Category: Family

  • The completion of Amy’s Book

    The completion of Amy’s Book

    Those of you who have followed my Blog from the beginning may remember the 20th January 2009 post entitled,  “All the way my Saviour Leads Me” ; well that post referred to one of the pages from this project that has now come to an end. In 1992, after being named as Amy’s Godmother, I decided to send her a poem every year on her birthday, starting at age one. I tried to choose poetry that was either fun or inspirational, and ultimately to support her growing faith. I wrote all of them with my normal italic nibbed fountain pen. Sometimes they included illustrations and all were done on watercolour paper that measured 320 x 210 mm in size. Three of the poems were too long for one page, so they were continued on the reverse. Here below are most of them, all except the last 2 which were more personal in nature. The last one was mailed to her for her 20th birthday, and this year she turned 21. For this special occasion, the pages were all returned to me for them to be bound into a book. I made the cover this weekend and will be posting it off to her soon. It is not a professionally bound book, and has many of the hallmarks of a very home-made effort; however there is a whole lot of love bound in to its imperfect simplicity.

    Amy's Book, cover
    Amy's Book, cover
    Pages 1 – 4
    Pages 5 – 8
    Pages 9 – 12
    Pages 13 – 16.
    Pages 17 – 20.

    I quite realize that these pages are hard to read with the reduced size and dpi, necessary for posting on this page. If, however anyone would like a better copy of a particular page, please send me an email and specify which one you would like. I will gladly forward it to you. Send your request to :  silvermere@gmail.com

     

     

  • Plein-Air Painting versus Studio-Studies

    Plein-Air Painting versus Studio-Studies

    Excelsior Blue Gums. Watercolour, 270 x 380 mm.

    Painting outdoors is always great  fun! It should never be viewed too seriously. It forces me to loosen up and break free from my usual painting processes. Usually, on these occasions,  the light changes rapidly or the rain threatens, the insects or the wind become tiresome, or there just isn’t the time to perfect a painting outside. So the trick is to make a start outside and when it becomes necessary to leave and return to the studio, take photos and then finish it off in the more comfortable surroundings of the studio.  Some pictures aren’t meant to be anything other than enjoyable outdoor recreation, or an exercises in preparation for studio compositions of the same subject. The atmosphere and surroundings have a unique influence on how we interpret what we see. Painting plein-air is undoubtedly a very valuable and pleasurable pursuit !

    Fountain Poplar Grove. watercolour. 380 x 270 mm









    View with Fountain Poplar. watercolour. 380 x 270 mm.




    John & Sue Plein-air painting. April 2010. The Fountain, Silvermere.

    John and Sue wanted to go and paint out in the veld on two recent visits to Silvermere, so we had some enjoyable outdoor painting excursions. Some were finished on site and others in the studio. On one occasion when it was cold and windy outdoors, we sat in the studio and chose a photo taken recently in the vicinity of the farmyard. There is no need to give up just because the weather is bad. This set of colour sketches resulted from those two visits. The one with the gate was painted entirely indoors, on a windy afternoon. (more…)

  • A Study of Nguni Cattle

    A Study of Nguni Cattle


    Since the 11th march 2007 I have developed a fascination for Nguni Cattle. On that particular day I visited the farm, Rooipoort of our friends Carl and Rentia Malcomess. There I photographed their herd of Nguni cattle with the plan to paint a composition of the herd in the landscape of their farm. I started with a rough sketch here.

    Rooipoort-nguni-sketch

    Then I composed and painted the final watercolour for them.

    malcomess-ngunis

    Since then I discovered that there was another herd of Ngunis, so with the help of the farmer, Hannes Haasbroek, I acquired a substantial photo library for future Nguni paintings. However as 2008 turned out to be an year of no painting, the idea only returned on our trip to the Baviaanskloof in May. Passing a farm at Mondplaas, near Jeffrey’s Bay, I saw a wonderful small herd of Nguni. This was the spark of inspiration that got me going again. (more…)