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

Distant shores

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."

- Nietzsche

"Distant Shores" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©
SIZE " 11" x 7.5" 

A bit of imagination and blue gum trees become pines along the shores of one of our local dams.

ITEM ID : DistantShores

Early morning landscape - SOLD

"With each sunrise, we start anew"

"Early Morning Landscape" - watercolour on Moleskine 200gsm - Maree©
Size : 12" x 8" - unframed - SOLD

The sun rising gently behind our Blue Gum forest and, with some imagination, the fields are turned into a wonder-wetland.

This painting is one in a series of paintings done by painting directly onto the paper, no sketching done before-hand. Lately I have found that, unless I am doing something very detailed, like the feathers of a bird, I am eager to get the image onto paper or canvass and don't feel like restricting myself with pencil lines.

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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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Sunset through the Blue Gums (SOLD)

"Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal."

- Elbert Hubbard

"Sunset through the Blue gums" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm
Size : 12" x 8.5" - unframed SOLD

The smallholding across the road from us faces West and the setting sun made a spectacular show through the blue gum trees the other evening.

PRAYER OF THE WOODS

(A poem fastened to trees in the Portuguese forests for more than a 1,000 years)

Ye who pass by and would raise your hand against me,

listen to me before you harm me.

I am the heat of your heart on the cold winter nights,

The friendly shade screening you from summer sun,

And my fruits are refreshing draughts,

Quenching your thirst as you journey on.

I am the beam that holds your house,

The board of your table,

The bed on which you lie,

The timber that builds your boat.

I am the handle of your hoe,

The door of your homestead,

The wood of your cradle,

And the shell of your coffin.

I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.

Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer:

HARM ME NOT.

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