China rose #367

Daily painting #367. 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

Something you may not know about me is that when my children were born I gave up full time teaching for a long time. Not being one to sit around and do nothing, my Mum and I started up a business called Shedlock House Interiors from some beautiful old out buildings from our home in Kloof (a suburb inland from Durban centre). We moved from that house almost 9 years ago but running Shedlock House Interiors with my mum was so much fun. We would trawl the antique markets and auction houses in search of treasures. We would buy up bits and pieces and old furniture which we would recover and restore with a shabby chick vintage look. Last week my mum found a box with a pile of old, beautiful plates. It must have been part if an auction lot we purchased way back then. Well I was delighted to rescue them from the dust and I now have some more interesting little treasure cluttering my studio which no doubt will find their way into my little paintings....

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Just another day #366

Daily painting #366. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas SOLD

The question everyone was asking me yesterday was ... "So what now?" Well, what else would I do other than paint....so today was just another day. Only I didn't stay in my studio I found my familiar and comforting little spot on my upstairs veranda overlooking the sea. We have had some much needed rain lately and so the sky has been heavy with clouds.

Thanks to everyone for the messages yesterday....it felt awesome to load daily painting #365 onto the Paintings in the post website....I hope you are visiting again today and will continue to visit regularly. I always struggle when uploading images of the sky because as you crop the image, it abstracts the image slightly because you are viewing it so close up....and quite frankly with the images of the sky, the image gets lost to a degree. So I have loaded another image taken of the painting to show you the difference (particularly with the sky paintings) when viewed from a regular distance and I have placed a pencil next to it to give you a true idea of the size....

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Sunny side up #365!!!!!!!

Daily painting #365!!!! (Yippee!) 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel 

365 DAYS OF LITTLE DAILY PAINTINGS .....what an awesome journey!

So how does one decide what to paint for your 365th painting ....a milestone worthy of celebration! Well that particular decision has been on my mind all week, until I suddenly realized at one of those 3am moments that I had to be true to myself and my year long journey. I NEVER know what I am going to paint and have never allowed what I am going to paint be an issue. My journey has simply been the recording of my everyday, banal existence in a hectic, busy life where I have tried hard to slow down and 'smell the roses' (there have been many roses!). My recordings have been of the ordinary, the seemingly unimportant which for some reason has caught my attention! And so I decided to not try too hard.... To keep it simple and record something ordinary from yet another simple day in my everyday life. The simple day which will forever be etched in my memory as the day I painted ordinary little eggs (breakfast) as the 365th painting in a year of daily painting! What an amazing journey of reflection and (most importantly) painting! Thank you to all of you who have joined me along the way .....I have made special friends (I bare my soul to you!) ....and I hope you will continue to follow along and share my journey with your friends! Tell others about Paintings in the post.....in the hopes that I can inspire a few people out there in some way or another. There are so many daily painters and what I have done is not new or novel, I just never thought I could do it! I encourage all of you to find the courage to do something you didn't think possible ...and hang in there(even when the going gets tough)....anything is possible if you start with the decision to try! 

 With all my love and thanks  x Heidi 

I will be celebrating 365 days of daily painting with an exhibition at Gallery 415 (above Spectrum Art in Umgeni Road). The opening will be on Thursday 30th October and no invitation is needed....all are welcome to join me. I would love to meet you if you have been following Paintings in the post. The exhibition will be open for 2 weeks. On Saturday 1st Nov I will be at the gallery giving a talk on my daily painting journey and experiences. On Saturday 8th Nov I will at the gallery painting a daily painting on site for anyone who would like to see. I hope to meet you there, both old and new friends alike!

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Studio proteas #364

 Daily painting #364. 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

1 DAY TO GO!!!!! I can't believe it....I feel like I need to pinch myself!

I remember so clearly loading daily painting 100, it was at the beginning of January. It felt so good to be typing in a triple digit and 100 seemed like such a huge milestone! Tomorrow marks 365 days of little daily paintings .....and I sit back in my studio looking at all the little paintings feeling quite nostalgic and quite frankly in awe! We never know what we are capable of until we try. Some days have been easier than others ....and some little paintings have worked better than others (working on such a small format is NOT easy) ....there have been a few little gems and lots of (excuse the language) absolute bugger-ups! There have been times when I have had to substitute my trusty oils with watercolors and inks (which I am not as confident with) because traveling with wet paintings was not possible. There have been challenges and days when I thought I would just simply give up! But I didn't and it has become such an important part of my being that I am not sure I could survive without my meditative ritual.  Most importantly I have enjoyed the journey, grown, learnt so much about myself and best of all, regardless....I have painted...everyday! 

These 2 proteas have been keeping me company at my desk in my studio this week while I try to sort, document and organize ALMOST 365 daily paintings!

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Bot Gardens #363

Daily painting #363. 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

ONLY 2 MORE LITTLE DAILY PAINTINGS TO REACH 365....I can't believe it!

Yesterday I painted at the Botanical Gardens and took some of the ladies who paint in my studio with me as many of them have never painted plein air and working quickly to capture is a good experience. I mainly wanted them to experience the joy of being outdoors to paint or draw ....it is a soulful experience! I have to admit though to finding a far off hidden, shady spot near the gardens workshop area as the gardens seemed to be teeming with tourists snapping their cameras and talking animatedly to one another in foreign tongues! I didn't feel like having people peering over my shoulder....so hid in a secluded little spot! 

The morning was great fun. This is about an hours worth of painting...I wanted to head off into the gardens to find some of the ladies and see how their little paintings or drawings were progressing! We ended the morning off with some tea and a few laughs .....a great way to start the weekend! Thanks to all of  the ladies who braved a new experience....hope you enjoyed it! 

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Visitors and roses #362

Daily painting #362. 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel

I had the most special visitor this week and she arrived with a bunch of yellow roses to wish me 'Happy 40th birthday"! When I lived in London almost 17 years ago, Mrs Peck was my landlady. She owned the house I stayed in, in Malbrook Road, Putney. She became like my 'English mother' for the time I spent over there and although we initially stayed in touch, we had sadly lost contact over the years. I was determined to try to track her down when I returned to London in July....I was not even sure she still lived in London! It's a really long story which I won't bore you with but I managed to find her and imagine her surprise when she arrived home from church one Sunday morning to find me on her doorstep! It was so special to reunite with her...she is almost 80 years old and yet looks just the same as I remember her! She is in South Africa visiting friends at the moment and popped in for some tea and a visit. I can't believe that I have seen her twice in 1 year after not seeing her for almost 17 years! It was wonderful to see photos of her grandchildren and her daughters, Belinda and Georgina, who I have such fond memories of. I hope to see her again sometime, which means another trip to London.....wishful thinking on our current exchange rate but one can always hope....(hint hint to my darling husband)

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Moth - an offering #361

Daily painting #361 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

I know that some of you get uncomfortable when I paint strange (not so 'pretty') things like moths and medication ....and I will admit to having a giggle when I read and hear some of the comments. But this little moth was an offering left behind by my cat! It's wings were damaged and I don't really want to give much thought to his ending because that makes me feel uncomfortable! But by nature cats are predators, like it or not, and the fact that my little black and white cat (ironically named Noo-Noo) chose to leave his little catch in my new studio is a break through! I have often painted Noo-Noo and called him my studio companion, but my studio companion has deserted me since I moved into my new studio space. He clearly doesn't like it! He sits defiantly at the door gazing at me disdainfully through half closed eyes. My appeals to come in are met with a slight tilt of the head in the opposite direction....the kind of defiance that from my children would result in a scolding! His little routine and his daily habits have been disturbed but I am hoping to win him over....I miss my little furry friend in my studio! Hopefully his little offering left behind at my easel is his way of saying 'hey this space isn't so bad' and hopefully he will be back again soon!

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(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings and for all purchase details)