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....

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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

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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! 

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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!

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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!

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The greeting #431

Daily painting #431 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

That magic time when day and night share the same sky in a momentary greeting....

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Green chili #430

Daily painting #430 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

My mother-in-law has a friend who gives her a weekly box of organic produce from a home organic vegetable garden. She regularly drops off produce with me which I accept with glee (and you regularly get to see in my paintings!). This week some rather lethal looking green chillies were in the bag. I think I am probably safer painting them than cooking with them!

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