Contemporary art by South African artist, Erna Wade; African wildlife, portraits, seascapes,flowers. In oil, acrylic, watercolour, collage and mixed media.
Having been inspired by other artist's printmaking, I played around a bit with some of my previous watercolour paintings of Little Bee Eaters and came up with these two new card designs:
I digitally collaged the two birds with text and then brought back some shadows and their eyes to add definition.
Ostriches are not just large birds. They are large birds with ATTITUDE. We visited a private game reserve, Nyala Game Ranch, a while ago. We were warned about the one male ostrich. We stopped at the top of a hill to have some tea and eats. We had not relaxed in our camping chairs for long, when Mr Ostrich appeared. It was a very quick retreat into the safety of the car, as ostriches can muster a mean kick. You don't want to be at the receiving end of these:
When it continued hassling us at the windows, we decided to move elsewhere. It followed us for quite a while, literally chasing us off its territory!
I did manage to get a few good close-up shots to paint, though:
When we were travelling back to Windhoek from Walvis Bay last year, the bus kept on overheating and having to stop, until another bus in the opposite direction could supply it with an appropriate spare part. At one of the stops I had the opportunity to photograph these cattle seeking a little bit of shade. I love these typical Namibian acacia trees and had to paint this scene:
I am an African girl. I love the African sun and I love painting scenes of Africa. I love the wide open spaces of Africa, its warmth and its variety. Lately my attention has been drawn to the beautiful and varied skin colour patterns of the indigenous Nguni cattle of Southern Africa. Join me in my African adventure as I find and paint more Nguni, birds and people of Africa.
ALL MY ART IS FOR SALE.
Feel free to contact me at
ewade@absamail.co.za
to check on availability or prices.
I think painting is a little like trying to describe a dream to somebody. The images are somewhere out there on the edge of your consciousness, but you can't quite put it into words, because when you put it into words, everything changes...
Andrew Wyeth (Watercolour Artist): The Creative Process
"I dream a lot. I do more painting when I'm not painting. It's in the subconscious."
Renoir about Painting Flowers
"I just let my brain rest when I paint flowers" - Renoir
Ingmar Berman about Creativity
"Art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship. It severed an umbilical cord and now lives its own sterile life, generating and degenerating itself. In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God."
Ludwig von Beethoven about Creativity:
"I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied. Then, in my head, I begin to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth... I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast, and only the labour of writing it down remains."