Autumn Treasures

Autumn in the southern hemisphere. I have long loved weathered late-season leaves, and this time of year there is such a glut one doesn't know where to start. On my morning walk, I collected a bagful, and sketched some in ballpoint and watercolor pencil...

Baby Brinjal Brothers

Acrylic on board, 10 x 15 cm (= 4 x 6 in):

Garden sketches

I went out into the garden, and sketched whatever caught my eye. Ballpoint pen with watercolor pencil.

In the meantime...

I have been rather busy, getting my latest children's book ready for publication. It's the first one with lots of color pictures, so there are all manner of technical considerations of which I knew little when I started out, so I am going through a rather steep learning curve, so I have little time for much else. But I did try to fit in some experimental bits and pieces and random sketches.

I now and then indulge in these rather relaxing and meditative pseudo-mosaics, done in ballpoint and colored pencil:

A botanical sketch:

A quick colored pencil sketch after Van Gogh:

And some experimental watercolors, after YouTube tutorials:

I hope to put final touches on the new book by the end of next week, but who knows - things always take much longer than planned!

Crepe myrtle

Oil on board, 25 x 20 cm (= about 10 x 8 inches):

SOLD

Also known as Pride-of-India (Lagerstroemia indica). These plants are originally from India and China, but are now commonly grown as ornamentals wherever the climate will allow. They are currently in bloom around here, so I couldn't resist...

Some recent photos

My latest adventures in point-and-shoot photography...

Sweet thorn

Acacia karroo, a.k.a. sweet thorn, found throughout much of southern Africa. According to the Wikipedia page on the species, it is also known as Vachellia karroo, and it has a whole collection of other Latin synonyms. It is somewhat unusual in that it seems to have more (and more confusing) scientific names than common names.

Still alive

Having sort of given up on visual art, it has been ages since I posted anything here. But I found myself regaining my old interest in natural history, and thought this blog might serve me as a sort of personal, online field guide to whatever I find in nature.

I still do the odd sketch, but now mostly to aid plant identification.

This is a ballpoint sketch illustrating some features of the Cape honeysuckle, Tecomaria capensis. Often used as garden hedge plant around here.

Some photos: