Big Cats

The Leopard is the most secretive of all the African big cats. This elusive behavior probably makes it the most cunning of the big cats.

Leopards are solitary nocturnal hunters preying on anything from fish to birds, monkeys, baboons and antelope. The natural enemies of Leopards are Lions and Hyena's who often attempt to steal their kill.

This forces the leopard to haul its larger prey up into a tree where it can feed in relative safety. So pound for pound this makes it the strongest climber of the cats, able to bring down prey much larger than itself and haul it to safety high up in the trees.

The spots on Leopards are called "rosettes" which can be irregular shaped circles or squares depending on the area they inhabit. The East African Leopards in general have circular rosettes while the Southern African leopards have square ones.

Their coats can also vary from a light fawn colour in dry warm areas to a darker shades in thick forest areas. The spots create an almost perfect camouflage for their habitat.

Cheetah's are considered the fastest animals on earth can reach speeds of up 110 km an hour within a few seconds.

Unlike Leopards they live in well structured social groups. They hunt their prey by stalking to within 10 to 20 meters before setting off on the chase. The chase only lasts from 20 seconds to a minute with only about fifty percent of their efforts being rewarded with a kill.

Their kill is often stolen from them by larger predators like lions, leopards and hyena. They generally feed on small antelope, young animals and birds.

Cheetah's can be distinguished from the other big cats by their long slender bodies and small heads with distinctive tear lines that run from the corner of their eyes to the side of their nose.

Cheetah's have been kept in captivity for more than 5000 years but do not breed well in captivity with numbers being maintained by capturing wild ones. New cheetah's born in captivity generally die within a month of birth

The cheetah population has declined over the years and are only found in about 25 African countries and about 100 in Iran. They suffer from lack of diversity in their gene pool and this had an effect on their breeding, Cheetah cubs also become prey to the larger carnivore's and ninety percent die within 3 months in the wild.

There are estimated to be 12 to 15,000 remaining in the wild with the biggest threat to their numbers being dwindling habitat, shooting and trapping as they are considered livestock predators.

These two oils were painted by Debbie Thom my daughter, whom I will be featuring occasionally as a guest artist on my site.

This brings me to the question. "Are artists born artistic? or is it a skill that can be learned by non artistic people? Whilst I have no doubt even a born artist can learn new skills to improve their techniques and interpretation. I cannot help but wonder if all the famous artists were born with specific genes that make them artists.

The reason I ask the question is simply because like me Debbie has had no formal education in art and to my knowledge has never had an art lesson in her life. Art has always been a hobby for her and she is quite content to be a mother and housewife who paints in her spare time.

This leads me to believe that certain artistic skills are inherited, as my mother used to do drawings when she was young and this must be where my sister and I inherited our skills. I also have a cousin who is an art teacher in Australia.

It would be interesting to know if any genetic studies have been done to determine if there are specific artistic genes that are passed on from one generation to another.

Maybe the word art is too broad a term as there are many different forms of art and I have no doubt many of the art forms can be taught to anyone with the inclination to learn them. So my question will be specifically about painters and sculptors rather than the arts in general. That does not mean I only consider painters and sculptors true artists.

My next task though is to try and persuade Debbie to put her god given talent to more use and take her art more seriously. I think together we can start our own gallery or collaborate in some way.

I would hate her to one day and have regrets as I did, I did not use my talent earlier in my life. I have also learned though not to interfere in my kids lives as they have their own ideas and will ultimately make their own decisions without any influence from me.

A Forgotten Era

Period costume and feminine fashion through the ages have always fascinated me. This oil paining of an era past, high lights a time when hats formed an integral part of every women's wardrobe.

Except for a few brand labeled caps, used for protection from the sun I don't have a hat in my wardrobe any more and certainly cannot remember when last I wore one as a true fashion accessory, I think it might have been my daughters wedding 20 years ago.

Anyway I just loved this picture, the original was a black and white photo of who knows, so I decided to add some colour and see how it turned out. I hope you like it.

The move to NZ has been a bit more difficult than I thought. On the way over some thief decided to open my suitcase and steal some of my belongings. We are advised at Oliver Tambo airport (the new name for Johannesburg International Airport) to shrink wrap our luggage so the thieves don't get their grubby paws on our belongings.

I knew there was a lot of theft going on at the airport but assumed as I was not flying SAA this would not happen. It seems SAA handle the baggage for all the airlines though, so if you are flying in or out of SA then you need to make certain your baggage is adequately protected.

It was wonderful to re-unite with my daughter and grand children after an absence of two years, it was also very sad to leave my mom behind but I know she is in good hands with my sisters.

Coming from Durban we are used to an almost perpetual summer, Auckland so far has been freezing, wet and miserable, apparently their worst winter in about 30 years. Fortunately all my clothing from Ireland came across when my daughter immigrated here 3 years ago, or I certainly would not have had the sort of winter clothing needed to cope with this weather.

On my first visit to NZ the South African Rand exchange rate was about R3.80 to one NZ $ which seemed to me like the cost of living between the two countries was similar. Now the rate is 6 to 1 and I find myself comparing prices by converting to rands first and thinking how expensive everything is here.

Having looked at the negatives it is just wonderful to be in a country where to my mind the crime is low. We don't have to worry about locking up everything, switching on burglar alarms and looking over our shoulder for muggers when you take a walk down the road. People are not living in self imposed prisons and the streets and suburbs are clean and neat.

I finally have my own adsl connection and will hope fully be able to do posts more and answer mail and comments regularly. Thankfully I have been able to use a friends Internet to do my card drops since I have arrived. It would have been too much of an imposition to do any more than what was absolutely necessary from day to day while finding accommodation and getting settled.

To all you entrcard droppers I must say a huge thank you for your loyal support during this time. Thursday was a record for me with 515 drops, my dilemma now is how to cope with all the drops, I feel awful when I cannot reciprocate all on a daily basis. I try to make certain I get to each one at least every second day as I don't work from a list or bookmarked sites, I simply rely on my inbox and support those who drop on my site.

Malachite Kingfisher

The Malachite Kingfisher is one of about 13 kingfisher species found in Southern Africa. This water colour was painted from a photo I used as a reference. At first I was not sure which of the kingfisher species it was because of the black beaks. The adult malachite has a red beak and after a bit of research I found that the juveniles have black beaks. So these must still be juvenile birds.

These small birds are fairly common around slow moving water and generally sit on low perches with their beaks down watching for fish or small crustaceans. When a fish is spotted it drops head first into the water and surfaces again immediately with fish in beak and devours it while sitting on its perch. They can also hover just above the water in a stationary position and then dive into the water to catch their fish. Their nests are normally tunnels in sand banks not necessarily close to water.

Other than the Kiwi, the Tui bird and Kia parrot I don't know much about NZ Birds and it will be interesting to photograph and research some while I am there. The medium will probably change to oil painting again as I left all my oil paints there on my last visit. Airlines seem to get stricter by the day when it comes to weight and the 20kg allowance hardly allows for much more the the clothes I will be taking with so all my art material will be staying behind.

Hopefully I will have time for one more post tomorrow and an opportunity to reply to the many comments and emails I have received in my absence, then I will probably be off line for about a week while I get organised on the other side.

A Time to Mourn

I know I have been rather conspicuous by my absence this past month. And I must say a big thank you to Graham for doing all my card drops in my absence. I know there are many unanswered messages, recommendations and other emails I have not replied to.

We were supposed to leave for New Zealand a month ago and here we are still in Durban.

When I returned to South Africa from New Zealand a year and a half ago to be with my elderly parents. My dad, who at 85 was still active and independent, driving his own car, and going for walks on the beach every day, started showing signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Within 3 months of returning to SA he was no longer able to drive and started suffering from other ailments like heart disease and prostrate cancer as well. He took a turn for the worse just before we were supposed to fly out and we postponed the trip as I was worried I would never see him again.

After a scare and a week in intensive care he seemed to recover well but my mom was not longer able to provide him with the care he needed and had to place him in an Alzheimer's clinic where he could receive proper treatment.

It was hard to visit him as he no longer recognised us and even got a bit aggressive when my mom touched him and told her to leave him alone. I could not believe the rapid deterioration in so short a time.

Sadly he passed away shortly after being admitted, I was devastated as we were a very close family. Fortunately my younger sisters have rallied to help take care of my mom and I will finally be flying out to NZ on Tuesday.

I had heard that Alzheimer's patients can live for a long time with the proper treatment and care but the speed with with which it incapacitated my dad was unbelievable.

I feel terrible leaving my mom behind but I also have to spend time with my daughter and grand children. I know my mom is in good hands with my sisters and feel torn between her and my kids. When your family are twenty thousand kilometers apart and your grand children are growing up not knowing their grandmother then it is just as difficult to decide where you have to be.

As a result of this I have done very little painting and even less blogging. To the EC community who have continued to drop on my site and leave your wonderful comments, my apologies for seeming like I don't care and my heartfelt thanks for your support.

I have a painting or two that I will try and post tomorrow, I am not sure when I will be online in NZ so if I disappear for a week or so its simply because I am trying to get set up on the other side.

Caroline

Common Tern

This was the second of my commissioned paintings. The Terns perched on the old fishing boat appear in abundance in many parts of the world ranging from North America to Europe and Africa.

For me the major challenge with this painting was to bring out the worn and neglected look of the old fishing boat lying on the sand.

What was once someones pride and joy now lies abandoned on the beach with little more purpose than a perch for any bird that chooses to rest a while on the old relic.

The cracked and rotting wood, old paint, rusted chain and worn metal bits, make me wonder about the history of this old fishing boat.

I am sure that if it could talk, it would regale us with tales of wild seas huge waves and of the hardy characters who sailed on it and cared for it because their very lives depended on it.

Sadly those characters are now probably also old and maybe abandoned like many of our elderly folk who have outlived their usefulness and can no longer contribute to our modern fast paced technological lifestyle.

Giant Kingfisher

This is the largest species of the African Kingfisher's measuring up to 43cm and similar to a crow in size. They inhabit wooded areas along rivers, lakes and coastal lagoons. They generally perch on overhanging branches or rocks them swoop down on fish, crabs, rodents and lizards to feed.

These fiercely territorial birds nest in burrows, dug up to two meters deep into the upper parts of river banks. The the juvenile males normally have a fawn coloured chest and the adults brick red. Their large powerful beaks make them look rather strange in flight, and with an added loud call they are hard to miss.

This is the first of two paintings I was commissioned to do. The picture supplied by the client looks like it could have once been part of a calendar. The client is an avid birder and if he is satisfied with these two then there could be more work for me in the pipe line. I love painting birds and it is even more gratifying to be paid to for doing something I love.

To those of you who have commented and not had a response, my humble apologies. Along with the deadline to finish these paintings I am busy packing up my home here to go to my daughter in NZ for a while. Thank you all for your kind and inspiring words.

Going to market 2

When I went to visit the galleries a few weeks ago I discovered one of my original set of five "Going To Market" paintings had not been sold. I was rather pleased and decided to rather add it to my own collection for posterity. They all differed slightly in colour, dress and people. Hope you enjoy this one as well.

Anyone for Marbles

Just so the guys don't feel hard done by and imagined my world consisted only of the female gender I decided to go back into the unfinished file and dig out a painting I started in December last year.

The little boy playing marbles certainly invokes a bit of nostalgia which reminds me of an age when electronic toys did not exist. Children played safely outdoors and had loads of fun with simple toys. The dog looks as though he is keeping an eye on proceedings and is as intrigued with the game as the player.

I am currently working on two paintings that were commissioned, and should be finished in the next day or so. Both involve my feathered friends and have proved quite a challenge.

arte y pico awards

I started this blog with much scepticism and doubt, wondering if anyone would ever even find it amongst the millions of sites out there. I asked myself if anyone did perchance happen to stumble upon it, ( pun intended) what would they think?

Would they like or appreciate my art?

Would the public have anything good to say about my passion to create beautiful paintings?

These few months at entrecard have been an amazing awakening for me and I want to say a huge thank you to all the wonderful people out there that that have inspired me by their comments.

Recognition, be it hopefully for fame, not notoriety, is a basic human need and I feel priviledged to have my work recognised by so many people.

I am deeply honoured to be nominated for the art y pico award by Maitri from MAGIC AND MOMENTS AT DRAGONFLY COTTAGE. MAITRI'S writings and philosophies have been an inspiration to me, instilling a sense of calmness every time I visit her blog and read a new article. Maitri, my heartfelt thanks for sharing your philosophies and honouring me in this fashion.

The award however does not come without accepting the responsibility and daunting task of bestowing the same honour upon five other sites whom I feel meet the criteria set out by the originator of the award.

As the entre card community is blessed with such a huge number of talented writers, artists craftsmen and bloggers who qualify for this recognition the choice has not been an easy one.

Upon winning this award you are tasked with the following rules...
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award. http://arteypico.blogspot.com/.

The following are my nominations.

1....Christy DeKoning - Travels in Watercolor
Christy DeKoning is a talented Canadian water color artist, who's beautiful art has inspired me.
I always look forward to each article and love to try out some of the techniques she uses. Thank you Christy for sharing your amazing art and talent with us.

2....THE SPITTING VESSEL
DURANO LAWAYMAN A.K.A BRAD SPIT your political thoughts and sentiments always have me looking forward to your next article. Your style of writing, mostly serious, sometimes witty, and command of the English language make your articles a pleasure to read. Your positive outlook and inspirational comments have meant a lot to me.

3....http://smadarstreasure.blogspot.com
Smadar is an Israeli bead work designer and artist. Her beautifully crafted bead work jewelery is a real treasure and I await each new creation with anticipation. Smadar please don't rehabilitate as the beauty charm and elegance of your creations will be sorely missed. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

4....FINE ARTWORKS AND ORIGINAL PAINTINGS FROM A CREAKY EASEL
Sue Ellen Cowan is another talented Canadian Artist who's amazing fine art paintings and dragon statuettes are worthy of this award. Sue Ellen thank you for sharing your stunning artworks with us and all the best in your new home.

5....Wisdom Hypnosis Blogspot.com
Debbie is a practising hypnotist who shares her thoughts on hypnosis on her blog. As a firm believer in self hypnosis techniques I have found her articles useful and informative. Debbie is also an active participant in the ec forum and can add a lighter tone to some serious discussions with her wit and calming effect. Debbie thank you for sharing your valuable insights with us.

As I had never heard of this award I was quite surprised to receive it, what was even more surprising was that it was from someone whom I had no clue even took time to read my articles other than to drop an entre card. It might then come as a surprise to some I have nominated as I do not comment much and seldom participate in the ec forum. This lack of participation is not out of disinterest but rather a busy demanding life that leaves little time to do other than what is absolutely necessary.

Pumkin Patch Girl

This is another one of those paintings I started a while ago and for some reason I lost interest and left it in my unfinished paintings file. I hope someone finds some pleasure from this painting.

As an artist I attempt different subjects and start off very enthusiastically and half way through get distracted and start something else that appeals to me more at the time.

The current painting is then put on the back burner until I get the urge to carry on. I suppose being a woman it is also my prerogative to change my mind at the drop of a hat.

About a year ago I sent Graham on a mission to present my portfolio to various galleries. I will be honest I had tried previously on my own and lost my confidence due to the attitude and snotty remarks from some of the curators and managers of these galleries. I left their premises feeling rather inadequate and probably even a failure as an artist.

I am not going to generalise and say they are all like that, but there are many mean spirited snobs who are not artists themselves but pretend they are the experts and the only judges of what is good and bad art.

Fortunately Graham's faith in my ability never wavered and he took a day off work and did a 400 km round trip with my portfolio in hand presenting it at every Gallery he could find along the way. Sadly his car was wrecked on the way home when someone rear ended him at high speed and the euphoria of his success was somewhat dampened as a result.

He eventually arrived home having left a dozen or more of my paintings at various galleries on a consignment basis. Shortly after that we went to New Zealand for three months to see my daughter.

When we returned, the paintings at the galleries were all but forgotten, that is until two weeks ago when we decided to call some of the galleries to see if any had been sold. I must again be honest I did not have the courage to phone and see if any paintings had been sold. I just felt they might say they had tried to sell them and would I please come and remove them from their establishments as they were not good enough to sell.

To my amazement all but one had been sold and there were a few welcome cheques waiting for me. They had tried in vain to contact me while I was in New Zealand and eventually they gave up. What makes it even worse is that most of the painting were sold within a month or so of leaving them at the galleries and those galleries wanted more of my work.

The cheques were not earth shattering amounts, but the paintings did sell for way more than I ever imagined they would. This has restored my confidence in my ability and given my battered ego a much needed lift.

I suppose the lesson here is never give up, I cannot help thinking how many more might have been sold had I not bowed to the humiliating comments of a few pricks who don't have a kind word for a new kid on the block.

I am planning another trip to New Zealand in the next few weeks and will probably be away for three to six months. Most of my art is there and I am going to make a concerted effort to see if I can get some of my art into galleries over there. This time I will however leave a forwarding address and contact numbers with the local galleries who have taken more of my work.

Little Girl

I know its been a while since my last post and last painting in fact, so I decided to get off my but and finish a painting I started the end of last year. Painting people is not my forte and I suppose that's why I left it in the unfinished pile for so long.

I think my creative thoughts have left me in the lurch and so I have just titled it "Little Girl." I feel more comfortable painting birds and animals than people but hope this one appeals to someone out there.

To those who left comments and did not get a response my sincere apologies. We have a number of email addresses and all are monitored through a programme called e-prompter which uses a different colour button that flashes for each mail box when new mail arrives. Ordinarily I will be notified of new mail within 15 min of its arrival.

The last 2 weeks or so the little green button has not announced any new mail for this blog. By this afternoon I was starting to feel forgotten and neglected and decided to check the mailbox, lo and behold there were about 50 new messages.

I am not sure how or why this mailbox fell through the cracks and was not monitored but in future I will check the mail box regularly to make sure I do not miss any important mail. Thank you all for your comments I will try to respond to them all tonight.

Kiwi painting

Shortly after starting my blog I posted a water colour painting of a Kiwi the national bird of NZ. I think I was in a bit of a hurry to get new material for my blog and rushed through the painting. Recently I reviewed some of the paintings and decided I was not happy with the Kiwi painting.

It is generally quite difficult to rework water colours, or maybe its just me, I find it much easier to rework, alter or repair oil paintings than water colour paintings. Anyway I changed the old painting and this is the final result. It looks like a completely new painting with very little resemblance to the previous one.

Solitary Watcher

This water colour painting of a solitary male lion reminds me of the savage brutality and magnificent beauty of the African plains. Lions generally enjoy a lazy lifestyle, inactive through the heat of the African day, mostly hunting for 2 to 4 hours at night.

Young male lions are expelled from the pride after 2 years of age. Once expelled they become nomads or form coalitions with brothers to do their hunting. They remain solitary without female company until they are strong enough to challenge a dominant male of an existing pride and drive him into exile, to once more to live his life as a nomad.

This savage and sometimes fatal confrontation determines whether a new male will lead the pride. The brutal events that follow see the new dominant male expel all the young males and kill the existing cubs to rid the pride of the old gene pool and any future contenders to his throne.

The new male does this to bring the females into oestrus so that he can start mating with them immediately and ensure any new cubs carry his genes. Even though the females come into heat and mate with the new male, they do not bear any young until the new male has proved that he is capable of defending the pride against other lions challenging his leadership.

Before the Hunt

The Lion (Panthera leo)is the second largest living cat after the tiger. Large males can weigh in excess of 250 kg. This apex predator of the African continent typically roams the grassland and savannas but are not uncommon in bush and forest areas.

These social cats live in prides that vary in number, made up of relatives, consisting of females, cubs and a few young males. They can live for between 10 and 14 years in the wild.

The lionesses hunt in groups and can reach speeds of nearly 60 kilometers per hour for short bursts, which means they have to stalk their prey to get fairly close before launching their attack. Male lions don't normally participate in the hunt unless the pride is hunting large prey like giraffe or buffalo.

Bachelor males evicted from prides generally hunt their own prey and have been observed to hunt as a team. The male lions primary function within the pride is to protect their territory which can be as large as 100 square miles of grassland scrub and open woodlands.

Unlike the endangered Asiatic lion, the African lion is considered a vulnerable species, with numbers declining by between 30% and 50% in the last two decades. They once roamed most of Africa and parts of Asia and Europe. Today they are only found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and a very small population in India's Gir Forest.

Game farms and reserves are a favourite attraction for most tourists who visit Africa and it would be a tragedy if these majestic animals could no longer be observed in the wild by future generations.

This water colour depicts a lion and lioness at dusk and I have called the painting "Before the Hunt"

Barnyard

This painting is a little different from the birds and animals I have been painting the past few months, wondering about the simple life without the crime and grime of urban existance. The last week or two have been very difficult with Graham being away on business for a few weeks, I have had to take care of all the Entrecard drops, it is no fun dropping for three sites.

To add to my woes our local electricity supplier has brought in load shedding, which means my power is cut off for a few hours a day. The worst part is it is cut off at different times of the day and when I check the schedule, our suburb is not on the list. So!! right now electricity is a luxury. Added to the problems EC have had I suddenly get cut off in the middle of the drops.

Whats really annoying is that the power supplier can sell power to all the neighbouring countries and supply big business with power at below cost, but the normal resident "Joe Soap" has to foot the bill. Now they want a fifty percent increase in tariffs in order to fund the building of new power stations which will only come on line in five or six years time. Bad planning.... bad management.. greed... all so typical of Africa.

When the new government took over there was an excess of power produced , so they mothballed half a dozen power stations and paid the new management millions of dollars in performance bonuses to really screw up an effective and well run system. If this was a political blog I would really make a meal of this article, instead of skirting around some of the more pertinent issues that have lead to this crisis .

Not that any of this has anything to do with my art, other than the fact that it makes life as I have become accustomed to very difficult. I suppose Africa is no place for sissy's and I am starting to wonder what I am still doing here. My family is fragmented and living in other parts of the world, they probably saw the writing on the wall a long time ago.

Maybe the rickety old windmill depicted in the above water colour painting will generate electricity as well as water, then I would not have to worry about the greedy corrupt management and government running our electricity supply .

Oh well! "I suppose I am allowed to dream" of facilities that once were considered normal, mundane, routine functions of a supposed modern, progressive country as somewhat of a luxury, reserved for the privileged few who get paid obscene bonuses for their inadequacies and mismanagement of public utilities.

Ok! now that is off my chest I hope you enjoy the painting.

Impala Water Colour Painting.

The graceful Impala antelope is found from Southern Africa to East Africa and can be identified by the thin black stripe that runs along the center of the lower back to the long tail. They also have a distinctive black stripe that runs down each thigh. They have a tuft of long course black hair that covers their scent glands located just above the hoof on each hind leg.

These slender medium sized antelope are only 28" to 36" inches tall and inhabit grassland and light woodland areas. The scent glands are used to mark their territory and herds of between ten and fifty are presided over by dominant males who rub scent from face glands and create dung heaps to mark that territory.

Their natural predators are lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs and I suppose man.

Over the next few weeks I will be painting whatever I feel like at the time. I am not sure why the baboons back looks white on the photo the painting is more of a greyish black colour.

Black Naped Oriele

This beautiful little bird comes from South Asia, resident in the Adaman and Nicobar islands and migrates to the southern part of India.

It was once common to Taiwan but is now rare and endangered there due to the loss of habitat and the cage bird trade. It is now legally protected by law as a category 11 conservation species.

The Oriole is well known for raiding smaller birds nests, what remains a mystery though is whether it is for the eggs or just a territorial thing.

I am starting to sound like a regular birder, which I am not. I just love the beautiful colours and the challenge of painting these amazing creations of nature. These past few months, painting birds has given me an enormous amount of pleasure and I suppose added to my general knowledge.

Mans greed though never ceases to amaze me when I discover just how many of these beautiful birds are on the endangered species list. I also wander just how many of the rarer species of bird will be around for future generations to enjoy.

I still have a few bird sketches and unfinished paintings but I think I will try my hand at a few other subjects in the near future. I have started a painting of one of our local buck which I will probably finish tomorrow or the weekend.

For those of you who left comments on my accident, thank you for the concern. I was reading up on concussion on the web, and... well I guess time will heal.

Common Sea Gull

I guess its been a while since my last post. An unfortunate accident about 10 days ago put me out of action for a while.

I decided to wash the windows in my apartment and to reach the top of the windows I stood on my sofa to do the Job.

I had just finished the last window and stepped off the sofa on to the tiled floor on which I had spilt a little water. My feet slipped out from under me and I cracked my head on the tiled step which caused a 2 inch laceration on the back of my head.

I had never seen so much blood in my life and thought I was about to kiss this world good bye. After xrays, six stitches and a bald patch on the back of my head I figured it was not my turn yet.

The stitches are out and my hair has grown over the bald spot but the headaches persist and I have this constant buzzing in my one ear. The Dr. says its Tinnitus and will go away on its own.

Concentration has not been my strong suite since then, so I chose an easy subject to paint. While I was painting this gull, I realised that even though I live right by the beach I seldom see any gulls around. Though Durban is a fair sized city with miles of beautiful beaches recent tests on the water have shown that it is not safe to swim in because of the pollution levels.

I imagine the gulls realised long before we humans that the water was not safe and moved on to cleaner water. I could write a chapter on whats happening to our beautiful city, with a local government who does not seem to give a damn about our natural resources and the tourists they are chasing away, but I won't turn this into a political tirade. Instead I want to dedicate this water colour painting to the common gulls who no longer grace our beautiful coastline.

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle, sacred bird to some Native Americans can soar for long periods on thermal winds without flapping a wing. Their immaculate eye sight always on the look out for prey.

When potential prey is spotted they tuck in their two meter wing span and swoop down on their prey at speeds of up to 200 km per hour.The Golden Eagle preys on other birds, small mammals, reptiles and fish.

One of the largest birds of prey the Golden Eagle nests in the crags of mountains and defends a large territory where it can have numerous nests built of sticks and lined with leaves and soft down.

The spectacular nuptial flight of the Golden Eagle involves the male swooping down on the female who at the the last minute turns on her back and their claws touch.

This water colour painting is larger than the other bird illustrations I have been doing for the last month or so measuring 380mm x 270 or 10" x 15" inch.

Original Chicken

The Moa or Red Jungle Fowl is no ordinary chicken, first domesticated thousands of years ago in Asia, this Fowl is considered to be the ancestor of all domestic chickens. The Jungle Fowl is found throughout Asia, believed to have originated in Thailand and transported as far as Hawaii by the Polynesians in their dugout canoes. The feet are chopped off in the photo but the water colour painting includes the feet of the rooster. I still have a number of bird sketches to paint and I Imagine birds will keep me busy for another week or two before moving on to another subject.

I was trying to change the look of my blog earlier and did something with the HTML coding that I could not undo and was eventually forced to change the template to get the blog looking something like a blog again. Anyway blogging is a constant learning process for me and the more things I try the more experience I will gain.