One of the best watercolourists whose work I follow slavishly, has deemed me good enough to receive this award. Mineke Reinders is an incredible artist and I am honoured that she included me in her award list. The award was designed by Kim Ratigan who is an extremely talented animal and wildlife artist. Visit her blog for a look-see.

Now, I need to pass this award on.

Just because you love to create fabulous works of art -

Marian Fortunati - who always makes me laugh
Carol Hadfield - because I know how much she loves to paint
Di McNaughton - who loves life and art and is so generous with herself
Sanjeev Joshi - whose watercolours I love and because he also loves cricket
Jean Lursson - a fabulous watercolourist with links to SA
Sheila Tajima - who gets so many awards I thought I'd just slip this one in
Cathy Gatland - simply because you need to check out her blog

There are so many people out there who I'd like to pass this on to, just because your blogs are so wonderful to read and are also so inspirational. All you really need to do is go to my blog list of friends to know who I think deserve this award.

To those I've linked to, in turn you can link to the person who gave you the award, pass it on to 7 other bloggers whose work inspires you, and list 7 things you love. Or not.

The 7 things I love? Oh ok.

1. The changing of the seasons

2. All animals including cats, rats and bats, but most especially, dogs and horses!

3. Watching a good rugby game especially when our side wins!

4. Staying in the countryside.

5. Reading a well written book - current favourite is The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - check it out.

6. Quiet me time.

Ok, that's only 6, but I guess the 7th one would definitely be sitting in my little back room, painting!

Mickie

On November 9 last year, our local newspaper, the Sunday Argus, published an article on "Forgotten Portraits of a People".

The article was about a German photographer, Gustav Fritsch, who came to southern Africa in 1863 and stayed until 1865, and in that time took photographs with the newly discovered technology of photography.

After lying forgotten for all those years, the images were sourced in Germany, scanned by Keith Dietrich of the University of Stellenbosch, and recently put on display at the Sasol Museum in Stellenbosch.

The Sunday Argus published four portraits and a group photo, and this is my interpretation of Mickie, a Khoikhoi who lived in Harrismith in the Free State. The original photograph was taken in 1864, was obviously a sepia image, but what struck me most about the picture was the absolute sadness in her eyes. I think it reflects the history of colonisation around the world, not only in our country. I have tried to reflect not only this sadness, but also the absolute beauty of Mickie.

Kallis

Well, I'm now back in sunny South Africa and what a temperature shock it's been. Leaving Stockholm airport at minus 5 deg C (that's 23 deg F in old money!) and arriving back in Cape Town to soaring temperatures of 38 deg C (100.4 deg F)! These first two days at home have been sweltering and the news has been that fires have destroyed one of the wine farms in Paarl and are still raging in the area. Yesterday we couldn't see Table Mountain because of all the smoke blowing through from the countryside. I know I miss the family, but with this heat, a little bit of that snow (a teeny bit!) .... maybe that would be nice as well.

But one of the nice things about coming back home is that I can now watch the cricket and rugby again. So, to celebrate that fact, I am posting a painting I did just before I left, of one our "boys" who is a household name right around the cricketing world, Jacques Kallis.

It is also a sort of celebratory painting as it was done just as he achieved his 10 000th test run in world cricket. He is the only Test cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 10 000 runs AND 250 wickets. He also has over 10 000 runs in One Day Internationals.

Hope you like it.

Snowbound Shed

I think I'm coming to understand the subtleties of the snow here in Sweden. Yesterday in the morning, it was only -1 deg C and by midday, we were up to plus 2! As a result there was a lot of melting snow and slush. Waking up this morning there had been a light snow 'shower' and the areas that were snow free yesterday, have a dusting of white again. The apples that we threw into the back garden for the deer and the birds sank into the snow but were visible, now they too are covered with a sprinkle of white. The birds still find them though, clever things that they are!

I did this drawing of the shed (which in Summer is going to be the playhouse) in the garden. It is a typical small Swedish garden shed. When I did this, the snow had melted quite a bit and the roof was nearly its normal dark colour. I have subsequently taken photographs of it covered in snow again, and will try and depict those at a later stage.

On the Road

Sunday today, and my grandson is going to have his birthday party although his birthday is still 4 days away. He will be 7 on Thursday.

The plan was to have the party outside where they could play and have a fire to cook sausages for hotdogs. But this morning we awoke to more snow and where there was a little bit of thawing, the world is now black and white again. And the snowflakes are swirling down. So no snowball fights, no building of snowmen, just indoor games.

During last weekend we went down to Stockholm and visited, yes, wait for it

As a South African, Ikea is a whole new world to us. There are no stores quite like it. And quite frankly, it's a whole lot warmer in a building than it is outside.

We also took a drive through to Uppsala, the university town which was founded in 1477.(the University, that is). The Swedish Institute of Space Physics is also there as is the Astronomical Observatory. All very high tech! It was also the main pagan centre in Sweden. I took some photos on the way there and from the blurry images and my memory, came up with this drawing.

Timber Wolf

I'm finally getting used to the colder weather and quite enjoying going for those bracing walks in the fields of snow. I never knew snow could be so noisy.. crunch, crunch, crunch as you walk - as a result haven't seen any deer or badgers yet.

Some time ago, I painted this picture of a timber wolf and gave it to my son. I had forgotten about it until I saw it on the wall of his office. I specially painted it for him as he loves wolves - most of us have a closeness to some type of animal - mine is dogs and his is wolves.And to that, another little (sad) story. The wolf population last century was decimated in Sweden. Only a tiny area in the very north of this cold country was left. With the conservation policies in place, this population is slowly increasing and as a result, there are more sightings of wolves up north.

However, one lone wolf came down too far south and was roaming the countryside south of Stockholm. Unfortunately it was living off the fat of the farmers lands and taking out the occasional sheep. The farmers weren't charmed and shot the animal. A huge outcry by the bunny huggers (I am an unashamed bunny hugger!), but in the end, the Nordic shrug of the shoulders - that's life.

An Introduction to the Snow

I'd forgotton how cold cold could be until I got here - and it was only minus 2° C! Thank goodness for central heating. It is warming up a bit - now 0° C and it was nice to get out this morning. It takes about 20 minutes to get dressed for the outside, something I'm not used to. Hat, gloves, two coats and boots but when we were ready, we ventured into the forest area at the back of the house.

The sunshine (what there is of it) really makes a pretty picture of the snow.

It was a little gloomier this morning in the forest at the back of the house. But we had fun throwing snowballs at each other!

A little story - apparently some hunters were firing their guns (I absolutely hate the thought of hunting beautiful wild animals, but there you go), and in the process they woke up a bear. This caused a bit of concern as a hungry bear in the middle of winter is not the best creature to have wandering around the forests. The hope is that it found something to eat and has gone back to sleep. It was woken up not too far from here!

No painting thus far, only photographs. Will get there a little later.

Stig and Yoshi

A few weeks ago my sister did some housesitting for a family who lives in Steenberg. Diana (my sister) is a dog trainer and she gets these requests from people who mainly need to have their animals looked after. This particular family have just become parents to the most delightful little (monsters!) Pugs called Stig and Yoshi.

Their curiosity knows no bounds and when Diana brought them over for a visit on the way back from wherever they'd been, they had the cheek to bark at our Rottweilers! Jesse and Katie (the Rotties) couldn't believe their eyes - just as well there was a security gate between them!

Yesterday I had a visit from a Pug lover, Nancy and the Fatties (check it out - she is involved in Pug rehabilitation) and just for that I thought I would post the painting I did of Stig and Yoshi (Stig in orange, Yoshi in blue) - I'm starting to use bigger brushstrokes and layering paint and because I met these two, I so enjoyed this painting. Hope you do, too.

Berthe Morisot

This week has been one of those weeks that we all occasionally have. I seem to have spent all my days running around, firstly with the exhibition we have on at the moment, secondly with trying to get my visa and passport in order so that I can leave next week and thirdly with all the shopping I've had to do - that was nice though, I love buying presents to take over. The shop assistants think you're nuts when you test the weight of each thing you buy! And on top of that, the weather has been energy draining hot!

I've started a few paintings in between all the chaos, but nothing is finished. I was looking at Jo Ann Elig's blog at a recent post when she did a copy of a well known American artist, William Merritt Chase's work. In class about two months ago, we were given a project to also do a Master, so I thought, in lieu of not having a really new painting to post, I would put this up.

It's a copy of a Berthe Morisot painting, Lady at her Toilette and I found it one of the most difficult things to do - copy another's work. In the end, you tend to put a bit of yourself into it and it shows if you go to the original.

Kruger Park Lion

The Kruger National Park is one of the most wonderful, peaceful, tranquil places to visit. All you can do is drive around at 30 km (18 miles) per hour, looking for animals (usually the Big 5), go back to the camp at sunset and eat and sleep, to get up again at dawn and do the whole thing all over again.

It is many years since I was there, enjoying those incredible, warm, night time sounds of lions roaring softly, hyenas snuffling in the veld outside the camp and of course, the chirrup, chirrup of the crickets. Music to go to sleep by.

The beauty of the African bush is amazing as you can see from these pics taken by a friend of mine who goes there at least twice a year.

A river in the Kruger Park and a Leopard lazing in a tree

A baobab or upside down tree and Sunset over Sabie

While she was there she also took magnificent photos of a lion ambling across a bridge. He had all the time in the world as he knew that the traffic would stop for him - and he took full advantage. He is, after all, the King of the Jungle.

This is the painting I did of him as he got to the other side - the challenge in his eyes was unmistakable. Luckily there is a whole lot of motor car between the photographer and those teeth.

I must add here, that the likelihood of a lion attacking a human is very remote. But one never takes chances!

Marius

A month ago I posted a watercolour painting of Marius, the plumber who lives in Greyton. I wrote then that I would post the oil I was doing of him in "a few days". Well, those few days turned out to be more than 30, but here he is.

In this one I think I captured more of the kindness and gentleness that emanated from him. It all came from the eyes - and how I was tempted to fiddle to get them 'just that bit closer' to what I wanted to convey. I stopped myself doing that, and in retrospect, am quite pleased that I did. Any thoughts on that?

166 - SOLD

As anybody who knows me would know, I am an avid cricket fan. It sometimes gets so bad, that when we were playing against Australia (who are the World Champions) in Melbourne in this last test, I would set the alarm for 1am and spend the rest of the night watching cricket. Absolute madness I know. But it was worth it when we won and, even better, for the first time ever, South Africa won a test match series IN Australia. Unfortunately we are struggling a bit in the last test in Sydney, but tomorrow's the last day and anything can happen!

The absolute hero of the Melbourne test was a young Western Province cricketer, JP Duminy who got his debut century and went on to make 166. This portrait is of him batting during that century with Brad Haddin, the Aussie wicketkeeper behind the stumps.

Now I know that cricket is a complicated game if you haven't been brought up with it. A while ago I sent an explanation of cricket to V ... Vaughn and thought that I would include it here as well. It's called the "Tea Towel Explanation of Cricket" - just for a laugh!

The Famous Tea Towel Explanation of Cricket.

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

HOWZAT!

The Dell, Kirstenbosch

I must start by wishing all my blogging friends a wonderful, prosperous and happy painting 2009.

Dianne McNaughton posed the question in her last blog - how do different people motivate themselves to paint! Well, all I know is when it gets this hot, I cannot do anything. And today is no exception. I know my blogging/cricketing friend in India, Sanjeev Joshi, would laugh, but honestly when the temperature hits 30 deg C (86 def F) I become useless. I go into my art room and just sit there looking at the canvas, listlessly put a few strokes down, and then have to find some cool spot. And the coolest spot in the house is where the computer is! I will make the effort later when it cools down but in the meantime I thought I would post this painting.

It is of the Dell at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It's such a lovely cool area in the gardens, starting from the pool shaped like a bird and appropriately called after the Colonel who designed and built it, Cnl Bird! flows over a small waterfall and onto the Dell where it forms a small pool before going under a stone footbridge.

We were 'plein air' painting that day, and I gave up and took a photo to do this picture, but the peace and tranquility of the area stayed with me. I hope I conveyed it.

Christmas in Cape Town

Well Christmas 2008 has come and gone and in Cape Town, we had glorious weather to enjoy our usual outdoor Christmas lunch. This is a picture of our friend, Dawne - nuclear physicist turned cello maker - relaxing after a rather large meal.

And I have discovered the person who belongs to my painting. Her name is Jo Ann Elig and she lives in Rhode Island in the United States. Check our her blog. This is the original picture and I've posted my painting again as a comparison.

DSFDF - My Challenge

Ohmygosh I was so nervous about entering Karin's challenge, but thought if I don't do it now, then I'll never get past my misgivings about my abilities. So here she is, the artist I was sent to paint. It was certainly a challenge as I have no idea what she is like as a person. All I could see were those stunning eyes, and what an amazing mouth. I hope you like it, whoever you are.


HAVE A FANTASTIC FESTIVE SEASON !!

Lion Kings

I have been corresponding with an amazing artist in Austin, Texas. Her forte is sketching but her paintings are magnificent. Virginia's blog, V ... Vaughn is an incredible collection of wildlife and domestic animal artwork. Because she's so good at it, I sent her a picture of a lion taken at the Kruger National Park and she's already done a pencil sketch prior to painting it.

Before I started writing to V, I had done my own little watercolour of two lions, also taken from a photo from the KNP. Although I don't have V's ability, I thought I would post it just for interest sake.

Check our her blog and website. She's really good.

After the Fire

As Cathy Gatland noted in her post, yesterday was a holiday here in South Africa. Now known as Heritage Day, it was originally known as Dingaan's Day in honour of the battle of Blood River when the Boers and the Zulus came to blows and so many thousands died. It has gone through a few changes - from Dingaan's Day to Family Day, Day of the Covenant and finally now, Heritage Day. But more importantly, it is still viewed as a day of peace.

It also heralds the start of the 'silly season' when we get hundreds of visitors from upcountry to our lovely beaches and mountains, where the beach parties are in full swing, sun drenched bikini clad bodies soak up the sun on Clifton Fourth Beach, tanned muscular bodies play beach volleyball, surfers in Muizenberg, hikers on Table Mountain, sometimes losing their way - and of course, everyone eats too much on Christmas Day.

But the summer 'silly season' is also Fire Season. The wind blows, someone throws out a cigarette butt and, whooosh, the mountain starts burning. It's just taken some very brave firefighters five days and nights to bring the fires in Gordon's Bay and the Strand, just outside Cape Town, under control. It wiped out three houses in the process. Out of control fires are also the nightmare of the informal settlements where not just one, but usually up to 20 shack dwellings can be destroyed.

The fires also have their uses. The king protea (which is the national flower of South Africa and the official emblem of our cricket team) and all the other species of protea, need fire to germinate. This also applies to a number of indigenous flowers in the Western Cape. Whilst walking near Greyton, I came across the result of a fire. These burned out proteas were so stark against the new grasses growing nearby.

Karin's Boots

For the first time I decided to try Karin Jurick's project on 'Different Strokes for Different Folks' and this is the result. Her boots are delightful - full of character, and if you go to her post you'll see all the recent submissions of the same footwear!

I did, however, have endless trouble trying to photograph the painting. Maybe it's my colour choice of background, but they always came out so yellow. In the end, I used photoshop (which I'm a complete novice with) to try and get the colours more or less as the original painting.

I enjoyed painting them. Thank you Karin.

Marius

Another portrait in watercolour. This one I'm quite proud of, as I stopped before I fiddled and overworked it.

I love painting these guys. He was also in Greyton and came to fix some plumbing job whilst I was house and dog sitting. He and his workmate (colloquially known as 'handlanger') sat on the edge of the verandah in the winter sunshine fiddling and fixing whilst I took photos. Marius has the gentlest of faces I've seen for a long time - such a gentle soul, and I tried my best to capture that. I am currently doing an oil of him as well and will post that when it's finally finished - no 'painting a day' in this neck of the woods! Not just yet, anyway.

Brown Eyes

I have discovered I love painting portraits, even though they don't always turn out the way I'd have liked them to. The expressions and character on faces shines through, especially when they think you're not watching. A photo taken when someone isn't watching can be priceless, but I guess the best is painting with a live model. I have done that once, wasn't happy with the result, but need to try it again. During these December holidays with the nice warm weather, we'll be going out into the forests and onto the beaches to paint 'plein air', so maybe I can catch some of my fellow artists unawares!

That's for the next few weeks. In the meantime, this little watercolour was taken from a pic and done in our watercolour Monday group. I feel, again, that I've overworked it, but I will get better with practice - that's what I've been lead to believe, anyway!

Check out Sharon Wright's, Susan Carlin's and Susan Martin's sites for some exceptional specialised portrait work.