Art in Nature or Nature in Art?

Spring has sprung here in South Africa and my garden is bursting back into life. On beautiful sunny day I decided to meet my daughter in the Botanical Gardens for the most pleasant of days browsing through trees and plants from all over the world in the most glorious of surroundings. Daughter mine, being of artistic bent travels with pencil and sketchpad and had a ball sketching away at the interesting plant life.

Cycad

Then at the weekend as fate would have it there was a HUGE  Spring Flower Show at the local mall. That was just delightful – the funniest was a dog made of chrysanthemums but the best for me was a huge balancing floral interpretation of “Bold and Distinctive.”

Bold and Distictive

What must have been very difficult and was done in such a masterly fashion was to interpret a painting in flowers!

Usually we artists interpret nature not the other way round…

All in all it is a great time to do a spot of botanical art work, painting or sketching and South Africa has an abundance of fascinating plant life to
inspire anyone from the finest of artists to those who enjoy more chunky palette knife work there is something here for all tastes.
Vincent van Gogh summed it up very well with this advice “It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to;
the feeling for the things themselves – for reality – is more important
than the feeling for pictures.”

FLOWER OF THE MONTH
Victorian botanical collectors must have rejoiced when they came to South
Africa for they certainly took large amounts of plant material back to Kew
Gardens in London, England, in the nineteenth century and much of this
genetic stock from the flora kingdoms of South Africa has been hybridized
into many varietals to suit every climate producing many of the common
garden plants that you will probably see in your country and others all
around the world today..

One of these plants, which is the international flower for August, is the
Gladiolus, from the Latin word for a sword and part of the Iris family.
Gladiolus vary from very small, fragrant spikes to spectacular giant
flowers. The South African species were originally pollinated in by-gone
eras by long-tongued bees, but nowadays sunbirds, moths and long-tongued
flies do the business. The gladiolus also attracts butterflies so not only
does an artist get the opportunity to paint a charming flower but also the
flitting butterflies

Just another lovely painting moment in South Africa.

You too can enjoy a botanical drawing frenzy

in

South Africa

A beautiful Spring day in South Africa

Well today is my birthday, oh thanks but I wasn’t fishing, I was about to tell you that is is an absolutely stunning Spring day.

today I’m lucky but the weather can be quite capricious at this time of year as we flip between Berg winds and the more stormy winds from the south.

Five years ago I had one of those special birthdays that people like to celebrate to help remind you how old you are, he, he.

Well they all clubbed together and surprised me with the most wonderful birthday. I had wanted a pizza party on the beach as the beach is so awesome here but they had other plans and took me up to Ballito where our new International Airport is now being built, and sent me on a fantastic microlight flight out over the waves and down the coast to Durban and back again.

It was sooo stunning except for one brief moment when we went in a circle looking at sharks one too many times for my stomach, but that was soon righted when we went straight again. The only down on the day was the weather.

The day before we had been swimming in the sea and walking the beach. On my birthday it was bitterly cold. Grey skies and a sharp wind with the hint of rain to come. My landlubber family were huddled round a fire while I shot off into the atmosphere to return an hour later elated but frozen blue. I thought they would give us a babygrow thinggy to keep us warm but no such luck so my sister and I stole everyones coats (hence why they were huddled round the fire)

It was a great day though and the next day the sun shone down again laughing at me. Today though it is perfect so I have been busy in my new garden planting and weeding. Enjoying the perfect weather and thinking of the lucky people out on a Painting Holiday today. What great painting will be done today!

A Moveable Arts Feast

Something I found and that I think is a really cool idea. I shall be going, Why not join me in the fun

LET’S CELEBRATE DURBAN
ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY AND THE VISUAL ARTS NETWORK SOUTH AFRICA PRESENT

A Moveable Arts Feast
An innovative project to encourage the pubic to visit Durban’s many galleries is
being launched by Visual Arts Association of SA, KZN as part of the Celebrate Durban season.
People are encouraged to visit a selection of Durban’s premier galleries through an “art gallery trail” every Saturday throughout the eight-weekend season beginning 9 August 2008.  Members of the public will be able hop on the specially-decorated free Arts Bus at the KZNSA Gallery, travel a dedicated circuit to various venues throughout the day allowing visiting eight galleries per Saturday.

Arts Bus Tour Guide King Zorro will be providing narrative along the route about the galleries and exhibitions on show.

WOW what great fun and a tremendous way to visit a whole lot of art all in one day!

I’m going, Won’t you join me

Banish Boring, Bad and Below Par Images Forever

I subscribe to www.digital-photo-secrets.com which is full of helpful advice on the taking of photos.
As we all like to take photos I thought I would share this link with you.

I know that if you are taking the photograph because you want to paint something from it later or even just to remember the colours, the last thing you want is a blurry image so have a read hopefully you’ll find it useful…

————————————————–

Blurry images are not the only common problem that
photographers have with their cameras.

There are 9 more, and they are all listed in my free
“Top Photo Tips” ebook.

Tips include:
- Take perfect photos at night
- How to reduce noise in your photos
- What White Balance is, and how to correct it
- How to avoid blurry images
- and lots more

I first released this ebook in December 2006, but a lot of
newer subscribers may not have had a chance to read it. The
tips are still very relevent.

And there’s no technical jargon at all! Just solid advice
that everyone can understand.

Download your free copy here:
http://www.topphototips.com/

Now you know how to do it all come on the Painting Holiday of a lifetime and do some real bush photography with me.

Help your painting techniques reach new heights

You can join the Painting Circle here

It is a password protected area for Holidaying Artists on a wonderful free 90-day dabble in the Painting Circle pages of South African Painting Holidays and our Monthly Subscribers.

With monthly and free 90-day membership, not only can you join in all the regular features within the Painting Circle but Gill has agreed to an on-line Mentoring programme, where she will personally
mentor 100 Painting Circle Members individually for 3 months

If you haven’t signed up for this new on-line 1 on 1 mentoring, don’t delay!

The ONLY way to make sure you receive your invitation to be one of the “lucky 100″ is to register today

Spaces won’t last long!

If you are not yet a member and you would like to join in the fun and help your painting techniques reach new heights you may Join our Painting Circle here

Story of Buck Horns

I have been a fan of a little know artist for many years, His name John English. I grew up infatuated with his
Story of Buck Horns which is a delightful story he made up for his own child and that he illustrated with simple pen sketches. These drawings no matter how simple have stood the test of time as they became favourites for my children and hundreds of children I have taught.
How can something so simple, be so pleasing, to so many generations?
Personally I think it is because these drawings have such a feeling of movement but don’t clutter the mind with too much detail so the imagination has room to do it’s thing.
You might not agree but look around there has always been a place for simple art the knack is simplicity with feeling not infantile art, Well I think so anyway.

Keep sketching one a day..

Wine Women & Song

My supermarket sent me a very interesting letter written especially with women in mind. I thought I’d share some of their thoughts with you.Pick n Pay started looking at food which is specifically good for females and then best of all they then set about matching one of our great South African wines with that food making a fabulous combo when maybe you wouldn’t have thought of drinking a wine before.

For instance do you have wine with your fish cakes?
Well  PnP suggest a Van Loveren X Lite white which is a low alcohol winner from this popular estate and add that it is perfect for “Ladies who lunch” and who are also watching their waistlines!

How about butternut? What would you choose to drink so as not to spoil the gorgeous flavour of roast butternut? PnP suggest Vergelegen ‘Vin de Florence’ a delicious soft, fruity charming blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon with a splash of Hanepoot (Haa-nuh-poort), one of the earliest grapes to be grown in the Cape

Or how about a Robertson Sauvignon Blanc with your chicken fingers? It’s crisp, grassy and herbaceous tones is a very “attractive partner” for this dish.

And finally to be totally decadent you just have to have Boland 60/40 with your health muffins. It is a juicy blend that anyone who loves muffins is bound to love.

What a brilliant way to get a taste of South Africa! But surely the best way is still to visit. Come on a painting holiday and do the wine tasting en plein air as well as the painting!

Where does the song come into all this?
Well you will surely want to sing once you taste these lovely wines “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight!”