Tag: Birds
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EDM. Every Day in May challenge, 2018
Robin eating cheese, Cape robin-chat, Cossypha caffra Silvermere farm road after rain Blue flowers in my garden. Lavender, Plumbago & Rosemary. Mountain Reedbuck, (Redunca Fulvorufula) on a misty & rainy day on Buffelskloof Nature Reserve, Mpumalanga. Tree by the roadside. Acacia Sieberiana. Portrait of John on his Birthday Grey Crowned Crane, Balearica regulorum, Gate on the Hill Autumn fruits and leaves. Tomatoes, Chillis, Rose-hips & Leaves of the Virginia Creeper. Lone sheep in Karoo Veld Buffelskloof Pine Forest. Mpumalanga Remembering dear Uncle Tony Fitt Mum’s Blue Tea-set, Mother’s Day. Silvermere Sunset and puddles after rain Chloë and John’s Birthday Portrait. Grand daughter and Grandpa sharing a tender moment. Expectant Ewe, lambing season, Silvermere. Secretary Bird, Sagittarius serpentarius Farm Road with Gumtree shadows Mana & Rufus, my brother’s cats. The Doves of Pentecost Karoo, Road through Veld to the Windmill. Sketchbook, Old Farm Boots Commemorating Chelsea Flower Show 2018. Floral wallpaper. On homemade paper. Hansie Lambs, Orphans. The forgotten houses on Buitekant St. Burgersdorp White-breasted Cormorant, drying his wings, Loch Logan, Bloemfontein. Sunset over Farm Dam. Silvermere Windmill Repairs, on Silvermere Feeding Guinea Fowl Clown-faced cow and calf Kalahari Karoo, between Prieska & Vanwyksvlei -
Lambert’s Bay holiday. 2017
In April 2017 John and I travelled across the karoo to the west coast of South Africa, to Lambert’s Bay. Over the years we have been to different parts of the East coast, but never the West coast. So it was wonderful to experience the wild wild sea of the west coast for the first time. It is such a different coastal town with extraordinary bird life and breathtaking sunsets every evening. Our only disappointment was the lack of fresh fish in the restaurants. Perhaps all those seabirds have eaten them all? These are the sketches that I did while we were there and later in the May challenge.
Boat repairs, Lambert’s Bay 
Last Sunset, Lambert’s Bay holiday 
Kelp Gulls, and Sacred Ibis, Lambert’s Bay. SA 
Lambert’s Bay Harbour 
Cape Gannets, Lambert’s Bay, South Africa -
Blue Cranes
Karoo Landscape with Blue Cranes Since May, a pair of Blue Cranes has settled on Silvermere. It is really quite unusual that they have made themselves at home here. Yesterday, while hanging out the washing, I heard their wistful calls and saw them circling high overhead. Usually we only see the occasional visiting cranes just passing through. We used to say that they were a rain omen, one of the many that farmers in our part of the karoo use to predict the rains. I have taken a few photos of ‘our’ pair, and felt inspired to paint them again, for the first time since way back in 1995 & 1997.
Two Blue Cranes In those days, we saw big flocks of them in the Caledon district, and several paintings followed. But, more recently I photographed a flock that we saw on a trip home from the Nieu Bethesda district. This big watercolour depicts the cranes in the landscape where I saw them. The other 2 sketches were drawn from photos of our new resident pair of beautiful and graceful Blue Cranes.
Sketching Blue Cranes -
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 -
Rock Pigeons over the Sunflower Fields of the Freestate.
2 rock pigeons. Watercolour. 330 x 240 mm. Some orders are just beyond challenging! They are enough to make one wonder why we take on commissions. This one is for an American hunter who targets the pigeons that raid the sunflower fields of the northern Freestate.
The fields are ready for harvesting, but the Rock pigeons descend in large flocks to eat the seeds. How dull the painting would have been with only fields ready for harvesting, as it is no doubt in reality. But this is art and needs to suggest the situation without looking like a war zone. So I have added a separate field with flowers still young, to brighten the painting and enhance the subject. It is unlikely that there would be crops at such different stages in development on any sunflower farm, but it was important for the painting.
The sunflower farmers have no alternative but to hire hunters to come to their aid. I don’t like killing anything, but as we face the same problem with Jackal and Lynx raiding our sheep flocks; I do understand their situation. All I can do now is hope that the client will be satisfied.
Rock Pigeons over the Sunflower Fields. Watercolour. 500 x 700 mm
