A Week of Roses

I love roses in winter, and they seem to like the season too, charming us with a long slow opening from bud to full bloom. I will allow the photos to tell the story of my rose painting adventures:

Some of these paintings are available! I invite you to visit my website  (link at the bottom of the page) and do remember that I take commissions if you need a special size painting or different colour roses. Shipping worldwide.

Five White Roses 9" x 12"

Website for the work of Marie Theron

Abstract Tree Paintings by South African Impressionist Artist Marie Theron

The palette knife, that I do not often use, played a great role in my abstracts as I slashed out the verticals of the forest with black paint. The black network provided the ideal shapes for filling in. First I used lots of skins of dry acrylic paint, pulled from paper palettes. I cut the recyclable paint with sharp scissors and used the palette knife to cover the backs with white or cerulean blue/white mix, then stuck them onto the canvas. All shapes were then blended into the painting with more paint until I have created the atmosphere that I wanted to portray, the atmosphere of a kind forest providing health and shelter and peace to men and animals.

"Forest Glade"
460mm x 350mm
18" x 14"
US$ 245
R2500


To view or buy: go HERE

"Secrets of the Forest"
300mm x 300mm
12" x 12"
Acrylic and Acrylic Collage on Canvas
US$ 163
R 1500

To view or buy, click HERE

FOR MY ABSTRACT AND OTHER LANDSCAPES  AND TO SEE MY FULL CV

VISIT THIS USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE:

Sketches and Doodles of Rabbits Lead to New Ideas

This can be called playing around, but I love sketching and hope by doing so I can chance upon something new to paint. I also have very important decisions to make in my life and thinking is something one can do the same time as sketching. I will post the sketches here and then in the next post, show something Very Good that happened afterwards.

Snow has lovely lines. I sketched her on newsprint paper on my large flip-file.
 If you know me on Facebook, you will see a gentle photo of Snow with Dexter,
the Alsation on last night's post.

This is Snow, the little bunny that has been in some of my blog stories.

Mmmm, too much like a greeting card, but we will keep trying!

Now, at last, there is some character in my sketch.

A lot of character here. The sketch quickly became the property of a friend!

And here I started doodles in ink and pencil, getting my background ideas from
 the designs of William Morris. The forms go into play with the bunny shapes.
Can you see the connection that has formed with "His Master's Voice"?

A feeling of mystery as the bunny jumps through the William Morris foliage!

I already had such good suggestions as to what the bunnies are doing: males,
 waiting to see what females will come past?  William Morris designs are immensely intricate
and I lack patience to do them neatly, but somehow,
something new was born from these doodles, and I will show them next time.

The Pale Rabbits and an Easter Jigsaw Puzzle

Of course this rabbit theme is just too much fun, and I will explore more and more as time goes by. Here are two images that were inspired by old stone rabbits which I found on my cell phone, photographed in Pretoria a year or so ago, even before I started using rabbits as my source material.

I simply called them "lapin 1" and "lapin 2". As soon as I had published the photos on Facebook, I had a sale and was told by many people that these paintings were more atmospheric and meaningful than my paintings of the Peter/Snowball family.

"lapin 1" Oil on Canvas 10" x 10"

"lapin 2" Oil on Canvas 10" x 10"

The symbolic meaning of "rabbit" is regeneration. Of life, of spirit and of the seasons .
 Thus it is a chosen symbol for Easter
You can buy this gift, made from my artwork from www.whiterock.co.za or find it on Facebook 

The Circle of Life

It is probably fitting that I have finished this painting, called "The Circle of Life" in my birthday week. It is open to many interpretations. Of course, like in fairy tales, the story can be softened for children. It can also be serious or threatening, if you want.

"The Circle of Life" by Marie Theron
Oil on Canvas 500mm x 400mm

Let's start at 12 o' clock. There is that cute bunny Sprinkles, our little joker, who looks masked with those big black spots at the eyes. We start this cycle with her.  There are two large rabbits, male and female in the center, to symbolize a prolific breeding pair, surrounded by lots of little ones. Now go anti-clockwise from Sprinkles onward, and there is Snowball, the lovely white rabbit and her friend Peter, black with a white stripe down his nose. Snowball and Peter, as we know had six girl rabbits. It is a life of breeding and eating that is awaiting them. A grey rabbit nibbles away at lettuce and may have a few flowers for desert. I could not help but posing our darlings, Lola (at 6 o' clock), and Vanilla again. They are full of life and ready for anything. Raspberry, one of the 6 sisters poses as a dead rabbit at the end of the life cycle. (I promise that Raspberry is alive and well and living in Durban). She is posing, remember! Our newest bunny, Snow, poses as the caregiver. That name, Snow, causes lots of misunderstandings at my grandchildren's place. Everyone coming through the door is greeted with: "Come and see, Snow!", which of course sounds funny in Durban, one of the hottest towns in South Africa. And then, to restart the circle of life, there is a tiny, dozy, fluffy baby rabbit.

A Milepost Birthday and More Rabbits: Meeting Lola

It was the strangest thing, I got involved in painting rabbits and people suddenly associated me with them, which is GOOD! It means that the rabbit theme is mine. Here in my studio the rabbits are breeding on canvasses and I want to make them very serious. I want to give the paintings layers of meaning. But I had friends who laughed out loud (in a kindly way), as no matter how deep and serious I try to make my rabbits,  as animals with worlds of knowledge in their eyes, the only thing everyone sees is a bunch of pretty cuddly bunnies! But I will pursue this theme, until I capture the nuances that I am striving for.

My granddaughters named everyone of the six sister rabbits. Today I am continuing The Benjamin Files series, by showing darling Lola. 

"Lola" by West Coast Artist Marie Theron 10 x 10 Oil on Canvas

About this milepost I mentioned in the title, I turned 70 over the weekend and had friends and family around me. The rabbit theme caused great fun with some gifts and cards featuring rabbits.

Me with Tatyana Binovskaya, my artist friend and sometimes exhibition partner

Thank you for popping in. I am heading towards great numbers of visitors, but seldom hear from them. If you say hi in my comments, it would be wonderful.

Six Girl Rabbits, Whoa!

What was Snowball dreaming of when she rested under that lovely pink duvet? Mmmmm, and then came Peter! They decided to be a Mom and Dad and were given a pretty pebbled garden all of their own, quite far from Benjamin. Because Peter and Benjamin might have been playing sometimes, but to us humans it looked like ferocious fighting.

So here, in their own place I observed the wonderful , soft , round little bunnies.There were six, and the vet said that they were all girls! 

This is Vanilla:

"Vanilla" 6x6 Oil on wrapped canvas . By South African Artist Marie Theron.

Remember when I painted them in watercolours before? This is a re-post of the painting:

Rabbits in watercolour, 18" x 12" (2011) by South African Artist Marie Theron

You may like some photos too. This is Snowball, who is often invited inside:

Snowball, Mom of six daughter rabbits.

And here she is having a meal with three of her six daughter rabbits:

Vanilla, Mom Snowball, Dad Peter and Sprinkles

Rabbits are so soft they can sit very tight! I thought at first glance that there were three in this photo, but there are four. We should never say one bunny is the prettiest, but isn't Vanilla (on the left) just too lovely for words?

Wonderful Challenges

BARRELS, BASKETS, BOTTLES II
800mm x 800mm oil on canvas by Marie Theron

 I love commissions! Unexpected requests have taken me into the most interesting places. And so I have done large wall paintings and delicate botanical drawings where every part of a plant and all angles had to be measured. I have painted a book cover and done illustrations for another book. You will also remember the post a few months ago where I painted the hair of two teenagers, a very enjoyable commission.

In November 2013 a "dream client" visited my studio. She bought the Velddrif painting from two posts ago and commissioned the four seagull paintings which I showed in the last post. And then she also commissioned a large copy of a painting I had in my home.

Getting started on the barrels painting.

I took this photo halfway through the process.
The older, smaller painting hangs in the background.

With commissions, you never know what the next challenge will be. We are halfway through January and I am working on some small pieces, being wide awake and keenly looking out for the next interesting project that comes my way.

Four Seagull Paintings

Seagull by West Coast Artist Marie Theron, part of a commissioned set of four.
 8x8 inches (250mm x 250mm

Where I live, of course, we see seagulls all the time. It is not a picnic area or even a well-known beach, so the seagulls never misbehave. When dark thunder is on its way, like it often has been for months, the seagulls would fly circles over my roof. But they have never scavenged for food at anyone's home. The turbulent waters knock mussels unconscious against the rocks and that is where the gulls feed. I have just read a wonderful article about the things that make seagulls adorable, their beauty, functional built,  and their sound. You can read the article by Stephan Moss here .

I have just completed this commission of 4 works to hang in a kitchen at a seaside home. My favourite composition for a seagull is the "half-portrait" where the bird peeks in from the bottom of the canvas. The birds look plain, but my hand took some strain from doing the detail and I rested it in a brace afterwards. Here is the full set:

Commissioned set of Seagull Paintings by West Coast Artist Marie Theron
250mm x 250mm, 8 x 8 inches oil on canvas.

My daughter, Susan lives near Melkbosstrand, a beach a little closer to Cape Town, and she is my guest photographer today. Yes, it is the ever-present Table Mountain in the background!

A Little Romantic Interlude

"Girl Talk" 9x12
Oil on Canvas , SOLD

I get so way-laid in everything! It is the story of my life. In art I fell briefly in love with Impressionism, but then found out the truth about the style: ironically, it takes quite a lot of labour to make something appear so effortless! Over and over I would flick colours onto canvas, using the side of an angled brush. When to stop, was the question. I flicked colour for days and days. The most annoying thing was that I could never again match the fleetingness of the little umbrella girl. What do you do when the first attempt is the best and after that you are just wasting time? I decided that after this it will be: back to the old and trusted way of painting, especially as I am suddenly swamped wit commissions based on my old work. And this painting then? Let's call it a little romantic interlude! The painting lends itself to some kind of narrative, but I want the viewer to interpret freely. The scene is set in that city with the amazing climate, Pretoria, South Africa.

Monet as Inspiration

I loved those Monet prints in my last blog, and thought: surely one can put more effort into your work! This was the result, when I tried that cheeky girl with the umbrella (from the previous post) in a more Impressionistic way:

"Spring Walk" by Artist Marie Theron 8x12 (300mm x 200mm)
Oil on W&N stretched cotton canvas.
Available from the artist R900 (South Africa) or $90 (USA) (plus postage)

The most difficult part was the tonal values. You want light and dark, but you still want the summery air to dissolve the forms. This is my book with the Monet print, next to my painting. It is fun to learn and still know that you are not copying anybody's work:

Impressionistic Exercise in Art

"Lilac Brollies" by artist Marie Theron
405mm x 305mm oil on canvas board
SOLD

I quite liked an earlier painting that I did in 2011, called "Busy Lizzies". On seeing a photo of figures in movement that I would love to paint, I immediately reverted back to that cool fresh style of painting. The new one is simply called "Lilac Brollies" to rhyme with the earlier name. To crown it all, the owner of the first painting, wants to buy the new painting as well.

"Busy Lizzies" (2011) by artist Marie Theron
405mm x 305 mm oil on board
SOLD

The freshness of the Great Masters of Impressionist painting, will always be appealing, and I decided to add some "wiki" images of Monet's umbrella ladies to this post for everyone to enjoy again and again!

MONET

MONET

MONET

MONET

Island Children

I am still taking my West Coast followers on a journey into deeper Africa! Our exhibition was popular and we were requested to leave our paintings behind as some of them may be used in other shows as time goes by. Of course, the public can still purchase a painting from the website. At the end of this post, I will also give the You Tube link to the opening night.

These children lived in a cute cottage on Zanzibar island bordered by tall fruit trees on one side and a spice farm on the other side. I really loved the 'make-do' appearance of the little home. Where there is clean washing, there is a normally functioning family. Kids in Zanzibar wear modern clothes, but their mothers and older sisters will always be seen in the attractive bright kangas. I noticed a washing line deeper into the shadows where a couple of these colourful pieces were drying away from the harsh sun.

They are playing here as kids do everywhere, the older one definitely the leader! Young brother is watching her closely to find out what game she would devise for them. Later at supper I will bet that the food would be flavourful and spicy and will be followed with lots of wonderful fruit, which is so plentiful here. Some of my paintings are almost large illustrations, as I try to tell a story of the daily lives of people in Africa.

The girl in pencil:

Bright kangas provide camouflage to the lady on the right:

Some links:
Spend a few moments with us at the opening night of 'Can You Hear The Drums' I can be briefly spotted in a dark red leather coat!
View purchase details of 'Island Children'
View paintings by my partner Tatyana Binovskaya

Real Butter in Darling

We can still buy homemade butter in Darling! One of the places where it is kept is in a fridge at the Darling Museum. It is a lovely pale cream butter, not as salty or as yellow as commercial butter, and it is wrapped in thick waxy paper. That is why I love these country museums, they truly keep traditions alive!

Museum Day is an annual function, where the creamery section of the museum truly comes alive. The antiques and lovingly protected utensils of the creamery trade comes off the shelves. Butter is made using the objects of long ago. We can hear about the function of shallow dishes where fresh cream were left to rise to the top. We can touch the seperators which automated the process of dividing milk and cream.....how "modern" the farmers felt when they obtained this implement! Butter was then churned, rocked, beaten, I remember that each of my aunts had a different style of doing this. Lastly the butter was sifted and salt worked through with a patterned wooden ladle. The butter was ready to be eaten on warm thick slices of farm bread!

Today's images: My third cow painting.....the first two have not been sold, so I am careful about buying such a nice frame for this painting. I painted only a few cows, not in great detail, so as not to detract from the peace of the scene and the clump of trees on top of the hill.

The sketch appeared a few years ago with my story of the creamery corner in the museum.

The photos show a real demo at the Darling Museum, the buttermilk being poured into bottles. Also some lovely antique objects from the dairy trade.