TACTILE TEXTURES

Did I mention that I liked textures?? I do indeed!!

I had SUCH fun making these collages of currogated cardboard, plastering them, pouring on sand, painting and embellishing them with embossed patterns, and finally adding a bit of glitz by rubbing on some gold.  

"Shack I"

Collage & Mixed Media on board

450 x 310mm

"Shack II"

Collage & Mixed Media on board

450 x 310mm

The initial inspiration for these collages was this photo of rusted little currogated iron storerooms (I think?)  that I took last year while taking a walk with my sister along the beach in Walvisbaai, Namibia:

NGUNI HERD - finished at last!

This is a large painting and took me rather long to complete - mostly because I worked on it intermittantly over about three years. I must say I do prefer projects that can be completed in a week or a few days, but I did want to do a large Nguni painting, and I even have a plan for another one!

I first painted the Nguni cattle in with acrylic, after drawing them on the canvas, using a grid.

Then I did the background in oils, as oil is so much easier to work with when blending.

I wasn't happy with the background, so it got changed, and I added some stones:

I did some more work on the background, until I was happy with it.Now the leading Nguni needed some alterartions on it's horns, ears and face, and patterns on its skin. After that I repainted all the other Nguni in oils, and also added finishing to the horns and hooves. Oh, yes, and the stones needed some more finishing, too!

Nguni Herd Coming Home

Acrylics and Oil on Canvas

1500 x 900mm

BLINK DETECTED

I had to laugh when I was photographing one of these two portraits and my camera kept saying: "blink detected". Well, at least my camera recognised it as a face!! Those of you living in Eshowe might recognise her...

"If I Close My Eyes, They Can't See My Soul"

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

500 x 400 mm

SOLD 

When I was photographing the lady for the reference, all I kept getting was closed eyes. When I asked her to open her eyes, I got this:

I decided to paint her as she preferred to be: with closed eyes. Maybe that is to shut the world out? 

The painting was sold on the recent Annual Eshowe Exhibition.

The other portrait is of a lady that lived next to the property where we had a bushcamp, near Pondweni in Maputaland, Northern KZN. She struck me as someone with dignity and a wealth of life experiences. Here she is:

"Kokho" (Grandma)

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

500 x 400 mm

IT'S A GIRL!!

No, not mine. :-)) My husband's niece is having a baby girl and this is what I made for a baby-shower present: a photo-collage-painting!

"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"

Collage and Mixed Media

500x400mm 

It contains some of the sonar pictures of the unborn baby, eg middle left, and a picture of the parents.

The textures were built up with lace, tulle and cheesecloth, symbolising the "weaving together". The two corner embellishments were made out of pewter.  

The text that I incorporated into the collage, is Ps 139: 13-17

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

How vast is the sum of them!

The baby shower was a lovely picnic in Mitchell Park, Durban. 

 Isn't this a nifty nappy cake??

I really had fun doing the collage and would be very happy to do some more, if anybody would like to order something similar! :-)

COMPLETING A PORTRAIT

I was asked to complete a portrait that another artist started before she passed away earlier this year. The portrait was of her nephew. She had good proportions and the groundwork had been done, so I adjusted the shading and fine-tuned the features. It was a pleasant challenge and I counted it a priviledge to complete the portrait for her mother.

Here is the portrait, as I received it.

The finished product:

Portrait in Oil on Artboard

350 x 450 mm:

  

Eshowe Annual Art Exhibition

Yes, it's time again for our town's annual art exhibition! 

It is amazing how many artists live in our small town, Eshowe. Do come around on the 8th or 9th of September and have a look, if you are in the area. The opening is on the Friday night. Tickets available as on the poster. 

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