AND THE WINNER IS....

The

WINNER

of the draw for the first 30 "likes" on my Facebook Art Page is:

Barbara Philip.

CONGRATULATIONS, Barbara!

Your two Guinea Fowl prints will be on their way soon!

A Big THANK YOU to everybody who "liked" my new Facebook Art Page:

Keep Watching my
Facebook Page
for

more Specials and Give-Aways!!!

MY BRAND NEW FACEBOOK ART PAGE

I'm introducing my brand new

ART PAGE

and, to celebrate, there is an 

ART PRINT

Yes, you've read correctly! If you are one of the first 30 people to

 my Facebook Art Page

you are eligible for the lucky draw to receive:

a set of 2 Guinea Fowl PRINTs of your choice
(same size as the original - about A5),

from my new Guinea Fowl series,
as seen on the previous post on this BLOG,

printed on Matt Fine Art Paper, with a single mount,

READY for FRAMING!.

The designs are fresh and new, have not been marketed anywhere before,

and are worth between R90 and R100 per print, plus about R45 per mount

(Total package: about R290 or 35USD). You only pay for shipping!!

All you have to do is click on the "like" button below:   

.

(The original Guinea Fowl artworks, sized approximately A5,

are available @ between R250 and R300 each)

Looking forward to seeing you on my Facebook Art Page soon!!

GUINEA FOWL FUN

In South Africa we have two types of Guinea Fowl - the Helmeted (on the left in picture below), and the Crested, on the right.

Illustration from the book,

"Roberts' birds of Southern Africa"

(Artwork by K. Newman)

The one more common in KZN is the Crested Guinea Fowl, so that is the one I most often get to see.

Inspired by the artist, Robert Burridge's "Circus Birds", I had some fun collaging and painting some of our African Guinea Fowls:

Guinea Fowl 1 & 2

Collage & Mixed Media on Mounting Board

150 x 190mm each

Guinea Fowl 3 & 4

Collage & Mixed Media on Mounting Board

190 x 150mm each

And, I couldn't resist doing some watercolours of their very peculiar faces:

Beauty Contest I and II

120 x 170mm

Watercolour, pen & ink on Paper

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

175 x 130mm

Watercolour, pastel, pen & ink

Crested Guinea Fowl

175 x 130mm

Watercolour, pastel, pen & ink

   

COMMISSION COMPLETE!

Here is the result of the mixed media experiments - a set of three paintings with the Boubou bird as central theme:

BOUBOU - set of three

Mixed Media

(Collage, Acrylic, oil)

300 x 400mm each

SOLD

A closer look at the first one in the set:

You may want to see the blogpost about the previous, large painting that I did for the same B&B.  

Mixed Media Meanderings

In the process of investigating the possibilities of fulfilling a mixed media commission around the theme of a specific bird, I made a collection of small trial artworks:

(This was something that I did do in the earlier part of the year, so I wasn't completly unproductive, you see... ☺. These were not the only experiments, either!)

The last one on the right was the winning one. I have made a set of three, which need some finishing touches before I can show them. - Coming soon!

KEEPING THE MOMENTUM

"Keep the momentum in your business.

Stop-start takes a lot more effort than

to simply keep the momentum."

Dani Johnson

Keeping one's painting momentum is the same -  lot easier  and more productive than to regain momentum after you've lost it. I have to confess that I lost mine for the early part of the year. Interruptions of all sorts just slowly eroded away at the time I had available to paint. I had to sit down recently, re-prioritise and PLAN time to paint again. I found it very helpful to write down all my time-stealers and other hindrances on a sheet of paper, decide which ones I was able to change and how I was going to do it. Looking at a few websites with tips to deal with "Artist's Block" was also helpful. After brainstorming  and gathering some ideas and pictures of what really inspires me at the moment, I really did feel a lot more inspired and was ready to go!

I did a few quick acrylics to get the creative juices flowing. They still need some work done to them - I might add collage and some new detail. Here is one:

And - lo and behold: another interruption! We went to St Lucia for the weekend. I managed to sit and scribble down some wings while sitting in the shade of one of the rocks at Mission Rock.

This is quite consistent with my theme of wings and flight that I'm working on. The time out in the sun, with the gulls, was very refreshing, though, and the colours of the sea never sieze to fascinate me.

Here is an acrylic of seagulls that I finished recently:  

Frame Filled

I had a mat and frame looking for a picture. The colours were very suited to a Nguni, so this is the one I chose and painted:

  

Nguni 50

Watercolour

230 x 195

And here it is in its frame:

Nine Bird Watercolours Complete

I actually completed them in November last year and they have been safely delivered to a thrilled client! They are all painted on white 300gsm Bockingford watercolour paper. In some instances I was able to use my own photographs as references, filling in detail from web images. For others I used, with permission, photographs by local well-known bird photographer, Hugh Chittenden.



Red Backed Mannikins
Watercolour
260 x 360 mm



African Fish Eagle
Watercolour
260 x 360mm



Green Twinspot
Watercolour
260 x 360mm

 


Malachite Kingfisher
Watercolour
260 x 360mm



Giant Kingfisher
Watercolour
260 x 360mm

Brownhooded Kingfisher
Watercolour
260 x 360mm

Whitefronted Bee-Eater
Watercolour 
260 x 360mm



Little Bee-Eaters
Watercolour
260 x 360mm



Greater Doublecollared Sunbird
Watercolour
260 x 360mm

 
 
Greeting cards with prints of the above artworks are available. Contact me @ ewade@absamail.co.za

Being a bird lover (Besides my four parrot-pets, I am currently raising an orphaned Cape Wagtail, hoping to release it back into the garden), it was really a joy to paint these birds. I plan to do more bird watercolours - maybe soon, as I have a commission for three mixed media artworks with birds as a theme!

SEPIA WILDLIFE TRILOGY

I've recently done three wildlife paintings in neutral colours. I had tremendous fun, first painting the backgrounds, and after that adding the drawings of the animnals and continuing to paint until the paintings were complete.

White Rhino Mother & Calf

Acrylic & Oil on Stretched Canvas

600 x 450 x 23mm

 

Buffalo Portrait

Acrylic & Oil on Stretched Canvas

600 x 450 x 23mm

Elephant  - Out of the Woods

Acrylic & Oil on Stretched Canvas

450 x 600 x 23mm

Grapes in Enamel

These two still life paintings evolved from very brightly coloured, to more muted, peaceful still lives.

Acrylic & Oil on Stretched Canvas

200 x 200 x 35mm each

Matching Nguni Painting - alone again!

Nguni 21

Oil on Stretched Canvas

350 x 250 x 15mm

SOLD

I painted the above  Nguni  as a second choice for someone wanting a matching painting to one they had already bought. They did end up taking the first choice. So, I decided recently to paint another Nguni to match it, giving it a better chance to sell.  I wasn't halfway, when the first one sold! Now this one needs a matching painting again!! ☺ (I'm not complaining at all!)

Nguni 49

OIl on Stretched Canvas

350 x 250 x 15mm

I'M STILL PAINTING!

No, I haven't stop painting!!! I haven't been posting much of what I've been painting, because I'm working on a series of nine watercolour birds and would like to show them together, once they are all finished, as they are actually done as a commission.

Then I've also been having lots of fun creating some acrylic and oil paintings for our annual local art exhibition in September. Once that is over, I'll be posting all of them! There is one large Nguni group painting, two small still life paintings, a bunch of roses and some wildlife!

So - lots of paintings coming up!!   

Tibouchina Home

I completed this painting a while ago. It was a commission and since it was also a birthday gift, I waited until the birthday had transpired before showing it on my blog. 

The inspiration behind the painting was the flowering Tibouchina tree in front of the gate. These trees grace the roads of our little forest town during early autumn. We have one in our garden, too!

As I haven't painted these trees before, I thought I'd do a practise run to see which media would suit it best. In this little sketch I used watercolour and acrylic.

The photo  reference I was working from, was taken on an overcast day and on the photo the composition was much darker on one side than on the other, and thus, visually heavier on one side. So I did another small watercolour sketch to solve this compositional problem.

Then I finally did the A3 watercolour painting:

2 Ashby Road

Watercolour

360x240mm

    

Eagle's Wings

Another Fish Eagle - and probably not the last one!

Eagle's Wings

Acrylic & oil on Canvas

650x510mm

SOLD

"Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

but those who wait on the LORD

renew their strength,

they rise up the wing like eagles,

they run and are not weary,

they walk and do not faint."

Isaiah 40:30,31

Flight of the Fish Eagle

If you love Africa, there is a very good chance that you love the call of the Fish Eagle. They are synonomous! Though not the largest eagle in Southern Africa, they are very majestic. They always remind me of the promise in Isaiah 40:31

...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Here are two fish eagles contrasted with backgrounds containing an element of mystery.

Flight of the Fish Eagle II

Acrylic & Oil on Canvas

355 x 250 x18mm

Flight of the Fish Eagle I

Acrylic 7 Oil on Canvas

305 x 250 x 18mm