Category: Rural Life & Karoo Landscape
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Sheep May Safely Graze
Today I finished two paintings that brought to mind the beautiful Bach melody, ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ , from his Cantata 208.
'Rain clouds over Bethulie.' Oil on canvas. 800 x 630 mm. If you haven’t heard it or can’t remember it, you will find many lovely versions on YouTube.
Our sheep here on Silvermere do not graze safely, unfortunately. Predators like jackals and lynx are a constant threat and an ever increasing problem that has driven many neighbouring farmers to change over to cattle ranching instead.
'A Shady Tree on a Hot Day.' Watercolour on Pastel Paper. 290 x 475 mm. How comforting it is for us to know that we have an all-powerful Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, who cares for us. He overcame Satan and rescued us when He died on the Cross, and rose again for our sake. No matter how we are tested and challenged, He is our everlasting Saviour and Protector;
11 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search and find my sheep. 12 I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. 13 I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. 14 Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!”
-Ezekiel v 11–16. (NLT)
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The Lion, the Lamb, and the Exhibition.
The Exhibition in Port Elizabeth was our first in almost 2 years. It was a mere 3 days but the Lord blessed us with a successful show, and a trouble-free trip to PE and back with our overloaded old trailer. Also we have so many family and friends, new and old, to be thankful to for making it a wonderful weekend. Our son, John, also came from Johannesburg, to help us with the Exhibition. As we hadn’t Exhibited in PE since March 2006, it was wonderful to have so many of our old friends and patrons coming to visit us.
For those who haven’t seen our Exhibitions before, you may like to see the set of photos that we took, and for those that were there, thank you for making it so memorable!
John drawing. PE,Walmer Park Exhibition ’09 
Card stand and tables. PE,Walmer Park Exhibition 
4 corner rooms & 4 entrances made up the exhibition. Tables in the centre. 
View from the outside of the display, Centre Court, Walmer Park. 
John (husband) at one of the entrances,& the big Nguni painting that sold on the last day. 
Another outer corner view. Walmer Park Exhibition Sep ’09 
Travelling home ! 7 Sep ’09 After the painting of the roses in the last blog-post, there was little time to paint much before the big framing operation. John framed 22 new paintings for the Exhibition. However I did manage a couple of quick paintings,.. (more…)
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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.
Then I composed and painted the final watercolour for them.
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…)
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Rural Life & Karoo Landscapes
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