Masked Weaver #438

Daily painting #438 pen, ink and watercolor postcard for the post card art group.

After 2 long days in the car, we decided to spend a restful day at home today. Home being our temporary abode, a rustic thatched house right on the border of the Kruger National Park overlooking the reserve and the Crocodile River. An abundance of wildlife wonders freely around like a huge assortment of buck, wildebeest, giraffe warthog, zebra etc. About the only things you won't find in our back garden are the more dangerous cats, elephant, hippo and rhino. Although all that separates us from Kruger is a fence so one always has to be cautious, on your guard and particularly careful at night. A fence will certainly not keep leopard out! We filled the bird feeders in the garden (you know how much I love birds!!!) and spent most of the cooler morning watching and waiting. The bird life here is fantastic but today I decided to share a little masked weaver with you. They are quite common and we do get them at home but I love the mating males dramatic colour! You will be forgiven for wondering why he appears to have a large green foot...well lets just say I had to create some impromptu foliage when I opened my ink pen and it splattered over my completed painting!!!! Grrrr...but such is daily painting, anything can happen and I wasn't going to start again!

As I painted I watched a hippo lumbering out of the water in the Crocodile River, a rather large lizard sunning himself rather close for comfort (reptiles are my least favorite) and some zebra were grazing the grass really close to the house....my studio couldn't get much better than that!

In my studio....

The heat of the day ended with a magnificent African thunder storm which seemed to roll in over the bush veld. We watched the lightening and heard the thunder and felt the gentle breeze which started to rustle every tree as the storm crept closer over the very dry Crocodile River...
You can see an image I loaded on Instagram by clicking here.

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

Leopard tortoise #437

Daily painting #437 pen, ink and watercolor postcard for the postcard art group

What an amazing day! We were so spoilt! By 9.30am we had spotted the African Big 5...elephant, rhino, leopard, buffalo and lion! They were good sightings within meters of our vehicle! 

The herd of elephant were a huge herd and the matriarch was not so happy we had stumbled upon them. She kept a wary eye on us until her whole herd had moved off and my husband kept the vehicle in reverse and at a safe distance in case she decided to charge! Little babies only a few days old were tucked under their mummies tummies. In all my visits to the bush I don't think I have ever seen such young baby elephant and I thank the matriarch for being so protective. I have such huge respect for these amazing animals and their sense of family is something many could learn from! 

We tracked 3 huge rhino from the bushes down to the river in the mid day heat. In all we had 6 rhino sightings in different places which is good news considering we were told only 2 days ago a new born rhino had to be airlifted by game rangers from her mother who was found dead with her horn missing, such news infuriates me beyond measure! I wish I could share all the beautiful photos I took with you...I wish I share not only the beauty of the bush but the smells and the sounds and the incredible sense of peace one feels when you are sitting quietly just taking it all in...if only I could share it all!

But today I share a little leopard turtle which will be posted off to the postcard art group. The little leopard turtle is part of what we in South Africa call the Little Five game. The little five were so called by conservationists for visitors to also acknowledge the smaller - less noticed - but still enigmatic animals of the bush veld in South Africa, rather than always focussing on the Big Five. Each 'little' species is a contradiction in sheer size to the big five animals, but the first part of its English name relates to one of the famous bigger five animals. The little five game are Elephant Shrew (small insect eating mammal with a long nose), Buffalo Weaver (a bird probably the easiest to find), Leopard Tortoise (an endangered species), Lionant or Ant lion (a large species of ant) and the Rhino beetle (so called because of the horn like structure on its head). We were lucky enough to spot Buffalo Weavers and a Leopard turtle on the side of the road yesterday...but the others would be impossible to find from the safety of a vehicle, one would have to be on foot with a game ranger.

We returned to make a fire and cook supper outdoors (for those of you familiar with my blog you will know what joy this gave my husband!) and to enjoy the last of what Africa had to treat us with...a beautiful sunset over the bush! For all the trouble, violence and bad publicity South Africa often receives...tonight I feel privileged! I feel a huge sense of gratitude that my family and I are able to experience this and tonight I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else in the world! My heart is in Africa!

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

Dung beetle #436

Daily painting #436 pen, ink and watercolor (for postcard art group)

We have arrived safely at this little piece of heaven on earth! We have spent a large portion of our day in the car today and so finding time to paint was a bit difficult! We have recently had postal strikes in South Africa and this has affected both outgoing and incoming mail. I belong to a postcard art group where we regularly share hand rendered (in any medium) postcard size pieces of art. It is an international group and I am the only South African. This week piles of postcards started arriving much to my delight...they have obviously been held up during the strike. I now have a long list of people who I need to reciprocate to and so I decided to pack my watercolor, pen and ink materials this week in the hopes that I could make some little postcards to send off to the postcard art group. Because I will be spending this week in the bush, a few typically quirky South African images might be fun to send off...
On our arrival this afternoon we backed some celebratory refreshments and went off to have sundowners at the fence bordering the Crocodile River. We saw water buck, hippos, buffalo and 2 large elephant cooling themselves off in the river in the late afternoon heat. My son Ross suddenly shrieked with delight and we all sat upright looking for the source of such excitement thinking he had spotted lion or even better, leopard...but we soon realized he had his face towards the ground and he was following something moving with amazing speed along the ground. He had found to his delight a very large dung beetle rolling along the ground with a neat ball of dung(animal poo). Dung beetles are hugely important for the eco system and are amazing little creatures, they can roll giant balls of elephant dung up to 50 times heavier than themselves.
Tomorrow we are heading off at sunrise into the bush...hope we see some interesting sights. On our top lookout list this holiday is cheetah, wild dog and jackal. There are also lots of babies around with spring just past!
I promise to keep you updated. We have no wifi and my data connection is weak, slow(for loading images) and at times non existent...but I will continue to paint daily (I did pack my oils paints too) and I will have to hold thumbs when it comes to sharing online....

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

Planning day #435

Daily painting #435. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

An early start with the daily painting today. I had to finish off the commissioned paintings of a family farm for a client and have then spent the rest of the day organizing, planning and packing for our trip to the Kruger National park. We are leaving tomorrow morning, Monday, at 4am to get on the road early and make a good start. We will hopefully reach the Swaziland border post early. The trip is about a 9 hour journey by car and we travel through Swaziland, an independent land locked country inside the borders of South Africa. Having to exit South Africa to enter Swaziland and back out to South Africa again is time consuming and while the border posts on the South African side are not too bad, the Swaziland border post is a 3rd world African experience! The roads are also pot-holed and you can share the road with a number of means of transport like tractors and donkeys and even the cattle being herded off to goodness knows where! So we plan to get on the road early and hopefully miss some of the craziness. I can't wait to get to the bush...I love the smells, the sounds and the natural beauty....it's like soul food to fill the soul tank!

I will try to share some pictures via Instagram so you can follow me at www.instagram.com/heidishedlock

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

Farm study 2 #434

Daily painting #434 oil on primed canvas panel NFS

The second little study for the commissioned paintings I am working on this weekend. Then it's time to pack my painting things up, throw a few clothes into a bag and sort out some food....we are off early on Monday morning to the Kruger National Park, South Africa's largest game reserve for a weeks holiday! Be sure to follow me on Instagram (heidishedlock) to see a few of our holiday pics! Heading off to the bush is right up there with one of my favourite things to do! 

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

The farm #433

Daily painting #433 oil on primed canvas panel NFS

I am going to be working this weekend on some larger paintings of a family farm for a client. I prefer to paint from life and where possible if I paint from photographs I like them to be photos I have taken myself but of cause this not always possible and in this case I have to work from the photographs that have been given to me. So a little planning sketch today just to get myself familiar with the images and the land....in preparation for a weekend of painting! This little 'planning painting' was so helpful. I can already see where I need to improve and what I need to change. It is especially important to do drawings and planning sketches especially when you are not familiar with your subject!

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)

Breakfast and a spoon #432

Daily painting #432. 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

My last painting class for the year today....and tomorrow my daughter finishes Grade 5 and my husband goes on leave from work....the holidays have arrived!

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)