Vespa Girl Paintings

Unbelievable how time can fly. Can't believe it has been more than 2 months since I posted some paintings. I have been busy with a new project - educational toys for kids! It has been such fun designing and creating these that I have been neglecting my painting.

Luckly the gallery where I exhibit regularly had a wonderfull theme for June - Italy. With these paintings I went back to my craft background and used colourfull paper, black and white photo copies as well as oil paint to create these cheerfull paintings. I has such a great time creating them! The best part is that they all sold in the first week of exhibition and I have commissions for 8 more! Will post these as soon as they are finished.

Alfa Female
Mixed media on boxed board (40x60cm)
SOLD

Vespa Parking
Mixed media on boxed board (40x60cm)
SOLD

Vespa Girl 1
Mixed media on boxed board (30x30cm)
SOLD

Vespa Girl 2
Mixed media on boxed board (30x30cm)
SOLD

Alfa Male
Mixed media on boxed board (60x60cm)
SOLD

Sodwana Bay and Tembe Elephant Park - South Africa

In South Africa we have our last school holidays, just before winter arrives, over the easter weekend. As usual we went to Sodwana Bay. I don't think I will ever tire of going there. The surroundings are just so beautifull.

This time we visited Tembe National Elephant Park on Easter Friday which is about 1hours drive from Sodwana. The park is situated on the border with Mozambique and has over 200 magnificent (and huge) elephants. There are also buffalo, lions, leopards and lots of antelope. A Magical Place!

The site we chose to have lunch. Isn't it just great to have lunch in such an unspoilt place?

One of the Tembe elephants. This one came VERY close. Everyone got a real fright with this huge elephant stroling up to our vehicle. In the end he just passed right next to us on his way to another water hole.

On Easter Sunday we drove south on the beach to a small bay for snorkling. The water is so clear you can just sit next to a rock and have your own private aquarium.

Just an idea of how huge the dunes are. They are covered with indiginous trees and shrubs and come right down to the beach.

And of course, the kids love the sea.

Beach Scene Painting

This was the challenge on the DSFDS blog for the past 2 weeks. I love doing paintings like this. You only need a few basic colours and shapes to create the right feeling for the painting. This week the artists realy did a great job with this beach scene.

Beach Babe
Original oil on board 25x60cm
R500

Orchid Painting

I love painting orchids.

Orchid 4
Original oil on boxed maxonite 60x35cm
R650

Children Painting

This is another painting I did of my children. With only one swing for two kids to share there is always one having a good time and another feeling sorry for themself :)

My Turn
Original oil on boxed board 60x40cm
R700

The river swing

A few months ago I took some photos of my kids playing by the river next to our house. They were the perfect inspiration to do some more paintings of children. Rocky, the Jack Russel follows them where ever they go.

River Swing
Original oil on boxed supawood 60x40cm
R700

Orchid Paintings

From this coming Saturday I am joining a country art fair that has been going for the past 20 years. It is set on a historical farm just outside the city. There are lots of artists exhibiting and there is a lovely deli market.

These paintings are for Saturday.

Orchid 3
Original oil on board 35x60cm
R550

Orchid 2
Original oil on board 35x60cm
R550

More Mexican paintings

I delivered my paintings to the gallery yesterday and was amazed by the other artists work. There are such talented people out there! Make an effort to support your local galleries and maybe you will discover some of the hidden talent.

I painted the Virgin de Guadelupe as a final piece for the exhibition. It doesn't have the same brightness as the others but rather a soft and calm presence. Again I added the chihuahuas to carry through the theme.

Guadelupe Virgin
Original oil on board 60x40cm

And then, just for fun I did these 2 Chihuahua "shrines" with tiles, mirrors, gold leaf, foil flowers and roses.

Chihuahua shrine 1
mixed media on board 30x30cm

Chihuahua shrine 2

mixed media on board 30x30cm

Invitation - Mexican exhibition

To all my friends out there, consider yourself invited! It is going to be a lot of fun. All the shops and restaurants in Duncan Yard are taking part in the Mexican theme with decor and food.

The opening is this Friday 6 March from 15hoo and will run for the rest of the month.

Mexico Paintings

Last month I took part in a gallery exhibition with an Indian theme. This month the theme is Mexico. I thought it would be quite easy to get inspiration but have to admit it was a real struggle. I didn't want to do the typical Frida Calho paintings that people would expect from an exhibition like this. After much reading and google searching on the subject I decided to use Chihuahuas as my inspiration since they are native to Mexico. They are such cute dogs and it was a lot of fun painting them.

The first painting I did was with Chihuahuas only. I love the red jumper and also added the flowers as a fun element.

3 Chihuahuas
Original oil on board 40x60cm
SOLD

I decided to do a Frida painting after all but also added the chihuahua and flowers just to add another elements to the painting.

Frida & Chihuahua
Original oil on board 60x40cm

Nguni painting

I got a commission to do another Nguni painting. It has been a while since I last painted cows and it was so much fun doing this one. It is joining 3 of its friends, hope it blends in well.

Nguni 10
Original oil on board 60x60cm
SOLD

Exhibition opening

The opening of the India exhibition was a great success. Cecily went to a lot of trouble creating a great party with Indian music, food and drinks. Even though it is a small gallery all the people managed to find a spot to chat and experience the diverse paintings on show.

Go and check out the gallery's website.

here I am with Cecily, the gallery owner and fellow artist

It was a lovely evening and the party carried on outside.

Rain

We have the privelage of staying next to a small river in a big city. Across the river is a hiking trail that follows the water. There is a family of wild geese, fish, a big lizard, a mongoose family and lots of birds living along the river. Usually it is a tranquil place with just a small stream of water flowing past the house.

Yesterday we had an enormous storm with 90mm (35 inches) of rain falling in just 2 hours. Then our river gets scary!! All the water from neighbouring suburbs as well as storm water drains along the road empties into this stream. 10 Years ago all the houses on our side of the river was flooded after a cloudburst. Luckly this was not so bad but it is still scary seeing the water rising and not knowing when it is going to subside.

Today we have a small stream once again :) Never a dull moment living here.

This is what the river usually looks like, peacefull and a great place for the kids to play.

But is can all change in a very short time with the water overflowing the river bank.

Different strokes painting

My version of the Different Strokes challenge for this week. Go here to see the other artist's paintings.

Last India paintings

My "india" exhibition paintings are completed. I almost feel sad, it was such fun. I am already thinking about a next theme...

I can't wait to take them to the gallery on Wednesday and see the other artist's paintings. This is a fun gallery and has a "anything goes" attitude. They realy give artists the freedom to explore their creative side to the full.

Will take photos on Friday at the opening and show you what talented artists there are in South Africa.

India 5
Mixed media on boxed masonite 60x90cm

SOLD

India 4
Mixed media on boxed masonite 30x60cm
SOLD

The invitation

More India paintings for Duncan Yard

These are the next 2 paintings I finished for the February exhibition. I realy am having so much fun with them. The more I play around with shapes and transfers the more ideas I get for future paintings.

India 2
Mixed media on boxed masonite 30x30cm

India 3
Mixed media on boxed masonite 30x60cm

SOLD

India painting for The Gallery at Duncan Yard

After a month of holidays and getting the kids back to school I have been dying to start my first painting of 2009.

Cecily at The Gallery at Duncan Yard invited me to take part in their group exhibition next month, just the inspiration I was looking for. The theme is "With love from India".

At first I was unsure where to start. I had all these weird and colourfull images in my head but after much thought and consideration I came up with the following painting.

This is going back to my roots as a crafter. I used gold leaf, decoupage and photo transfers as a base and then painted the lotus flowers in oils and aged the whole painting with burnt sienna.

I am very happy with the end result and think it does capture a romantic image of India.

With the creative juices flowing I am planning on doing 6 paintings for the exhibition which starts in 2 weeks!!

India 1
Original oil on board 30x30cm

Sodwana Bay - South Africa

We spent our Christmas hollidays at Sodwana Bay on the east coast of South Africa. We have been visiting Sodwana for the last 15 years and never tire of the stunning landscape and warm tropical water.

Sodwana is one of the best dive destinations in the world and have regular sightings of whale sharks, leatherback turtles, dolphins and ragged tooth sharks.

Sodwana is one of the last beaches in South Africa where you can drive on the beach with your 4x4. This makes it a unique experience and gives everyone his own piece of beachfront property for the day :)

Here I am praying for a save return before my first microlight flight ever! Can't believe I was so scared, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Just to see what the area looks from the sky after all the years we have been coming here was extremely interesting. It gives it a whole new perspective.

Here you can see the beach with all the cars parked for the day. Sodwana has some of the highest and oldest forest dunes in the world.

This is the lodge where we have a house. The houses are all log timer homes and have to blend in with the environment. We don't have a sea view but look out over an inland lake and on the opposite side are forest dunes. A very special place indeed.

Another photo I took from the microlight showing how secluded and magical the coast is.

Just 50km from Sodwana are many game reserves. On Christmas day we went to Mkuze game reserve. This is a very special place with grassland, mountains and wetlands.

Njala at a water hole.

Wishing everyone a peacefull 2009!

Magnolias

My bother in law commissioned these paintings for my sister as Christmas presents. I hope she likes them. I loved painting them and the colours came out just as I imagined they would. They are also my last paintings of the year. Tomorrow this time I will be sitting on the beach :)

See you in 2009!

Magnolia 3
original oil on board 60x60cm

Magnolia 4
original oil on board

Boots painting

I realy enjoyed this week's Different Strokes Challenge. I love painting shoes, so I was quite impressed to find a photo of workboots as the theme for the week.
Sadly this is my last challenge painting for the year as we are going on holiday. I had a great time the past few months doing different paintings every week and being challenged with themes I would not normally consider.

Looking forward to new challenges in 2009!

Boots
original oil on board 30x30cm

Orchid Painting

On Sunday we had over all the family for lunch before everyone leaves for holiday. I decided to give everyone a painting for Christmas but that creates a lot of empty walls to fill. I painted this one to fill one of those empty spaces :)

Orchid 1
Original oil on board 30x60cm
SOLD

Some pictures from our recent exhibition

The garden looked magical with all the fairy lights and paper lanterns.





We even had a flute player to provide lovely background music. We were worried about the weather as is was raining almost every day before the exhibition, but on the day the weather was perfect.



Some paintings

Here I am with Hettie (on the right) my fellow organizer, friend and great artist. She was so kind to open up her stunning house for the exhibition.

We had a wonderfull time and are already planning events for the new year.

Can't wait!