Category: Gallery
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Hogsback Forests
To the Fairy Meander. 
Beautiful river and falls and paths to explore through the forests of Hogsback -
The Amazing Bar-Tailed Godwit
First study, of the Bar-tailed Godwit Recently I came across this delightful wader in some photos taken by a friend, Wessel Rossouw, on the SE coast of South Africa. But only after I had decided to paint a series of this bird, the Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), did I discover what an amazing long distance traveler it is during its annual migration. Here are the links (sciencedaily) & (birdlife) of the two websites that give details of its amazing stamina for long-distance flight. It set a record in 2010, for a single non-stop flight of 11,000 kms from Alaska to New Zealand.
Bar-tailed Godwit resting. Study 2 Here are the 3 studies that I made to celebrate the achievement of this truly extraordinary bird.
Bar-tailed Godwit in flight. Study 3 -
The Spotted Dikkop
We have a resident pair of Spotted Dikkops ( Burhinus Capensis ), that nest not far from our house. I was fortunate to capture a photo of them last year, and have since been longing to turn it into a small painting.
Our resident pair of Dikkops -
Salted Lambs
A little experiment with salt to achieve a different texture, on this sketch of 3 lambs.
Salted Lambs -
Our favourite Swallows
We are always delighted when our favourite swallows, the Greater Striped Swallow ( Hirundo Cucullata ) arrives for the summer. We love their contented warbling song/chatter, and wistful call. Now that the summer is almost over, they will soon be leaving for northern parts. They are delightful residents of our verandahs, with their mud nests characterized by long tunnel entrances. We call them ‘Red Caps’ due to the russet colouring on the top of their heads. This year, I was able to get some good photos of them, which inspired this little study. We also have the Whitethroated Swallow, ( Hirundo Albigularis ) , but the Red Caps are our favourites.
Our favourite Red Cap swallows -
Our Fabulous Scotland Holiday
Although I have never been overseas, John went to Europe for a year when he left school. So this was the first ‘out of Africa’ trip for me.
We decided to take the plunge, when our son, Charles and his wife Janet, had their first baby, beautiful Kayla Skye, in Edinburgh earlier this year. So armed with a new camera and high expectations we left for Scotland early in September.
The new camera worked really hard and produced a wonderful collection of over 7000 photos! But, just once in a while, I took the odd opportunity to do a few on-site sketches.
View from Charles & Jan’s flat, looking towards Carlton Hill, Edinburgh. 
Sheep grazing near Dunrobin Castle, NE. Coast, Scotland. 
The quaint harbour in Cromarty, on the Black Isle, near Inverness. 
Three ewes resting beside Loch Ewe on the NW coast of Scotland. I was so inspired to paint when we got back that I picked out three favourites, to do more detailed watercolour paintings. There are others that I would like to try, but as the festive season is drawing near, I decided to stop with this little selection. It gives you a sample of the delights we found in the beautiful land of fat sheep, rolling green fields, bagpipes and tartan.
And once in a while a little rain was such a treat for us drought-hardened karoo folk!
These are the watercolours, painted since our return:
Lindisfarne Priory ruins on Holy Island, off the NE. coast of England. (A one-day-bus tour took us south to England ) 295 x 420 mm. 
: Beautiful misty scene on Loch Broom, at Ullapool. NW. coast ,Scotland. 710 x 520 mm. 
Two shaggy Highland Coos, on the Black Isle, near Inverness. 700 x 510 mm. -
Karoo farm Landscape, between Hopetown and Strydenburg.
Karoo Farm Landscape, between Hopetown and Strydenburg. Karoo Farm Landscape, between Hopetown and Strydenburg. Karoo Farm Landscape, between Hopetown and Strydenburg. -
Ngunis among Acacia Karroo
Three Ngunis & Acacia Karroo Having grown up in a family of botanists, it is hard to separate myself from the African bush and beautiful flora that was a big part of my youth. Acacia Karroo is a species of thorn tree, that is unique in that it grows naturally around here in the karoo, where we live in South Africa, and is also to be found around Salisbury ( Harare) and many other parts of Rhodesia, (Zimbabwe) where I grew up. I never really pursued a botanical career myself, as did my brother, John Burrows (http://www.bknr.co.za/), who has written several wonderful scientific botanical books. I also don’t have many tree books, except one old treasured copy of, “Trees of Central Africa” by Keith Coates Palgrave. This book plate of Acacia Karroo, is beautifully painted by his mother, Olive H. Coates Palgrave.
Acacia Karroo / Sweet Thorn. painted by Olive H. Coates Palgrave I do not aspire to being a botanical artist like my talented sister in law, but this pencil sketch was done in the spirit of this study.
Acacia Karroo / Sweet thorn. Pencil sketch. I wanted to explore the visual contrasts between the Acacia Karroo, and the Nguni cattle that are often seen grazing amongst them. The patterned hides of the Nguni cattle, against the network of white thorn-covered trees was an interesting contrast, and the focus of this series of these 3 paintings.
Nguni Herd in Acacia thornveld.
Thorn Bush Ngunis -
Gallery: Gardens & Buildings
Wildebeeshoek Shed. Watercolour. 400 x 320 mm
The Old Dairy Door. Watercolour. 400 x 320 mm.
On The Steps. watercolour. 400 x 320 mm -
Gallery pictures from the 2012 challenge
Windmill & Weeds. Watercolour. 400 x 320 mm.
The Old Fowl Run. 400 x 320 mm. Watercolour.
Lamb Siesta. Pencil and grey wash. 400 x 320
Bicycle under the Tree. Watercolour 400 x 320 mm
Excelsior Cattle. watercolour. 400 x 320mm
Warthog skull on a chair. watercolour & pen & ink. 400 x 320 mm
View of Spitskop. Watercolour 400 x 320 mm
Old Cypress at the Gate. watercolour 400 x 320 mm -
Karoo landscape with Ngunis.
After receiving another Nguni painting order a few months ago, I was determined to find a new herd to use for this composition. Although I have loads of pictures of Ngunis from various sources, and Nguni stud books going back almost 10 years; the animals in all the various sketches I made, did not relate to each other. This sounds like an insignificant detail. But in order to throw a good measure of life and enthusiasm into the painting, I felt the need to find a fresh new herd. I subsequently heard about a renowned Nguni breeder not far away on the farm ‘Gelykfontein’ between Venterstad and Colesburg.
When John and I paid him a visit, we were totally captivated by all the wonderful Ngunis that we saw and photographed. As a result there were loads of inspiring photos available for this composition.
I then went ahead enthusiastically, and printed up a small batch of photos to start with some new sketches; but as often happens when things go so well, my computer crashed and all my photos were trapped and inaccessible!
The computer went off to Johannesburg for repairs etc, and I was left with only that initial batch of photos that had been printed. How fortunate that I had those at least; and it was enough to get going and build up a satisfactory composition, and at least I had the fresh inspiration in my mind to launch into the project.
Karoo landscape with Ngunis. Oil on canvas. 1250 x 900 mm. I naturally enjoyed using a karoo landscape and background for this painting as it is the countryside we live in, and love ; and the cattle seemed quite at home where they were placed in the scene. Getting the composition right, is always challenging, with considerations like the direction of the light and the way the eye travels in and on towards the distance. There were several times when I wished I had access to all those other lovely photos on my computer (still in Johannesburg). However, it is amazing that it worked out quite adequately in the end, and I have a faithful Lord to thank for that.
