raku firing

The fire dancers . . . Desiree Malan of the Drakenstein Art Society gave a demonstration on raku firing on the evening of 25th March.

Raku figurines performing like fenikses (mythological bird renewed through fire) rising from the ashes.

Collage of the evening

my midnight cardigan

I enjoyed this knit - it is a Jo Sharp pattern, Issue 7 - Pure Pleasure

I am very happy with the colour - midnight

Just right for our weather now - not too warm and not too cold . . .

cooler evenings . . .

Slowly, very slowly and quietly fall is approaching. We feel it in the evening and early morning air.

I feel like knitting - a loose, lacy, 3/4 sleeve, easy to wear cardigan for fall.

monoprinting

my first attempt at monoprinting . . . . workshop by Nanette Ranger



the pictures speak for themselves . . .

crocodile smile

The highest temperature recorded on Sunday was 44°C in Paarl.

While people in the town complained of the "stifling heat", scores of crocodiles on a farm in the Paarl area were in their element in the scorching weather."These are normal conditions for the crocs," said Maryna Moss, the co-owner of the Le Bonheur Crocodile Farm. "While we're sweating out here, they are absolutely loving it. The crocodiles are in seventh heaven." (excerpt from the Online Independent, Sunday 8 March 2010)

garden surprises . . .

We are experiencing one of the hottest weekends this summer - surely around 44 (if not more) degrees Celsius in daytime while even the nights do not cool down.

But despite the hot sun the garden keeps on offering surprises . . . such as this robin. I took the photo through the window, not to scare the little fellow away. While watching the robin, it reminded me of the film "A secret garden". The robin in the film urged the little girl to follow him to a secluded shriveled garden which she then lovingly cared for with the help of a friend until it was a vivid and colourful garden again, offering peace and beauty to everyone who enters . . .


And another big surprise was the discovery of this tortoise in our garden while watering the plants the other day, and now we have seen it a few times wandering through our garden. Naturally we are very curious about where it emerged from . . . but that is and will remain a secret. It just happened to be in our garden . . . and we love the feeling of sharing our Eden with mystical creatures . . .

It seemed to me he sensed when I was finished taking photos, because he then turned him back on me and wandered off . . .

my favourite cup . . .

is filled with fresh home ground coffee early in the morning and sipped while watching dawn turns to day . . .


"But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her, barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window in one of the fragile cotton dresses of the poor. She will look in at me with het thin arms extended, offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light" ~ William Collins

. . . to be silent, alone, by oneself . . .

excerpt form Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse :

For now she need not think about anybody. She could be herself, by herself. And that was what now she often felt the need of - to think; well, not even to think. To be silent; to be alone. All the being and the doing, expansive, glittering, vocal, evaporated; and one shrunk, with a sense of solemnity, to being oneself, a wedge-shaped core of darkness, something invisible to others. Although she continued to knit (and paint), and sat upright, it was thus that she felt herself'; and this self having shed its attachments was free for the strangest adventures. When life sank down for a moment, the range of experience seemed limitless.

KNIT

Thank you to Natalie for sharing her pattern

AND PAINT

and to Hanne for her generosity and kind permission

to use her photograph for this figure study

happy valentine's day

Have a lovely Sunday!

We enjoyed a warm sunny day, having lunch outside under the wild olive tree.

february?

We have the most strange weather for February . . .

. . . thunder . . . raindrops . . . wind . . . cold . . . melancholy . . .

Normally February is the hottest (38/40 degrees celcius and sometimes more) month around here. But the last two days we had thunder and raindrops. Today it is cloudy and windy and cold . . .

peculiar ?

art evening

A calendar project was initiated by The Drakenstein Art Society. Members and new comers could spend the evening at the Breytenbach Centre drawing, painting, doing mosaic, etc or just socializing. All art material was supplied by the art society. The art works will be used for a calendar.


The outcome of the evening

My contribution was a "drawing" done with a plastic knife as paint brush and acrylic paint, titled Distorted face

my own space . . .

at last I have my own little space - quite tiny, but nevertheless mine -

After an art class by Dalene Buckle which I attended, I asked Lize to do the following :

distorted face 1, done by Lize
distorted face 2, done by Lize
She did it by looking into an aluminium mug from different angles. It is based on the mirrors one find at carnivals or circusses, when you stand in front of it your image is distorted -corpulent, shrinked, elongated, shortened, out of size . . .

january excitements

the days are passing in serene stillness . . .
without us noticing, too busy to survive . . .
one feels a bit overwhelmed . . .
although january started off with a few excitements . . .

- Cinderella on Ice at Artscape


- moving on from the recorder to the transverse/german flute, quite eager to learn

new year and new doings . . .

A very peaceful and joyous 2010 to you all .

I ended 2009 by doing some sewing for sister in law. She wanted a caftan type dress. I volunteered to make something. Using a pattern from the Japanese book Happy Homemade vol 1 as basis I made a small alteration in the front to suit her taste. But otherwise I followed the pictures and this is what came to light.

I started the new year playing around with

water colours. I am not customed to water colours seeing that I normally use oils.

This is done after a picture I saw in a magazine and wanted to try with water colours. If I remember correctly, the picture was by Marina Louw?

The following blue bottle of an unusual shape attracted my attention one evening at a meeting of the Drakenstein Art Society. I wanted to remember it and this is the outcome :

(Acrylic paints, charcoal and oil pastels on paper)

a blessed Christmas . . .

. . . from our home . . .

. . . to your home . . . may you be the Lord's gift to one another . . .

cherries and picnic

It's summer holiday season . . .

last Wednesday we went cherry picking

and picnicking

at the feet of age old pine trees

on dry brown cracking pine needles

under a warm yellow sun with a soft breeze of wind

we took home a small harvest of sweet cherries to savour piece meal

. . . an unusual display . . .

. . . by the grace of God . . .

I love who I am

I am grounded in my own power

I am secure on all levels.

I deserve to enjoy life

I ask for what I want and

I accept with joy and pleasure.

I trust the process of life

All I need is taken care of always

I am safe. (author unknown - I found this script written on a piece of paper in a library book)

(this photos of her enjoying life and laughing without holding back were taken without her knowledge)

autumn oak leaf or gecko ?

I like to think it is an autumn oak leaf as the pattern title indicates. My 11 year old daughter says it is a yellow gecko. What do you think?

I am not sure where I got the page with this pattern - maybe from the internet? I think it is a design from Nicky Epstein? I'm not sure - if some one can help, I will be very pleased.

musical scattering . . .

a few loose pictures

were organised into this (oil on maisonite)

crossing over carefully

. . . humans can learn a lot from the animal world . . . looking after and caring for little ones . . .