I was dying to experiment with a vintage-style illustration. You know, the kind you find in the old children’s books… I had a go, and it’s not as easy as it looks! The result is the fairy poem and art below. Truth is, I’ve been immersed in a fantasy world recently upon recently releasing my…
There can be little that’s more delightful than watching baby Giant Pandas at play. Their antics and innate cuteness draw you in and make you want to play too. I recently attempted to capture their essence in these two watercolour panda portraits. The first painting is of a young panda lying on its back with…
It’s my birthday tomorrow. Yep, and it’s still lockdown here in South Africa, albeit Level 3, which means we do have some level of freedom (but not that much in reality). I definitely won’t be celebrating with friends and family (#sadface) but I am hoping that I don’t have to cook, and that there’s chocolate,…
Monochrome paintings have a single colour or hue. Monochrome paintings are enchanting. There’s something a little bit special about stripping away colour and paring down an image to shades of grey, black, blue or sepia. In a world of dazzling colours, it may not make sense to some. Why choose black and grey over a…
You’ve probably noticed that I like painting foxes quite a lot. Yep, I certainly won’t deny that I love the warm shades of their fur and their sleek-coated bodies, together with the sweet expressions that emanate from them. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find another fox on my to do list…
When I was a young girl I went to ballet lessons. I loved them and tried my best, but my ballet teacher would always say: “Point your toes, Louise!” I would say: “But I AM pointing them!” in return. I could never seem to point them enough for her liking and unfortunately never progressed to…
There are many ways to be brave. It’s not just about sorting out a bully, or giving a kick-ass corporate presentation when you’re terrified and your insides are all a-jiggle. Sometimes, it’s about taking on something you didn’t know you could do – taking up the challenge. Such a challenge was presented to me recently…
When is something considered cute? I guess it’s different for all of us. For my sister, Samantha, if something (usually an ornament or a soft toy) is round, chubby and smiling, she finds it ultra cute and consequently it finds a treasured place in her home. It’s a standing joke in our family that “Sammy…
I so enjoyed painting my last collection of woodland creatures, that I thought I’d try my hand at some more. Two of the paintings are of little ground animals, viz. the hedgehog and the mouse. Both of these are placed in their environments with autumn leaves and toadstools as a backdrop. These shades of oranges,…
It may seem obvious that you should create what you love the most. For me, when it comes to painting, this means mostly concentrating on animal portraits with the odd human portrait getting a look-in every now and then. I have always been magnetically drawn to animals. When I was little, and we watched nature…