Beach Fantasy

I am forever walking upon these shores,

Betwixt the sand and the foam,

The high tide will erase my foot-prints,

And the wind will blow away the foam.

But the sea and the shore will remain

Forever.

- Kahlil Gibran

Beach Fantasy - watercolour on X-pressit 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8" unframed

When one is longing for the beach and not able to get there for another few weeks, the next best thing to do is to sketch it! This one is done from memory of the time I spent at St. Lucia, up the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

ITEM ID : BeachFantasy

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

At the edge of the Quarry - SOLD

Life is like a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.
- Samuel Butler


"At the edge of the quarry" - watercolour on Moleskine 200gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 6" unframed - SOLD


About 2km from us is the Tarlton Brickyard - hectares of ground that have been dug up and soil removed for the making of bricks, leaving the earth pitted with deep holes and piles of heaped ground and smoking kilns where the bricks are being baked.

Some might say it's an eye-sore or a scar on Mother Earth's crust, and I could agree, but besides providing the building industry with the necessary raw materials for our housing needs, this quarry provides endless hours of pleasure to off-road motorbike enthusiasts who race along the holes and over steep mounds of earth, flying through the air like movie stunt men! Horse riders also like to visit, putting their steeds through their paces, using it as a cross-country course. Not all's bad that seems bad!


A brick-making kiln in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ITEM ID : Quarry1
PRICE - R850.00 including postage

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"Keep Out!" - SOLD

"Creativity occurs in the moment, and in the moment we are timeless."

- Julia Cameron

"Keep Out! - watercolour in Moleskine Folio 200gsm - Maree©
Size : - 12"x 8" unframed - SOLD

This farm gate scene is not far from us in Broederstroom, a farm bordering on the Crocodile river, on our way to Hartebeespoort Dam. We stopped to give our puppy a chance to go to the toilet and I was faced with this wonderful gate right in from of me! To hubby's utmost frustration, I actually hauled out my paint set, collected water from the river and quickly started doing the sketch. The frustration was because it took a bit longer than normal, actually putting in the colour right there - normally I would do a preliminary sketch and finish it off at home - this took me just over half an hour, while Dave and Jacko explored just inside the fence, but we were soon on our way and I fiddled a bit when we got home.

Buy as a Framed Print, Poster or Greeting Card

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Winter Scene

“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.”

Winter in Tarlton - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8" unframed

Winter in Gauteng, South Africa, brings raging veld fires, lands that lie fallow on farms and, in certain areas like Tarlton, frost that wipes clean any memory of green, except for the evergreen Black Wattle trees, which put up a spectacular show of brown seed pods, brightening up an otherwise bleak landscape.

ITEM ID : WinterTarlton

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

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Spring Scene

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.

~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

Spring scene - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8" unframed

Spring holds a special place in my heart - the sight of the first tiny green buds on a tree is like magic unfolding after months of bleak landscapes and an earth blackened by raging veld fires.

ITEM ID : SpringScene

PRICE - R850.00 including postage in South Africa

Summer Scene

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”

- James Dent

Summer Scene - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size " 12" x 8" unframed

Summer - a time of activity - tending to the garden, going out on picnics, going to the beach, fishing or perhaps taking your sail boat out on the lake. And of course, here in South Africa, celebrating a hot and snowless Christmas!

ITEM ID : SummerScene

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Trees on the beach

As artists, we must learn to be self nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them – to restock the trout pond, so to speak.

- Julia Cameron

"Beach and trees" - Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 10" x 7" unframed

ITEM ID : BeachTrees

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Magaliesberg Mountain landscape

“You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself.”

- James Whittaker

"Magaliesberg mountain landscape" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size - 12" x 8" unframed

For this wet-on-wet scene, after wetting the paper, I sketched the main outlines of my scene using my Rigger and Cerulean Blue. I'm sure many artists use this technique, but I've always been somewhat of a sketchy person, using my pencil, going into great detail with a lot of erasing happening. It's only been the past couple of months since I started practicing painting with no sketching beforehand that I feel confident enough to consider doing this.

ITEM ID : MagaliesbergMountainLandscape

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Magaliesberg Mountains 2

“Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.”

- Denis Waitley

"Magaliesberg Mountains" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 15" x 11" unframed

Virtually all over the West Rand (Gauteng, South Africa) the Magaliesberg mountains are visible for miles around.

The Magaliesberg is a mountain range that stretches for over 120 kilometres, extending from Pretoria in the north of the Gauteng Province to a point south of Pilanesberg, in the North West Province, and the Bronkhorstspruit towards the east. The highest point of the Magaliesberg is reached at Nooitgedacht (1 852 metres)

25°51′30″S 27°31′48″E / 25.8583°S 27.530°E / -25.8583; 27.530.

ITEM ID : MagaliesbergMountains

PRICE : R350 including postage in South Africa

Four Seasons - Winter

Winter at Harties - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper - Maree©
Size - 8" x 6" unframed

A collection of four small paintings, 8" x 6", depicting the four seasons - Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter - and are all sketched from scenes in and around my area. This is WINTER in the series of the four seasons.

These four little paintings would look good grouped together with off-white matting and Sepia frames.

ITEM ID : FourSeasonsWinterTarlton

PRICE - R250.00 ea including postage in South Africa

Four Seasons - Spring

Spring in Tarlton - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper - Maree©
Size - 8" x 6" unframed

A series of four small paintings, 8" x 6", depicting the four seasons - Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter - and are all sketched from scenes in and around my area. This is SPRING in the series of the four seasons.

These four little paintings would look good grouped together with off-white matting and Sepia frames.

ITEM ID : FourSeasonsSpringTarlton

PRICE - R250.00 ea including postage in South Africa

Four Seasons - Summer

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”

- James Dent

Summer in Tarlton - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper - Maree©
Size - 8" x 6" unframed

A series of four small paintings, 8" x 6", depicting the four seasons - Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter - and are all sketched from scenes in and around my area. This is SUMMER in the series of the four seasons.

These four little paintings would look good grouped together with off-white matting and Sepia frames.

ITEM ID : FourSeasonsWinterTarlton

PRICE - R250.00 ea including postage in South Africa

Four Seasons - Autumn

"Autumn in Hillside" - watercolour on Ashrad hot pressed paper - Maree©
Size - 8" x 6" unframed

A series of four small paintings, 8" x 6", depicting the four seasons - Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter - and are all sketched from scenes in and around my area. This is AUTUMN in the series of the four seasons.

These four little paintings would look good grouped together with off-white matting and Sepia frames.

ITEM ID : FourSeasonsAutumn

PRICE - R250.00 ea including postage in South Africa

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King of the (new) Roost

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”

- Isaac Bashevis Singer

"King of the Roost" watercolour on Visual 140gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8.5" unframed

'Kingston', the above rooster, was saved from the dinner pot when I bought him, together with a couple of his hens, from Solly, who was going to slaughter him for supper. Hopefully, with the money I paid him, he will now go buy something else for supper!

The above quote made me think... shall I become a vegetarian...?

ITEM ID : KingOfTheRoost

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

The Black Pirate - SOLD

"If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens."

- Grandma Moses

"The Black pirate" - watercolour on Moleskine 200gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8" unframed - SOLD

This guy might be the reason for one of Solly's other roosters hanging out with only one hen and not associating with the rest of the crowd - as this chap struts past my gate, giving me the beady eye, and not condescending to enter, he seems pretty sure that no-one in the yard is going to challenge his authority - ever!

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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?

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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

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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Lonely Shores

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
there is rapture in the lonely shore,
there is society where none intrudes,
by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

- Lord Byron

"Lonely Shores" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree©
Size - 12" x 8.5"

I've been missing the coast for a while now, haven't been for several months. Miss the sand between my toes, watching the sun rise over a brilliantly turquoise sea, the waves washing up little treasures to sketch... I love just sitting on the rocks, the breeze in my hair, the crabs scurrying around before the tide comes in again.

The beaches in Ballito, on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, stretch flat and smooth for long distances, ideal for long walks, and some stretches have lots of rocks, offering a place to sit and ponder, but way up the North Coast, at St. Lucia, the beaches are wild and undulating, covered with vegetation. The Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles breed in these waters and lay their eggs on these shores.

If you're interested in seeing a bit more of St. Lucia, click HERE

ITEM ID : Lonely-Shores

Tarlton stream at sunrise

“An ant may well destroy a whole dam.”

- Chinese Proverbs

"Tarlton stream at sunrise" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8"

Tarlton and surrounds in Gauteng, South Africa, offers a wide variety of landscapes for the artist to sketch - from flat Savannah to rolling hills covered in indigenous trees and tracts of Blue Gum forests planted originally for the mining industry to flower, vegetable, cattle and ostrich farms. I managed to capture the sunrise on yesterday morning (yes, I was out there at 5am! doing a rough sketch and finishing it off once I got home).

This stream in Tarlton was once again flowing after the vast amounts of rain we've been having, but with no hope of filling the dam as it disappeared through the broken dam wall.

ITEM ID : SunriseTarlton1