A Special Day

Tomorrow is my beautiful grandson's 8th birthday and sadly I will not be there to share it with him.  And his wonderful mother has her birthday the following day with my one and only granddaughter (whom I have never seen in person) celebrating her first birthday the next week.

Now, as is the case with all first born children, there are hundreds of thousands of photographs of Andreas, so I have plenty to choose from to paint.

But I am ultra lucky if I get one or two of Catherine!  Maybe they'll take the hint and send me a whole bunch of the little lady so I can get to paint more than the one I already have.

This was done from a photograph taken when they were last in SA almost 2 years ago, but I liked it, so I painted it, and it is one I'm going to keep!

 

Andreas - Just Listening

Sunshine Award

Every  now and then some enterprising person sends out an award to marvellous people in our blogging world.

The latest one is the Sunshine Award and what a lovely idea it is.  I have received mine from fellow South African and fabulous West Coast artist, Marie Theron.  I hope to connect with Marie after Easter when a group of us plan to take a painting trip to her wonderful part of our world.

I am also so thrilled and blessed to have 135 people following my little blogging patch and the first thing I would do is to pass this award on to all of you who have made my life so much richer.  So I'm breaking the rules (I think Autumn Leaves also bent them a bit), but then creative types aren't really known for being that obedient!

Please take this award with my thanks and may your days always have sunshine even when it rains.

Sketching

This past Monday I thought I would try James Parker's challenge in Watercolour!  Ha!  What a disaster.  I find that about one in five of my watercolours I'm happy with, yet I keep on trying.

So, after tearing that one up, I thought I would try it in pencil.  Only having watercolour paper with me, this is the rather 'bumpy' result.

Redheads

Now I don't usually use graphite to sketch with, but this one was also done with pencil in about 10 minutes.  I had decided I'd finished the oil portrait, and did this whilst waiting.

Lauren

                 

And then finally, my favourite sketching medium, charcoal.  One of the ladies brought in this skull one Friday and it was quite a challenge to sketch.  It used to be her horse until it died.

Lion the Dog (in watercolour)

In the suburb of Hout Bay there is an 'informal settlement' that goes by the name of Imizamo Yethu, which roughly translated means 'through collective struggle'.  The settlement is made up of shacks and the residents are primarily Xhosa speakers from the Eastern Cape who have made the trip to Cape Town looking for a job and a better life.  There are also immigrants (legal and illegal) from northern parts of Africa.

Imizamo Yethu is a hodge-podge of people and cultures and despite desperate hardship there are also little gems that can be unearthed.

Lion the Dog is one of them.  

He used to live on the dusty street even though his owner made sure he had fresh water and a meal of some sort.

But Lion the Dog was getting old and his joints were feeling stiff and sore, so Hilary Barclay*, a former nurse and animal lover, decided that he needed a kennel.  Through generous donations, Lion now has shelter and warmth and loves his kennel so much, he "only comes out of it to eat, pee and pooh!"

*Hilary Barclay, a registered nurse and dog trainer, started an animal sterlisation programme in Hout Bay's IY township in 2004 to uplift the animal welfare of pets in this community.  To date they have sterlised over 1000 pets and have thus gone a long way to curbing the animal population.  The original black and white photograph for this pic was taken by Mia Davila who is the publicity and liaison person at DARG.

Plein Airheads

I think I have now officially joined the 'Tuesday Plein Air' group, or plein airheads as I think they should be called.  I mean, you've got to be daft to go and sit in the boiling sun with a piddly umbrella trying its best to give you some shade, or, as we've been doing the past two weeks, sitting on top of the mountain (oh, alright, hill) with a good chance of being blown off!

My complete and total admiration goes out to people like Rob Ijbema and Rene Plein Air who actually go and sit in the SNOW and paint!  Bill Guffy in the USA tends to do that as well.  Daft, as I said.  But they do produce jolly good work.

Now I'm relatively new to this outside process and am still trying to find my way around bringing this vast panorama we call Table Mountain into a teeny weeny 14"x18" canvas.  For the past 2 weeks we've been on the top of Signal Hill which is part of the TM facade and the views overlooking the city, the mountain and the new Soccer Stadium are breathtaking.  

The first week was misty when we arrived so it was hurry, hurry, try and catch the mist before it burnt away. 

Then the following week I sat crunched under a short tree for shade and painted the right hand side of TM with the cable station sticking up at the top.  The 12 Apostles are on the right hand side with a lone pine tree that was in front of me on my little bit of mountain.

I was not that happy with the result, but the light was changing so had to stop.  I may try and do some more on it this coming Tuesday - I think the darks needs darkening.  But here is our wonderful - at least a bit of  it - Table Mountain.

I just want to add here that all the trees in Cape Town are bent.  The Southeaster, or Cape Doctor, keeps the air nice and clean, but the trees have trouble standing up to the wind.

Xena the Pitbull

 I still occasionally do the odd painting for DARG, but not quite as often as I would like.

This is Xena and DARG think she's about 5 years old.  In the blurb they say she was rescued 2 years ago after being burnt on her back with hot oil!  Amazing how people think that these poor creatures don't feel pain.  She was adopted but was returned after her new owner decided to move without her.

It is a bit of a problem when people return to places like the UK where dogs and cats have to be quarantined for 6 months before going to their new home, so sometimes I guess it is best to try and find a new home for the animal.

Apparently Xena is "adorable, super playful, super affectionate, super cuddly, loyal, protective and strong.  Belly rubs are a must!"

Sunflowers

We are sweltering here at the moment and Dana Marie's sunflower post seemed so appropriate for our climate.

But, she lives in the USA where, I believe, it is rather COLD!  Maybe the sunflowers were a promise of things to come?

Anyway, I finished them on time for a change and got them up and posted.  All the time whilst painting them, I thought of that marvellous Sunflower/Pug lady, Nancy Medina whose favourite flower is the sunflower and who also loves dogs (especially Pugs).  Her sunflowers are a must-see if you haven't already.

Devil's Peak

It is believed that when in the city of Cape Town, you absolutely cannot get lost.  That is, if you know the Mountain.

No matter where you go you can see some part of the Table Mountain chain, whether it's the 12 Apostles on the Atlantic Ocean side, the back of the mountain from the Southern Suburbs, or the well know 'front' of the flat topped edifice from the north.  So, if you find yourself in a strange part of the town, just look at the mountain and you'll know how to get home!

When looking at the front of the mountain, on the left hand side is the part known as Devil's Peak.  This is the part of the mountain that I see every day when I go into my garden.  But to get an unobstructed view, the best place to go is Oude Molen where our group has been painting for the past number of weeks.

I did just that and although it was blazing hot that day, managed to do a pretty fair rendition of the slopes of the Peak.

And guess what Rob Ijbema - I'm starting to enjoy plein air stuff!

From Wikepedia -

Devil's Peak was originally known as Windberg, and supposedly gets its current name from the folk-tale about a Dutch man called Jan van Hunks, a prodigious pipe smoker who lived at the foot of the mountain circa 1700. He was forced by his wife to leave the house whenever he smoked his pipe. One day, while smoking on the slopes of the peak, he met a mysterious stranger who also smoked. They each bragged of how much they smoked and so they fell into a pipe-smoking contest. The stranger turned out to be the Devil  and Van Hunks eventually won the contest, but not before the smoke that they had made had covered the mountain, forming the table cloth cloud.

Puppy Love

James Parker's blog Windows to the Words was the inspiration for this painting.  He has posted a number of pics of 'look-a-like' kids and their pets, included a rather nice poem, and given us a month to do the painting.

Now, I'm always late with these challenges!  But I so loved this delightful couple, I had to finish it in a morning.  So I'm probably one of the first this time.

The dog presented quite a challenge at first.  Just one black mass but after figuring out that a couple of brush strokes in the right direction would give the impression of fur, a dab of colour where the nose and eyes should be and voila! a dog appeared.

Check out James' blog to see the other pics he's posted.

Now for something completely different.  As most of you know, I love two sports codes - cricket and rugby.  Last night I went to the cinema for the first time in about 3 years because I just had to see the movie Invictus on the big screen.  Directed by Clint Eastwood, it's about our past President Nelson Mandela and past Rugby Captain, Francois Pienaar.

We went along with a bit of trepidation because I've seen American productions depicting South Africans with the most awful accents, but Matt Damon with his Afrikaans accent and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela were magnificent!  And so many memories of the games, of the flypast by the Boeing 747, of the game against the French where we thought the players were going to drown in Durban and the incredible New Zealander, Jonah Lomu!

If you haven't seen it already, go along to have a look-see and enjoy the wonderful photography of my home town of Cape Town.

Our much loved past President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

handing the Webb Ellis Trophy to Captain Francois Pienaar

A Road Runs Through

As I'm always late with challenge blogs, I looked to see if this pic was still up and yes! it was.  So I painted this in about 3 hours, waited until the next morning to get a fairly decent photo, went to post it, and lo and behold, a new challenge was in its place!

So I was late yet again!  But I put it on Dana Marie's blog anyway

Because of the time limit I gave myself, I really enjoyed slapping the paint on this without worrying too much about detail.  It was so incredibly freeing and I quite liked the end result.

A bit of a shine on the dark tree trunk (I did try to keep it thinner Dean!), and there is somewhere in America a national park called Sarah Helmick.

Berg River, Velddrif

Over the New Year weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited up the West Coast to a town called Velddrif.

Velddrif is 60 kms before Piketberg, the town that Marie Theron paints and writes about - she is incredibly knowledgeable about this part of our country.

The West Coast (or Weskus in Afrikaans) is a rather harsh, windswept coastline, but has many beautiful parts to it.  Velddrif is situated on the coast at the mouth of the Berg River and although not the prettiest of towns, has many charming plein air places.  I stayed at a friend's holiday home on a small holding overlooking a tidal estuary of the Berg River and thank goodness for the wind.  It is so incredibly hot there that by the time 3o'clock comes round, you are totally knackered!  Anything for a swim!  Luckily there is all that lovely cool water around.

I only managed to do one painting early on New Year's day before the heat set in - this is from top of the bank overlooking the Berg River as it makes it's way towards the sea.

We are planning for our Friday painting group to go through maybe over Easter, so will bring you more of this part of the world then.  In the meantime, check out Marie's blog for more about the West Coast.

Shadow Dance

Every now and then, one has a favourite painting which replaces the previous favourite painting!

This one was taken from a pic posted on Dana Marie's Inspiration all Around Us blog - she really takes the most amazing photographs and I would encourage everyone to have a look!

There was something so peaceful about this photo and the colours were so appealing.  Hope you like it.

Have a fabulous 2010 everyone!  Winter Olympics in Canada, FIFA World Cup in South Africa - should be a funfilled year!

Oude Molen

I think this is going to be the last of the plein air for this year for me - after all, it's holiday time and it's Christmas and New Year and there's cricket to watch ... so much activity at this time of the year.  But the group will get together again round the middle of January, although where we'll be going, I don't know!  A wait and see experience.

This little painting (9"x12" is little for me!) was again done at Oude Molen, but boy was the wind doing its thing.  I was all ready to give up, but these die hard plein airheads said, no, it's part of the atmosphere.  So, if you look closely, you will see all the dust and dirt that now decorates my painting!  I guess once it's dry, I will be able to brush it off.

Last week I painted the back of the little shop, so this week, here is the front!

To all those who celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful day tomorrow, and to everyone else, enjoy the holiday season.

Plein Air - Again!

Summer is definitely here!

We have had some blazing hot days and with the school holidays in full swing, I am off the teaching hook and merrily trying to paint the days away.  Unfortunately yesterday and today, cricket interfered - the first three days of the first 5day test against England.  So very little was done.

But I have been trying (again!) to do the plein air thing.  Some time ago I did a watercolour of our special Table Mountain from a friend's upstairs lounge, and last week did the same scene again, this time in oils.

Then I was very brave and went out into the open (yes Rob Ijbema, I am trying to let Mother Nature teach me!), armed with sunhat, sun lotion factor 40, water and painting paraphernalia!   Went with a group of regular plein airheads to Oude Molen, an eco village/farm/horse place with an incredible history, that overlooks the Liesbeek River and M5 highway, but more importantly, has an incredible view of Devil's Peak, the part of Table Mountain on the left hand side.   I will try and paint the mountain, probably next Tuesday when we go out again, but last week did the back of the eco shop/restaurant whilst standing amongst the strawberries.

 

And the week before, as a test run, just sketched this sunflower in full bloom.

Meagen Mendoza - Latin American Dancer

This is a beautiful American dancer who said I could paint one of her pictures.

Her name is Meagen Mendoza and if you love dancing and dancers, click on her name to see the original photograph from which this was done.

I hope I have done you justice Meagen, and thank you for letting me use the pic.

Again, I had trouble photographing this painting, but Dean from Deano's Den has given me many tips and this one is to thin down the darks.  I didn't have this info in time for this painting, but will certainly give it a try in the future.  Thank you Dean. 

Air Travel aka Business Class

Karen Jurick posts the most incredible pictures for us to paint on her challenge blog.  The last one was of the airport travellers, which I did, and completed in time!  I even put it up at a local competition and was placed 13th (out of 65) for it!

BUT, and it is a huge but, no matter where I stood, no matter how hard I tried, I just could not get the glare out of the darks on the photograph.  Even with Dean's tips of indoors with a shield - nothing!

Ja,well,no,fine! as we say in this part of the world.  This problem had to be solved somehow, because I really loved the pic.

So here it is, in charcoal!  Black and white, no glary oil paint - maybe I'll try it in watercolour next!

A Home Wanted

As I haven't done anything for DARG for a while now, and as they have so many new dogs and cats up for adoption, I thought I must really do another painting.

This is Sledge.  He is a cross Husky something and was apparently abandoned by his owner.

It always amazes me how human beings can be so callous about their fellow creatures.  We domesticate them to such a degree that they become totally reliant on us for all their needs, and then idiots like this owner decide they don't want them anymore!

I believe we share this beautiful planet with our fellow creatures and our intellect does not give us dominion and lording rights over them.

I hope Sledge finds someone who will care for him.

My Prize

Yesterday I picked up my wonderful prize for coming second in James Parker's  Windows to the Words challenge blog!

All the way from the USA, arriving safely in Cape Town (we never know whether anything will get to its destination or not!), here are the two marvellous paintings - the hummingbird is a tiny little painting which will sit next to me in my art room.

Thank you James!

 

Quinces and Walnuts

My computer was non functional for 3 days this week.  Our single, state run telecommunications service took its own sweet time about restoring lines in our area, and my service provider was not amused when I asked her if I needed to take up writing letters and using the post office again!  Absolutely no sense of humour.

And with Summer finally here, life seems to get very active, so not much painting gets done.

I did, however, manage to paint from a rather nice pic taken from Dana Marie's Inspiration all Around us blog, of quinces and nuts - I called them walnuts - I think that's what they are.

Now she has another amazing pic posted, so hopefully I will get to that one in the next week! 

Koi

Another challenge I was late for, and I submitted the pic for painting!

I just can't seem to make deadlines.  After spending all that time in the advertising industry where deadlines are sacrosanct, I have fallen off the wagon.

This one was for the blog, Inspiration all Around Us - one of the newer challenge blogs, but one where Dana Marie posts some really magnificent pictures.  Check it out.

These koi were part of the a household where my sister was housesitting.  The other 'residents' were three dogs, a cat and a parrot.  I don't think the fish presented any problems!

I have just bought a new camera - very nice indeed.  But oh, technology is defeating me!  It has a nice new SDHC 4gb card which I discovered my computer can't read (or find, or whatever it does).  So the last couple of paintings I've done are sitting inside the camera, unable to see light of day.  This also means I will be late for any other challenges out there!  Sigh ...