Protea in a glass jar #380

Daily painting #380. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

This protea is sitting in a glass jar on my studio desk. I have been staring at it all day while I caught up on piles of admin at the computer.....I would rather have been painting! 

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Golden delicious #379

Daily painting #379. 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel 

Golden delicious is a type of soft, sweet, juicy apple. My children prefer the slightly more tart and crunchy apples like the Granny Smith and so these, I have noticed, are being neglected in the fruit bowl! So I guess they won't be added to the school lunch boxes tomorrow. 

It's the start of our 4th and final school term for the year here in South Africa. It's going to be a short but busy one and always a tiring one as the heat of summer starts to drain the energy levels! We get off to a busy start with my Paintings in the post exhibition in just 2 weeks (yikes!!!!) and I have SO much planning to do as I will be teaching Visual Art part time in 2015 at one of our local private girls schools, Our Lady of Fatima. I will still teach a few painting classes from my studio at home but it will be great to get back into a classroom again for short periods and hopefully inspire some budding new art enthusiasts! I have a bucket load to do before the start of the next holidays....it's going to be crazy, busy and hopefully loads of fun....the final stretch of 2014 is ahead! 

2014 seems to be whizzing by....

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Dragonfly #378

Daily painting #378. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

The dragonflies are buzzing around the swimming pool....tormenting the dogs and entertaining the cats who watch closely from the safety of the veranda! Summer is on its way ....and soon it will be time to join the dragonflies around the pool! We had our first big electrical storm last night....the heat is coming....

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Strawberries and patterns #377

Daily painting #377 4"x6" mixed media and oil on primed panel

This little painting is tiny, it is 4"x6" and again with these little sizes, cropping the small paintings is not an ideal way to photograph the little painting as they are viewed too close! I love pattern and fabric and often work with fabric in my larger paintings so I have decided to start incorporating the use of fabric and patterned collages onto a few of my little daily paintings. The surface is then primed so that I can use my oil paints over it. The initial collage and priming has to be completed before hand as the surface needs to dry....but the oil painting is completed in one sitting as my daily painting! So I hope you are going to enjoy seeing a bit more pattern creeping into my work every now and again....

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Protea #376

Daily painting #376 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel 

These deep red proteas were on special today at the Everfresh market. I bought 3 single stems...one for my studio...one for my kitchen...and one for my veranda table! 

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Army ant #375

Daily painting #375. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

Yesterday we went 'road tripping' up into the KwaZulu Natal midlands. Although still very dry at the moment, it really is beautiful! We stopped at a little local pizza shed for lunch. It has an outdoor pizza oven and outdoor wooden benches where you sit and eat. The open plan kitchen is under an open shed-like structure. The pizzas are served on large wooden chopping boards and the whole setting is very quaint and rustic. We had some extra lunch guests.....bees (to my daughters horror) from the local hives and some rather large army ants which were waiting patiently to carry off the very last remnants of our delicious pizza!

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Jelly beans #374

Daily painting #374. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel 

Jelly beans....found at the bottom of my son's bag while I was unpacking the piles of dirty laundry he came home from the cricket festival with! I think a fun time was had by all! I can't say I am having fun tackling the dirty, sweaty, smelly clothes and kit bags that have come home....but it is WONDERFUL to have him home again!

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