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Tuesday 23 May 2023

Daisies singing in the rain

'Daisies singing in the rain'

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm.

Soft and gentle as a fresh spring rain - these daisies would clear the clouds in anyone's day!

Friday 10 February 2023

Wildlings

 

Mixed media Collage — W&N watercolour, newspaper cutting, ink sketch and acrylic on Amedeo 200gsm 

Wildflowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. 

—Jim Carrey

Sunday 5 February 2023

Evening Primrose


Mixed media of W&N watercolour and candle wax on Bockingford 300gsm

***

I wanna be

the mild fragrance

of an evening primrose

gentle and sweet

beneath your sheet

cluster of petals

which bloom

white blossoms

to wither softly

into your sleep

— unknown

***


Thursday 5 January 2023

In the Bulrushes

 

Black ink sketch and watercolour wash on a back-ground done with coffee on Bockingford 300gsm

The sun begins its red plunge down the sky.
Deep in the earth a locust’s eyes snap open.
Frogs resume their trill
And punctual to the minute
down the path,
tottering on jeweled sandals, comes
the beautiful lonely princess
— Extract from “In the Bulrushes” by Katha Pollitt

***

Saturday 21 May 2022

The warmth of Summer

 


The warmth of summer is fading, slower here at the Coast than inland, but already the mornings are nippy and require long sleeves or a light jersey before heading out.

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Sunday 1 May 2022

Coffee Daisies

 Coffee Daisies Done on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper with coffee. Dedicated to all coffee-lovers 

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Monday 29 February 2016

Sunshine in the rain


W&N watercolour on Arches 300gsm

We’ve been having lots of cold and rainy days and yesterday I felt I just HAD to brighten up the day with something smiling! Not that I don’t smile during rainy weather, I love it!, but  I thought a bit of sunflower sunshine would be nice.

Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men and animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Saturday 27 February 2016

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. 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!

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Wednesday 24 February 2016

Enthroned in his earthenware pot ...


Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – Dried Hydrangeas from my garden standing in my potting shed.

::

From the bottom of the garden, enthroned in his earthenware pot,
the hydrangea god surveys his minions—
lavender agapanthuses bowing starburst heads,
red begonia calyxes trumpeting his fame,
oleander leaves whispering of his misdeeds.
The central path leads straight to him. Behind,
a stained mirror and mossy wall back up his power.
Thousands of crinkled, tiny, white ideas occur to him
with frilled and overlapping edges. No one else
deploys such Byzantine metaphysics. No one
can read his mind. Only he remembers
the children’s secret fort by the cypress tree
among fraught weeds, rusted buckets, and dumped ash,
and how lost the grown-ups sounded, calling, as night came.
- Hydrangea By Rosanna Warren

 
 

Thursday 18 February 2016

Autumn roses


Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm Watercolour sketch-book
 
You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses!
- Ziggy

I have a couple of those very realistic-looking silk roses which I bring out of storage from time-to-time, especially if flowers are in short supply in the garden during winter months (I know, Winter is not an excuse to not have any flowers in the garden, but this year I’ve left planting a bit late, might still get in some pansies, though!) – and they served as subject matter for a quick watercolour with no sketching before-hand.

Monday 15 February 2016

Vintage Coffee Roses

Coffee and watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper  

Painted with Coffee (Nescaf̩ instant, very strong) and a bit of Cadmium Red Рthe rose on the left is from my garden and the one on the right is done from an inverted image of a friend's rose on FaceBook.

Friday 12 February 2016

Rampage of appreciation

W&N Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book
 
Flowers from my garden.

Appreciate your friends
and family
and hold them near.
NOW
Compliment yourself
on the day’s achievements
no matter how big or few they are.
Appreciate the stamina of your body.
And who you are.
Turn toward
your perfect life.
It is the best feeling.
Go on a rampage of appreciation.
Relax and breathe into appreciation
of what you shared.
No relationship is ever done.
It’s all eternal.
- Maree Clarkson

Tuesday 9 February 2016

From the bottom of the garden...

Watercolour and ink sketch in Moleskine Large Note book
 
“From the bottom of the garden,
enthroned in his earthenware pot,
the hydrangea god surveys his minions—”

Due to the acidity of our soi, which is caused by the many Blue Gum trees planted in the area, our Hydrangeas are mostly mauve, blue or pink, and if we want a white variety, we have to add a lot of alkalinity to the soil.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Charming Naturalness

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – A vase with flowers on my kitchen table
 
“He must have an artist’s eye for colour and form who can arrange a hundred flowers as tastefully, in any other way, as by strolling through a garden, and picking here one and there one, and adding them to the bouquet in the accidental order in which they chance to come. Thus we see every summer day the fair lady coming in from the breezy side hill with gorgeous colours and most witching effects. If only she could be changed to alabaster, was ever a finer show of flowers in so fine a vase? But instead of allowing the flowers to remain as they were gathered, they are laid upon the table, divided, rearranged on some principle of taste, I know not what, but never again have that charming naturalness and grace which they first had.”
- Henry Ward Beecher

Wednesday 3 February 2016

autumn reds


Black ink sketch with colour wash in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Autumn – The colourful month of May filled with red daisies and orange leaves.

Sunday 31 January 2016

Daisy Love in Spring

Watercolour in my Moleskine 200gsm watercolour paper Nature Journal 

FLOWERS ARE ONE OF THE GREATEST INSPIRATIONS FROM NATURE!

Every Spring I revel in the masses of daisies that appear in one corner of my garden – no matter how cold the Winter has been, they’re the first to welcome the warmer weather with their beautiful colours!

Thursday 28 January 2016

Winter blues


Black ink sketch and colour wash in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book.

Winter here always has bright blue skies and blue Kingfisher daisies flowering in the garden.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Spring splendour


Black ink sketch with colourwash in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Spring is always a celebration of new light green leaves on the Celtis africana (Stinkwood tree) and sunny Euryops daisies.


Sunday 24 January 2016

Summer Cosmos


Black ink sketch and colour wash in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book.

Summer goes hand in hand with fields of Cosmos flowers every November to March, covering the landscape in pinks, cerises and purples.