Purple Ragwort (Senecio arenarius)

I am painting the last of the purple ragwort flowers of the season! Because I water my garden twice a week some of them survived a bit longer.

Ragwort make a wonderful display in springtime, colouring the fields around us to a purple landscape. The flowers are pretty but poisonous to humans and livestock as it is said to affect the liver. Yet my beloved voles, which I painted a few months ago, are vegetarians and find ragwort such a treat. It is just too cute to see the flowers in those little hand-like paws! I have found that if you move past a window or stir a curtain the voles are gone! They are extremely sensitive. Maybe the early morning sun blinded them a little this morning, so I stood behind the glass and got the photos I have been yearning for. I hope to invest in a telephoto lens for my camera, to catch some better shots in future. In the meantime I present Mr and Mrs Vole eating their purple ragwort breakfast.

I also paint these purple flowers to celebrate my brand-new purple blogspot : French Belles by Marie Theron.

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The Fiscal Shrike

I took a photo of the lovely program for the Slice of Life Exhibition. How neat the gallery looks! This show with it's mass of even-sized paintings will run until the 21st of January 2011. I hope to receive some news about my set of birds! I could have painted 5 gannets and 5 of seagulls, but am so fond of sets of four, that I filled the remaining two blocks with something different. So here is the image of my little shrike.

As you know, there are no trees here on the West C0ast, so all the small birds around here perch themselves on top of the bushes that we call "fynbos". The fiscal shrike is such a cute round little creature as he scans the world all around for insects. I have never came upon a fiscal shrike larder here, but as a child we had a barbed wire fence and my dad would call us every time he found a larder....oh my, what a grizzly experience this was for a little girl!!! But I never missed a chance to see crickets, worms and grasshoppers impaled on pieces of barbed wire, left there to dry in the breeze like our fisherman do with the snoek and bokkoms!

Do you know the Fiscal Shrike? It lives all over our country, but this little one was only a few meters from the ocean.

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More and more Gannets!

By now I think everyone must realize that I cannot let go of the gannets of Lambert's Bay. Suddenly I see seabirds in my future as an artist: going into more and more detail and entering the world of Wildlife Art by painting the precious and protected birds of the West Coast.

The great exhibition of 630 works by 63 artists, called "A Slice of Life" opens this week in Somerset West. On the 10 wooden blocks I received, I used 4 for my gannets. I showed one piece last week, and here are the three others. You can see how they all look together in the first photo.

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Delight in the Detail

The words 'informal' and 'relaxed' sum up the style of the West Coast. I am taking you to a restaurant on the beach at Paternoster, so please leave all suits and high heels behind! We can take a long stroll on the beach to watch the colourful fishing boats coming in, photograph the seagulls and then step up to Voorstrandt Restaurant, hardly shaking the sand from our feet, and find ourselves an outside seat with sea views. The restaurant is situated in an antique tin fisherman's cottage more than a hundred years old.

I was so thrilled when I first saw the welcoming wall in the entrance on the street side of the building. Against the 'heritage green' corrugated wall there is a piece of wood from a real shipwreck. The flaked red paint forms the perfect contrast to the building. I also loved the old bottles that was picked up among the flotsam at some stage, and the buoys and ropes! A very large blackboard holds a daily message for visitors. In painting this scene, the old wood got the most attention! In my art box I have a triangularshaped palette knife that got its first job here in scraping on texture, and it worked perfectly!

I almost forgot! What shall we eat? I am in search of the perfectly grilled mullet (harders), my favourite! As you are not from here, I suggest a more 'tame' fish dish, some yellowtail with butternut, creamed spinach and a few chips? Sounds good? Let's order!

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Rock Solid!

I will not describe our Cape introduction-to-winter weather! Suffice to say it is known as The Cape of Storms/Cabo des Tormentos! I do not venture far out on the West Coast and rather paint the scenes that are close by. This very square old rock thrones over many low rows of jagged serrated points. I see it every time I can get my lazybones out of bed to take a beach walk.

After doing the painting, I found among my photos of the last five years many different images. There it stands, darkish, split into three layers so very long ago! The side that is always facing the sun looks as if it has been bleached a lighter colour. Over the top and down the sides, like icing, runs the white lines of calcified guano left by the visiting local seagulls and black cormorants.

The scene changes. Birds come and go, the tide ebbs and flows, the mists come down and lift again, but it sits there proudly, patiently! I think I will name this painting: "Rock Solid".

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More about Paternoster

West Coast autumn days have many faces, but a lovely clear almost-winter day is like a tonic for the soul. It is 12 noon and on the beach at Paternoster everything is peaceful. Clear turquoise water, a gentle low tide, boats resting and parents probably having a cooling drink on one of the verandas!

Aren't you painting too many boats, the family wants to know....but I still have a story to tell about the small fishermen, the subsistence guys who are really at the bottom of the hierarchy as far as fishing rights are concerned. During the last century, people were free to fish but things do change for many reasons. Fish become scarce. Crayfish is no longer poor people's food but an important export product. A fisherman is allowed to bring in 4 crayfish per day, and a small amount of fish,which means to live he has to go out daily and face the dangers of the ocean.

Large factories can buy bigger concessions than the small guys, and they have to. They must pay salaries to thousands of factory workers. And also, the population now need many tons of frozen fish, tinned fish, sardines, crayfish and cat food which a large company with large trawlers and refrigeration is able to deliver.

It is sad to listen to the very real fears of some of the 30,000 local subsistence fishermen. They can go to work in factories and the steelworks , but that means travelling to Saldanha, and have a divided family with old values under pressure. Children also loose respect for parents not able to provide for them and get involved in bad habits. West coast tourism, luckily is growing and will hopefully provide jobs as people discover the joys of this peaceful area. How nice it is to be in a place that is not rich, not opulent, but so very tranquil and naturally beautiful! Click here!

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Crayfish Coast

All along the West Coast you can enter the water and find crayfish! But of course it is appreciated and eaten with reverence. Treat the abundance of the sea with disrespect and one day there will remain nothing! So it is essential to have a licence which allow you a limited quantity. Undersized crayfish are always returned to the sea to breed another day.

One of my first visits ever to Paternoster, we had hardly parked or someone offered us crayfish for sale and asked us to open the car boot fast! These are such nice and amusing people, but their wares you must ignore. Of course the local people had taken from the sea for generations and see rules as something to get around. There are plenty of stories of locals putting out sentries to warn them of the approach of "Fauna and Flora" which is the name for the Marine and Coastal inspectors.

Here is a favourite story, often told: A vendor walks with a bucket of undersized crayfish when an inspector appears suddenly.

"You are selling small ones there!"

"No, sir, " comes the answer, "I am teaching them to swim...I will show you!" He walks to the water and let the crayfish down one by one and they swim away.

"I still do not believe you" says the inspector, "I am fining you for possession of illegal crayfish".

Fast as a flash comes the answer: "Which crayfish?"

The crayfish on our plates are enormous and taken out by a kindly young neighbour (with licence, of course)! Sometimes we buy them at Velddrif or Paternoster and all the restaurants offer crayfish. The painting gave me great pleasure as I longed for colour and have been doing a lot of blue skies lately.

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White on white in Paternoster

Today, I show the new developments in Paternoster. There had been unfortunate design happenings along the West Coast, as in Yzerfontein and Langebaan where far too many different architectural styles vie with each other for attention. Here in beautiful Paternoster every new building shows it's respect to the Cape vernacular style.

Look at those vertical windows, the dark gray corrugated iron roofs, the railway sleeper lintels over wooden window frames and the one and only colour adopted from past dwellings: white! And as a feature: the large white chimneys, practical and pretty!

Paternoster is still very much a fishing village and one can see a hundred boats drying out on the wide white beach at any specific moment, but it has also become the place where tourists can relax in luxury in unique boutique hotels and cooling restaurants. Have a peek at Paternoster here!

Paint wise, yes, I am back where I was before with my finer brush. To me, the choice of which detail to skip over was too hurtful, so here we have the full illustrated image!

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The Berg River Estuary at Velddrif

Does this wading stilt know what is real and what is an illusion as he hunts for small frogs, insect larvae, molluscs and shellfish? The river flows restlessly behind his island, but there is hardly a ripple in the soft blue mirror in front. Around him, inter-tidal mudflats and salt marshes, some parts murky and others shining like metal! "Stilt" is surely the best name for Himantopus himantopus, or as he is called in Afrikaans: "Rooipoot-elsie". Using his long stilt-like legs he can wade in different depths of water up to his so-called knees and never needs to swim. In flight these long legs extend well beyond the tail.

There is a wonderful atmospheric bird hide on the Berg River estuary at Velddrif and more than 200 species can be viewed here. Besides the black-winged stilts there are amazing spoonbills, pelicans, flamingos, moorhens, Caspian terns and kingfisher. I always visit places on midday, thus I only saw flamingos in the distance resting under the bridge. A week later Liz photographed swarms of them at sunrise, so visit her site to see more of our lovely river!

Something I love but do not understand is how migrating birds, dolphins, etc can do synchronized movements. Music in their heads, maybe? In my photo two egrets, Tweedledum and Tweedledee feed close to the bird hide!

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Bokkoms at Velddrif (and Marie's blog first anniversary)

The schools of fish near Velddrif have attracted people for ages! Some fish traps and shell middens dating back hundreds of years, having belonged to Khoi-Khoin (early indigenous inhabitants) are protected historical beacons. The quaint little lane next to the Berg River which is aptly named "Bokkom Lane" is considered an informal national monument. Here, in a never-changing cycle, schools of harders are offloaded from rickety boats onto rickety jetties. First, the fish lands into deep salt troughs, then, still wet and glistening they are bunched and hung out to dry. The moment they are salted and stringed onto rafters they are no longer referred to as harders or mullet, but become bokkoms.

In my painting and in the photographs you can see the first steps in the process. Bokkoms are hung out to dry. They are very beautiful and this subject is a favourite among West Coast artists. My next post I will show them dried to a golden colour. I will then explain the second part of the process and explain how to eat this local delicacy.

I mentioned in the title that this is my blog's first anniversary. When I took those bold steps, I did not know that I would make many friends, sell lots of paintings and really get hooked! I did not add my flag counter before June last year, but what fun it provides! So now I know that I had 8664 hits and 71 countries visited my blog and that my highest number of visitors in a day was 122. (Sport and celebrity blogs cannot compete here, please!) And in true Oscar style I want to thank my 1747 unique South African visitors, 792 very kind Americans, 99 Australians (who ARE you, I want to meet you too???), an equal number of UK people and 77 Canadians. The biggest surprise was the interest in my blog that was shown by travel websites.

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Saldanha Bay - Early Morning Rhapsody in Blue

A nick-name for the West Coast is "the cannery coast", for here bedazzling amounts of fish are harvested from hundreds of fishing vessels. The great reserves of plankton-rich water attracts shellfish, harders and maasbankers, the so-called pelagic fish. Soon after the Dutch created their outpost for supplies in the Cape, the large number of seals and seagulls were a sure sign that fish were plentiful here. In later centuries a little coastal road developed which is today the well-known R27. Even today the local economy depends much on fishing the waters around Saldanha and its six islands.

I caught these two boats "dozing" in the bright morning mist in the harbour of Saldanha. The blue colours on many of these vessels are extremely attractive. I noticed in a private part of the harbour that the massive I&J fishing fleet has a uniform royal blue for their boats, but cannot tell for sure why so many others are painted blue. I only know that I hope to paint many more of them!

To paint the ripples on the water I under painted in white, covered with sea-green and then "lifted" the white bits. My art friends will also notice that I have once again defied the rules of composition! In the previous post all the people walk OUT of the picture and here I balance the heavy mass of two boats with nothing but the bright water and a strong thin border of distant land.

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Buoy! Oh Buoy!

Saldanha lies on the West Coast Peninsula on what is claimed to be the largest natural bay in Africa. The steelworks, the fishing industry and water sport enthusiasts benefit from this natural deep harbour. Saldanha, of course played a prominent role in history.

During the rule of Napoleon the English feared that the French would befriend the Dutch, and get hold of Table Bay and then own the rich route to the East. Therefore the British Army anchored here at Saldanha and soldiers were dispatched overland to take the Cape. There was a lot of hardship for the British soldiers who had to walk through the thick fynbos wearing down their shoes. Still, the burghers and farmers under Genl Janssens were not fighters and in 1806 England won the Battle of Blouberg and became rulers of the Cape once more! (They had annexed it before, then gave it back to the Dutch)

Every corner of this bay is beautiful and a worthy subject for a painting. Here I have found a colourful bunch of ropes and buoys belonging to a fishing vessel. With the sun shining, it makes a perfect "marine still life"!

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Quayside Vignette

Saldanha Bay is beautiful, it floods the senses! Hundreds of fishing vessels and sailing yachts vied for my attention, but I decided not to overlook the small things! For this composition I experimented quite a bit. I chose a large bollard, miles of rope and one of the ever-present seagulls to paint. The canvas is square and was primed with Napels Yellow. Where I usually fall into illustration mode, this time I ignored the intricate ropes and decided not to "count coils" and paint every little detail! And lastly, I have made generous use of black acrylic paint, which I not normally use.

I am often surprised that so few people in our area make time to visit Saldanha Bay. When I asked around, I received an answer: "Saldanha is much too industrial with all those factories"! Now, nobody will blame the reader if he starts thinking Birmingham or Detroit! But in truth there is a small steelworks and a fish processing factory, both very picturesque. As the seagull and I glance over the shimmering bay towards the misty steelworks on the horison, we both think: Now, that is not bad at all, is it?

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Seven Books about the West Coast

Here are some books that will give you more info, photos and history of the West Coast.

1. West Coast, Cederberg to the Sea by Karina du Plessis and Vanessa Cowling. This is a coffee table book that takes a long loving book at the West Coast, its scenery, people and food.

2. West Coast Cookbook edited by Ina Paarman. Learn about the food traditions and the appreciation of the sea in the lives of the West Coast people.

3. A West Coast Odyssey. This is a fairly recent book already considered as Africana (valuable books dealing with the history of the African continent).

4. Islands by Dan Sleigh. A very thick small-print historic novel giving the background of the various posts for provisions and the relations between the colonists and the San. There are many historic events featuring the West Coast and I am personally upset that the book has no index in the back as there are many bits one would like to research.

5. Wildflower Guide#7 West Coast by The Botanical Society of South Africa: . Endlessly helpful field guide, the book the people living here cannot go without!

6. The Cape Herders, A History of the Khoikoi in South Africa. I found it recently in an Africana section of a bookstore and will be studying it soon.

7. Sasol Proteas, A Field Guide to the Proteas of Southern Africa by Tony Rebelo. I was fortunate in participating in one of Tony Rebelo's field courses.

Sunshine Blog Award: Now for something different: I have been awarded a Sunshine Award for "Creativity and Positivity in Blogging" by Julie Davis, an artist with a very distinct and pleasant landscape style. Our team of art bloggers are very brave: there are millions of bloggers but we spend our waking moments planning, painting, posting and networking and yes, it has its rewards.

If one accepts the reward it must be passed on to 12 others. One must also let them know that they are nominated. (I am sort of hoping they find themselves here!) Everything must be linked to everything....now watch me wishing I had a different computer screen open at each of my nominees!!!!

Here is my list of constant and positive bloggers who inspire and give joy to others. Please follow their links so you can meet my friends.

1. Nancy Medina: The most joyous painter on the Internet! Nancy paints and blogs up a storm. Her pug family gives the blog a very precious and personal added interest!

2. Linda Blondheim: Here is an established, much respected and serious artist who still makes time to inspire and share useful hints as well as dole out honest criticism if need be! I would not like to miss one of her informative articles!

3. Kelley McDonald: A fun and original artist who has always something going. She looks at everyday objects and will paint comfort food, party shoes and nostalgic objects with great vigour!4. Catherine Jeffrey: An accomplished artist who can tackle difficult subjects and all the images that I shy away from: vehicles, electric lamp light, streets wet with water. ....I keenly follow her posts.

5. Angela Shogrun: We all know the rules of watercolour: more than three layers of paint equals "mud". That is before you have watched Angela producing layer upon layer and of pure transparent glittering colour!

6. Maree Clarkson: It may be "slight of hand" but Maree has more hours in the day than normal people. She paints and blogs daily, making us familiar with the Magaliesberg region, with birds and plants all splendidly researched, besides running other blogs and groups!

7. Gwen Bell: The smile and the subjects does it, Gwen's cheerful style shines through!

I always appreciate the fact that Gwen sends a personal message by e-mail to thank me for a comment.

8. Carol Schiff: Delicious creamy textures which everyone comments about! Carol can make brushwork look flowing and effortless! OK, Carol, you are excused!! Carol has already received this award more than once. I must agree that passing it on IS a lot of work!

9. Manon Doyle: How does Manon get 50 comments at a time? Wouldn't we all love to know! Her colourful Expressionism and strong line and colourwork gives joy and has many followers always looking forward to more! Those faces are unforgettable!

10. Liz Pearson: A fellow Capetonian although we have never met. Liz has always a surprize on her blog and paints Table Mountain, portraits and pet portraits will equal ease.

11. Kathi Peters: I found Kathi on Facebook and may have followed her even before I had my own blog. Here you can truly relish daily life on a Maine farm, surrounded by horses, and of course, paintings of horses!

12. Kathy Karas: A decorative artist who paints what only can be termed "very valuable heirlooms". Go there and enjoy her heavenly adorable bears lovingly painted onto old furniture!

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Alone with the Mountain

I was so pleased that everyone loved Aurora! Many people fell in love with the town through my blog! It is romantic in a special way as each house has a solitary aura about it. Look at this cheeky cottage with the turquoise veranda: It looks as if it stands there alone with the mountain behind it, although it is on a street in town! There is a West Coast chimney on the outside which means there will be a cosy inglenook for cooking inside the kitchen!

Here is tiny Aurora's role in history: In 1751 the Abby de la Caille arrived from France to measure the earth's meridian. He did his triangular measurement from a barn near Aurora using Strand Street in Cape Town and the mountains of Riebeek West as his other points of reference. Ooopsy, despite his accuracy the earth was found to be mmm....slightly oval! Two centuries later it was found that the mistake could be blamed on the magnetic pull of the the nearby mountains.

Now I can also feel that magnetic pull! For the next painting you will find me taking the 3 -looped pass to visit the top of Piketberg Mountain!

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Aurora in the Swartland

So here I am, having driven around to the Western side of the Piketberg to see the tiny hamlet of Aurora with its under 700 inhabitants and its reputation of zero crime, zero police presence! I first heard about Aurora when it was claimed that city people buy places here to have a proper rest, write a book or recuperate in the cleanest air in the country. I will visit again to find the single shop, lunch at the single (very promising) restaurant and the one and only coffee house. And to look up the toy maker, and find some historic markers, and most of all hopefully find somebody with stories to share about the place!

Driving up and down at 12 noon, I hear no sounds but the natural whisper of a mountain breeze. There are no traffic sounds and as things seem, hardly ever lawn mower sounds to be heard either, because in a few gardens two or three sheep are keeping the grass short! After a while a lady comes out on her veranda, hands on the hips, no doubt wondering: "Now who is this "agie" (a curious person) driving up and down here"?

For my painting I chose a village home with a very distinct farmhouse aura. In the photos are some more peaceful scenes in Aurora.....I will go back one day!

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About Aloes on the West Coast

Here on the rocky parts of the beach the aloes are in full bloom during January and February. Aloes just love growing against rocky slopes anywhere in the Cape, which makes it one of South Africa's most valuable plants to keep steep mountain glades in place. This morning I noticed that the little protea bush known as "skollie" with its grey-green leaves grows tightly in between these aloes. In this precious Cape floral kingdom there is always some amazing display!

The aloe family has a lot of uses as enterprising folks prepare health drinks and creams and lotions and ointments, which are then beautifully packaged and sold in markets. Of course we also know the South American aloe called "agave" from which tequila is made. Our farmers cut the thick leaves in times of drought, remove the thorns and feed it to their cattle.

My painting is of the aloe mitriformis. They grow wild but I have some in the garden as well as six or so others. The photo shows some of my own aloes. Starting in the top, left to right:

1. I call the first one Old Lonely. It has no sideshoots yet. I know in a few seasons there will be yellow florets which are loved by birds.



2. Next is Bonny, a stripey one who has eleven babies all around her. This will make a formidable fence one day.



3. I call the next one Buster, very strong, but no sight of little ones yet.



4. The last photo shows a row of colourful aloes which add a lot of colour to my garden. They look very smug and undamaged after I toppled into them last week when I wanted to investigate a plant behind them. My husband had to help me out and wash my 30 or so scratches and little wounds. I think it is because of these aloes that I am nowadays greeted goodbye with the words: "Now don't do anything funny in the garden today!"

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"Tweede Nuwejaar" - the Second New Year

It is a tradition as old as the country itself. "Tweede Nuwejaar" ( the second of January) has been a day of festivities since the seventeenth century as the local people turn out for day-long excitement. Like "Boxing Day" which was meant for all the staff to have a day off, this day is celebrated especially in the Cape where it originated. (I have a sneaky feeling that hard-working Johannesburg ignores the custom.)

The main event in the city is the costumed parade of "Kaapse Klopse" (Cape Minstrels) through the streets of the city, followed by the singing contests in the Greenpoint Stadium.The male choirs are dressed in their finest regalia. A little boy can be chosen for a superb soprano voice, or his dancing, comedy or acrobatic ability, or even as a cute mascot dressed like the adults. You can read more on Cape Town Minstrel Carnival.

On the beaches of the West Coast the people also turn out early for their traditional annual picnic. In my usually tranquil and open view of Kabeljoubank, large buses and many vehicles disgorge the people and soon we see a long procession snaking along the kilometer of beach walk. The beach is soon covered with tents, umbrellas and all types of shelters.

I watch discreetly while these folks have such a lovely time, my fingers crossed that there would not be a runaway fire. In my painting I tried to show the carefree walk down the pathway. Can you see the boy who has jumped onto a rock to see if his folks are following, while his little sister also glances backwards? Two teenage boys are carrying a heavy bag of foodstuffs. The guy in plaid shirt with an enormous bag of (forbidden) firewood (fire regulations) wears his cap back-to-front, a way of indicating his leadership. In the distance a white beach and a blue ocean calls!

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Piketberg - A Mountain and a Church

I can only present you with a preparatory sketch today! This type of sketch is what usually lies underneath my proper painting.

Like many small towns here and everywhere else, Piketberg started with a church building. Towering above everything else is this very impressive Dutch Reformed Church with splendid gardens all around and the mountain behind. It is already two centuries old and was designed and built in Neo-Gothic style by Carl Otto Hagen and has now been declared a National Monument. I took so many photos of the building and gardens and will send some of them to the Piketberg website. (I will leave the link in a comment below when I have done it.)

The days are getting busy here...I have almost finished the painting of a West Coast plant that I will post on Christmas day, but for the rest everything is suspended and my personal paints and brushes will be packed away as I "renting" out my studio to my 5-year-old twin granddaughters for their crafting and painting in exchange for lots of hugs!

Before leaving my blog, you might also like to read the 10 Questions I answered for Portfolio Collections, a wonderful domain who had won the South African Blog of the Year Award 2009. Click on my portrait in the right-hand column.

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Arriving in Piketberg

What more could a town ask for? Piketberg lies against a wonderful mountain and its streets are lined with enormous jakaranda and other types of trees! The mountain harbours two more towns on its opposite side, but long ago the Gonjemans tribe lived here, and many examples of San art can be found in the caves. Khoikhoi herdsmen also knew the place intimately and would hide russled cattle in the caves and valleys. It was decided in the 1670's to create a small military outpost known as a piquet (French) or picket (English), from there the Afrikaans name Piketberg.

A cannon placed on the mountain was used to warn surrounding farmers of trouble in the vicinity, or of ships arriving in Table Bay harbour to buy their products. It boomed happily when Queen Victoria had a birthday, and even more so when a telephone line was completed that linked the town with Cape Town. The cannon is filled up with concrete now, and kept in the schoolgrounds. You can just see the lovely old school at the end of the street.

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