Blue and white vintage brooch #183

Daily painting #183. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel 

Last week Monday we walked Kalk bay in Cape Town visiting all the quaint little shops. In a little antique shop huddled up against the train track and shoreline, I found this old blue and white ceramic brooch. I love vintage items and especially love old pieces of jewelry and brooches. I was actually looking for an old mosaic brooch in good condition when I found this one....and I couldn't resist!

183 days of painting little daily paintings means I have now been painting daily paintings for exactly half a year.....who would have thought what started out as a weeks challenge would still be going strong a half a year later!!!! Thanks for all your support, comments and purchases along the way...

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Ballet shoe #182

Daily painting #182. 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel SOLD

My daughter Amy is dancing for the next 3 days in an Annual Dance Congress. She starts at 8am and only finishes at 5pm with a few breaks in the day. Dancing requires such discipline and commitment and in that way it is a bit like painting .....ones strongest motivator can only be sheer passion!

She arrived home today exhausted, ate a light supper, showered and collapsed into bed! When I went in to kiss her goodnight she was already fast asleep.....ballet shoes abandoned on the floor next to her bed....until tomorrow!

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Morning sky #181

Daily painting #181. 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

Whenever I have been away from home, the one thing that really makes me feel like I am HOME again is the beautiful morning sky. Our view first thing in the morning over the east coast is just magnificent and what a wonderful way to start the day! It is especially beautiful at this time of year when the sun has moved slightly more north and the sun rises a little later. The mornings are a little cooler and the sun is not as blistering hot as it rises over the ocean. I am so grateful I am an early morning person....

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Garlic #180

Daily painting #180

180 paintings in 180 days....a milestone to celebrate!

My husband cooked supper tonight. He is the absolute braai* master and loves to stoke up that fire on our veranda, crack open a cold beer and sit poking and feeding the fire. I always tease him and say he must still have a bit of 'cave man' in him....it is his best to sit around a fire and cook. Well tonight he made a chicken potjie (a kind of stew made in a large black African cooking pot and cooked over an open fire)....potjie translated means little pot in Afrikaans. He sorted out all his ingredients, one of which was garlic and had everything chopped and ready....very organized.  It was absolutely delicious and so good to have a night off from cooking....a real treat! I think my husband must have missed me!

*braai -a South African word used to describe cooking over an open flame or hot coals, like a barbecue.

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Rose study No. 4 #179

Daily painting #179 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

Lots to do in the studio today other than just paint....unpack all my traveling paints etc from my trip, catch up on some accumulated admin (my worst) and prime a stack of little canvases for the next weeks daily paintings.....so much to do before I could actually sit down to paint....which is what I would prefer to do! So a simple little rose study today....once all the chores were completed!

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Cape protea #178

Daily painting #178. 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel  SOLD

Travel is a strange phenomenon ....to wake up in one place and go to sleep in another! This morning we bid farewell to beautiful  Cape Town and made our way back to a lush, very green and very hot Durban. It was awesome to see my family....the smiles on my children's faces when I saw them is enough to melt my heart and it was fabulous to wrap my arms around them all and give them a huge cuddle. So it's back to Durban sunshine and humidity and back to my studio tomorrow....but for now....one last Cape Town protea.....

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Garden of proteas #177

Daily painting #177. 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

Today has been a chilly day in Cape Town and by this afternoon it was misty and raining...perfect weather to do a bit of last minute shopping for some Sennelier oil paint at The Italian Art Shop (yes I know it is a French paint!). The time seems to have flown by too quickly and tomorrow it is time to head on back to the airport to fly home! I have missed my family so much and can't wait to see them but my heart is heavy to say goodbye to Candice who is off to Zimbabwe for a friends wedding and then back to Chicago! We have had an amazing time together and have been so lucky to stay at False Horizons in Glencairn. It is a beautiful holiday home with an amazing view! I wish I could relocate the proteas and fynbos in the garden  back to my garden in Durban .... I love the smell of the fynbos! A happy time in the Cape and lots of memories with my #cousinsister..... 'til next time!

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