Magic forest art

 Early last Friday, while driving through the gate to the large holiday home I manage, I stopped to photograph the forest on the edge of the property. 

The forest with the sun rising behind me (the photographer) 

Facing the forest in the direction of the sun rising

A whole new world !

This weekend Grant and I opened a shop in the shopping centre in the Valley. The Art Box is my business and I am selling art and souvenirs by local artist, Steve Bull. 

 Grant 

 Jo

Grant and Jo

 Grant and Steve

 The hessian-covered tables above is called the Muthi table; for those who have read my blog, Muthi is an old Jack Russell belonging to Steve and Estelle Bull. Muthi is 21 years old (which translates to 147 doggie years!) In his younger days, Muthi used to sit up on his hindlegs with his forepaws hanging down - just like a meerkat. Estelle suggested Steve paint him in a mob** of meerkats and that's what he did. This particular picture has been a great seller in the shop. Apart from many varied sizes of Muthi prints, we have a selection of other Muthi souvenirs. 

There are Muthi coffee and tea mugs; Muthi mousepads, potstands and table mats; Muthi coasters, Muthi magnets and Muthi keyrings. 

Framed Muthi print on easel at the shop entrance

As people approach this painting, I hear Awww, just look at that dog! Oh sweet; see how that doggie is standing up in between the meerkats! On and on.

I go out and tell anyone standing there that the old boy is still alive. I have a video clip on my Smartphone of Muthi having a "silly five minutes" taken only last week. 

Muthi is a unique selling point and showstopper for Steve's art and ultimately for my shop. Praise God! 

 Cow and calf 

This picture above is my favorite. To capture this image, Steve proving the crazy tactics he uses, stopped and stood at the fence surrounding a paddock with a herd of cows and their calves. 

The cows were grazing; the calves were just standing around; their mothers ignoring them totally.  To catch their attention, Steve started to moo. Within a minute, the first calf and then the next and the next approached Steve at the fence. 

The mothers looked up startled and soon had joined their calves. As this particular cow licked her calf, Steve captured the moment. 

Awesomeness! 

Steve's art includes wildlife pictures, domestic animals, a farmer and his son (in the middle of the photo above) and Bushman Art. 

 Inkunzi Cave banner 

Inkunzi is Zulu for a bull and Steve's surname is Bull; hence Inkunzi Cave as one of his unique accommodations on his property. I have the banner for this: The Cave outside my shop - another showstopper. People stop to look at the pictures on the banner and I go out and explain what it is. 

I have Inkunzi Cave pamphlets which I give them and tell them to Google it and do the virtual tour. Every booking that comes via The Art Box, is a percentage for me.

Steve and Estelle have been stalwarts in getting me up and going and helping to generate revenue from the shop and The Cave bookings. Bless these dear friends of ours. 

And finally...

Muthi - taken this weekend

I'm linking to Our World Tuesday, here

Aloes edited

When we took our visitors, Neville and Gill to see friends Steve and Estelle's quirky accommodation, at one stage I wandered off and photographed the beautiful aloes in full bloom against the backdrop of the mountains. 

Today I felt like playing with the photos and using funny.Pho.to and Luncapic came up with these...

HAPPY MONDAY TO YOU ALL! 

Photo phun with Lunapic

Aaah, what it is to visit blogs and be so mesmerized by the artistic bent of the blogger that you come straight home and try to emulate them. 

Hooting Anni and Madsnapper - Sandra are both so good at making the most mundane image into the most beautiful artwork imaginable. All with Lunapic. 

On Saturday I posted wildflowers that I'd snapped on our mountain hike two weeks ago. Today I'm posting the same flowers again and how I managed to make them real purdy!  

Lilac-edged flower

Purple bloom

Yellow cluster

Daffodil-shaped blooms

Daisy

Close-up of above daisy - it's so beautiful I didn't want to change it drastically - hence...

and my piece de resistance...

I hope you all enjoyed my artistic post today. 

Note from blogger: No sooner had I mastered this technique and posted it, than I opened Sandra's post and she's playing with ANOTHER program. 

Mmm

Watch this space

Scavenger Hunt Sunday # 2

I struggled to find an autumn drink image as spring has just finished here Southern Hemisphere and we're entering a hot, dry summer. 

However, going through my archives, I found two images of my all-time favorite beverage which I enjoyed while on holiday in May (our autumn/winter) Rina and I met up with an old friend of mine and we had tea at the local Bistro. I always drink rooibos tea (pronounced roybos) which is a bush tea cultivated in South Africa. Please click on the link for more information. (It's interesting, I promise) 

Autumn Drink

Rooibos tea with my health breakfast at The Bistro, Mtubatuba

Later that week, Rina and I stopped for tea after a day on the beach in St Lucia. She ordered Cuppa-chino and I, well I ordered rooibos tea.  

Rooibos tea at Thyme Square, a quaint but upmarket tea garden

Rina and I specifically stopped off at Thyme Square as I wanted to meet Carla,  theyoung  proprietress. She didn't know that she'd been a teeny little girl when I last saw her. Grant, I and our boys were staying with her parents, Paul and Karen at the beach. The year was 1994 and Carla was a cute four-year-old. She latched onto me and would spend ages watching me do my make-up (which I used on her too) and also go through my jewelry case. Although she couldn't remember any of this, Carla loved my reminisces -  her,  a successful entrepreneur in a thriving holiday town. 

At home this week, we've been bombarded (literally) with ripe mulberries. John, the gardener picked two large bucketfuls. Rina cleaned them; I weighed the fruit, placed into two large pots/saucepans, added equal amounts of white sugar and we made jam! 

Wooden

I always use wooden spoons for cooking and jam making

The mulberry jam bubbling away on the stove - wooden spoon at the ready

I added the finished product for effect!

SEASONAL 

The (seasonal) mulberries on the tree at the corner of our house

The fallen mulberries are a little messy but the season should be over soon

MY OUTFIT TODAY

Rina celebrated a birthday last Sunday

That day I didn't tell her I'd invited a dozen or so friends to join us for tea on Tuesday. Of course I had to tell her on Monday; she bakes a beautiful chocolate cake and milk tart. I made savory sandwiches and bacon cheese puffs. 

Part of my outfit showing beyond the set party table

We Marquard ladies have a tradition. Instead of buying separate gifts, one friend will send out text messages saying she is collecting [cash] for the birthday girl.  Then that person will take the birthday girl (after the party) to buy an ornament, household gadget or jewelry. Well, Rina doesn't wear bling (that's my vice) and our house is so full, she cannot have anymore ornaments or gadgets. Instead she opened her birthday card and the cash was stashed inside, I suggested she buys a set of new inertia seat belts for her 1964 Toyota which has just had a make-over. She was thrilled!

MY VIEW

Of course, the view from my office is onto the lawn and the perennials against the wall

I love the restful shadows playing across the garden

And then: a photo from my East African archives. Way back in 2011, when we lived in a remote valley within the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, I was low down photographing some little white flowers on a school sports field. I wanted to capture the dainty blooms with the majestic mountains in the background. My friend, Sue, was photographing birds (something we did on a daily basis together); she turned around, saw me and snapped! 

MY VIEW - tongue in cheek!

I'm linking my post to Scavenger Hunt Sunday here

Happy Sunday to you all!

Pottery in Mwadui

On many occasions, I've posted about my twice-weekly pottery lessons. Apart from being an art which I've learned since being in Mwadui, it's also a social gathering of expat ladies to beat all other social gatherings!

Two-and-a-half years ago,  I joined the only other two ladies on camp at the time;  Tilla, who is almost 67, me at 61 + and Amanda who is 53. Amanda, of course it the potter and under her tutorship (and plenty of trial and error), I have slowly come up through the ranks to a reasonably artistic potter. Under Tilla's tutorship, I have learned perfection as only Tilla can exact perfection. So I am a combination of artistic bent from Amanda and part-perfection (I don't aspire to perfectionism as that is painful! LOL!) from Tilla!


Then more women arrived on site: in February 2013, Louise joined her husband, Wessel here. They have a 12 year-old son, Wessie whom Louise home schools. Although Louise hasn't joined the pottery classes,  she permits Wessie to attend classes for an hour each of those days! 

Around that time, we met two young Americans living in Mwadui. Eric is a teacher at the Lutheran school and his wife,  Linda is a part-time student councilor and deaconess. So Linda was invited to join our pottery classes. 
 
In October, a new client general manager was appointed  and his wife, Marita accompanied him. So another pupil at the pottery studio! In March this year, Debbie joined her fiance, Phillip on camp; and you guessed it: she has joined the pottery classes! Because Phillip works in the recovery plant on the weekends, he has two days off during the week. Now Phillip has joined us Tuesdays as well! 

As I said in the first paragraph, this gathering is the social gathering of all time! Two weeks ago, while Marita's two sisters visited, they joined the class on Thursday. I was sitting at the painting table with my latest project (I hope to glaze and bake it today) and all I could hear was a babble of excited women's voices!  

 Several items which I made during this last stint on site 

 A mobile which I made for my friend to hang in her beach house in the Southern Cape

Today Amanda and I are alone in the studio. Tilla, Marita and Debbie have gone out on their holiday break to South Africa. If Linda doesn't have a school commitment, she will join us as well. It should be quite a quiet session although women always like to talk!

Over the past three months, I've made several items; mostly gifts for friends in SA. One project I decided on, though, took up a great deal of my time and in the end it didn't turn out a success. Last year I drew  and cut out a  map of Africa. Forgetting that when you bake a pottery item, it has a 15% shrinkage, it was a lot smaller than I intended. So when it came to painting the umpteen countries on it, it was a real challenge. (At one stage I had Kenya - or was it Tanzania - landlocked!) This time I cut out a much larger map of our continent. Once we'd bisqued it (first firing), I had great fun painting each country in different colors. I kept a wooden child's puzzle nearby to keep to the exact mapping! 

Then came adding the names; hoo-boy! When I got to West Africa and especially the Ivory Coast, I kept "losing" whole countries. I remember Amanda looking over my shoulder where I worked at the painting table and saying: "Where is Sierra Leone! " 

* Sigh*

After two weeks of two-hourly sessions twice during that fortnight, I had completed my Africa. I placed it on my shelf for the next glazing and firing day. As I walked out, I said to Amanda that I don't feel good about this paint job. And she muttered, "If aren't happy with something, rather re-do it. "  

This happened on a Thursday class. I had the whole weekend and Monday to think about my dissatisfaction with my artwork . By the time I arrived at the studio on Tuesday, my mind was made up! 

I picked up Africa, walked to the tap/faucet on the studio veranda and washed off all the paint! Tilla saw me doing this and almost had an apoplexy! She couldn't believe that after all the hours I'd invested in this piece, I was going to start over. When I explained to her that I didn't think it was good enough yet, she (being a perfectionist, remember) agreed! 

I only had to touch-up the country colors a little and then I got to adding the names. This time I used a special pencil instead of trying to paint the names on with a fine brush and black paint. Although I was thrilled to bits when I'd finished this time, and left my item on my shelf for glazing and baking later that week, unbeknown to us, the glaze caused this pencil to run and the result was... 

(Ewgh!) 

My two pottery items; the blue one I made last year: not good. The colorful one I spent many hours trying to get the perfect continent and it turned out...not at all what I envisioned! 

I've decided to leave the Africa map for now and when I return from my break in SA at the end of August I will make another one and give this project another go! 

I'm linking my post today to Our World Africa which you can visit by clicking here

 

A new hobby

As promised in yesterday's post that wasn't about birds and bird sightings (!), here is the new hobby I've taken up. Although Grant bought me the "tools" way back in March 2013, it was only on Friday that I managed to start on this new interest: watercolor painting!

As with my sketch drawing which I started about 18 months ago, and the pottery classes I attend twice a week,  I have dear friend, Amanda to tutor me. Amanda is one of the most artistic people I have come across. When I struggle to decide what or how to paint a picture on a bisqued pottery plate or bowl, she will lean over, tell me to "do this or that" (she never does it for you!) and voila! the ideas flow!

Of course, as Grant always says, I first try to do something, then when all else fails,I  read the instructions! Although my first two attempts didn't fail, (but the paint went over onto the next pages when I painted directly on the pad) once I read further in the my guide book, I learned how to wet the paper, staple it onto my easel (which stretches it and avoids curling) and then to paint. All the while, I was taking photos on my phone and sending them to Amanda who'd come back with advice and later with encouragement that I was doing well! 

 My first attempt: Bird of Paradise

Next came: Fall Colors

Working directly on the pad (before reading the instructions!)

Working with saturated colors: End of day

Attempting symmetry and asymmetry : Forest Glow

The tools of the trade!

Readers may remember, last year I took a picture of an easel to Stanley, our local woodcraftsman. He made this easel with adjustable heights for me. Amazing! 

I'm linking my post today to Our World Tuesday which you can access by clicking here