It is a strange coincidence that this post links to the previous one about warthogs. Last Saturday we had just turned on our recently re-erected electric fence around my rose garden when 4 warthogs came into the garden. I had finished pruning, and wanted to protect the new spring shoots on the roses. We have duiker and steenbuck that enjoy eating the roses.
The warthogs were most frustrated by the electric fence, and tried in vain to find a way in to the roses. It was most amusing and a great relief that the fence served its intended purpose.
“But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.” -Anne Bronte
At the time of pruning I was also painting roses, from the many photographs taken over the past couple of years. It was the first time I have painted an oil of these roses. The previous oil which was painted in 2004; when we renovated our kitchen, was painted from old roses in books. It hangs over the hearth in the kitchen, and is not for sale.
“Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent.”
All of the 85 roses in my garden are fragrant roses and range from old damasks to the beautiful hybrid teas, in every colour and shape. They are truly rewarding despite the struggle to keep the wildlife away.
This watercolour was a practice sketch and then the oil painting below, that I have just completed, took a full two weeks!
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”
-Henri Matisse
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