New work....

I have just completed these for a gallery in Natal. Last weekend I could have sold my Meerkat painting 3 times over, so I decided to do another two. Their fur is difficult to paint to make it look  real without doing too much work. All the paintings have my signature "used palette" in them.

heART in the Piazza

Starts this weekend at Montecasino, and I am privileged to be part of this exciting event.

Cherylee Powell

This Civil Engineering, world traveller loves nature and the outdoors, and much of her recent work includes fish and animals and depicts her (sometimes) macabre sense of humour. She includes various mixed media in her work and use recycled palettes from previous paintings in each new work. The number 25 is hidden in all her paintings.

“Don’t surrender your individuality; it is your greatest agent of power. If you want to be a force in the world….BE YOURSELF.”

Check out Cherylee's work on www.darkart.co.za

Racehorses....and Neva Masquerades!

I have not done one of these racehorse paintings for ages ..... in fact I have not done ANY paintings for ages!!!

One of the reasons was the arrival of my two new Neva Masquerade Siberian girls  from  Schwabische Neva cattery in Germany.

Their names are Qwizzy and Quagga ( African half striped Zebra) They are big girls , with Qwizzy at 5 months weighing in at 4kg!
They are the most sweet natured kittens and have the typical Neva laid back attitude to life.

DarkArt website.....live!

DarkArt.....

My DarkArt website has gone live!

There are still a few snags to iron out, but go and have a look and tell me what you think.

Big thank you to my dear husband Oliver, who spent hours and hours and hours testing the site and for his patience making all the changes.

www.darkart.co.za

painting,teaching art...and breeding Siberian cats

These are two of my new students. I enjoy teaching young people, they inspire me and are always enthusiastic.

The cats lie about and enjoy the company and activity.
Siberian cats are very social and relaxed, and love the attention.

Dead Can Dance....

 In my home studio, I have these two beautifully preserved dead frogs....I keep looking at them and wondering....how do I put them into a painting? Not as brown and dried dead frogs, but as bright blue dancing frogs....
...and then ???

they leap to catch a bug....creating some movement in the painting!

And the final touch of RED....in or out???
I settle on the bright RED block....it creates more energy.

Lines pull the dancing frogs into a macabre tug of war from death to life once more.....

      Dead Can Dance

Cyclist in the making ....

....something I have never painted before.....

The original photo I was given to work from was just a road race scene.

I decided to start with a neutral background and then add earthy tones to the sketch.

I like leaving some of the sketch showing through in the final work.

The red accents just add a bit of colour to brighten things up! 

Although the bike was a challenge to paint (for a non-cyclist), it was quite a fun commission to do.