Bring Nature indoors ...

A vase full of indigenous grasses and some Geckos guarding the entrance to the main bedroom.

I am made for Autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship, but everything about autumn is perfect to me. Woolly jumpers, scarves, thin first, then thick, socks. The low slanting light, the crisp mornings, dried grasses, the chill in my fingers, those last warm sunny days before the rain and the wind. The moody hues and subdued palette punctuated every now and again by a brilliant orange, scarlet or copper goodbye.

African Wild Dog

Watercolour on Ashrad 200gsm watercolour paper - ©Maree Clarkson

Here is the link to my calendar South African Wildlife

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

The African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a medium-sized canid found only in Africa, especially in Savannahs and other lightly wooded areas.

A farm on the Highveld

 
W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - ©Maree Clarkson

 

The Highveld is a high plateau region of inland South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population.

African bushveld sunset

"Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn."

Aloe Marlothii and Giraffe watercolour in hand-made sketch-book - ©Maree Clarkson

The fiery aloe in full bloom, the smell of the fragrant wild sage on a dewy morning and one of Africa’s tallest animals in the back-ground – a typical African Bushveld scene that makes one’s spirits soar!

Africa's wonder

“Let a Person Walk Alone With Few Wishes, Committing No Wrong, Like an Elephant in the Forest.”

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 16” x 12” - ©Maree Clarkson

Africa’s wild animals are a constant source of inspiration and for me elephants symbolise Strength, Solitude, sense of loyalty to the family and Intelligence. Looking into the eye of an elephant, one sees Wisdom beyond our understanding.

A Windpomp in the Karoo

Ink sketch and watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm – ©Maree Clarkson 

A depiction of a ‘windpomp’ (windmill) in the Karoo. They are such a part of our countryside here in South Africa and they play a specially important part in dry areas like the Karoo where both humans and animals are very dependent on them for water.

These windmills extract the life blood of the earth and it is usually poured into a cement dam close-by the windpomp. Many farm children swim in these cement dams on sweltering days and I have seen flocks of Egyptian Geese taking a quick, cool dip on their way to somewhere.

An African sunset

Day is life,
As the roars of lions echo,
And the galloping of the antelope fade.
Night is death,
As the laughs of the hyena haunt you,
And the bush is filled with the sounds of terrorized creatures.
But between the beauty all is quiet,
As the sun disappears,
And the land lights up in the most spectacular display,
An African Sunset.
- by Robert G. Fetters

 Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm ©Maree Clarkson

Once you have lived in or visited Africa, visions of Africa become indelible in a visitor's memory. Vivid sunsets... warm and welcoming people....

African silhouettes

The shadows now so long do grow, 

That brambles like tall cedars show, 

Molehills seem mountains, 

and the ant Appears a monstrous elephant. 

- Charles Cotton 

Watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm – 12″ × 8″ - ©Maree Clarkson

Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the shadow of a mountain on their way to water in the northern parts of the Kalahari desert (South Africa). This is how I imagine their trekking in their relentless search for water.

African Leopard {Panthera pardus}

Black Pilot FineLiner ink sketch and W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm - ©Maree Clarkson

An African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) sunning himself on some rocks. Powerful, graceful and arguably one of the most beautiful of all the large cats, the elusive leopard is a master of stealth and survival. I have ever only seen a Leopard once in my life, and that was in the Kruger National Park, but I recall many tales my Dad had to tell about this magnificent animal when we live in the Northern Transvaal whenI was a child.

African Joy and Sorrow

"The triumph of life is the joy experienced thereafter." 

- Maree 

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm ©Maree Clarkson - done from a photograph of Guinea standing on the wall, forlornly calling his missing wife.

A couple of years ago, one of my guinea fowl sitting on eggs was killed by a dog, leaving 10 eggs, on the pint of hatching, without a mother. I gathered all the eggs and put them in a basket with a hot water bottle, trying to keep them warm to see if any of them would hatch. Two days later still nothing, but on the third day I heard a weak peep-peep from one of the eggs. None of the others showed any sign of life, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and open the one that was peeping. I gently peeled away the shell and lifted out a perfectly formed little guinea fowl, and placed him on the warm towel, drying his little body with a soft cloth until he lifted his little head and stared me straight in the eye...