Tuesday, December 30, 2014

A farmer's cottage


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

A farmer’s cottage on a smallholding not far from us.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

A labourer's cottage


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

A labourer’s cottage on a smallholding just down the road from us in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Autumn Sunset - 1 and 2

Autumn Sunset 1 - W&N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Today is the last opportunity 
I have to live intensely, 
as no one can assure me
that I will see tomorrow’s Autumn.
.
Autumn Sunset 2 - W&N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

My Geranium would like to see you...

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

“Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my Geranium to see you.”

A few months ago, a friend gave me a Geranium cutting, just a little piece of stalk with one leaf, which I planted in an egg shell filled with potting soil and kept on the kitchen counter (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa). As soon as there were enough roots, I planted her into this Terracotta pot, egg shell and all. Within 2 weeks I had about 8 leaves and another stalk appearing next to the original cutting. She now lives on the patio near my Natal Fig bonsai, and I’m sure I’ve heard them whispering to one another a couple of times! And now every spring she blesses me with a great show of her gorgeous flowers.
It is well known that the whole Geranium genus is highly redolent of volatile oils – lemon-scented, musk-scented, and peppermint-scented. In South Africa folk-lore has it that, if you plant Geraniums in your garden, you will never have any snakes!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Soft is Winter

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Could there exist a soft winter, a separate winter season? No, not separate. But there is a softer side of Winter, of the traditional winter season we know. The winter days when the light becomes a little warmer, days when the biting wind and the ice cold ease off a bit and allows the sky to scatter soft grey clouds.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Thoughts

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Thoughts drifting through my mind as I wend my way up the path towards the gate…

Monday, October 27, 2014

The last signs of Winter

 
W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

The last signs of winter still lingering – a row of scorched wooden fencing that now needs replacing…

Sunday, October 19, 2014

A windpomp in South Africa

Ink sketch and W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

The first records found of a windpump in South Africa, is from a painting drawn in 1848. Records were found of windpumps as from 1869 and the first import was in 1874. These were wooden constructions. The first all steel windpump was patented in 1855 in England.

Die windpomp

…en vurig en fier soos oor ‘n kleintandooi
die kop geolie en die stert bloedrooi
staan ons ou slyttand met ‘n nuwe rug
oor die jongste boorgat opgerig
-- Uittreksel uit ’n gedig deur Leon Strydom

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

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…

Monday, May 19, 2014

Xhosa Woman hoeing

W&N watercolour on Visual 200gsm 

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. 
- Nelson Mandela

The Xhosa number approximately 7,1 million people, the majority of whom live in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. They are descendant from the Nguni, who migrated from central and northern Africa. They comprise a number of clans such as Gcaleka, Ngika, Ndlambe, Dushane, Qayi and the Gqunkhwebe of Khoisan origin.

In Xhosa culture the women are easily recognised by their heavy dress, matching turban and coloured dots decorating their faces. If she has children, whom she has raised to be adults, then it is usual to find her seated among her peers smoking a long-handled pipe. It is also tradition that the women tend to the fields, carry water and tend to the household in general.

African Tribal dress

W&N watercolour on Visual 200gsm 

African clothing is the traditional clothing, often vibrantly coloured, worn by the indigenous peoples of Africa. In some instances these traditional garments have been replaced by western clothing introduced by European colonialists and worn in conjunction with tribal beads and aprons.

Ndebele women traditionally adorned themselves with a variety of ornaments, each symbolising her status in society. After marriage, dresses became increasingly elaborate and spectacular. In earlier times, the Ndebele wife would wear copper and brass rings around her arms, legs and neck, symbolising her bond and faithfulness to her husband, once her home was built.

Xhosa beadwork, like all African art, is steeped in symbolism and meaning. It has a rich and colourful history and has faced extinction with the encroachment and interference of the civilised, western, Christian world. Fortunately it has survived over the centuries and is still practiced by pockets of women in some regions of South Africa, to keep the tradition alive as well as to keep food on the table.

African Indaba

Winsor and Newton watercolour on Xpressit 200gsm paper 

An indaba is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu and Xhosa peoples of South Africa. In traditional African culture, people get together to sort out the problems that affect them all, where everyone has a voice and where there is an attempt to find a common mind or a common story that everyone is able to tell when they go away from it.

The term comes from a Zulu language word, meaning “business” or “matter”. The term has found widespread use throughout Southern Africa and often simply means gathering or meeting.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Hypericum perforatum

Black Pilot Calligraphy Lettering Pen sketch with W&N watercolour on X-pressit 300gsm acid-free paper 

Afrikaans : Johanneskruid

 St John's wort is the plant species Hypericum perforatum, and is also known as Tipton's Weed, Chase-devil, or Klamath weed and is widely known as an herbal treatment for depression. Indigenous to Europe, it has been introduced to many temperate areas of the world and grows wild in many meadows and in our South African gardens.

The flowering tops of St. John's wort are used to prepare teas, tablets, and capsules containing concentrated extracts. Liquid extracts and topical preparations are also used. Today, St. John's wort is used by some for depression, anxiety, and/or sleep disorders.

France has banned the use of St. John’s wort products. The ban appears to be based on a report issued by the French Health Product Safety Agency warning of significant interactions between St. John’s wort and some medications. Several other countries, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada, are in the process of including drug-herb interaction warnings on St. John’s wort products.

Read HERE how effective St John's Wort is.

If I was a Tulip...

Winsor and Newton watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

If I was a Tulip
And you were wind’s wings,
I would not count
My broken dreams,
But bless the coming spring!
-UNKNOWN

The meaning of tulips is generally perfect love. Like many flowers, different colours of tulips also often carry their own significance. Red tulips are most strongly associated with true love, while purple symbolizes royalty. The meaning of yellow tulips has evolved somewhat, from once representing hopeless love to now being a common expression for cheerful thoughts and sunshine. White tulips are used to claim worthiness or to send a message of forgiveness. Variegated tulips, once among the most popular varieties due to their striking colour patterns, represent beautiful eyes.

I live in a landscape


Winsor and Newton watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

I live in a landscape, which every single day of my life is enriching.
- Daniel Day-Lewis

Friday, March 28, 2014

Blue gums. The first light of day


W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

The first light of day sweeps across some blue gums (Eucalyptus) on our smallholding (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa).


Saturday, December 28, 2013

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. ..........

Friday, October 11, 2013

Two Daisies

Acrylic on primed canvas panel – 9″ × 12″ - unframed

Two daisies from my garden in a blue bottle on my kitchen table.

Bright flowers, whose home is everywhere
Bold in maternal nature’s care
And all the long year through the heir
Of joy and sorrow,
Methinks that there abides in thee
Some concord with humanity,
Given to no other flower I see
The forest through.
- William Wordsworth, To the Daisy

ITEM ID : TwoDaisiesAcrylic
PRICE : R650.00 including postage in South Africa

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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Where Creation keeps its own slow time

My mind is at ease in Africa 
Where the people still live close to the soil 
And the seasons mark my changing moods 
Where the markets hustle with trading 
And Creation keeps its own slow time 
© 2006 Wayne Visser – Extract from "I know a place in Africa"

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

ITEM ID : WhereCreation
PRICE: R350.00 including postagein South Africa

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Petals fall

A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind. 
- Clive Bell 

 
Acrylics on canvas panel – 9″ × 12″ - unframed

Flower petals fall one by one
After the long day is done 
This flower has lived a good life 
With very little strife 
Memories of busy bees 
And images of little hands fingering it lovingly 
A lover’s purpose was in mind 
When it was picked from the vine 
Given to the one he loved 
As a token of all the things they’ve done 
Drooping low in the vase 
Is where it takes its resting place 
As its petals fall one by one 
One by one
- Bryanne Colver

ITEM ID : PetalsFall
PRICE : R350.00 including postage

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