An Old Guy

Talk about getting through as the gate closes!

James Parker, that inimitable artist from Texas has his own challenge blog. For the month of June he decided to post 'Wrinklies' and what a wonderful subject! Nothing like the character in those facial lines of old folk, and because I'm heading in that direction, I like the idea of trumpeting those face maps.

But the deadline for sending it to him is TODAY. Luckily I'm quite a few hours ahead of the States, so I should just make it.

From tomorrow he will posting pics of doggies - one of my favourite subjects - check it out.

Here's my June 'Wrinkly' with a bit of a glare from the wet paint.

Two Donkeys

Four months ago I took a two month break from watercolour painting. That was the last thing I should have done as I am now really struggling with my watercolours.

I love the medium but freely admit that oils are my preferred choice. But the discipline and clarity of watercolours will always attract. As a result I have spent ages on paintings, only to tear them up in frustration. Overworking again and again, even though I know I'm doing it but can't help it!

But if nothing else, I'm stubborn and will persevere until I get better at it. After all, isn't that what art is about?

This comes from a photograph taken in the Baviaanskloof area - there was a handler in the picture, but I just concentrated on the donkeys.

A Dog called Khaya

Another painting of a young dog from DARG.

Khaya and her companion, were left to fend for themselves and were picked up wandering on the N7 highway just outside Cape Town (the main West Coast Road). Both youngsters, Khaya is a cross Husky Lab, were obviously just dumped as people become less and less able to feed and care for them.

An unusual name, Khaya is the Zulu (and Xhosa) word for 'home'. And the good news is that both Khaya and her "sister", Ujo, have just been adopted. I'm hoping that the new owners will donate to DARG for Khaya's portrait. Fingers crossed!

A South African Master

Well, I think I've finally made a deadline. It's been a bit of a sweat as I haven't painted for 9 days whilst on duty at our annual SA Society of Artists Members Exhibition. But here it is. This is my entry to the Masters Challenge blog run by Michelle Burnett and she certainly challenged me with this one.

Although I find landscapes quite daunting, I had no trouble at all in selecting one of my favourite South African artists to copy.

Pierneef (full name is Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef) has always been immensely appealing in his rather 'different', geometric way of portraying the landscape of our country. His love of the land shows through in all his work, a love, I guess, that is shared by most of us Africans.

This one is entitled Bushveld Autumn Landscape and was painted in 1943. I did check that I was within the copyright limits of 50 years; Pierneef died in 1957.

Latecomer

I've been housesitting for the past 2 weeks and have done very little painting as a result.  In addition I never made the deadlines for Karin's DSDF Diana challenge, nor the one for the Masters Challenge.

I did finish the Companion of Diana e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y, but have to confess that I'm nowhere near finished the Masters one.

This is my version of Diana's companion (I'm not even going anywhere near the Manhattan taxis!)

Daphne

Meet Daphne.   She is one of the older residents at DARG, the animal rescue group that I have done a couple of paintings for.  

This initiative, which was started by Sheila and Carrie, has taken on a life of its own in the USA. Hopefully it will progress to other countries across the world.

Daphne has been with DARG for some time now, and the hopes of her being re-homed are quite remote.  It is scary the number of animals that are 'discarded' by people - they currently have a whole host of puppies that have been rescued and one puppy pitbull that is deaf.

I always feel so sad when I see the faces of all these lost animals.  Thank goodness for organisations like DARG and thank goodness for people like Sheila and Carrie who give people like me an opportunity to help them.

Nelleka

It's incredible to think that it's May already. It seems that it was only a few short weeks ago that it was the beginning of the year! It's been said that time moves faster the older you get - I guess I know where I stand now.

It also seems just a few days ago that I last posted on my blog, but it was actually a week and half. The time that I have seems to be taken up with all sorts of 'other' things, like going to cricket to watch the Indian Premier League.

May also heralds the advent of winter and the days this week have been decidedly chillier. Today, however, was the exception - beautiful and sunny and absolutely perfect for gardening.

But I did manage to finish another painting from the 'Forgotton Portraits of a People' article that appeared in the Sunday Argus last year. It was also taken in 1864. The first one I did was of Mickie, the rather sad Khoikhoi from Harrismith in the Orange Free State.

This one is of a 'transport rider' called Nelleka who came from an area in the Eastern Cape formerly known as British Kaffraria. It doesn't say what nationality he is, but it is likely that coming from that area, he would be of Xhosa descent. Like Mickie, what struck me was the sadness in his eyes but I also think he had an extremely beautiful face.

My Greek Holiday

Oh, I have been so lax about photographing and posting my paintings. I just don't seem to strike the right time of day to take photos and all the latest ones have such glare on them. Even this one, which was taken by a friend of mine while on holiday in Greece, had a shine on it that I battled to subdue.

I need to search back through r.garriott's photoshop tips on lessons to combat this!

In the meantime, I painted this in January before I went to a cold, snowy, Sweden. Quite a contrast!

Painting the Masters

A lovely lady, Michelle Burnett, from Utah, decided to start a blog along the same lines as Karin Jurick's Different Strokes blog. She has called it 'Following the Masters'. I thought this would be quite fun, as I've been told that practising your painting by copying the masters, is a very worthwhile exercise.

The first one is 'Narcissus' by John William Waterhouse, and this is my effort. Have a look at her blog - I think the next one is going to be quite exciting!


I am having major hiccoughs with my computer just lately; I have tried to comment on a number of blogs, but Firefox just throws me off! Am I the only one?

Old Ginger

Sometimes I think I've taken on too much. I teach fabric painting three times a week, attend art class on Tuesday nights and our art group on Friday mornings. And now I've taken on the library at our local Art Society as well as the responsibility for the data base - lots of computer work.

Plus there have been soooo many cricket games to watch and from the 18th we are hosting the Indian Premier League which means another weekend at the Newlands Cricket Ground.

And then I said I would do the paintings for the Art for Animals project and donate them to DARG. I feel the pressure building! But, when I finally sat down today to finish the second painting, I enjoyed the peace and quiet of my little art room. So now I know what to do – go and just sit there, whether you do anything or not, and things will happen.

This is an elderly cat whom I have called ‘Old Ginger’ as all he has is a number – no name! He is not a pretty gentleman, but like all cats, shows an aloofness and disdain that came out clearly in his photograph. I’ve tried to show that here as well. My second DARG painting.

Awards

Those two wonderful people, Sheila Tajima and Carrie Jacobson gave me the most fabulous award for participating in their Art for the Animals project. And isn’t it fabulous!

I have also been honoured with two other awards. Ramesh Jahwar has given me another Passion for Painting Award

and Saundra Lane Galloway and a lovely new visitor to my blog, Darlene Twitchell have both given me the Lemonade Award for a positive attitude and grattitude! What fun.

But I’m going to beg off passing on the Passion for Painting Award to a further 7 people and am going to combine the Lemonade Award and send it off to 7 people who can have their own fun with it. A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that show a positive attitude and gratitude. It also exemplifies people who have a willingness to share their ideas, support and online friendship.

But as Deano from Deano’s Den put it... “if you are over taxed and over tagged, I totally understand, but felt so happy to give you a link from me...”

Carolann Gould

Sylvia Jensted - welcome back

Charlene Brown

Carol Hadfield

Barbara Pask

James Parker

Anurag Mehta

Will let you know about the award on your own wonderful blogs!

Wharf

Well this is my first contribution to the Art for Animals blog.

His name is Wharf and he comes from the Hout Bay based organisation, DARG (Domestic Animal Rescue Group). I don't know very much about Wharf, but from his name would imagine he was found wandering round the docks.

DARG have a policy of never putting a healthy animal down and as a result, there are a few dogs and cats who have been staying at the centre for some time. Wharf is one of them, a sweet faced eldery dog who is looking for a home to retire to. Hopefully my little painting will help him find his 'forever' place in the sun!

Emma

This is Emma. She was my friend and companion for 8 years before she went to doggy heaven 6 years ago. She had bone cancer and when she broke her leg, there was nothing the vet could do for her. I miss her still and get a little teary eyed when I look at her inquiring expression.

She discovered squeaky toys late in life and this little pink one was HERS. It seemed to be the only one that wasn't destroyed, maybe because it was a little bit spiky.

This painting of Emma is also my warm-up for Sheila's Art for Animals blog. I need to take photos and get down to painting the unwanted dogs that people throw away. Watch this space!

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.