The Art of It

The last couple of cold and wet weekends have been spent immersing ourselves in a rather different art form, music. Over 30 plus years together we have acquired a pretty extensive library of music on vinyl disc, cassette tape, CD and lately a few MP3’s on computer hard drives. Much of the older parts of our collection is on vinyl LP’s which are seldom played, partly because we have only one set up capable of playing this older form of recorded music and partly because it’s too easy and convenient to use the more modern formats. Yeah, laziness is an excuse! Seriously though, buying a new stylus for our old NAD turntable is now very difficult if not impossible, which means that there is a finite limit on the life of a big part of our music library. To lose the ability to play so much great music would be a great shame. To replace it all would be almost impossible and most certainly unaffordable. So, the need to find a way to convert it to a current format became important! The firs

Here are two photographs taken relatively close to home. We had spent the day in the town of Hermanus, about one and half hours drive from Cape Town and were returning via the coastal route around False Bay. The sun was setting in an “angry” looking sky providing a wonderful and unusual view of the southern part of the Cape Peninsula in silhouette between the dark waters of the bay and the sunset painted sky.

When I started The Art of It, it was a tool to share a new stage of my life with family, friends and potential friends in far flung places. But the bug has bitten! My son in Johannesburg helped me track visitors by adding a “ Cluster Map ” widget. As red dots began to sprinkle across my map and the hit counter recorded new visitors, the fascination with blogging, with sharing thoughts, art, photographs, favourite web sites and blogs grew. And so did the desire to see the number of daily hits increase and my map get a serious case of measles! My son suggested finding other similar or art related blogs, exploring them, commenting on their content and leaving my blog’s address as a link in a comment. The few comments left on The Art of It had been a little disappointing, but who am I to talk, having visited few other blogs and left few comments. This needs to change! So off I went on an expedition into the “blogoshpere”. How to find interesting blogs; Google blog search? My first attempt

A glorious beach in the heart of South Africa’s Garden Route The village of Wilderness, roughly 5 hours drive from Cape Town, must be our favourite getaway. It is located within one of the most scenically spectacular parts of South Africa. Opportunities for landscape and seascape photography abound. The climate is moderate. The atmosphere is tranquil. The ambience is conducive to relaxation and creativity. The long, sandy beach calls out for an early morning or evening stroll through a wonderland of sea, sand dunes and rocky outcrops. The changing light, tides, clouds, flotsam and jetsam create an endless kaleidoscope of pictures that keep our cameras busy. Foam on Wilderness Beach An hour or two’s drive from Wilderness takes one to Sedgefield’s scenic lagoon, the lakes, Knysna’s water wonderland, Plettenberg Bay, playground of the wealthy, the spectacular Bloukrans pass or the magic of the Tsitsikamma National Park . Subjects for paintings and photography abound. Stunning landscapes s

For anyone who might wonder about the dog's name, he was a stray "adopted" by my sister and hence free or "Baksheesh".

About the Karoo and the Karoo National Park The art on the rocks gives testimony to the past occupation of this arid land by the Khoi and San people. The word “Karoo” is said to come from a Khoi word, Karusa, which means “Thirst land” or “Place of Great Dryness” but I have been unable to find any authoritative references to confirm this. For many years our experience of this arid region, which takes up about 35% of South Africa’s land area, was confined to what we could see from the N1 National Road when travelling from Cape Town to the northern parts of South Africa and to Zimbabwe. This dry, dusty and desolate strip of land straddling the highway between Laingsburg and Colesburg, with its low scrubby vegetation, blazing hot summers and bitterly cold winters, seemed to provide little reason to linger. And then, in September last year, we decided to spend a long weekend at the Karoo National Park near the town of Beaufort West, roughly in the centre of the Karoo. More information …. Th

Poor Bryan! I didn’t like the background to “Reticence”. I got home from work today and changed it! So, Bryan had to battle once again to re-photograph it. I much prefer this background. I feel that I'm learning so fast all the time.

This was an extremely difficult painting to photograph. I used a smoother support material and combined with the slight gloss of the acrylic paints it reflects light and produces unwanted highlights and loss of contrast in the photograph. These are not visible when looking at the original painting. There is also some inaccuracy in the colour reproduction. In the original the reds and yellows are richer and more vibrant than they appear in the photograph. The Himba People The Himba people live in the northwest Kunene region of Namibia, previously known as Kaokoland. It is a remote, rugged, mountainous and dry part of the country. The Himba keep sheep, goats and cattle. They live a semi-nomadic life, moving frequently to find new grazing for their livestock in this arid land. For shelter they build simple, cone shaped, structures from saplings using a mix of mud and animal dung as a type of plaster. The Himba have maintained their traditional dress and culture. The women are normally

This painting was my interpretation of another photo that Bryan took while we were at the Simonstown Waterfront. Very simple but stunning. Thanks again Bryan! For those visitors to my blog who may not have heard of Just Nuisance here is a little background. Just Nuisance was a Great Dane, born in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town. He is reputedly the only dog ever officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. He served at a Royal Navy base in Simon's Town. His service record was apparently somewhat blemished by his frequent absences, without leave and for refusing to leave the pub at closing time. It is also reported that he was once sentenced to have all bones removed for seven days for sleeping in an improper place: one of the Petty Officer's beds. He died after being involved in a car accident and was laid to rest with full military honours at Klaver Camp at the top of Red Hill (the current site of the South African Navy Signal School). The painting includes the statue of Just Nui