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…
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…
Baby elephants are so expressive. They seem able to adopt the most unlikely positions, and this one is no exception! My initial drawing of the elephant isn’t too detailed, but it’s crucial at this stage to get the proportions right. Spend as much time as you need on your sketch, as you can’t go…
The first thing you usually notice about bushbabies is their enormous eyes. Makes sense really, as the little guys are nocturnal and rely on their eyes, and their disproportionately large ears to survive and hunt for food. On closer inspection, though, they also have the cutest of noses – just like an upside-down heart. When…
Dear Inner Critic, I was recently reminded of your constant presence by something my husband asked (rather innocently). He asked me if I was happy with my finished painting. A rather good question, actually. It’s a bit double-edged though. I find that I’m never totally happy with the finished product. There’s always something I could…
Don’t Give Up! These words, immortalized in song by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, are also my mum’s favourite trio of words whenever I get dispirited. And the funny thing is – they seem to work. It’s so much easier to consider throwing in the towel when challenges seem insurmountable. However, why give up something…
Last year I painted away merrily, randomly finding inspiration for my paintings of animals from various sources including Pinterest, Facebook, and my own photographs. However, I never realized that even though I thought I was making seemingly random choices of subject matter and colour palette, I was in fact sticking to a theme! It was…
It’s Springtime in South Africa and what a gorgeous season it is! We are blessed to have a resident pair of olive thrushes in our garden and they are so cheeky (in the best way!). Every morning the bigger male waits on our stoep (porch) to see what’s for breakfast. If it’s not to his…
If you go down to the woods today, you’re probably more likely to see these guys than a group of teddy bears having a picnic! Oooh, I’ve got the song stuck in my head now – along with some lovely childhood memories. You only find the grey squirrel where I live, and I know they’re…
I’m blessed to live where it’s part suburb, part country, which means that I get my fix of nature and wildlife on a daily basis. Although not exactly “wild”, there is also a semi-wild black bunny in our area. Let me just say that this little girl is CUTE!! I found out her name is…