A little East Coast sunshine #609

Daily painting #609 4"x4" oil on primed canvas panel 

An early morning start this morning with this little 4"x4" record of a beautiful East Coast morning! Spring is in full swing and Summer is definitely on the way. It is getting light early and the mornings are golden and warm. What a soulful way to start a Monday! Have a good one .....

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

Friday protea #608

Daily painting #608 6" x8" oil on primed canvas panel

For those of you who may be new to Paintings in the post and not necessarily from South Africa, I live  in a coastal city called Durban on the East Coast of South Africa. Durban has just been named as the host city for the Common Wealth games in 7 years time which is very exciting and this will hopefully bring many people to experience our beautiful city! The protea is our South African national flower and there are thousands of different varieties of this beautiful flower. I never tire of painting them.....as many of you already know!  

So a little protea for a rather unusually chilly, gloomy day here in Durban...hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

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

Strawberries and cream #607

Daily painting #607 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel 

On the weekend it was my Mum's birthday and I made a delicious strawberries and cream cake to celebrate. I used store bought strawberries to decorate the cake and came across this strawberry with an unusually long stem, not often found in a container of store bought fruit. I put it aside to paint...of course....as one would do! I had to rescue it a couple of times from the thieving fingers of children who believe strawberries are to eat rather than paint! As fast as the strawberries were going onto the cake, they were also disappearing into the mouths of my children (definitely not me) so thank goodness I bought way more than I thought I would need!

The cake was made with a simple Victoria sponge recipe from Mary Berry's 'Baking Bible'. I then layered it with fresh whipped cream and strawberries....yum! I placed a very thin layer of strawberry jam (preserve) to seal the cake so that the cream and strawberries did not make the cake soggy.

Victoria Sponge cake

• 225g softened butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self-raising flour
• 4 large eggs
• 2 level tsp baking powder

Pre-heat oven to 180C/Fan 160C. Grease 2 sandwich tins and line base with baking parchment.

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat until thoroughly blended. Divide equally between the 2 tins and level mixture out.

Bake for about 25 minutes then cool in the tins for a few minutes on a wire rack then turn out, remove baking parchment and cool completely before layering with strawberries and cream.

I use this simple sponge cake for a variety of different things so thought I would share it with you....and you can get creative! I would love to hear your ideas for glamming up the simple sponge cake!

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art

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

Spring #606

Daily painting #606 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

"A pinch and a punch, it's the first of the month...." And just like that Spring has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, although if truth be told we have hardly had a winter here in Durban. I am hoping that with Spring will come some much needed rain. We are experiencing a record drought at the moment and many areas are under strict daily water restrictions. 

I too have had a bit of a 'daily painting' drought! I have been sick and then my children took it in turns to fall ill. I have a load of painting commissions that I am busy working my way through too so I have not dedicated any time to daily painting for just over a week. I miss it so much and it is quite possibly one of my favourite things to do. I love the rush of completing something in one sitting and the roller coaster ride of 'this won't work...maybe it can...it's not too bad...I've messed up...okay back on track...is it finished...' And all the other immediate emotions that go with pushing through completing something in one go! So I am back on track again...we are all restored to good health and my daily painting box is back in its rightful spot in my studio! This makes me happy...a good way to start Spring!

Happy Spring Southern Hemisphere friends!

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

Kitchen protea #605

Daily painting #605 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

A share from my kitchen today....and for a change it is not food! 

A little bit of pretty from my house to yours...have a beautiful day!

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

Monday's berries #604

Daily painting #604 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

It's been a busy weekend with away cricket matches in Hilton (about an hour inland from Durban) and what felt like a million teenagers in the house all weekend working on school assignments and partying a bit on Saturday night. You know you are getting old when you don't recognize any of the music they play and half of it sounds like noise! Oh my! So I have spent more time in my kitchen than my studio this weekend, cooking up a storm. I sound like I am moaning but actually I loved it....and I love having a full, busy house...and I love seeing people (and kids) enjoying the food I make! Preparing and giving delicious food is definitely one of my love languages...it's my way of saying "I love you...I love having you in my house"...ok my husband thinks I am crazy...but hopefully some of you know what I mean!

So Monday morning feels very quiet with everyone back at school and finally making it into my studio feels like heaven! Breakfast was a simple bowl of chopped strawberries, Greek yoghurt and a handful of chopped almonds.....NO cooking required! Yum!

I did get to have some 'camera time' in Hilton while we sat watching cricket. I got to explore with a new lens I have just purchased. It means I get to sneak up on my children and take really close up photos from far away. I love taking photos of them when they don't know I am doing it! Sneaky Mom! I can't wait to play with my new lens some more, I think I NEED a trip to the bush (wishful thinking).

My son Ross 

Ross had just gone out...very grumpy with himself and definitely not a time he wants Mom pointing her camera at him...but today he didn't know!

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

Too many apples #603

Daily painting #603 NFS

Last week in painting class I used one of Carol Marine's painting exercises to force all the ladies out of their comfort zone (instill fear!!) and force them to re-evaluate how they approach their painting. I insisted on them using a limited palette of 3 primary colours and a white only. Overcoming the fear of doing something that removes you from your comfort zone is crucial in being creative. After lots of resistance, sweaty brows and palpitating hearts they all agreed that the blood, sweat and tears had all been worth it and that they really felt they had learnt a lot, not only about their painting, but also about themselves and overcoming the 'fear factor'! This little painting is a 7 minute demonstration that I did for the ladies to explain the activity. At this stage they were all ready to throw the apples at me, grab their bags and head for the studio door and the safety of their cars before I could hand them a paintbrush!

The problem with having enough apples for everyone to paint (above shows only half of them) is that by the end of the week I had a bounty of apples that had been handled (sometimes mishandled) and I didn't want them to go to waste. I have had quite a few messages asking why I haven't shared a recipe from my kitchen lately....as many of you know I love to cook and much of what I have in my kitchen ends up in my studio to paint first! I have even had one Paintings in the post friend comment that as much as she loves getting her 'painting in the post' (i.e. her email inbox), she is missing a recipe in the post too! So I thought I would share my glut of apples which ended up as a delicious Apple Cinnamon cake for family lunch....

The recipe is an old family favorite and I cannot credit where it comes from...other than Granny!

Apple Cinnamon Cake

• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups sugar (sorry all the NO SUGAR followers...close your eyes now)
• 2 heaped teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 apples peeled and chopped

Preheat your oven to 170 C and line and grease a 22 cm round or square cake tin. 

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and oil. Peel chop and add the apples, coating them well with the mixture. Sieve the flour and baking powder together and add them to the mixture stirring gently to combine all the ingredients (I find it helps to fold the mixture over until all is combined so that the apples do not start to break). Pour into your cake tin and cook for approximately 50 min. Allow it to cool and then drizzle with a bit of lemon icing (icing sugar and lemon juice)...the lemon cuts through the sweetness of the cake. 

It is delicious on its own or served warm with a dollop of ice-cream or homemade custard.

Happy baking....and painting
from my studio...and my kitchen!

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art