Daily painting 733 Day Lilies

Daily painting 733 5"x7" oil on primed panel (unframed)

My garden is full of budding day lilies. Signs of spring. But along with Spring has come blocked sinuses and a bout of flu. I have been feeling under the weather this week and I have had sick kids home from school too. This doesn't make for very productive studio time, but perhaps it's natures way of forcing me to slow down a little. The flip side is that despite spending most of Saturday away in Pietermaritzburg to watch my son play cricket, the rest of the weekend will be spent playing catch up.  A working weekend it will have to be....at least there is lots of 'pretty' around to keep me inspired! Spring is a floral painters delight!

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Daily painting 732 Pink Monday

Daily painting #732 6"x8" oil on primed panel (unframed)

It's pink, pretty (probably too pretty) and oh so 'girly'. Actually there has been a lot of pink lately...my Art lecturers would love me right now with all this 'pretty' (definitely not!!). It's a pink Monday, but hey, it could be worse! It could be a blue Monday...and it's not.

Have a happy week!

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Daily painting 731 Pink ice-cream lolly

Daily painting #731 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel

Spring seems to have skipped on by and got lost in the wave of early Summer. We have had such beautiful warm weather that it feels like sunscreen, bikinis (ok...maybe not) and ice-cream kind of days! It just feels like time to dust off the lolly moulds and make refreshing cooling ice-cream lollies for hot days. 

I have an easy-peasy sugar-free solution to ice-cream lolly cravings. I blitz frozen berries (whatever I have) in my blender with either yoghurt or some coconut cream and a few drops of stevia (if the berries are really tart, a frozen banana added is also good for sweetness) and pour the mixture into my mould. I pop them in the freezer for a while and just before they are properly set I push some wooden sticks into them. I never can find all the original plastic sticks that come with the moulds. I think they disappear in the pockets of the same creature that steels just one sock or the one shoe that your children are always determined were put back in their cupboard (i.e. not left at friends). 

It was a real challenge in the heat to paint a slowly melting lolly. As you know my little daily paintings are always painted from life because I believe the value in them is in forcing me to observe and translate what I see immediately and accurately. It's a challenge when what you see (the lolly) gets smaller and the messy melted puddle bigger...so QUICK painting today. A good thing because there is no time to fiddle or fuss...I had to make a mark confidently and leave it! Shew...I think I need a lolly after all that....

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Daily painting 730 Spring bloom and a bud

Daily painting #730 6"x6" oil on primed panel (unframed)

It is the first day of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. A day of flowers, new beginnings and budding gardens. It also means the start of the humidity in Durban and quite frankly the weather in Durban this week seems to have been confused...it's like we missed Spring and hit Summer all in one week! 

For a floral loving artist, today is wonderful. I get to have a good excuse (not that I ever need one) to full my world (both online and offline) with a whole lot of pretty!

HAPPY SPRING....(or maybe happy Fall depending on where you live)...hope YOUR day too, is full of a whole lot of 'beautiful'!

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Daily painting #729 Spring figs

Daily painting #729 6"x8" oil on primed panel (unframed)

August is almost over (this year is flying by) and I can feel Spring in the air. It is a wonderful feeling. The mornings are getting lighter earlier and we are waking to birds chirping and the sun starting to show itself over the ocean. There is a faint hint of Durban humidity in the air, warning us that Summer is coming. But best of all the evenings are getting warmer and longer and nothing beats sitting outside with a crisp, chilled white wine or a glass of chilled rosé on a warm summers evening. Figs, cheese and my homemade marinated olives are the perfect marriage with the wine, summer breeze and warm evenings. That and wonderful company of course!

It's almost Summer....

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Daily painting #728 King protea

Daily painting #728 6"x8" oil on primed panel (unframed)

The King Protea seems an incongruous name for a flower so beautiful and feminine. But as bold and brave as kings us woman can be, so why not I suppose. The King Protea is one of the larger protea specimens and its soft grey blue and pink tones always appeal to me! It is bold, yet soft and gentle...inspiring characteristics. Speaking (or writing that would be) of inspiring....

HUGE thank you to everyone who joined in the creative sharing on Paintings in the post Facebook page yesterday! To inspire someone else to do something is the greatest of compliments....so thank YOU for all your inspiration!💛BIG love! If you wanted to join in the fun but never got around to it, I hope you will join in next time we do a #DoSomethingCreativeToday share. It's a great way to connect with others and hold yourself accountable for doing something a little more creative...besides its good for the soul and the world needs more creative thinkers! To share is a wonderful thing...
I randomly (names out a hat style) selected HILDA NIEMAN to receive a little painting as a way of saying 'Thank you' for sharing with us all yesterday. This little painting will be heading off in the post to Hilda....

I wish I could send each one of you a painting to say thank you! We had our first kitchen 'foodie' inspiration share and I am still waiting for our first writer to share something they have been up to....(hint hint if you are a writer)...and we are yet to have a garden share....(hint hint).
Lovely to meet so many of you yesterday....and do stay in touch!

Much love (and creative energy of course) 💛Heidi

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#DoSomethingCreativeToday

It's time to do some creative sharing today! If you have been up to something creative today at home, at the office, in the garden, kitchen, studio....wherever, head on over to my Facebook page here and tell us about it. It doesn't have to be something art related....it can even be a creative decision you have made! Let's inspire one another to be a little more creative, to change things up a bit and even try something you have never done before! By sharing with one another we might just inspire someone else to try be a little more creative too!

Today I will be giving away one little painting to someone who shares what they have been up to. You can share on my Paintings in the post Facebook page or you can share in the comments below if you would prefer. The recipient will be drawn randomly and announced tomorrow afternoon (Friday) both here on the blog and on the Facebook page.

I look forward to seeing what YOU have all been up to for a change.

Sending lots of creative energy your way... Heidi

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