Gum leaves - Botanical illustration

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm 

Bluegum leaves (Eucalyptus)
Dedicated to all Eucalypt and Bee-lovers!

A recent study by the SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) in South Africa has found that gum trees provide nectar and pollen for swarms of commercial bees – and bees in turn pollinate about 50 food crops in the country. This “service” bees provide is worth about R10.3 billion a year.

Gum trees are not only important food for bees, but so are many roadside wildflowers, crops, suburban flowering plants and those that many regard as weeds. A major reason for the decline of honey bees around the world is a lack of good forage plants to provide nectar, which is the carbohydrate in the bees’ diet, and pollen the protein. Bees collect nectar from Blue Gum tree blossoms from spring to late summer.

A lack of good quality and variety of forage plants can lead to unhealthy honey bee colonies that are more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

This in turn can lead to insufficient pollination of our important agricultural crop flowers, leading to a decreased yield or quality of the food crop, Insect pollinators are needed for 35 percent of all food production globally – or one of every three bites you eat.

Although most Bluegums have been declared as an invasive species in South Africa, Beekeepers are highly dependent on eucalyptus and if they are all removed because they are aliens it would mean a serious shortage of food for bees – with a knock-on effect on crop pollination.

Because of this, the Department of Environmental Affairs’ legislation on alien and invasive species, updated in 2014, is “nuanced” for eucalyptus trees, not requiring all of them to come under the axe or chainsaw.

ITEM ID : GumLeavesBotanical

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

Evening Bluegums

W&N watercolour on Arches 300gsm 8" x 12"

Dedicated to all those who love early-evenings.

As the last of the sun’s rays filter through the Bluegum bush on our property, the forest floor turns into a play of light and shadow. I feel at peace here in nature…

ITEM ID : EveningBluegums
PRICE : R350.00 postage included in South Africa 

Magaliesberg cliffs

Acrylic painting on un-stretched canvas sheet 

A view of the Magaliesberg cliffs (NorthWest Province, South Africa), one of the few places where the White-backed Vulture still roams freely.

The Magaliesberg are among the oldest mountains in the world, almost 100 times older than Everest. They stretch for 120km from Bronkhorstspruit Dam east of Pretoria to Rustenburg in the west and separate the highveld grasslands to the south from the bushveld savannah in the north.

Sheer quartzite cliffs face south, overlooking a wide valley and a smaller ridge similar in shape and structure to the Magaliesberg.

ITEM ID : MagaliesbergCliffsAcrylic

The voice of the sea

Acrylic painting on Giverny 240gsm acrylic multi-medium paper 

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.
_{- Kate Chopin, ‘The Awakening’}

Some of our most stunning beaches and wild seas are to be found in Ballito, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Unlike the beaches further North, the Dolphin Coast has the most wonderful rocks and boulders on the beaches, extending into the sea for some distance during low tide. Whenever I visit the area, I can spend hours on the rocks, just watching the motion of the sea.

To me it speaks of the mysteries of its depths, the countless lives that have been lost traversing its great expanse, lost treasure and the rich diversity of its animal life, sometimes evident in shells and strange bits and pieces washing ashore. What an awesome piece of our planet!

ITEM ID : VoiceOfTheSeaAcrylic

Moonlit beach

Done from memory – Acrylic painting on primed un-stretched Canvas sheet 

The beaches at St. Lucia way up on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa) are some of the most beautiful in our country and I was lucky enough to be there one moonlit night to witness the spectacular rising of the moon in the East.

Tarlton landscape

Acrylic painting on Giverny 240gsm acrylic paper - done on location in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa)

Not far from us a friend has a dam on his smallholding. When we visited, it gave me a chance to try my hand at some Acrylics, no sketching beforehand.

ITEM ID : TarltonLandscapeAcrylic

Fantasy Arums

 

Acrylic painting on Gesso primed un-stretched acid-free canvas sheet 

Definitely a first for me, doing a subject that is not true to life. I mean, really, Orange Arums?! What next?! Normally for me, as here, once I apply a back-ground, that normally sets the tone for the rest of the colour palette. And it seemed a natural progression of incorporating orange as the contrast to the yellow back-ground.


 

 

Cockadoodledoooo! Good morning!

Acrylic painting on Gesso primed acid free acrylic un-stretched canvas 

This chap was amongst all Solly’s chickens as they strolled through my garden, picking up tit-bits here and there, but he was smaller than all the other roosters and kept to  one side, keeping an eye on the big Black Pirate, who seemed to be in charge of the barnyard. But every now and then he did let it be known that he was around!

ITEM ID : GoodMorningRoosterAcrylic

Dark reaction

Acrylic painting on un-stretched canvas sheet

The dark within awakes.
My very breath it takes.

Bloody black feelings stir
growing shadowy black fur.
A drop of hate -
A torrent of anger -
A sheet of darkness -
A shard of light-

I lost track.
~ Mau Rose

The Awakening

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

 

Like a flash of lightening on a dark quiet night

Creativity erupts.

It overflows the senses,

Spilling out like liquid inspiration.

Living our Authentic Power means listening to the voice within, regardless of the pressure of social conditioning or any authority or peer group belief systems.  You are a unique individual and have your own path to traverse.  Your path is not necessarily the path of others. 

It is the voice within that knows best for us and will always guide us in the right direction for our soul evolution.  Honouring this inner wisdom means that we are aligning our human selves with our souls, for the purpose of spiritual growth.  It means that we are being who we truly are - a magnificent spark of the Creative Force.  Anything less than this is a chaining of the soul, and will create pain.

Magaliesburg landscape

Acrylic on Gesso primed Acrylic Canvas sheet – Done on location in Magaliesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

The Superwoman

 

W&N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

 

What will the superwoman be, of whom we sing -

She who is coming over the dim border

Of Far To-morrow, after earth’s disorder

Is tidied up by Time? What will she bring

To make life better on tempestuous earth?

How will her worth

Be greater than her forbears? What new power

Within her being will burst into flower?

She will bring virtue; but it will not be

The pale, white blossom of cold chastity

Which hides a barren heart. She will be human -

Not saint or angel, but the superwoman -

Mother and mate and friend of superman.

- Extract from "The Superwoman" by Ella Wheeler Willcox

 

Midnight in town square

Oil painting on un-stretched canvas sheet 

An imaginary scene of midnight in a Town Square after a down-pour. 

A handful of Southerly wind

Black waterproof Pilot Calligraphy Lettering Pen sketch, candle wax and W&N ‘Sepia’ watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

The historic mining village of Kaapsehoop is situated about 25 kilometers from the town of Nelspruit in the South African province of Mpumalanga. It is within this paradise-like setting that the legendary wild horses of Kaapsehoop roam freely. Kaapschehoop has the only wild herds in South Africa, whilst the other nearest known wild horse occurrence is in Namibia.

A woman's friendship

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Flowers for a friend in need.

Seagulls at Durban Harbour

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 
Grey-headed Gull (Larus cirrocephalus)

The Port of Durban, commonly called Durban Harbour, is the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa. It handles up to 31.4 million tons of cargo each year and is the fourth largest container terminal in the Southern Hemisphere.

When visiting my daughter in Ballito on the North Coast, I always make a special trip to Durban just to go and see the Seagulls. For some unknown reason, there are no seagulls in the Ballito area.

The closest two breeding colonies of the Grey-headed gull to Durban are the large nesting concentrations at Lake St Lucia up the North Coast and in Gauteng Province (believe it or not!). The total southern African population of this species has been estimated at about 2000 pairs. Durban Bay, where up to 920 individuals were counted during one study, therefore seasonally supports a highly significant proportion of the total southern African population during the non-breeding season.

Gums and bees - Botanical

W&N watercolour and ink on Bockingford 300gsm 
.

Eucalyptus is the most widely planted hardwood genus in the world, covering more than 19 million hectares. South Africa relies heavily on plantations of exotic forestry species, particularly Eucalyptus, to meet its timber needs.

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs belonging to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. There are no indigenous eucalypts in South Africa, but they play an important role in our ecology, especially to the Bee-keeping industry. Bee-keepers need a supply of forage (food) for their colonies throughout the year. Because Eucalyptus flower at various times of the year, they provide a constant and reliable flow of nectar and a source of pollen, making them essential to the bee-keeping industry.

South Africa’s honey bees are under threat. They face diminishing habitat and forage resources, attack by the Varroa mite pest and American Foul-brood disease, pollution from pesticides, and stress from being worked hard to provide a pollination service. For honey bee populations to withstand these stresses, a healthy diet is critical for a fully-functioning immune system.

So next time you drive past a Eucalyptus tree, give a thought to the important role this tree plays in our landscape.

You can purchase a framed print or other products at my RedBubble shop :

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!