Friday 28 August 2015

Trees

"There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend." - Bob Ross.


Waterpaint on 200gsm paper.
How to create: (I don’t mind sharing at all!)
1.Use thick waterpaint paper. Paint it red/ bright yellow/ orange. Use a hairdryer, blow dry from the middle.
2. Paint one thick and very watery…wet!!!…stroke of paint at the top of the paper. Then turn the paper so that the paint runs down. Use lots of newspaper on your table, it can get very messy.
3. Now turn your paper the other way round and paint another colour at that end, let the paint run down again. Repeat these two steps until there are enough lines (trees) on your paper.
4. Wrinkle up a plastic bag, put it in wet paint the colour you want the leaves and press it at the top.
5. Use a white or black pen to put some finishing touches in. Let it dry…frame and sell!
Available products on RedBubble.


Wednesday 26 August 2015

Sing like the birds

Some days there won't be a song in yourt heart. Sing anyway.
Emory Austin. 

South Africa has eight regularly occurring and breeding vulture species, from the southern African endemic Cape Griffon Vulture (Gyps coprotheres), to the wide-spread and wide-ranging African White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus)
The Cape Griffon Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is a very large vulture, similar in size, coloration and habits to the Eurasian Griffon. The Cape Vulture typically nests communally on cliffs, restricting their breeding distribution, but wanders huge distances in search of carcasses. A majestic and powerful bird.
Pen-and-ink sketch on Bockingford 300 gsm paper.  


We have lots of doves in our garden in South Africa, I love them all!

In ons tuin in Suid-afrika is daar baie duiwe: tortelduiwe, lemoenduiwe, kransduiwe. Ek het hulle lief!

Waterpaint and ink on 300gsm paper. We
have 
uck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a If it walks like a k
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck

This painting has a history: I took a photo of two geese in Lydenburg, South Africa…then I decided to change the geese into ducks, because I can! 
The joys of art! (pen, ink, pencil, waterpaint)

Saturday 22 August 2015

Birdlife

“The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” ― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

My art: Birds of prey are, like eagles, birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds.
Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh. In most cases, the females are considerably larger than the males.
The term “raptor” is derived from the Latin word rapere (meaning to seize or take by force) and may refer informally to all birds of prey, or specifically to the diurnal group. Because of their predatory lifestyle, often at the top of the food chain, they face distinct conservation concerns.
Pen and ink, gouache paint on waterpaint paper.

The grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) has a wide distribution from the Cape Verde Islands off the north-west coast of Africa to Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia and southern Arabia and south to South Africa. My love for birds was the inspiration to paint this colourful bird. Watercolour on 190gsm paper.

Keelvlekvlieƫvanger / Chinspot batis. Waterpaint on 300 g/m Daler Rowney paper.

The White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi) is a very rare African bird in the Rallidae family. Despite efforts over the last few years by conservationists in South Africa and Ethiopia, there is still a lot that is not known about the critically endangered White-winged Flufftail.
Waterpaint.