For the last two years I have managed to take up the EDM, The Every Day in May Challenge. It has been quite enjoyable if rather time consuming, and difficult to fit in on busy days. However, this year, I had an important big commission to start, so only completed half of the daily painting challenge. So here are the 15 paintings, it ended with the very personal sketch of my husband, John and his Grand daughter, Chloë, who share a 15th May Birthday. In April we travelled to Lambert’s Bay so several of these are inspired by scenery on that trip. The paintings appear in order of the days, from the first picture of the ewe and lamb, painted on the 1st May up till the last one, the portrait of Grandpa and Grand-daughter, on the 15th May.
Ewe & lamb restingCape Gannets, Lambert’s Bay, South AfricaDry Karoo near Canarvon.Lambert’s Bay HarbourKelp Gulls, and Sacred Ibis, Lambert’s Bay. SAEwe’s portrait.Old shed and windmill near Williston.Tails-up ! Warthogs.Pyracantha Augustifolia. Yellow Firethorn.Meercat Portrait.Silvermere scene of Agaves and Windmill.Old cottage in Canarvon.Red Grass, Themeda Triandra. Rooigras.The Lord Bless You and Keep You…. ( Lily Pond )Grandpa, Chloë & the tortoise.
It has been interesting how this post has evolved from the initial seed of an idea that revolves around my recent interest in blue shadows. Many artists will avoid using green paint straight from the tube, so the challenge is always to depict greens in a painting with subtle mixes of blue, yellow, and a third balancing hue like red, brown or magenta.
Sable Antelope and Marula Tree. 500 x 700 mm Watercolour on Saunders Waterford 300g.
When painting trees, blue is ideal for the shade areas, and balances the effect of sunlight on trees. The French Impressionists skillfully created green by juxtaposing blue and yellow paint to create the illusion of green.
Roosterhoek Farm House. 250 x 350 mm. Watercolour. (Sold)
The subject of this post came as a result of my two latest paintings, which got me thinking about the special interplay between Black & White and the racial issues that are a part of everyday life here in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela, Watercolour. 350 x 260 mm.Zebras, Mother & Babe. Watercolour & Gouache on black paper, 620 x 430 mm
It is frustrating that racial discrimination continues to thrive here despite the noble ideals that Nelson Mandela spoke of at his inauguration way back in 1994. But I do not want this post to focus on this, but on the visual tensions and harmony that are created in art, when Black & White are explored. The process of eliminating colour from the stage, creates many interesting challenges for the artist and the viewer. So with this thought in mind I hauled our my old Art School portfolio, as many of my first year projects explored the variety of ways that Black & White can be interpreted and made to express the special relationships between the two opposites. Here are some of those examples:
To return to that marvellous word, ‘serendipity’; the Warthog post and the Roses post were inadvertently linked when the warthogs tried to get into my rose garden, which you may recall. This time, the last post is linked to this one by this quote from one of my favourite authors, G.K.Chesterton :
“Can the Lion lie down with the Lamb and still retain his royal ferocity? That is the problem the Church attempted: that is the miracle she achieved.”
But the reason I chose Chesterton for this post was a favourite poem I remember from my youth, about the Donkey: (more…)
The regular ritual of feeding the birds inspired this latest set of pictures.
Sketch of The Birds Feeding
Several years ago we raised guinea fowls from eggs found in the Lucerne lands, and rescued them before the tractor went over their nests. We set them under broody hens, which successfully reared the large clutches of young guineas. When they grew up, they re-joined the wild flocks that live around here. But they always return when they get hungry, and many of the other weavers, sparrows and doves have enthusiastically taken to the daily feeding and arrive in large numbers to mingle with the guinea fowl.
Three Guinea Fowl arriving for feeding time
A quote from the Evangelical priest and scholar John Stott who wrote a sermon series called; “The Birds our Teachers”.
“Jesus himself referred to birds in his famous Sermon on the Mount. According to the old English version he said ‘consider the fowls of the air’, but in basic English this is a command to ‘watch birds’. When Martin Luther, the great 16th century reformer, got to this verse in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, he became quite lyrical. He wrote: ‘Let the little birds be your theologians … We have as many teachers and preachers as there are little birds in the air’. So I’ve sometimes said in rather jocular fashion that I’m developing a new science called ‘orni-theology’, – the theology of birds.”
'Feeding The Birds', (50 x 70 cms)Watercolour on Saunders Waterford.
Overheard In An Orchard
Single Guinea waiting for the seed
Said the Robin to the Sparrow
“I would really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin
“Friend I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”
I had decided at the start of this Blog to avoid photos of family and friends, and stick to Illustration as the focus of my posts. But in the interests of introducing myself and my environment I decided to put up a few pictures.Here are my favourite sheep ( as we live on a sheep farm) and some of the fragrant roses from my garden.
“The best things in life are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life”.– Robert Louis Stevenson
