

African elephants are bigger than Asian Elephants. Males stand 3.6 m (12 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5,400 kg (12,000 lb), while females stand 3 m (9.8 ft) and weigh between 3,600 and 4,600 kg (7,900 and 10,000 lb). However, males can get as big as 6,800 kg (15,000 lb!).

Some interesting info :
Elephants have four molars; each weighs about 5 kg (11 lb) and measures about 30 cm (12 in) long. As the front pair wears down and drops out in pieces, the back pair shifts forward and two new molars emerge in the back of the mouth. Elephants replace their teeth six times. At about 40 to 60 years of age the elephant no longer has teeth and will likely die of starvation, a common cause of death.

ITEM ID : AfricaElephant1